I'm swanning round the world looking at the most fabulously interesting things. Such good fortune. David Attenborough More Quotes by David Attenborough More Quotes From David Attenborough Before the BBC, I joined the Navy in order to travel. David Attenborough navyordertravel I'm absolutely strict about it. When I land, I put my watch right, and I don't care what I feel like, I will go to bed at half past eleven. If that means going to bed early or late, that's what I live by. As soon as you get there, live by that time. David Attenborough meanpasttravel In the Baboon community, it is not how strong you are that is important, but who you know that counts David Attenborough communityimportantstrong Opponents say natural selection is not a theory supported by observation or experiment; that it is not based on fact; and that it cannot be proved. Well, no, you cannot prove the theory to people who won't believe in it any more than you can prove that the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066. However, we know the battle happened then, just as we know the course of evolution on earth unambiguously shows that Darwin was right. David Attenborough battlebelievepeople Reptiles and amphibians are sometimes thought of as primitive, dull and dimwitted. In fact, of course, they can be lethally fast, spectacularly beautiful, surprisingly affectionate and very sophisticated. David Attenborough reptilesbeautifuldull That people will object very much to seeing a predator killing its prey, and yet, in the news, will accept showing shots of people shooting one another. David Attenborough shootingnewspeople The climate, the economic situation, rising birth rates; none of these things give me a lot of hope or reason to be optimistic. David Attenborough birth-rateoptimisticgiving I find it far more awesome, wonderful, that creation; our appearance in the world; should be the culmination, or at least one of the latest products of 3,000 Million years of organic evolution, than a kind of country trick, taking a rib out of a man's side in a trance. David Attenborough mencountryyears All the modern devices we have enable us to investigate things and have enabled us to do better. David Attenborough devicesmodern I like animals. I like natural history. The travel bit is not the important bit. The travel bit is what you have to do in order to go and look at animals. David Attenborough animalordertravel Nature isn't positive in that way. It doesn't aim itself at you. It's not being unkind to you. David Attenborough unkindaimway Human beings, because we're so clever, have removed every single one of those population limiting factors... So nothing controls our increase in numbers except our own wish. Since I first started making television programs, the population of the world has increased three times. That's an extraordinary notion. Can it increase four times? Can it increase five times? The Earth is a finite size. So a point will eventually come when we run out of food, when we run out of space and when we will have destroyed most of the natural world. So ought we to do something about it before that happens? David Attenborough cleverrunningnumbers It's coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so. It's not just climate change; it's 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. David Attenborough spacehomeyears The notion of ever more old people needing ever more young people, who will in turn grow old and need even more young people, and so on ad infinitum, is an obvious ecological Ponzi scheme. David Attenborough schemespeopleneeds I think a major element of jetlag is psychological. Nobody ever tells me what time it is at home. David Attenborough journeyhometravel I don't like rats, but there's not much else I don't like. The problem with rats is they have no fear of human beings, they're loaded with foul diseases, they would run the place given half the chance, and I've had them leap out of a lavatory while I've been sitting on it. David Attenborough sittinghalfrunning This last chapter .. may have given the impression that somehow man is the ultimate triumph of evolution, that all these millions of years of development have had no purpose other than to put him on earth. There is no scientific evidence whatever to support such a view and no reason to suppose that our stay here will be any more permanent than that of the dinosaur. David Attenborough viewsmenyears They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator. David Attenborough beautifulmeanchildren I suffer much less than many of my colleagues. I am perfectly able to go to Australia and film within three hours of arrival. David Attenborough australiathreesuffering We can now manipulate images to such an extrodinary extent that there's no lie you cannot tell. David Attenborough manipulatelying
