“I had a huge advantage when I started 50 years ago - my job was secure. I didn't have to promote myself. These days there's far more pressure to make a mark, so the temptation is to make adventure television or personality shows. I hope the more didactic approach won't be lost.”
Hope
“Steve Irwin did wonderful conservation work but I was uncomfortable about some of his stunts. Even if animals aren't aware that you are not treating them with respect, the viewers are.”
RespectAll Quotes by David Attenborough
“There is no question that climate change is happening the only arguable point is what part humans are playing in it.”
Change“Cameramen are among the most extraordinarily able and competent people I know. They have to have an insight into natural history that gives them a sixth sense of what the creature is going to do, so they can be ready to follow.”
History“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.”
History“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.”
History“People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure.”
Amazing“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.”
History“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.”
Time“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.”
History“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.”
Nature“People talk about doom-laden scenarios happening in the future: they are happening in Africa now. You can see it perfectly clearly. Periodic famines are due to too many people living on land that can't sustain them.”
Future“The whole of science, and one is tempted to think the whole of the life of any thinking man, is trying to come to terms with the relationship between yourself and the natural world. Why are you here, and how do you fit in, and what's it all about.”
Relationship“Nature isn't positive in that way. It doesn't aim itself at you. It's not being unkind to you.”
Nature“You can cry about death and very properly so, your own as well as anybody else's. But it's inevitable, so you'd better grapple with it and cope and be aware that not only is it inevitable, but it has always been inevitable, if you see what I mean.”
Death“Television of course actually started in Britain in 1936, and it was a monopoly, and there was only one broadcaster and it operated on a license which is not the same as a government grant.”
Government“I think a major element of jetlag is psychological. Nobody ever tells me what time it is at home.”
Home“Steve Irwin did wonderful conservation work but I was uncomfortable about some of his stunts. Even if animals aren't aware that you are not treating them with respect, the viewers are.”
Respect“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.”
Change“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.”
Change“The climate, the economic situation, rising birth rates none of these things give me a lot of hope or reason to be optimistic.”
Hope