Frans de Waal Quotes

You don’t want to humiliate your enemy—your adversary.

I have noticed that when chickens quit quarreling over their food they often find that there is enough for all of them. I wonder if it might not be the same with the human race

It is hard to convince people that you mean them well if you are looking at them down the barrel of a gun.

Donald Trump is right. We need to figure out a way to end this cycle of hostility that's putting this country at risk, costing us billions of dollars in defense, and creating hostility that should not exist.

Iran did not talk to the United States for 35 years. And now we are talking. And I believe these talks are useful. But they haven't produced the intended results. We have not seen an end to the hostility that has been exhibited in the United States against Iran. And I believe it is important that we see some of that.

I would adore to make up with the United States of America... Oh, America, what is the matter with you? Why couldn't you have been my friend?

They do not want people committing violence, either in their community or in the name of their faith, and so some of our most productive relationships are with people who see things and tell us things who happen to be Muslim.

We cannot afford to fight our neighbor, even if we disagree on many things.

The majority of Jews and Arabs want to get along. Don't let a few bad apples ruin it for everyone.

Apes beat their chests so they don't have to fight 24 hours a day.

I'm very much against war; I'm very much against terrorism of any kind. I find terrorism to be one of the most appalling things that can exist in society.

You can’t have peace without a war.

Aren't you getting tired of people hating one another? What do they think they get out of it?

Against war it may be said that it makes the victor stupid and the vanquished revengeful.

What is the matter with these people, these people who won't stop fighting, won't stop hurting each other...?

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

The more simply we look at ticklish questions, the more placid will be our lives and relationships.

The better part of valor is to spend it learning to live with differences, however hostile, unless and until we can find another planet.

We, as humans, have actually developed a sense of social responsibility. We have gone beyond our basic instincts. We can and we do. This is what sets us apart from the chimps. They are extremely brutal and hostile. Your next door neighbor is to be killed unless she is a juicy young female, who hasn't yet had her first baby, in which case you want her.

Peace is impossible, war is improbable.

We must meet our duty and convince the world that we are just friends and brave enemies.

Things use to be real nice, til they got out of hand. Since they moved in, they call themselves the Taliban.

War is an act of force, and to the application of that force there is no limit. Each of the adversaries forces the hand of the other, and a reciprocal action results which in theory can have no limit.

There is so much hate among people, so much contempt inside people who'd like you to think they're moral, that they have to hire prizefighters to do their hating for them. And we do. We get into a ring and act out other people's hates.

Just because somebody happens to disagree with you about something doesn't mean that they become your mortal enemy and that you should try to destroy them and destroy their life and destroy their family.