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Sir David Attenborough
(8 May 1926 - )
English naturalist and broadcaster whose distinguished career in broadcasting spans more than a half-century. His Zoo Quest television series that began in 1952 ran for ten years, and was just the beginning of a life-long passion for presenting natural history television series from all parts of the world.
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Science Quotes by Sir David Attenborough (90 quotes)
A hundred years ago, there were one-and-a-half billion people on Earth. Now, over six billion crowd our fragile planet. But even so, there are still places barely touched by humanity.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
A species can only thrive when everything else around it thrives too. ⊠If we take care of nature, nature will take care of us. Itâs now time for our species to stop simply growing, to establish a life on our planet in balance with nature. To start to thrive.
— Sir David Attenborough
From narration to Netflix TV program, A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (4 Oct 2020).
About 70 or 80 men jumped onto the track, brandishing knives and spears. To say I was alarmed is to put it mildly⊠I walked towards this screaming horde of men, I stuck out my hand, and I heard myself say âgood afternoon.â
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
An understanding of the natural world and whatâs in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfilment.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is either madâor an economist.
— Sir David Attenborough
Expressing concern about ecosystems ruined by the arrival of man. As quoted by Philip Maughan, 'Sixty Years of Attenborough Through the Eyes of the New Statesman', New Statesman (21 Dec 2012), 141, No. 5138, 34. The quote came from Attenborough writing in an April 2013 issue of the same periodical.
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.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted, without source, in Kate Ng, 'David Attenborough turns 95: His best quotes on nature, sustainability and humankind', Independent (8 May 2021).
Education is not a matter of getting facts and sowing them within brains, but that it is an attitude of mind that you teach children to find out for themselves
— Sir David Attenborough
Interview with David Barrett, 'Attenborough: Children Donât Know Enough About Nature', Daily Telegraph (17 Apr 2011).
Ever since we arrived on this planet as a species, weâve cut them down, dug them up, burnt them and poisoned them. Today weâre doing so on a greater scale than ever.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
Every 10 years, an area the size of Britain disappears under a jungle of concrete.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted from BBC TV series, Planet Earth II in Joe Shute, 'David Attenborough at 90: âI think about my mortality every dayâ', The Telegraph (29 Oct 2016).
Forests are a fundamental component of our planetâs recovery. They are the best technology nature has for locking away carbon. And they are centers of biodiversity. Again, the two features work together. The wilder and more diverse forests are, the more effective they are at absorbing carbon from the atmosphere
— Sir David Attenborough
From narration to Netflix TV program, A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (4 Oct 2020).
Homo sapiens is a compulsive communicator. Look at the number of people you see walking around talking on mobile phones. We seem to have an infinite capacity for communicating and being communicated with. Iâm not sure how admirable it is, but it certainly demonstrates that we are social organisms.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Michael Bond, 'Itâs a Wonderful Life', New Scientist (14 Dec 2002), 176, No. 2373, 48.
I am besotted with birds of paradise. Watching them display is the most extraordinary thing Iâve ever seen in my life.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Alice Roberts, 'Attenborough: My Life on Earth', The Biologist (Aug 2015), 62, No. 4, 16.
I canât pretend that I got involved with filming the natural world fifty years ago because I had some great banner to carry about conservation â not at all, I always had a huge pleasure in just watching the natural world and seeing what happens.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
I donât like rats but thereâs not much else I donât like. The problem with rats is they have no fear of human beings, theyâre loaded with foul diseases, they would run the place given half the chanceâŠ
— Sir David Attenborough
Interview by Simon Gage in 'David Attenborough: Iâm not an animal lover', Metro (29 Jan 2013, London).
I donât 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.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
I grew up in Leicestershire, in Leicester, which is on the Jurassic, and itâs full of lovely fossils. Ammonites, belemnites, brachiopodsâvery beautiful. How did they get there, in the middle of the rocks, in the middle of England, and so on? And I had the collecting bug, which I still have, actually, which is the basis of so much of natural history, really, and so much of science. And so collecting all these things, and discovering what they were, and how they lived, and when they had lived, and all that, was abiding fascination to me from the age of I suppose about eight. And I still feel that way, actually.
