97 Quotes by Peter Benchley

If man doesn't learn to treat the oceans and the rain forest with respect, man will become extinct.

I hope that 'Jaws' will have brought sharks into the public interest at a time when we desperately need to reevaluate our care for the environment.

We provoke a shark every time we enter the water where sharks happen to be, for we forget: The ocean is not our territory - it's theirs.

I believe implicitly that every young man in the world is fascinated with either sharks or dinosaurs.

Without sharks, you take away the apex predator of the ocean, and you destroy the entire food chain

We do not just fear our predators, we are transfixed by them. We are prone to weave stories and fables and chat endlessly about them.

If we choose to walk into a forest where a tiger lives, we are taking a chance. If we swim in a river where crocodiles live, we are taking a chance. If we visit the desert or climb a mountain or enter a swamp where snakes have managed to survive, we are taking a chance.

A human being is still more likely to die of a bee sting, snake bite or, Lord knows, automobile accident than by shark attack. We do not execute the perpretrators of death by car. We should not butcher an animal for an inadvertent homicide.

I guess I'm a hopeful optimist, because to be a pessimist is to be suicidal.