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Science & Tech Quote by David Attenborough

"The whole of science, and one is tempted to think the whole of the life of any thinking man, is trying to come to terms with the relationship between yourself and the natural world. Why are you here, and how do you fit in, and what's it all about"

About this Quote

Attenborough frames science less as a toolbox than as a lifelong negotiation with reality: a sustained attempt to stop floating above the planet and start living inside it. The phrasing is classic him - disarmingly plain, gently expansive, almost conversational - but it smuggles in a sharper claim: the real subject of science is not gadgets or data, it is belonging. He makes the natural world the main interlocutor, and positions the "thinking man" (a slightly dated, telling universal) as someone compelled to reconcile ego with ecology.

The intent is to broaden science into a moral and existential practice without sounding preachy. "Come to terms" implies both acceptance and struggle: the natural world is not a backdrop to human drama; it is the terms-and-conditions document we keep trying to negotiate away. By coupling scientific inquiry with "Why are you here... how do you fit in... what's it all about", he quietly collapses the wall between the laboratory and the late-night spiral of meaning-making. It's a rhetorical move that makes curiosity feel like responsibility.

Context matters: Attenborough's career is built on translating nature into intimacy for mass audiences, especially as biodiversity loss and climate change turn wonder into emergency. The subtext is a rebuke to the modern habit of treating nature as content, resource, or scenery. If you are here, you are implicated; fitting in is not a poetic aspiration but a survival requirement.

Quote Details

TopicMeaning of Life
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Attenborough, David. (2026, January 17). The whole of science, and one is tempted to think the whole of the life of any thinking man, is trying to come to terms with the relationship between yourself and the natural world. Why are you here, and how do you fit in, and what's it all about. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-whole-of-science-and-one-is-tempted-to-think-33161/

Chicago Style
Attenborough, David. "The whole of science, and one is tempted to think the whole of the life of any thinking man, is trying to come to terms with the relationship between yourself and the natural world. Why are you here, and how do you fit in, and what's it all about." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-whole-of-science-and-one-is-tempted-to-think-33161/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The whole of science, and one is tempted to think the whole of the life of any thinking man, is trying to come to terms with the relationship between yourself and the natural world. Why are you here, and how do you fit in, and what's it all about." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-whole-of-science-and-one-is-tempted-to-think-33161/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

David Attenborough

David Attenborough (born May 8, 1926) is a Journalist from United Kingdom.

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