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8 Quotes From David Attenborough That Prove Why He’s A National Treasure

He’s the natural historian who needs no introduction. Here are 8 pearls of wisdom from Sir David Attenborough.

by Bustle UK
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
David Attenborough with orang utan and her baby at London Zoo
Mirrorpix/Getty

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

John Mahler/Getty

Are we happy that our grandchildren may never see an elephant except in a picture book?

BBC America

It’s a terrible thing to appear on television – because people think you actually know what you’re talking about!

Adam Seward/imageBROKER/Shutterstock

The whole of life is coming to terms with yourself and the natural world. Why are you here? How do you fit in? What’s it all about?

John Stillwell/Getty

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.

Gareth Cattermole/Getty

There are four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. That’s four million solutions to the problem of staying alive.

Edward Miller/Getty

The truth is: the natural world is changing. And we are totally dependent on that world. It provides our food, water and air. It is the most precious thing we have and we need to defend it.

Daniel Berehulak/Getty

Young people – they care. They know that this is the world that they're going to grow up in, that they're going to spend the rest of their lives in. But, I think it's more idealistic than that. They actually believe that humanity, human species, has no right to destroy and despoil regardless.

BBC News