Art & Creativity Quote by Gerald Durrell

Durrell’s genius here is his refusal to let “progress” sit comfortably in the mouth. He loads the sentence with the calm authority of a naturalist, then twists the knife with that acid little qualifier: “what we call.” It’s a verbal eye-roll, a reminder that civilization’s self-portrait is often propaganda. The line lands because it treats extermination not as an accident of development but as its habit, tucked inside the euphemisms we use to feel modern and innocent.

“All over the world” widens the lens beyond any one rainforest or island, framing wildlife collapse as a planetary pattern, not a localized tragedy. “The wildlife that I write about” is a subtle credibility move, too: Durrell isn’t speaking in abstractions. He’s pointing to named species, lived fieldwork, the intimate knowledge that makes loss feel specific rather than sentimental. That intimacy also exposes the reader’s distance; we consume stories about animals while the animals themselves vanish.

Context matters: Durrell wrote as conservation was still fighting for mainstream legitimacy, before biodiversity loss became a familiar headline. His career - equal parts storyteller and institution-builder (Jersey Zoo, captive breeding) - makes the warning practical, not poetic. The subtext is an indictment of the modern bargain: we get roads, markets, “growth,” and pay with silence in the forests. By calling it “the progress of civilization,” Durrell forces a moral audit of the word progress itself, asking who benefits, who disappears, and why we keep calling the bill “advancement.”