Top 90 Sylvia A. Earle Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “No water, no life. No blue, no green.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

Featured in: Nature Quotes

2. “There’s plenty of water in the universe without life, but nowhere is there life without water.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

3. “With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you’re connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

4. “I suggest to everyone: Look in the mirror. Ask yourself: Who are you? What are your talents? Use them, and do what you love.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

5. “The oceans deserve our respect and care, but you have to know something before you can care about it.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

6. “Many of us ask what can I, as one person, do, but history shows us that everything good and bad starts because somebody does something or does not do something.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

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

— Sylvia A. Earle

8. “Every time I slip into the ocean, it’s like going home.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

9. “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.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

10. “Places change over time with or without oil spills, but humans are responsible for the Deepwater Horizon gusher – and humans, as well as the corals, fish and other creatures, are suffering the consequences.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

11. “Our past, our present, and whatever remains of our future, absolutely depend on what we do now.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

12. “The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids! They ask question and have a sense of wonder. They have curiosity. ‘Who, what, where, why, when, and how!’ They never stop asking questions, and I never stop asking questions, just like a five year old.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

13. “Knowing is the key to caring, and with caring there is hope that people will be motivated to take positive actions. They might not care even if they know, but they can’t care if they are unaware.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

14. “With respect to the ocean being the heart of our blue planet: We are often asked, ‘How much protection is enough?’ We can only answer with another question: How much of your heart is worth protecting?”

— Sylvia A. Earle

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

— Sylvia A. Earle

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

— Sylvia A. Earle

17. “Far and away, the greatest threat to the ocean, and thus to ourselves, is ignorance. But we can do something about that.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

18. “Great attention gets paid to rainforests because of the diversity of life there. Diversity in the oceans is even greater.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

19. “The diversity of life on Earth, generally, is astonishing. But despite those large numbers, it’s also important to recognize that every species, one way or another, is vulnerable to extinction. And in our time on Earth our impact on the diversity of life has been profound.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

20. “It doesn’t matter where on Earth you live, everyone is utterly dependent on the existence of that lovely, living saltwater soup. There’s plenty of water in the universe without life, but nowhere is there life without water.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

21. “Health to the ocean means health for us.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

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

— Sylvia A. Earle

23. “I find the lure of the unknown irresistible.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

24. “Earth as an ecosystem stands out in the all of the universe. There’s no place that we know about that can support life as we know it, not even our sister planet, Mars, where we might set up housekeeping someday, but at great effort and trouble we have to recreate the things we take for granted here.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

25. “This much is certain: We have the power to damage the sea, but no sure way to heal the harm.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

26. “I love music of all kinds, but there’s no greater music than the sound of my grandchildren laughing; my kids, too.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

27. “Humans are the only creatures with the ability to dive deep in the sea, fly high in the sky, send instant messages around the globe, reflect on the past, assess the present and imagine the future.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

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

— Sylvia A. Earle

29. “When I first ventured into the Gulf of Mexico in the 1950s, the sea appeared to be a blue infinity too large, too wild to be harmed by anything that people could do.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

30. “Evolution is not something to be feared. It’s to be celebrated, embraced, and understood.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

31. “By the end of the 20th century, up to 90 percent of the sharks, tuna, swordfish, marlins, groupers, turtles, whales, and many other large creatures that prospered in the Gulf for millions of years had been depleted by overfishing.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

32. “Scientists never stop asking. They’re little kids who never grew up.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

33. “I’ve always said, ‘Underwater or on top, men and women are compatible.’”

— Sylvia A. Earle

34. “Forty percent of the United States drains into the Mississippi. It’s agriculture. It’s golf courses. It’s domestic runoff from our lawns and roads. Ultimately, where does it go? Downstream into the gulf.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

35. “I want everybody to go jump in the ocean to see for themselves how beautiful it is, how important it is to get acquainted with fish swimming in the ocean, rather than just swimming with lemon slices and butter.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

36. “Success underwater depends mostly on how you conduct yourself. Diving can be the most relaxing experience in the world. Your weight seems to disappear. Space travel will be available only to a few individuals for some time, but the oceans are available to almost everyone – now.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

37. “The sudden release of five million barrels of oil, enormous quantities of methane and two million gallons of toxic dispersants into an already greatly stressed Gulf of Mexico will permanently alter the nature of the area.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

38. “We’ve got to somehow stabilize our connection to nature so that in 50 years from now, 500 years, 5,000 years from now there will still be a wild system and respect for what it takes to sustain us.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

39. “When I arrived on the planet, there were only two billion. Wildlife was more abundant, we were less so; now the situation is reversed.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

40. “Like a shipwreck or a jetty, almost anything that forms a structure in the ocean, whether it is natural or artificial over time, collects life.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

41. “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.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

42. “I hope for your help to explore and protect the wild ocean in ways that will restore the health and, in so doing, secure hope for humankind. Health to the ocean means health for us.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

43. “The Exxon Valdez spill triggered a swift and strong response that changed policies about shipping, about double-hulled construction. A number of laws came into place.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

Featured in: Strong Quotes

44. “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.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

45. “You don’t have to touch the ocean for the ocean to touch you.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

46. “I’m haunted by the thought of what Ray Anderson calls ‘tomorrow’s child,’ asking why we didn’t do something on our watch to save sharks and bluefin tuna and squids and coral reefs and the living ocean while there still was time. Well, now is that time.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

47. “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.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

48. “Ice ages have come and gone. Coral reefs have persisted.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

49. “Why is it that scuba divers and surfers are some of the strongest advocates of ocean conservation? Because they’ve spent time in and around the ocean, and they’ve personally seen the beauty, the fragility, and even the degradation of our planet’s blue heart.”

— Sylvia A. Earle

50. “Nothing has prepared sharks, squid, krill and other sea creatures for industrial-scale extraction that destroys entire ecosystems while targeting a few species.”

— Sylvia A. Earle