Jacques Yves Cousteau Quotes

For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.

Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. Jacques Yves Cousteau

All life is part of a complex relationship in which each is dependent upon the others, taking from, giving to and living with all the rest.

We are living in an interminable succession of absurdities imposed by the myopic logic of short-term thinking.

It takes generosity to discover the whole through others. If you realize you are only a violin, you can open yourself up to the world by playing your role in the concert.

Every explorer I have met has been driven—not coincidentally but quintessentially—by curiosity, by a single-minded, insatiable, and even jubilant need to know.

It is certain that the study of human psychology, if it were undertaken exclusively in prisons, would also lead to misrepresentation and absurd generalizations.

I swam across the rocks and compared myself favorably with the sars. To swim fishlike, horizontally, was the logical method in a medium eight hundred times denser than air. To halt and hang attached to nothing, no lines or air pipe to the surface, was a dream. At night I had often had visions of flying by extending my arms as wings. Now I flew without wings. (Since that first aqualung flight, I have never had a dream of flying.)

On aime ce qui nous a émerveillé, et on protège ce que l'on aime.

To restate an old law - when a man bites a fish, that's good, but when a fish bites a man, that's bad. This is one way of saying it's all right if man kills an animal, but if an animal attacks man, the act is reprehensible. The animal is labelled "killer," something to be feared, hated, shunned, punished, even killed by man. How dangerous are those sea animals with bad reputations? A few actually kill. A few maim. Some are poisonous when eaten by man. Most sting, stab,or poison and cause mild to severe discomfort to man. Yet man is one of the larger beings that sea creatures encounter, and these poisons usually can't kill him. Very often these poisons are used defensively against predators and offensively in food gathering. There are a few animals that have won themselves a bad reputation even though they have little or no effect on man. They have won their rating through man's interpretation of their attitude towards lower animals. These animals have been seen feeding in what appears to be a savage manner. But this behavior may perhaps be comparable to a man tearing the flesh off a chicken leg with his teeth.

Some of these islanders dutifully recited for us their ancient law: “Take no more from the sea in one day than there are people in your village. If you observe this rule, the bonito will run well again tomorrow.

We only protect what we love, we only love what we understand, and we only understand what we are taught.

Human beings had polluted the seawater and mechanically destroyed the nearby coast; all life had paid this price. Often, in airports, on sidewalks, at restaurants, children and adults alike stop me to ask about barracuda and sharks; killer whales; the deadly sorcery of the Bermuda Triangle; the Loch Ness Monster. When I saw Le Veyron, I believed that the sea’s most monstrous force doesn’t live in Loch Ness. It lives in us.

no one can absolutely control the direction of his life; but each person can certainly influence it. The armchair explorers who complain that they never got their “one lucky shot” were never really infected by the incurable drive to explore. Those who have the bug—go.

To enlarge the human perspective, to build on knowledge for future generations, to identify dangers, and to chart the course to a better world: If these are the goals of the explorer, then everyone—voyager, scientist and citizen, parent and child—is engaged in humanity’s momentous expedition.

For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century, he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it." —Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

what motivated explorers? What inspired Magellan, battered by South America’s strange williwaw winds, to hold to his course through an unknown strait with no guarantee that it would lead to an untraversed sea? What makes adult and child alike feel so desperate at the prospect of abandoning their advance along shining rails, across shining seas, that lead beyond the boundaries of their familiar world? What inspires an explorer to undertake a voyage with no destination, to search with no objective, to travel with no itinerary other than the uncharted, the unfathomed, the unexpected?

But then we remembered. What did time matter when one was on an endless voyage?... And so we resigned ourselves and cultivated the virtue of patience. Only then did I notice that my back had begun hurting again.

Silner's hut" we called it. There he spent his free time, surrounded by boxes and cans (we use the spar deck to store everything that we have no other space for), doing those mysterious things that all photographers seem to do when left to themselves.

