Chimps are very quick to have a sudden fight or aggressive episode, but they're equally as good at reconciliation.

It's not that humans and non-humans are identical... but the lack of understanding that led to the slave trade is the same lack of understanding many people have about animals today. When slaves were brought over from Africa, many people believed they were not humans, that they didn't have feelings. Many people believe that primates and other animals don't have feelings, too, but they do.

What makes us human, I think, is an ability to ask questions, a consequence of our sophisticated spoken language.

If you work hard and be persistent, you will achieve whatever you want to do.

I had never been able to believe that God would give us poor frail humans only one chance at making it -- that we would be assigned to some kind of hell because we failed during one experience of mortal life. ... So the concepts of karma and reincarnation made logical sense to me.

I don't even think of chimps as animals. I think of them as beings.

We are always talking about how we can get more environmental and humanitarian education. It is about listening to the voice of young people - how they feel, and what would be most meaningful for them.