— Sir David Attenborough
Speaking about fossils that first inspired his love of natural history. In video by Royal Society of Biology, 'Sir David Attenborough, Biology: Changing the World Interview,' published on YouTube (13 Feb 2015).
I have never really had dreams to fulfilâŠ. You just want to go on looking at these ecosystems and trying to understand them and they are all fascinating. To achieve a dream suggests snatching a prize from the top of a tree and running off with it, and thatâs the end of it. It isnât like that. ⊠What you are trying to achieve is understanding and you donât do that just by chasing dreams.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Michael Bond, 'Itâs a Wonderful Life', New Scientist (14 Dec 2002), 176, No. 2373, 52.
I have no doubt that the fundamental problem the planet faces is the enormous increase in the human population. You see it overrunning everywhere. Places that were very remote when I went there 50 years ago are now overrun.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Michael Bond, 'Itâs a Wonderful Life', New Scientist (14 Dec 2002), 176, No. 2373, 48.
I just wish the world was twice as big and half of it was still unexplored.
— Sir David Attenborough
Epigraph Bruce L. Smith, Stories from Afield: Adventures with Wild Things in Wild Places (2016), Chap. 16, citing the TV program Life on Earth.
I often get letters ⊠from people who say ⊠I never give credit to the almighty power that created nature. ⊠I reply ⊠âWell, itâs funny that the people, when they say that this is evidence of the Almighty, always quote beautiful things ⊠orchids and hummingbirds and butterflies and roses.â But I always have to think too of a little boy sitting on the banks of a river in west Africa who has a worm boring through his eyeball, turning him blind before heâs five years old. And I ⊠say, âWell, presumably the God you speak about created the worm as well,â and now, I find that baffling to credit a merciful God with that action. And therefore it seems to me safer to show things that I know to be truth, truthful and factual, and allow people to make up their own minds about the moralities of this thing, or indeed the theology of this thing.
— Sir David Attenborough
From BBC TV, Life on Air (2002).
I think every child born on this planet up to the age of about four or five is fascinated by the natural world. If they arenât itâs because we deprive them of the opportunity. Over half the worldâs population is urbanised and the thought that some children may grow up not looking at a pond or knowing how plants grow is a terrible thing. If you lose that delight and joy and intoxication, youâve lost something hugely precious.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Alice Roberts, 'Attenborough: My Life on Earth', The Biologist (Aug 2015), 62, No. 4, 14.
I thought existing zoo programmes were really not doing animals justice. They all looked like oddities, like bizarre stage things, when, really, in their own environment, they are wonderful answers to very complex questions.
— Sir David Attenborough
Explaining his motivation for his earliest groundbreaking Zoo Quest nature TV series featuring on location filming. From interview with Alice Roberts, 'Attenborough: My Life on Earth', The Biologist (Aug 2015), 62, No. 4, 15.
If I were working in astrophysics I would find it quite hard to explain to people what I was doing. Natural history is a pretty easy thing to explain. It does have its complexities, but nowhere do you speak about things that are outside peopleâs experience. You might speak about a species that is outside their experience, but nothing as remote as astrophysics.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Michael Bond, 'Itâs a Wonderful Life', New Scientist (14 Dec 2002), 176, No. 2373, 48.
If my legs give up, they give up. But in that case I could sit and do programmes about amoebasâMicro Monsters, perhaps. What else do you want to do? Sit by the fire and read yesterdayâs newspaper?
— Sir David Attenborough
Stating his intent to never retire. Reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
If we and the rest of the backboned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if [the invertebrates] were to disappear, the worldâs ecosystems would collapse. disappear, the landâs ecosystems would collapse. The soil would lose its fertility. Many of the plants would no longer be pollinated. Lots of animals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals would have nothing to eat. And our fields and pastures would be covered with dung and carrion.
— Sir David Attenborough
From BBC TV series Life in the Undergrowth (2005). As cited in Simon Barnes, History of the World in 100 Animals (2020), end of Chap. 72.
If we continue on our current course, the damage that has been the defining feature of my lifetime will be eclipsed by the damage coming in the next. ⊠Science predicts that were I born today, I would be witness to the 2030sâThe Amazon Rainforest, cut down until it can no longer produce enough moisture, degrades into a dry savannah, bringing catastrophic species lossâand altering the global water cycle.
