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

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

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

Man, of all the animals, is probably the only one to regard himself as a great delicacy.

- Jacques Yves Cousteau

The biggest obstacle was mixing abortion with overpopulation. These are two things that have nothing to do with each other.

- Jacques Yves Cousteau

However fragmented the world, however intense the national rivalries, it is an inexorable fact that we become more interdependent every day.

- 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

The awareness of our environment came progressively in all countries with different outlets.

- Jacques Yves Cousteau

The sea is the universal sewer.

- 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

Farming as we do it is hunting, and in the sea we act like barbarians.

- Jacques Yves Cousteau

I am not a scientist. I am, rather, an impresario of scientists.

- Jacques Yves Cousteau

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

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

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

- Jacques Yves Cousteau

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

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

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

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

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