Peter Benchley quotes

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... (Peter Benchley)

Without the oceans there would be no life on Earth.

Peter Benchley

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

Peter Benchley

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

Peter Benchley

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

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

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

Peter Benchley

We provoke a shark every time we enter the water where sharks happen to be, for we forget: The ocean is not our territory - it's theirs.

Peter Benchley

I didn't invent the fear of sharks; it's as old as mankind, and that - to take that responsibility would mean that Mario Puzo should take the blame for the Mafia.

Peter Benchley

Fascinations breeds preparedness, and preparedness, survival.

Peter Benchley

I believe implicitly that every young man in the world is fascinated with either sharks or dinosaurs. (Peter Benchley)

I dive as much as I can.

Peter Benchley

I'm a babe in the woods when it comes to the Internet.

Peter Benchley

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

Peter Benchley

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

Peter Benchley

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

Peter Benchley

Reputations rise and fall almost as regularly as the tides.

Peter Benchley

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

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

Peter Benchley

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

Peter Benchley

Sharks don't target human beings, and they certainly don't hold grudges. (Peter Benchley)

Since writing JAWS, I've been lucky enough to do close to forty television shows about wildlife in the oceans, and yes, I have been attacked by sea creatures once in a while.

Peter Benchley