Explore Quotes by David Attenborough

Being in touch with the natural world is crucial.

I think a major element of jetlag is psychological. Nobody ever tells me what time it is at home.

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.

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?

Crying wolf is a real danger.

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

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.

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

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.

Dealing with global warming doesn't mean we have all got to suddenly stop breathing. Dealing with global warming means that we have to stop waste, and if you travel for no reason whatsoever, that is a waste.

What I am interested in with birds, just as I am with spiders or monkeys, is what they do and why they do it.

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

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

I can mention many moments that were unforgettable and revelatory. But the most single revelatory three minutes was the first time I put on scuba gear and dived on a coral reef. It's just the unbelievable fact that you can move in three dimensions.

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

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...

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

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

One in eight plant species face extinction.

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