Jane Goodall: "Apakah tidak mungkin simpanse merespons perasaan kagum?...

"Apakah tidak mungkin simpanse merespons perasaan kagum? Perasaan yang ditimbulkan oleh misteri air; air yang tampak hidup, selalu melaju cepat namun tidak pernah mengalir, selalu sama namun berbeda. Apakah mungkin perasaan kagum yang serupa yang memunculkan agama animisme pertama, pemujaan terhadap elemen-elemen dan misteri-misteri alam yang tidak dapat dikontrol? Hanya ketika nenek moyang prasejarah kita mengembangkan bahasa barulah dimungkinkan untuk membahas perasaan-perasaan internal seperti itu dan menciptakan agama bersama."

--- Jane Goodall

Versi Bahasa Inggris

Is it not possible that the chimpanzees are responding to some feeling like awe? A feeling generated by the mystery of water; water that seems alive, always rushing past yet never going, always the same yet ever different. Was it perhaps similar feelings of awe that gave rise to the first animistic religions, the worship of the elements and the mysteries of nature over which there was no control? Only when our prehistoric ancestors developed language would it have been possible to discuss such internal feelings and create a shared religion.