216 Quotes by Frans de Waal

"They were generally run by young men who mocked authority and preached egalitarianism yet had no qualms about ordering everyone else around and stealing their comrades’ girlfriends."

"The thinking is that we started evolving language not by speaking but by gesturing."

"I call the notion that we are nothing but killer apes the Beethoven fallacy. Beethoven was disorganized and messy, and yet his music is the epitome of order."

"Imagine you’re a writer, and you have decided to offer your readers a firsthand account of the politically correct primate, the idol of the left, known for its “gay” relations, female supremacy, and pacific lifestyle. Your focus is the bonobo: a close relation of the chimpanzee. You."

"Personally, I think it is possible to build a society that is moral on a nonreligious basis, but the jury is still out on that."

"Socialism cannot function, because its economic reward structure is contrary to human nature."

"At the time, science had declared humans unique, since we were so much better at identifying faces than any other primate. No one seemed bothered by the fact that other primates had been tested mostly on human faces rather than those of their own kind."

"Studies of reconciliation in primates have demonstrated that if the relationship value increases between two parties they are more willing to make peace."

"Although elephants are far more distantly related to us than the great apes, they seem to have evolved similar social and cognitive capacities."

"If you look at national economies today, for example, the American economy, the European economy, the Indians, the Chinese, we’re all tied together. If one of them sinks, the rest are going to sink with them and if one floats, the rest are lifted up. I find that very interesting."