— Sir David Attenborough
From narration to Netflix TV program, A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (4 Oct 2020).
If we [humans] disappeared overnight, the world would probably be better off.
— Sir David Attenborough
Interview about Life In The Undergrowth (book and TV series on insects), The Daily Telegraph (12 Nov 2005).
If you want to achieve conservation, the first thing you have to do is persuade people that the natural world is precious, beautiful, worth saving and complex. If people donât understand that and donât believe that in their hearts, conservation doesn't stand a chance. Thatâs the first step, and that is what I do.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Michael Bond, 'Itâs a Wonderful Life', New Scientist (14 Dec 2002), 176, No. 2373, 48.
If youâre telling a story, itâs very tempting to personalise an animal. To start with, biologists said this fascination with one individual was just television storytelling. But they began to realise that, actually, it was a new way to understand behaviourâfollowing the fortunes of one particular animal could be very revealing and have all kinds of implications in terms of the ecology and general behaviour of the animals in that area.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Alice Roberts, 'Attenborough: My Life on Earth', The Biologist (Aug 2015), 62, No. 4, 15.
In a great number of programmes Iâm not a scientistâIâm simply a commentator. So I should claim no virtue for the fact that [people] seem to trust me, if that is indeed the case. Itâs simply that I very seldom talk about something they canât see. If I say a lion is attacking a wildebeest, they can see it is; if I were to say something about a proton, it might be different.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Bill Parry, 'Sir David Attenborough in Conversation', The Biologist (Jun 2010), 57, No. 2, 93.
In my position you canât go out and just say, âI think,â because itâs a very serious thing. So if you get up and say climate is changing because of CO2 emissions, you better bloody well be right.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in interview with Joe Shute, 'David Attenborough at 90: âI think about my mortality every dayâ', The Telegraph (29 Oct 2016). Note: Elsewhere, Attenborough says that the evidence of climate change is now, in fact, âironclad.â
In my view, the proper attitude of a public-service broadcaster is that it should attempt to cover as broad as possible a spectrum of human interest and should measure success by the width of those views. There shouldnât be all that large a number of gaps in the spectrum; and a major element in the spectrum is scientific understanding. The fact that it doesnât necessarily get as big an audience as cookery is of no consequence.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Brian Cox and Robert Ince, in 'A Life Measured in Heartbeats', New Statesman (21 Dec 2012), 141, No. 5138, 33.
In the 1940s when I did my natural sciences degree in zoology it was very much laboratory-based. ⊠I was not keen on the idea of spending the rest of my life in the lab. I also donât think I would have been particularly good at it. I don't think I have as analytical a mind or the degree of application that one would need to become a first-rate research scientist.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Michael Bond, 'Itâs a Wonderful Life', New Scientist (14 Dec 2002), 176, No. 2373, 48.
In the Anthropocene, the time of humans[,] ⊠rocks ⊠are forming today. Not only will they contain fewer species than the rocks that preceded them but they will contain markers that are completely newâfragments of plastic, plutonium from nuclear activity, and a worldwide distribution of the bones of domesticated chickens.
— Sir David Attenborough
In 'Conclusion', A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (2020), 215.
In the early days of dealing with climate change, I wouldnât go out on a limb one way or another, because I donât have the qualifications there. But I do have the qualifications to measure the scientific community and see what the consensus is about climate change. I remember the moment when I suddenly thought it was incontrovertible. There was a lecture given by a distinguished American expert in atmospheric science and he showed a series of graphs about the temperature changes in the upper atmosphere. He plotted time against population growth and industrialisation. It was incontrovertible, and once you think itâs really totally incontrovertible, then you have a responsibility to say so.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Brian Cox and Robert Ince, in 'A Life Measured in Heartbeats', New Statesman (21 Dec 2012), 141, No. 5138, 32.
In the end, after a lifetimeâs exploration of the living world, Iâm certain of one thing. This is not about saving our planet⊠itâs about saving ourselves.
— Sir David Attenborough
From narration to Netflix TV program, A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (4 Oct 2020).
