« We are discovering that far above the power of the predator, there is the benevolence of the fort. More and more minds are incorporating that if something can ennoble humanity, make it great and rightly proud of it, it is not the hold it exerts over other species; it would be, on the contrary, not to use its power to submit them. We begin to conceive of the idea that well above the dominant is one who willingly renounces to dominate because he is fully aware of the fact that he would be deceiving himself by using force. Nothing degrades more than to overwhelm those who are at our mercy: it is as glorious as reigning by terror over a people of children. »

« Our ethics evolve more slowly than our science, I grant you. Yet the time it will take us to extend our circle of empathy beyond our own species is no longer counting in millions of years, not even thousands of years. More and more people are indignant about the existence of bullfighting, which will eventually disappear as the gladiator fights have disappeared. I am sure that our moral sense will evolve more and more quickly as our means of communication strengthen our common consciousness and poverty recedes. In the next hundred years, we will make more progress than we have made in the past millennium. »

« In a competitive environment in which physical skills are so important, altruism is not a quality that helps to survive. To hesitate to kill for food or to defend himself is, on the contrary, a serious handicap. Today, competition for money or fame has replaced the confrontations of muscles, teeth or claws; when you are benevolent, it is much easier to stay alive in these new conditions. Human beings who possess this quality are therefore much more likely to outnumber and to influence the world. »