Peter Benchley Quotes

• No, the shark in an updated JAWS could not be the villain; it would have to be written as the victim, for, worldwide, sharks are much more the oppressed than the oppressors.

  Peter Benchley

  Sharks, Villain, Victim

  Peter Benchley (1995). “Ocean planet: writings and images of the sea”, ABRAMS

  55 Copy quote

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

  Peter Benchley

  Rain, Ocean, Men

  35 Copy quote

• The past always seems better when you look back on it than it did at the time. And the present never looks as good as it will in the future.

  Peter Benchley

  Past, Looks, Seems

  Peter Benchley (2012). “Jaws”, p.108, Fawcett

  8 Copy quote

• The ocean is the only alien and potentially hostile environment on the planet into which we tend to venture without thinking about the animals that live there, how they behave, how they support themselves, and how they perceive us. I know of no one who would set off into the jungles of Malaysia armed only with a bathing suit, a tube of suntan cream, and a book, and yet that's precisely how we approach the oceans.

  Peter Benchley

  Ocean, Book, Animal

  13 Copy quote

• I know now that the mythic monster I created was largely a fiction.

  Peter Benchley

  Monsters, Fiction, Knows

  Peter Benchley (2008). “Shark Life: True Stories About Sharks & the Sea”, p.49, Yearling

  9 Copy quote

• Sharks don't target human beings, and they certainly don't hold grudges.

  Peter Benchley

  Sharks, Target, Grudge

  10 Copy quote

• There's nothing in the sea this fish would fear. Other fish run from bigger things. That's their instinct. But this fish doesn't run from anything. He doesn't fear.

  Peter Benchley

  Running, Fear, Sea

  Peter Benchley (2012). “Jaws”, p.81, Fawcett

  16 Copy quote

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

  Peter Benchley

  Believe, Men, Sharks

  62 Copy quote

• Sharks have everything a scientist dreams of. They're beautiful―God, how beautiful they are! They're like an impossibly perfect piece of machinery. They're as graceful as any bird. They're as mysterious as any animal on earth. No one knows for sure how long they live or what impulses―except for hunger―they respond to. There are more than two hundred and fifty species of shark, and everyone is different from every other one.

  Peter Benchley

  Beautiful, Dream, Animal

  Peter Benchley (2012). “Jaws”, p.104, Fawcett

  18 Copy quote

• You're gonna need a bigger boat.

  Peter Benchley

  Inspirational, Movie, Radio News

  "Fictional character: Chief Martin Brody". "Jaws", www.imdb.com. June 20, 1975.

  21 Copy quote

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

  Peter Benchley

  Ocean, Sharks, Predator

  9 Copy quote

• Reputations rise and fall almost as regularly as the tides.

  Peter Benchley

  Fall, Tides, Reputation

  9 Copy quote

• Without the oceans there would be no life on Earth.

  Peter Benchley

  Ocean, Would Be, Earth

  4 Copy quote

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

  Peter Benchley

  Suicide, Suicidal, Hopeful

  4 Copy quote

• Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.

  Peter Benchley

  Water, Safe

  "Jaws 2" film's tagline, www.imdb.com. June 16, 1978.

  4 Copy quote

• Fascinations breeds preparedness, and preparedness, survival.

  Peter Benchley

  Survival, Fascination, Preparedness

  4 Copy quote

• Look, Chief, you can't go off half-cocked looking for vengeance against a fish. That shark isn't evil. It's not a murderer. It's just obeying its own instincts. Trying to get retribution against a fish is crazy.

  Peter Benchley

  Crazy, Sharks, Evil

  Peter Benchley (2012). “Jaws 2-Book Bundle: Jaws and Shark Trouble”, p.111, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• I've never been hurt by a sea creature, except for jellyfish and sea urchins.

  Peter Benchley

  Hurt, Sea, Jellyfish

  124 Copy quote

• I read very widely, both non-fiction and fiction, so I don't think there's a single writer who influences me.

  Peter Benchley

  Thinking, Fiction, Influence

  7 Copy quote

• Writing is sweat and drudgery most of the time. And you have to love it in order to endure the solitude and the discipline.

  Peter Benchley

  Writing, Order, Sweat

  9 Copy quote

• Oceanography is a terrific career because gradually we seem to be coming around to realize that we had better become as acquainted with the seventy percent of our planet that is covered by water as we are with the dark side of the moon.

  Peter Benchley

  Dark, Moon, Careers

  6 Copy quote

• The fish was an enemy. It had come upon the community and killed two men, a woman, and a child. The people of Amity would demand the death of the fish. They would need to see it dead before they could feel secure enough to resume their normal lives.

  Peter Benchley

  Children, Men, Two

  Peter Benchley (2012). “Jaws 2-Book Bundle: Jaws and Shark Trouble”, p.111, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• Twenty-five years ago nobody knew much about white sharks.

  Peter Benchley

  Sharks, Years, White

  4 Copy quote

• I don't believe in blaming inanimate objects for anything.

  Peter Benchley

  Believe, Inanimate Objects, Blame

  7 Copy quote

• He would have lied to himself as facilely as an alcoholic lies to himself to justify the 10 a.m. tumbler of vodka : it may be early here, but in Baghdad it's almost evening.

  Peter Benchley

  Lying, Baghdad, May

  4 Copy quote

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