In the past, you wouldnât have had any problem in getting a countryman to explain the difference between a blackbird and a song thrush, but you might have that difficulty with a kid now. Equally, if you asked a chap about gorillas in the 19th-century, he wouldnât have heard of the creatures, but today an urban boy knows all about them.
— Sir David Attenborough
Explaining how the success of nature documentaries may result in children who know more about gorillas than the wildlife in their own gardens. As reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
It is that range of biodiversity that we must care forâthe whole thingârather than just one or two stars.
— Sir David Attenborough
From BBC interview. As cited in Bruce L. Smith, Stories from Afield: Adventures with Wild Things in Wild (2016), 185.
It is very difficult not to be excited by 10,000 king penguins.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Michael Bond, 'Itâs a Wonderful Life', New Scientist (14 Dec 2002), 176, No. 2373, 48.
It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
It wasnât the finches that put the idea [of natural selection] in Darwinâs head, it was the tortoises. The reason he didnât use the tortoises [in writing On the Origin of Species] was that, when he got back, he found he didnât have localities on the tortoise specimens. Here the great god, the greatest naturalist we have records of, made a mistake. His fieldwork wasnât absolutely perfect.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Brian Cox and Robert Ince, in 'A Life Measured in Heartbeats', New Statesman (21 Dec 2012), 141, No. 5138, 33.
Itâs important natural history isnât seen as something that is âout thereâ, which you have to travel to. Itâs right there in your garden. Public awareness of the natural history of the world as a whole has never been as great. But itâs important to know about species close to home.
— Sir David Attenborough
As reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
Itâs never been more important for us to understand the effects of biodiversity loss⊠only if we do that, will we have any hope of averting disaster.
— Sir David Attenborough
From BBC TV program Extinction: The Facts (13 Sep 2020). As quoted in press release on a BBC Media Centre web page.
Itâs surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth.
— Sir David Attenborough
Closing words of BBC TV Series, Planet Earth II (2016).
Iâm not an animal lover if that means you think things are nice if you can pat them, but I am intoxicated by animals.
— Sir David Attenborough
Interview by Simon Gage in 'David Attenborough: Iâm not an animal lover', Metro (29 Jan 2013, London).
Kids like their fossils. Iâve taken my godson fossil-hunting and thereâs nothing more magical than finding a shiny shell and knowing youâre the first person to have seen it for 150 million years.
— Sir David Attenborough
As reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
Looking down on this great metropolis, the ingenuity with which we continue to reshape our planet is very striking. Itâs also sobering. It reminds me of just how easy it is for us to lose our connection with the natural world. Yet it is on this connection that the future of both humanity and the natural world will depend.
— Sir David Attenborough
From BBC TV series Planet Earth II, while at London from the top of a skyscraper. As quoted in interview with Joe Shute, 'David Attenborough at 90: âI think about my mortality every dayâ', The Telegraph (29 Oct 2016).
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.
— Sir David Attenborough
About climate change. As quoted, without source, in Kate Ng, 'David Attenborough turns 95: His best quotes on nature, sustainability and humankind', Independent (8 May 2021).
Nature doesnât sit still. Things and individuals are changing, dying and new things are coming. Theyâre all stories.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Joe Shute, 'David Attenborough at 90: âI think about my mortality every dayâ', The Telegraph (29 Oct 2016).
No, not a feminist. Iâm a humanist. Iâm neither one side nor the other. Itâs about the human being. And wanting human beings to be better off so they donât view children as an insurance for the future.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
Now, over half of us live in an urban environment. My home, too, is here in the city of London. Looking down on this great metropolis, the ingenuity with which we continue to reshape the surface of our planet is very striking. Itâs also very sobering, and reminds me of just how easy it is for us to lose our connection with the natural world.
— Sir David Attenborough
In closing remarks of BBC TV Series, Planet Earth II (2016).
One of the great achievements of the 1950s and 1960s was a [TV] series called Your Life in Their Hands, which dealt with medical science. It presented the scientific evidence for the connection between tobacco and cancer, against the entrenched opposition, all of which you can quite easily imagine. ⊠The âtelevision doctorâ ⊠presented the evidence of the connection between the two over and over again on television. A lot of people tried to stop it, but he carried on. It ruined his career, I suspect, in the medical sense, but he stuck to his guns. Itâs one of early televisionâs badges of honour.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Brian Cox and Robert Ince, in 'A Life Measured in Heartbeats', New Statesman (21 Dec 2012), 141, No. 5138, 32.
