Nothing in the natural world makes sense - except when seen in the light of evolution David Attenborough More Quotes by David Attenborough More Quotes From David Attenborough I suspect that happiness is not a state but rather a transition. David Attenborough suspectstransitionstates In the old days... it was a basic, cardinal fact that producers didn't have opinions. When I was producing natural history programmes, I didn't use them as vehicles for my own opinion. They were factual programmes. David Attenborough opinionusefacts The process of making natural history films is to try to prevent the animal knowing you are there, so you get glimpses of a non-human world, and that is a transporting thing. David Attenborough knowinganimaltrying As far as I'm concerned, if there is a supreme being then He chose organic evolution as a way of bringing into existence the natural world... which doesn't seem to me to be necessarily blasphemous at all. David Attenborough evolutionwayworld Sentimentalising is anathema, as far as I am concerned. It leads you into ethical problems about violence and killing and eating meat. The whole world becomes topsy-survy if you impose moralities that were evolved within human society on what a blowfly or what a parasite does... there are lots of emotions you can deduce from an animal's behaviour that are correct, but when you start saying it's feeling guilty or thinking or a loved one or mourning, you must be very careful of those feelings. David Attenborough mourninganimalthinking I'm against this huge globalisation on the basis of economic advantage. David Attenborough baseseconomicadvantage The most extraordinary thing about trying to piece together the missing links in the evolutionary story is that when you do find a missing link and put it in the story, you suddenly need all these other missing links to connect to the new discovery. The gaps and questions actually increase - it's extraordinary. David Attenborough missingdiscoverytrying I am an ardent recycler. I would like to think that it works. I don't know whether it does or not. David Attenborough ardentdoethinking If we were all to reduce our demands for energy, it would make an enormous amount of difference. David Attenborough demanddifferencesenergy I'm a humanist. I'm neither one side nor the other. David Attenborough humanistsides If I can make programmes when I'm 95, that would be fine. But I would think I'll have had enough by then. David Attenborough had-enoughwould-bethinking Since when has Finland been a rotten place to live in? David Attenborough finlandplaces-to-liverotten London has fine museums, the British Library is one of the greatest library institutions in the world... It's got everything you want, really. David Attenborough librarymuseumsworld There are perfectly good independent small nations. David Attenborough perfectly-goodnationsindependent 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. David Attenborough tinsweathell Warm-bloodedness is one of the key factors that have enabled mammals to conquer the Earth, and to develop the most complex bodies in the animal kingdom. In this series, we will travel the world to discover just how varied and how astonishing mammals are. David Attenborough mammalskeysanimal 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. David Attenborough squidsgiantspeople If I were beginning my career today, I don't think I would take the same direction. Television is at a crossroads at the moment. And although I am not up to date technologically, I suspect that somewhere out there people are conveying things about natural history by means other than television, and I think if I were beginning today, I'd be there. David Attenborough careersmeanthinking To suggest that God specifically created a worm to torture small African children is blasphemy as far as I can see. The Archbishop of Canterbury doesn't believe that. David Attenborough wormsbelievechildren Terrorism is an immediate problem that people are very concerned about, and I am as concerned about that as anyone else. But it isn't an either or situation. David Attenborough terrorismproblempeople