How many of these people rise to their feet or fall to their knees in cathedrals, temples, synagogues, mosques, reciting the word of their God by rote, all the while ignoring the living word of God just outside the window? How many read scriptures that praise their God’s creation but acquiesce when damage is done to it? Daily newspapers report on politicians, presidents, ayatollahs who righteously and regularly proclaim that they lead their nations in accordance with the word of their God; we hear of martyrs who have died because they have refused to repudiate their beliefs, of revolutions, civil wars, holy wars—all waged by people who are willing to fight for the right to believe what they choose. They choose to believe in a God who has issued divine commands; how many honor His divine commands to safeguard the environment? How many instead behave as latter-day Peters, vociferously attesting to their belief in God but denying Him when the opportunity arises to protect the environment as holy writings mandate?

The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever—Jacques Yves Cousteau The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach - waiting for a gift from the sea—Anne Morrow Lindbergh

No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity. —Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Perché pensiamo all'oceano come a una semplice riserva di cibo, petrolio e minerali? Il mare non è un banco delle occasioni. Siamo accecati dalla cupidigia per le sue grandi ricchezze subacquee. La più grande risorsa dell'oceano non è materiale, ma è data dalla fonte illimitata d'ispirazione e di benessere che ne traiamo. Ma rischiamo di contaminarlo per sempre proprio quando stiamo imparando la sua scienza, la sua arte e la sua filosofia e come vivere nel suo grembo.

It is possible - indeed, it is likely - that, unless there is a great change in the near future, disaster will follow. And it will be a disaster of which man himself will be not only the perpetrator, but also one of the victims. - p 46

Time and again we have come across phenomena eminently worthy of being investigated - only to have them disappear before we could make eve a visual record... Without being unduly pessimistic, I would say that, for every success we have had in filming or recording a matter of scientific interest, we have had ten failures. - p 46 Life and death in a coral sea

For almost forty years now, I have lived on the ocean. I have dedicated myself to the sea, and wholly consecrated myself to it. I have explored depths that, until then, were unknown. I have had good days and bad days. I have dived in the waters of incredible transparency, and I have experienced the violence of waves like those at Europa, which tore the Calypso from its anchorage and battered its aging carcass with elemental fury. But, despite all the dangers, all the fatigue, all the sacrifices, I have never regretted the choice I made. The sea, in the final account, always brought me more joy than pain. And that was true in this case also; for I had the pleasure of seeing us all together again - our entire team, gathered under a blue sky, on a blue sea. Once more, the sea had refused to exact a price for our audacity and our curiosity; and once more I was grateful to her for her generosity. -P219

If a man for whatever reason has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself. JACQUES-YVES COUSTEAU Legendary underwater explorer and filmmaker

Les gens protègent ce qu'ils aiment. Ils aiment ce qu'ils comprennent et ils comprennent ce qu'ils apprennent. (People protect what they love. They love what they understand, and they understand what they learn)

La notizia si sparse per il Calypso dalla sala macchine al ponte, e tutti affollarono la mensa per vedere i reperti. Con gesto rituale Ichac alzò le coppe: «Sono state riunite insieme con i manici genelli ad angolo retto fra loro» disse separandole. «Io sto ora separando oggetti che uno specialista imballò in questo modo 2200 anni fa.» L'osservazione fece colpo sulla compagnia. Le coppe erano state tornite e riunite da esseri viventi i cui abili risultati erano passati dalle loro mani alle nostre attraverso un arco di duemila anni. Noi non intendevamo immergerci semplicemente per andare a pescare dei pezzi da museo, ma per avere notizia di quegli artigiani, per sapere come la loro merce delicata potesse giungere fin nelle acque della Gallia, e sopratutto - per marinai come noi - per avere dati sulla nave e sull'abilità marinara della ciurma. Che specie di nave era quella? Come era stata costruita? Che sorta di uomini l'avevano manovrata? Degli indizi sarebbero potuti uscire dalla fanghiglia sotto di noi per raccontare ogni cosa.