Um, so, the world is not as wild as it was. Well, weve destroyed it. N — David Attenborough

"Ill bet when our prehistoric ancestors first dug for tubers and planted seeds in Europe, one of these little robins appeared within a couple of days. Other animals must have done the same job for them before human beings did. Once, not so long ago, wild pig were common all over Europe, and theyre great diggers and rootlers. So maybe the robins boldness and friendliness with other kinds of animals started in prehistory, even before human beings arrived in Europe."

"In moments of great grief, thats where you look and immerse yourself. You realise you are not immortal, you are not a god, you are part of the natural world and you come to accept that."

"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. To which I reply and say, "Well, its funny that the people, when they say that this is evidence of the Almighty, always quote beautiful things. They always quote orchids and hummingbirds and butterflies and roses." But I always have to think too of a little boy sitting on the banks of a river in west Africa who has a worm boring through his eyeball, turning him blind before hes five years old. And I reply and say, "Well, presumably the God you speak about created the worm as well," and now, I find that baffling to credit a merciful God with that action. And therefore it seems to me safer to show things that I know to be truth, truthful and factual, and allow people to make up their own minds about the moralities of this thing, or indeed the theology of this thing."

"If we [humans] disappeared overnight, the world would probably be better off [making the point that the reverse is not true]."

"I dont think any human society is prepared to make decisions which they may not like if theyre made by people who dont speak the same language... Its very easy, as we all know, to be very tolerant of minorities until they become majorities and you find yourself a minority. Its easy to say Oh yes, these lovely people – I love the way they wear such interesting costumes. You know, thats fine until some day you find that theyre actually telling you what to do and that theyve actually taken over the town council and what you thought was your home was not. Im not supporting it; Im saying its what it is."

"Penguins underwater look somewhat like dolphins, and indeed the two families have similar evolutionary histories. Dolphins are descended from air-breathing land animals, just as penguins are descended from air-breathing flying animals. Both subsequently took to swimming for their food. They became beautifully adapted and streamlined. And now, both are superlative swimmers and highly accomplished fishermen."