David Attenborough Quotes

No one will protect what they don't care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced.

The truth is: the natural world is changing. And we are totally dependent on that world. It provides our food, water and air. It is the most precious thing we have and we need to defend it.

Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population, perhaps we should control the population to ensure the survival of our environment

What humans do over the next 50 years will determine the fate of all life on the planet.

Anyone who believes in indefinite growth on a physically finite planet is either mad or an economist

The World is full of wonders, but they become more Wonderful, not less Wonderful when Science looks at them.

The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?

How could I look my grandchildren in the eye and say I knew what was happening to the world and did nothing.

Bringing nature into the classroom can kindle a fascination and passion for the diversity of life on earth and can motivate a sense of responsibility to safeguard it.

I just wish the world was twice as big and half of it was still unexplored.

People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure.

An understanding of the natural world and what's in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment...

If we [humans] disappeared overnight, the world would probably be better off.

I'm no longer sceptical. I no longer have any doubt at all. I think climate change is the major challenge facing the world.

We can now destroy or we can cherish-the choice is ours.

Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?

I don't approve of sunbathing, and it's bad for you.

The only way to save a rhinoceros is to save the environment in which it lives, because there's a mutual dependency between it and millions of other species of both animals and plants.

You can only get really unpopular decisions through if the electorate is convinced of the value of the environment. That's what natural history programmes should be for.

I'm not over-fond of animals. I am merely astounded by them.

I'm against this huge globalisation on the basis of economic advantage.

There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive.

Life is not all high emotion. Some of the most interesting things are when its not highly emotional: little details of relationships and body language.

I suppose happiness is something one enjoys, but I suspect that happiness is not a state but rather a transition.

People are not going to care about animal conservation unless they think that animals are worthwhile.

In the Baboon community, it is not how strong you are that is important, but who you know that counts

The correct scientific response to something that is not understood must always be to look harder for the explanation, not give up and assume a supernatural cause.

Getting to places like Bangkok or Singapore was a hell of a sweat. But when you got there it was the back of beyond. It was just a series of small tin sheds.

Being in touch with the natural world is crucial.

Well, I'm having a good time. Which makes me feel guilty too. How very English.

Clearly we could devastate the world... as far as we know, the Earth is the only place in the universe where there is life. Its continued survival now rests in our hands

Nothing in the natural world makes sense - except when seen in the light of evolution

Anyone who thinks that you can have infinite growth on a planet with finite resources is either a madman or an economist.

Many individuals are doing what they can. But real success can only come if there is a change in our societies and in our economics and in our politics.

I believe the Abominable Snowman may be real. I think there may be something in that.

Birds are the most popular group in the animal kingdom. We feed them and tame them and think we know them. And yet they inhabit a world which is really rather mysterious.

It is that range of biodiversity that we must care for - the whole thing - rather than just one or two stars.

You know, it is a terrible thing to appear on television, because people think that you actually know what you're talking about.

Its about cherishing the woodland at the bottom of your garden or the stream that runs through it. It affects every aspect of life.

I often get letters, quite frequently, from people who say how they like the programmes a lot, but I never give credit to the almighty power that created nature.

Until humanity manages to sort itself out and get a co-ordinated view about the planet, it's going to get worse and worse.

If I can bicycle, I bicycle.

I'm swanning round the world looking at the most fabulously interesting things. Such good fortune.

I would love to see a giant squid. Very few people have seen them. And only about half a dozen people have seen one alive.

I don't run a car, have never run a car. I could say that this is because I have this extremely tender environmentalist conscience, but the fact is I hate driving.

All life is related. And it enables us to construct with confidence the complex tree that represents the history of life

I have no doubt that the fundamental problem the planet faces is the enormous increase in the human population

I think we're lucky to be living when we are, because things are going to get worse.

I'm not an animal lover if that means you think things are nice if you can pat them, but I am intoxicated by animals.

If you watch animals objectively for any length of time, you're driven to the conclusion that their main aim in life is to pass on their genes to the next generation.