Jane Goodall? Karen Karbo? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: Shortly after English primatologist Jane Goodall died in October 2025, I repeatedly saw the following quotation attributed to her:
It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.
Yet, I have been unable to find a solid citation, and I suspect that this is a misattribution. Would you please trace this quotation?
Reply from Quote Investigator: You are correct to be skeptical of the attribution to Jane Goodall. The correct ascription is to the U.S. writer Karen Karbo who delivered the remark during an interview. Karbo authored the 2018 book “In Praise of Difficult Women: Life Lessons from 29 Heroines Who Dared to Break the Rules”.
In May 2018 the “National Geographic” website posted an interview with Karbo who discussed the women who were profiled in her book including Jane Goodall who was one of Karbo’s childhood heroes. Karbo also discussed reviews of her book. Karbo employed the quotation while discussing a reviewer. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
A woman who believes her own needs, goals, and desires are at least as important as everyone around her risks being called difficult. One of the first reviewers said, “That’s a pretty low bar.” I said, “Thank you for making my point for me.” Because it actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us. [laughs]
The misattribution to Jane Goodall appeared in 2019, and QI conjectures that someone misread the interview article. Goodall’s name is mentioned within the interview article both before and after the quotation. An inattentive reader may have assumed the quotation was from Goodall.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In February 2018 Karen Karbo published a piece about her book on the website booksbywomen.org. Karbo discussed the behaviors that led to the designation “difficult woman”:2
It doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. Any woman who honors her true self more than she does the expectations of the culture in which she lives is difficult. Any woman who cares less about what other people think than what she thinks about herself is difficult. A woman whose primary goal in life is not to please, or be pleasing – yes, so very difficult. Do I even need to say that a woman who speaks up is difficult?
The quotation from Karbo was memorable. In May 2018 when National Geographic tweeted a link to the Karbo interview it included the quotation without an attribution:3
“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.”
In October 2019 a tweet from the handle WestwoodWrites credited the quotation to Goodall:4
“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.” ~ Jane Goodall
In October 2025 the website Snopes explored this topic. Snopes concluded that the attribution to Jane Goodall was incorrect. Snopes also traced the quotation back to Karen Karbo.5
In conclusion, Karen Karbo deserves credit for this quotation which she employed during an interview in 2018. QI has found no evidence that Jane Goodall used this quotation. The misattribution may have been facilitated by the fact that Karbo mentioned Goodall during the interview.
Image Notes: Abstract representation of a difficult person from Moritz Lüdtke at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Sarah Kishler whose messages led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Kishler successfully traced the quotation to the National Geographic interview.
- Website: National Geographic, Article title: Book Talk: Meet the ‘Difficult’ Women Who Wrote Their Own Rules, Article author: Simon Worrall, Date on website: May 12, 2018, Website description: Information from nonprofit scientific and educational organization. (Accessed nationalgeographic.com on October 8, 2025) link ↩︎
- Website: booksbywomen.org Women Writers, Women’s Books, Article title: In Praise of Difficult Women: Life Lessons from 29 Heroines Who Dared to Break the Rules, Article author: Karen Karbo, Date on website: February 27, 2018, Website description: “Dedicated to showcasing the work of women writers from around the world”. (Accessed booksbywomen.org on October 8, 2025) link ↩︎
- X-Tweet, From: National Geographic @NatGeo, Timestamp: 11:00 AM, May 20, 2018, Text: “It actually doesn’t take much…” (Accessed on x.com on December 1, 2025) link ↩︎
- X-Tweet, From: Jill Westwood @WestwoodWrites, Timestamp: 10:56 AM, Oct 13, 2019, Text: It actually doesn’t take much… (Accessed on x.com on October 8, 2025) link ↩︎
- Website: Snopes, Article title: ‘Difficult women’ quote wrongly attributed to Jane Goodall, Article author: Taija PerryCook, Date on website: Oct. 8, 2025, Website description: Specializes in fact-checking urban legends, hoaxes, folklore, and more. (Accessed snopes.com on December 1, 2025) link ↩︎