People are not going to care about animal conservation unless they think that animals are worthwhile.
— Sir David Attenborough
âŠ...
People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
The beauty of natural history programmes is that you can be straightforward and fascinate the 7s and the 70s. If you just present it as it is, all kinds of people of all ages and all educational backgrounds love it. Thatâs the joy of natural historyâitâs a godsend for blokes like me.
— Sir David Attenborough
In Rowan Hooper, 'One Minute With⊠David Attenborough', New Scientist (2 Feb 2013), 217, No. 2902, 25.
The biggest animal that has ever lived on our planet: a blue whale. ⊠Itâs far bigger than even the biggest dinosaur. Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant. Its heart is the size of a car. And some of its blood vessels are so wide that you could swim down them.
— Sir David Attenborough
Narration from 'Introduction' of the BBC TV series The Blue Planet (2001), Ep. 1. Text accompanies 'Blue whale breach', video clip on BBC website.
The fact is that no species has ever had such wholesale control over anything on earth, living or dead, as we now have. That lays upon us, whether we like it or not, an awesome responsibility. In our hands now lies not only our own future but that of all other living creatures with whom we share the earth.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted, without source, in Kate Ng, 'David Attenborough turns 95: His best quotes on nature, sustainability and humankind', Independent (8 May 2021).
The great heroes and heroines of our society are of course the teachers, and in particular the teachers of kids in their first years. Once a child has been shown what the natural world is, it will live with them forever.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Alexandra Pope, 'Attenborough Awarded RCGS Gold', Canadian Geographic, (May 2017), 137, No. 3, 73.
The living world is a unique and spectacular marvel. Billions of individuals, and millions of kinds of plants and animals âŠ. Working together to benefit from the energy of the sun and the minerals of the earth. Leading lives that interlock in such a way that they sustain each other. We rely entirely on this finely tuned life-support machine. And it relies on its biodiversity to run smoothly. Yet the way we humans live on Earth now is sending biodiversity into a decline.
— Sir David Attenborough
From introductory narration to Netflix TV program, A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (4 Oct 2020).
The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
The tiny creatures of the undergrowth were the first creatures of any kind to colonise the land. They established the foundations of the landâs ecosystems and were able to transcend the limitations of their small size by banding together in huge communities of millions.
— Sir David Attenborough
From BBC TV series Life in the Undergrowth (2005), as quoted in BBC press release (10 Oct 2005).
The whole biological community needs to be talking to one another so that people can get a comprehension of the turmoil in which our planet is involved at the moment, which is a biological turmoil above anything else.
— Sir David Attenborough
In short extract from interview with Alice Roberts for the Biology: Changing the World project, 'Attenborough: The Earth is in âBiological Turmoilâ', The Biologist (Apr/May 2015), 62, No. 2, 4.
The whole of life is coming to terms with yourself and the natural world. Why are you here?
— Sir David Attenborough
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There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
There are three times as many people in the world as when I started making television programs 56 years ago. It is frightening. We canât go on as we have been. We are seeing the consequences in terms of ecology, pollution, space and food production.
— Sir David Attenborough
On becoming a patron of the Optimum Population Trust, as reported in The Times (14 Apr 2009).
There is a huge disconnect. Those living in the most urbanised areas donât see a wild thing from one day to the nextâunless itâs a pigeon or a rat. If you lose the connection with nature, you lose a source of great pleasure.
— Sir David Attenborough
Lamenting Britainâs urbanized population is increasingly separated from the natural world. As reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
To restore stability to our planet, therefore, we must restore its biodiversity, the very thing we have removed. It is the only way out of this crisis that we ourselves have created. We must rewild the world!
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted, without source, in Kate Ng, 'David Attenborough turns 95: His best quotes on nature, sustainability and humankind', Independent (8 May 2021).
We are a plague on the Earth. Itâs coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so. Itâs not just climate change; itâs sheer space, places to grow food for this enormous horde. Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted and cited from Radio Times in Louise Gray, 'David Attenborough - Humans are Plague on Earth', The Telegraph (22 Jan 2013).
