Jacques Yves Cousteau was was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-Lung. Inspirational Jacques-Yves Cousteau quotes will encourage growth in life, make you wiser and broaden your perspective.
Famous Jacques-Yves Cousteau Quotes
The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. Jacques Yves Cousteau
The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Man, of all the animals, is probably the only one to regard himself as a great delicacy. Jacques Yves Cousteau
A lot of people attack the sea, I make love to it. Jacques Yves Cousteau
From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free. Jacques Yves Cousteau
No aquarium, no tank in marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea. And no dolphin who inhabits one of those aquariums or one of those marine lands can be considered normal. Jacques Yves Cousteau
No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity. Jacques Yves Cousteau
The sea is the universal sewer. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Mankind has probably done more damage to the Earth in the 20th century than in all of previous human history. Jacques Yves Cousteau
We must plant the sea and herd its animals using the sea as farmers instead of hunters. That is what civilization is all about farming replacing hunting. Jacques Yves Cousteau
I would work as a cook, get a little money, then open another restaurant. Paul Prudhomme
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. Jacques Yves Cousteau
There’s just no quiet in Vegas. Barry Manilow
Buoyed by water, he can fly in any direction up, down, sideways by merely flipping his hand. Underwater, man becomes an archangel. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Left love behind many years ago. Now it rests under a cross in the cemetery in Tombstone. Franco Nero
Human blood is a testament to life’s origin in the ocean: its chemical composition is nearly identical to that of sea water. Jacques Yves Cousteau
You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop. Rumi
In the heat of the sun, the ocean is the boiler and condenser of a gigantic steam engine, a weather engine that governs crops, floods, droughts, frosts, hurricanes. Jacques Yves Cousteau
The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. Jacques Cousteau
It is fashionable nowadays to talk about the endless riches of the sea. The ocean is regarded as a sort of bargain basement, but I don’t agree with that estimate. People don’t realize that water in the liquid state is very rare in the universe. Away from the earth, it is usually a gas. This moisture is a blessed treasure, and it is our basic duty if we don’t want to commit suicide, to preserve it. Jacques Yves Cousteau
We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch we are going back from whence we came. John F. Kennedy
Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans. Jacques Yves Cousteau
The universe is an ocean upon which we are the waves. While some decide to surf, others venture to dive. Charbel Tadros
Mankind has probably done more damage to the Earth in the 20th century than in all of previous human history. Jacques Yves Cousteau
We are in reach of a whole new relationship with the ocean, a wise, more sustainable relationship. The choice lies with us. David Attenborough
Pollution of the air or of the land all ultimately ends up in the sea. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Limitless and immortal, the waters are the beginning and end of all things on earth. Heinrich Zimmer
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. Jacques Yves Cousteau
I have an immoderate passion for water; for the sea, though so vast, so restless, so beyond one’s comprehension. Guy de Maupassant
The real cure for our environmental problems is to understand that our job is to salvage Mother Nature. We are facing a formidable enemy in this field. It is the hunters and to convince them to leave their guns on the wall is going to be very difficult. Jacques Yves Cousteau
You can either see yourself as a wave in the ocean or you can see yourself as the ocean. Oprah Winfrey
Farming as we do it is hunting, and in the sea, we act like barbarians. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing, in the end, can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Margaret Atwood
It has been calculated that when a factory saves some money by polluting the environment; it costs the citizens living in the vicinity ten times more than it saves the factory. Jacques Yves Cousteau
You will love the ocean. It makes you feel small, but not in a bad way. Small because you realize you’re part of something bigger. Lauren Myracle
Man, of all the animals, is probably the only one to regard himself as a great delicacy. Jacques Yves Cousteau
You can never cross the ocean until you have courage to lose sight of the shore. Christopher Columbus
No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity. Jacques Yves Cousteau
The ocean is a central image. It is the symbolism of a great journey. Enya
From birth, man carries the weight of gravity on his shoulders. He is bolted to earth. But man has only to sink beneath the surface and he is free. Jacques Yves Cousteau
You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water. Rabindranath Tagore
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
I wanted freedom, open air and adventure. I found it on the sea. Alain Gerbeault
The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man, it is to know that and to wonder at it. Jacques Yves Cousteau
The ocean was magical to her, its depths and mysteries were boundless, its call irresistible. Jeff Mariotte
If we go on the way we have, the fault is our greed and if we are not willing to change, we will disappear from the face of the globe, to be replaced by the insect. Jacques Yves Cousteau
I love the ocean. I’ve always liked the blue, so tranquil and peaceful and gliding. And the fear of it. Siouxsie Sioux
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. Jacques Yves Cousteau
I have always been fascinated by the ocean, to dip a limb beneath its surface and know that I’m touching eternity, that it goes on forever until it begins here again. Lauren DeStefano
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. Jacques Yves Cousteau
When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself. Jacques Yves Cousteau
How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when it is clearly Ocean. Arthur C Clarke
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. Jacques Yves Cousteau
I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves. Le Testament d’Orphée
People protect what they love. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Wild waves rise and fall when they arrive and that’s what makes the calm sea alive. Munia Khan
If we were logical, the future would be bleak, indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope, and we can work. Jacques Yves Cousteau
I pray to be like the ocean, with soft currents, maybe waves at times. More and more, I want consistency rather than the highs and the lows. Drew Barrymore
Only the applied scientist sets out to find a useful pot of gold. The pure scientist sets out to find nothing. Anything. Everything. The applied scientist is a prospector. The pure scientist is an explorer. Jacques Yves Cousteau
What is a scientist after all? It is a curious man looking through a keyhole, the keyhole of nature, trying to know what’s going on. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Waves tossed themselves against the shore, dragging grit and sand between their nails as they were slowly pulled back out to sea. Holly Black
I am not a scientist. I am, rather, an impresario of scientists. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think. Robert Henri
Far from attempting to control science, few among the general public even seem to recognize just what science entails. Because lethal technologies seem to spring spontaneously from scientific discoveries, most people regard dangerous technology as no more than the bitter fruit of science, the real root of all evil. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away. Sarah Kay
Learning science, learning about nature, is more than the mere right of taxpayers; it is more than the mere responsibility of voters. It is the privilege of the human being. Jacques Yves Cousteau
The sea always filled her with longing, though for what she was never sure. Cornelia Funke
There’s about as much educational benefit studying dolphins in captivity as there would be studying mankind by only observing prisoners held in solitary. Jacques Yves Cousteau
There is an ocean of silence between us and I am drowning in it. Ranata Suzuki
It is certain that the study of human psychology, if it were undertaken exclusively in prisons, would also lead to misrepresentation and absurd generalizations. Jacques Yves Cousteau
What would an ocean be without a monster lurking in the dark? It would be like sleep without dreams. Werner Herzog
We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one. Jacques Yves Cousteau
On the ocean of life let your mind be the ship and your heart be the compass. James David Manning
However fragmented the world, however intense the national rivalries, it is an inexorable fact that we become more interdependent every day. Jacques Yves Cousteau
Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought of which the sea would not be part. Hermann Broch
I believe that national sovereignties will shrink in the face of universal interdependence. Jacques Yves Cousteau
I go to the ocean to say goodbye. Charlotte Eriksson
The road to the future leads us smack into the wall. We simply ricochet off the alternatives that destiny offers. Our survival is no more than a question of 25, 50, or perhaps 100 years. Jacques Yves Cousteau
I was happy anywhere I could see the ocean.Ai Yazawa
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