Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?

A good mother is protective but not over-protective. She's patient, she's affectionate, she's playful, but above all she is supportive.

Every stage of my life set the scene for the next, and at each point all I had to do was say "yes" and not think too much about the consequences.

We have so far to go to realize our human potential for compassion, altruism, and love.

Chimps taught us we're not separated from the animal kingdom, we're a part of it.

The person who has the most influence on me is my mother. Think of life as a flight where we fly higher and higher. If I were a bird that needs feathers to fly higher, I would regard my mother as my strongest feather.

I got to Africa. I got the opportunity to go and learn, not about any animal, but chimpanzees. I was living in my dream world, the forest in Gombe National Park in Tanzania. It was Tanganyika when I began.