We are at a unique stage in our history. Never before have we had such an awareness of what we are doing to the planet, and never before have we had the power to do something about that. Surely we all have a responsibility to care for our blue planet. The future of humanity and indeed, all life on earth, now depends on us.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted, without source, in Kate Ng, 'David Attenborough turns 95: His best quotes on nature, sustainability and humankind', Independent (8 May 2021).
We tried to transform Tarmac playgrounds into places with pools, and earth where children could grow things. Now the Government is saying we need more classroom space so the schools are building them on the very nature habitats weâve been working to provide.
— Sir David Attenborough
Despairing at the loss of green spaces at schools. He was patron of the charity Learning Through Landscapes which worked to create green spaces. As reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
Weâre suffocating ourselves by cutting things down. And the awful thing is that the knowledge is there. Fifty years ago when we exterminated things, we did it without realising. Now thereâs plenty of evidence of what it is weâre doing, and yet we keep on doing it.
— Sir David Attenborough
In Rowan Hooper, 'One Minute With⊠David Attenborough', New Scientist (2 Feb 2013), 217, No. 2902, 25.
Weâre very safety conscious, arenât we? [In 1989,] I did a programme on fossils, Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives, and got a letter from a geologist saying, âYou should have been wearing protective goggles when you were hitting that rock. Fragments could have flown into your eye and blinded you. What a bad example you are.â I thought, âOh, for goodness sake...â
— Sir David Attenborough
As reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
When I was a boy, I could cycle out of town and be in fields in ten minutes. I knew where the birdsâ nests and badger setts were. Now childrenâs mothers would tell them they need someone to go with them, to make sure they werenât molested by a sexual deviant.
— Sir David Attenborough
Commenting on todayâs increased anxiety with health and safety culture. As reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
When I was about 13, I cycled from Leicester to the Lake District and back again, collecting fossils and staying in youth hostels. I was away for three weeks, and my mother and father didnât know where I was. I doubt many parents would let children do that now.
— Sir David Attenborough
It is about 200 miles each way between his hometown (Leicester) and the Lake District. As reported by Adam Lusher in 'Sir David Attenborough', Daily Mail (28 Feb 2014).
Wherever we go on land, these small creatures [insects, worms] are within a few inches of our feetâoften disregarded. We would do very well to remember them.
— Sir David Attenborough
From BBC TV series Life in the Undergrowth (2005), as quoted in BBC press release (10 Oct 2005).
With or without us, the wild will return. ⊠⊠It seems that, however grave our mistakes, nature will be able to overcome them, given the chance. The living world has survived mass extinctions several times before. But we humans cannot assume that we will do the same.
— Sir David Attenborough
In 'Conclusion', A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (2020), 218-219.
Yes, we have to [do more to prioritise animals and the environment over human activity]. There are whole areasâthe rainforest, for exampleâthat have to be protected for the animals and for the whole of the climate of the planet. Thatâs a priority if ever there was one.
— Sir David Attenborough
In Rowan Hooper, 'One Minute With⊠David Attenborough', New Scientist (2 Feb 2013), 217, No. 2902, 25.
You canât [have pets], when you go away filming for weeks, [but] I have great crested newts in the pond, and a darling robin that comes in the kitchen.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in interview by Alison George, in 'David Attenborough on Our Crowded Planet', New Scientist (16 May 2009), 202, No. 2708, 28.
You know, itâs a terrible thing to appear on television, because people think you actually know what youâre talking about.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted in Jack Shepherd, "David Attenborough: 15 of the naturalistâs best quotes: In celebration of his 94th birthday", Independent (8 May 2017), on independent.co.uk website.
You would be surprised at the number of academics who say things like âI didnât realise what a sponge was until I saw a programme of yoursâ.
— Sir David Attenborough
Interview with David Barrett, 'Attenborough: Children Donât Know Enough About Nature', Daily Telegraph (17 Apr 2011).
Young peopleâthey care. They know that this is the world that theyâre going to grow up in, that theyâre going to spend the rest of their lives in. But, I think itâs more idealistic than that. They actually believe that humanity, human species, has no right to destroy and despoil regardless.
