“Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?”

There is one quality that characterizes all of us who deal with the sciences of the earth and its life – we are never bored.

The aim of science is to discover and illuminate truth. And that, I take it, is the aim of literature, whether biography or history or fiction. It seems to me, then, that there can be no separate literature of science.

In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.

Every mystery solved brings us to the threshold of a greater one.

Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life.

The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery, not over nature but of ourselves.

We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature.

For mankind as a whole, a possession infinitely more valuable than individual life is our genetic heritage, our link with past and future… Yet genetic deterioration through man-made agents is the menace of our time.

Like the resource it seeks to protect, wildlife conservation must be dynamic, changing as conditions change, seeking always to become more effective.

We are not truly civilized if we concern ourselves only with the relation of man to man. What is important is the relation of man to all life.

But most of all I shall remember the monarchs, that unhurried westward drift of one small winged form after another, each drawn by some invisible force.

The Choice, after all, is ours to make.

It is ironic to think that man might determine his own future by something so seemingly trivial as the choice of an insect spray.

The control of nature is a phrase conceived in arrogance.

Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.

Knowing what I do, there would be no future peace for me if I kept silent.

I decline to accept Hebrew mythology as a guide to twentieth-century science.

There is no way around the hard work. Embrace it.

You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.

Someone was like, ‘If you wanna be a celebrity, know that every girl you talk to is going to be your girlfriend.’ And I was like, ‘Fine. I accept that for getting to do what I love for the rest of my life.’

Women, unlike most men, are able to accept mystery, accept whatever comes to them – even if it’s not logical.

I accepted the face that as much as I want to lead others, and love to be around other people, in some essential way, I am something of a loner.

Nor is it wiser to weep a true occasion lost, but trim our sails, and let old bygones be.

I accepted the face that as much as I want to lead others, and love to be around other people, in some essential way, I am something of a loner.