Home / Authors / Sylvia Earle

Sylvia Earle Quotes

Explorer

Sylvia Earle, born on August 30, 1935, is a renowned marine explorer. She is known for her in-depth research on marine ecosystems and her advocacy for ocean conservation.

Filter quotes by topic

All Ocean Sea Ifs Planets Earth Knows People Humans Water Years Way Fishes World Atmosphere Blue Has Beens Stills Care Creatures Important

Famous Sylvia Earle Quotes

“If we have a hope of really understanding our place in nature and of carving out a place for ourselves that is sustainable, it's primarily because of the new level of communication. It used to be, 'What you don't have in your mind, you have on your shelf.' But now we have the Web.”

Ifs Mind Used Understanding Nature Levels Communication Used To Be Sustainability Shelves Carving

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The living ocean drives planetary chemistry, governs climate and weather, and otherwise provides the cornerstone of the life-support system for all creatures on our planet, from deep-sea starfish to desert sagebrush. That's why the ocean matters. If the sea is sick, we'll feel it. If it dies, we die. Our future and the state of the oceans are one.”

Source: Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans

“Why does evolution matter? There is so much about the evolution of life, the development of life on Earth that should rivet the attention of everyone to understand where we've come from and where we might be going. We need to understand the world around us if we are to succeed as a species on the planet.”

Ifs World Needs Should Doe Matter Might Earth Attention Planets Development Evolution Succeed Species Evolution Of Life

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Most of life on Earth has a deep past, much deeper than ours. And we have benefited from the distillation of all preceding history, call it evolutionary history if you will.”

Ifs Earth Past Deeper Distillation

Author:Sylvia Earle

“If Darwin could see what we now see, what we now know about the ocean, about the atmosphere, about the nature of life, as we now understand it, about the importance of microbes - I think he would just beam with joy that many of the thoughts and the glimpses of the majesty of life on Earth that he had during his life, now magnified many times over.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Earth Joy Ocean Importance Atmosphere Glimpse Majesty Beam Microbes

Author:Sylvia Earle

“If Darwin could get into a submarine and see what I've seen, thousand of feet beneath the ocean, I am just confident that he would be inspired to sit down and start writing all over again.”

Ifs Writing Would Be Feet Thousand Ocean Down And Inspired Be Inspired Submarines

Author:Sylvia Earle

“If the sea is sick, we'll feel it. If it dies, we die. Our future and the state of the oceans are one.”

Ifs Feels States Dies Sea Ocean Sick Our Future Starfish

Book:Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans

Source: Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans

“People I know who succeed don't mind working. Those who are competent seem to like doing things well -- not stopping because they haven't accomplished what they wanted to on the first go-round. They're willing to do it twenty times, if necessary. There's an illusion that the good people can easily do something, and it's not necessarily true. They're just determined to do it right. I was impressed by hearing one of the women at Radcliffe talk about writing a poem, how many revisions a single poem sometimes has to go through -- fifty or sixty revisions to come out with a poem sixteen lines long.”

“The most important part is to take on the challenge of protecting the ocean as if your life depends on it - because it does.”

Ifs Doe Important Challenges Depends Ocean

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We must protect our ocean as if our lives depend upon it, because they do.”

Ifs Our Lives Depends Protect Ocean

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The very energy sources that have gotten us to where we are now are also, if we continue doing what we're doing, a shortcut to the end of all that we hold near and dear.”

Ifs Ends Energy Source Dear Shortcuts Energy Sources

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Throughout all of human history we've enjoyed certain benign circumstances: an envelope of atmosphere, an envelope of temperature. A kind of resilience that if you cut down trees, then they'll grow back. You take fish, they recover. You put stuff into the atmosphere that you know is not good for us, but we can still breathe. We haven't awakened, generally, to the sense of urgency that does exist.”

“We still have the illusion that the ocean will recover. That even if we do have to lose sharks, people don't understand why this matters. The evidence is in front of us, and we fail to take it in and say, "Now I get it. Now I understand."”

People Ifs Stills Matter Loses Failing Fronts Ocean Illusion Evidence Sharks

Author:Sylvia Earle

“The ocean is dying, and we have no place to escape to if this experiment doesn't go in our favor.”

Ifs Dying Ocean Favors Experiments

Author:Sylvia Earle

“If I seem like a radical it's because I have seen things that others have not.”

Ifs Seems Radical

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We still have 10 percent of the sharks. We still have half of the coral reefs. However, if we wait another 50 years, opportunities might well be gone.”

Ifs Years Wells Stills Might Opportunity Waiting Half Gone Percent Sharks Reefs Coral Reefs

Author:Sylvia Earle

“If you make the choice to just go with the flow, that is a choice to make a difference in a negative way.”

Ifs Way Choices Differences Negative Flow Making A Difference

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Even if you never have the chance to see or touch the ocean, the ocean touches you with every breath you take, every drop of water you drink, every bite you consume. Everyone, everywhere is inextricably connected to and utterly dependent upon the existence of the sea.”

Ifs Water Chance Existence Environment Sea Drink Ocean Breaths Connected Dependent Bites Drop Of Water

Author:Sylvia Earle

“There is a terribly terrestrial mindset about what we need to do to take care of the planet-as if the ocean somehow doesn't matter or is so big, so vast that it can take care of itself, or that there is nothing that we could possibly do that we could harm the ocean...We are learning otherwise.”

Ifs Needs Matter Bigs Care Environment Planets Ocean Take Care Mindset Harm

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Everyone has power. But it doesn't help if you don't use it.”

Ifs Helping Use

Author:Sylvia Earle

“If somebody dumps something noxious in my back yard, the dumper is the last one I would call on to repair the damage.”

Ifs Lasts Damage Yards Dump

Author:Sylvia Earle

“If you think the ocean isn't important, imagine Earth without it. Mars comes to mind. No ocean, no life support system.”

Ifs Thinking Mind Important Earth Support Imagine Ocean Mars Support Systems

Book:The World Is Blue

Source: The World Is Blue

“Look at the bark of a redwood, and you see moss. If you peer beneath the bits and pieces of the moss, you'll see toads, small insects, a whole host of life that prospers in that miniature environment. A lumberman will look at a forest and see so many board feet of lumber. I see a living city.”

Ifs Looks Whole Bits Cities Environment Pieces Feet Forests Boards Host Peers Insects Bark Moss Miniatures Toads Bits And Pieces Redwoods Lumber

Author:Sylvia Earle

“Sharks are beautiful animals, and if you're lucky enough to see lots of them, that means that you're in a healthy ocean. You should be afraid if you are in the ocean and don't see sharks.”

Ifs Should Mean Enough Beautiful Animal Healthy Lucky Ocean Sharks

Author:Sylvia Earle

“We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.”

Ifs Needs Care Our Lives Ocean Take Care

Author:Sylvia Earle

About the Author

Born: August 30, 1935
Known for: Explorer
Quotes: 192

Books & Sources

Sea Change: A Message of the OceansRelated source material

The World Is BlueRelated source material

Similar Authors

Fabien CousteauBrowse related quotes
Edith WidderBrowse related quotes
Jacques Yves CousteauBrowse related quotes
Graham HawkesBrowse related quotes
Jon BowermasterBrowse related quotes
Paul Moon JamesBrowse related quotes
Enric SalaBrowse related quotes
Sheila ChandraBrowse related quotes
Brian SkerryBrowse related quotes
Robert WylandBrowse related quotes