— Sir David Attenborough
As quoted, without source, in Kate Ng, 'David Attenborough turns 95: His best quotes on nature, sustainability and humankind', Independent (8 May 2021).
Youâve got to be fairly solemn [about the environment]. I mean the mere notion that there are three times as many people on Earth as there were when I started making television. How can the Earth accommodate them? When people, including politicians, set their faces against looking at the consequencesâitâs just unbelievable that anyone could ignore it.
— Sir David Attenborough
'Sir David Attenborough interview' (aged 84), by Andrew Pettie in The Telegraph (23 Dec 2010).
[A key to success] is being able to talk to camera without a teleprompter. ⊠If you believe something and want to make clear what you are talking about, you ought to be able to articulate it without a teleprompter.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Michael Bond, 'Itâs a Wonderful Life', New Scientist (14 Dec 2002), 176, No. 2373, 48.
[Am I vegetarian?] No. If you understand about the natural world, weâre a part of the system and you canât feed lions grass. But because we have the intelligence to choose⊠But we havenât got the gut to allow us to be totally vegetarian for a start. You can tell by the shape of our guts and the shape of our teeth that we evolved to be omnivores. We arenât carnivores like lions but neither are we elephants.
— Sir David Attenborough
Interview by Simon Gage in 'David Attenborough: Iâm not an animal lover', Metro (29 Jan 2013, London).
[At my secondary school] if you were very bright, you did classics; if you were pretty thick, you did woodwork; and if you were neither of those poles, you did science. The number of kids in my school who did science because they were excited by the notion of science was pretty small. You were allocated to those things, you werenât asked. This was in the late 1930s/early 1940s ⊠Science was seen as something more remote and less to do with everyday life.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Brian Cox and Robert Ince, in 'A Life Measured in Heartbeats', New Statesman (21 Dec 2012), 141, No. 5138, 32.
[Boundless curiosity.] Thatâs what being alive is about. I mean, itâs the fun of it all, making sense of it, understanding it. Thereâs a great pleasure in knowing why trees shed their leaves in winter. Everybody knows they do, but why? If you lose that, then youâve lost pleasure.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Sophie Elmhirst, 'I Think the BBC Has Strayed From the Straight and Narrow', New Statesman (10 Jan 2011), 140, No. 5035, 32.
[If I were to be reincarnated] I would come back as a sloth. Hanging from a tree, chewing leaves sounds great.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Belinda Luscombe, '10 Questions', Time (12 Dec 2011), 178, No. 23, 72.
[My dream dinner guest is] Charles Darwin. Itâs an obvious answer, but itâs the truth. Think of any problem and before you start theorising, just check up whether Charles Darwin mentioned it in one of those green books sitting on your shelf. Whether itâs earthworms, human gestures or the origin of species, the observations that man made are unbelievable. He touched on so many subjects. Then, Alexander von Humboldt, the last polymath. There was no aspect of the natural world that he wasnât curious about or didnât write about in Kosmos, an extraordinary book.
— Sir David Attenborough
From interview with Alice Roberts, 'Attenborough: My Life on Earth', The Biologist (Aug 2015), 62, No. 4, 16.
[Perfecting a script is] verbal carpentry. ⊠That's what my speciality is, really, and always has been. If you can use four words instead of five thatâs good.
— Sir David Attenborough
Two quotes from interview with Joe Shute, 'David Attenborough at 90: âI think about my mortality every dayâ', The Telegraph (29 Oct 2016).
[Watching natural history programs] brings a solace you canât describe in words. Itâs because weâre part of it fundamentallyâŠ. In moments of great grief, thatâs where you look and immerse yourself. You realise you are not immortal, you are not a god, you are part of the natural world and you come to accept that.
— Sir David Attenborough
Reflecting on the letters he received from newly bereaved people. While his series are running on TV, in dozens of letters daily (comprising the majority of the correspondence), they tell him that the only things they can face in their darkest moments are his natural-history programmes. From interview with Joe Shute, 'David Attenborough at 90: âI think about my mortality every dayâ', The Telegraph (29 Oct 2016).
See also:
- 8 May - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Attenborough's birth.
- Life on Air: Memoirs of a Broadcaster, by David Attenborough. - book suggestion.
- Booklist for David Attenborough.