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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

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David Attenborough
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: May 8
Actor
Autobiographer
Biologist
Broadcaster
Director
Environmentalist
Film Director
Journalist
Naturalist
Presenter
Screenwriter
London
England
Sir David Attenborough
David Frederick Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough
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More quotes by David Attenborough

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All we can hope for is that the thing is going to slowly and imperceptibly shift. All I can say is that 50 years ago there were no such thing as environmental policies.
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The idea that the Lord had given us a present, that the world is a gift from God... well, the amount of stuff, back then, that the Lord was giving away was limited. We do not have dominion.
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No one will protect what they don't care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced.
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Using his burgeoning intelligence, this most successful of all mammals has exploited the environment to produce food for an ever increasing population. Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population, perhaps it's time we controlled the population to allow the survival of the environment.
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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.
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Until humanity manages to sort itself out and get a co-ordinated view about the planet, it's going to get worse and worse.
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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.
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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.
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Well, I'm having a good time. Which makes me feel guilty too. How very English.
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I suffer much less than many of my colleagues. I am perfectly able to go to Australia and film within three hours of arrival.
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I remember when we were in the World Cup in Australia and I had to win the singles against Tony Payne, best of seven legs, to win it. I was 2-0 down but ended up beating him I suffer much less than many of my colleagues. I am perfectly able to go to Australia and film within three hours of arrival.
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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.
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You have to steer a course between not appalling people, but at the same time not misleading them.
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Anyone who thinks that you can have infinite growth on a planet with finite resources is either a madman or an economist.
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I'm no longer sceptical. I no longer have any doubt at all. I think climate change is the major challenge facing the world.
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It's a moral question about whether we have the right to exterminate species.
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