Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Jacques Yves Cousteau Military Officer

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: France
  • Born: Jun 11, 1910
  • Died: Jun 25, 1997

Jacques-Yves Cousteau AC was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-Lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française.

Cousteau described his underwater world research in series of books, perhaps most successful being his first book, The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure, published in 1953. Cousteau also directed films, most notably the documentary adaptation of the book, The Silent World, which won a Palme d'or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. He remained the only person to win a Palme d'Or for a documentary film, until Michael Moore won the award in 2004 for Fahrenheit 9/11.

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.

No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity.

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.

Mankind has probably done more damage to the Earth in the 20th century than in all of previous human history.

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

The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it.