Quotes from Dian Fossey

I have no friends. The more you learn about the dignity of the gorilla, the more you want to avoid people.

Conservation of any endangered species must begin with stringent efforts to protect its natural habitat by the enforcement of rigid legislation against human encroachment into parks and other game sanctuaries.

The man who kills the animals today is the man who kills the people who get in his way tomorrow.

I have made my home among the mountain gorillas.

I have no friends.

Those bearing the heavy responsibility of caring for captive gorillas should be encouraged to exchange so-called nonbreeders between populations, an inherent process among free-living gorillas and one that avoids inbreeding and also stimulates productivity.

The Parc des Volcans in Rwanda, where I conduct most of my studies, is heavily infested with poachers and herdsmen, whose cattle graze right through my camp area. Park boundaries have no meaning to these tribesmen.

I had this great urge... I had it the day I was born. Some may call it destiny. My parents and friends called it dismaying.

The more you learn about the dignity of the gorilla, the more you want to avoid people.

I feel more comfortable with gorillas than people. I can anticipate what a gorilla's going to do, and they're purely motivated.