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" We keep putting on programmes about famine in Ethiopia; that's what's happening. Too many people there. They can't support themselves - and it's not an inhuman thing to say. It's the case. Until humanity manages to sort itself out and get a coordinated view about the planet it's going to get worse and worse. "

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" I've been bitten by a python. Not a very big one. I was being silly, saying: 'Oh, it's not poisonous...' Then, wallop! But you have fear around animals. "

David Attenborough

You

Silly

Animals

" 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. "

" We are not overpopulated in an absolute sense; we've got the technology for 10 billion, probably 15 billion people, to live on this planet and live good lives. What we haven't done is developed our technology. "

" 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. "

" I'd like to see the giant squid. Nobody has ever seen one. I could tell you people who have spent thousands and thousands of pounds trying to see giant squid. I mean, we know they exist because we have seen dead ones. But I have never seen a living one. Nor has anybody else. "

" The fundamental issue is the moral issue. "

" 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. "

" It's extraordinary how self-obsessed human beings are. The things that people always go on about is, 'tell us about us', 'tell us about the first human being'. We are so self-obsessed with our own history. There is so much more out there than what connects to us. "

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

" Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird? "

" 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. "

" I mean, it is an extraordinary thing that a large proportion of your country and my country, of the citizens, never see a wild creature from dawn 'til dusk, unless it's a pigeon, which isn't really wild, which might come and settle near them. "

" Being in touch with the natural world is crucial. "

" I'm against this huge globalisation on the basis of economic advantage. "

" Dealing with global warming doesn't mean we have all got to suddenly stop breathing. Dealing with global warming means that we have to stop waste, and if you travel for no reason whatsoever, that is a waste. "

" There is no question that climate change is happening; the only arguable point is what part humans are playing in it. "

" Nature isn't positive in that way. It doesn't aim itself at you. It's not being unkind to you. "

" Crying wolf is a real danger. "

" 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. "

" I've been to Nepal, but I'd like to go to Tibet. It must be a wonderful place to go. I don't think there's anything there, but it would be a nice place to visit. "

David Attenborough

Wonderful

" I'm not a propagandist, I'm not a polemicist; my primary interest is just looking at and trying to understand how animals work. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I think a major element of jetlag is psychological. Nobody ever tells me what time it is at home. "

" Apart from anything else, I am designed by evolution, like we all are: if we see a little thing like that, big eyes, tiny nose, we go 'aaah'. That's what evolution does. We are programmed to do that. So to find babies the most amazing, isn't surprising, I don't think. "

" Natural history is not about producing fables. "

" 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. "

" People must feel that the natural world is important and valuable and beautiful and wonderful and an amazement and a pleasure. "

" We really need to kick the carbon habit and stop making our energy from burning things. Climate change is also really important. You can wreck one rainforest then move, drain one area of resources and move onto another, but climate change is global. "

" People are not going to care about animal conservation unless they think that animals are worthwhile. "