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Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
61 quotes
“When a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On marriage, as quoted in "48 of Prince Philip's greatest gaffes and funny moments", The Telegraph (2 August 2017).
“You have mosquitoes. I have the Press.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a 1966 conversation with the matron of a hospital while on a tour of the Caribbean as quoted in Andrew Duncan The Reality of Monarchy (1970).
“British women can't cook.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement of 1966, as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes", BBC News (1 March 2002)
“I declare this thing open, whatever it is.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement in 1969 during a visit to Canada, The Guardian (11 apr 2021).
“The man who invented the red carpet needed his head examined.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: About to disembark on state visit to Brazil (November 1968), as quoted in Andrew Duncan The Reality of Monarchy (1970).
“It seems to me that it's the best way of wasting money that I know of. I don't think investments on the moon pay a very high dividend.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the U.S. Apollo program, press conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil (November 1968) as quoted in Andrew Duncan The Reality of Monarchy (1970).
“For conservation to be successful it is necessary to take into consideration that it is a characteristic of man that he can only be relied upon to do anything consistently which is in his own interest. He may have occasional fits of conscience and moral rectitude but otherwise his actions are governed by self-interest. It follows then that whatever the moral reasons for conservation it will only be achieved by the inducement of profit or pleasure.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: World Wildlife Fund: British National Appeal Banquet, London (1962).
“The conflict between instinct and reason has reached a critical stage in man's affairs, largely because the explosion of facts has revealed the instincts for what they are and at the same time it has undermined traditional philosophies and ideologies. The explosion of facts has effectively altered mankind's physical and intellectual environment and when any environment changes, the process of natural selection is brutal and merciless. «Adapt or die» is as true today as it was in the beginning.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fawley Foundation Lecture. Southampton University (24 November 1967).
“We talk about over- and underdeveloped countries; I think a more exact division might be between underdeveloped and overpopulated. The more people there are, the more industry and more waste and the more sewage there is, and therefore the more pollution.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is frequently more rewarding merely to ask pertinent questions. It may get someone to go and look for an answer. If you get a silly answer, which can easily happen, you can return to the charge with even more telling effect. Whatever happens, don't give up and don't despair. Results may not be immediately apparent, but you may have touched a receptive chord without knowing it. Even the most unsympathetic and unenlightened politician, industrialist or bureaucrat begins to take notice when a lot of people write about the same subject.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is an old cliche to say that the future is in the hands of the young. This is no longer true. The quality of life to be enjoyed or the existence to be survived by our children and future generations is in our hands now.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The World Wildlife Fund Congress, London, (1970).
“There may be disagreements about the time scale, but in principle there can be little doubt that the population cannot go on increasing indefinitely. Resources presently being used will not last for ever and pollution in its broadest sense, unless severely checked, is bound to increase with population and industrial activity.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address at the Salford University Degree Ceremony (16 July 1973).
“Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In 1981, in reference to an economic recession, as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes", BBC News (1 March 2002).
“I suspect that the single most important gift of progress to conservation has been the development of human contraception techniques.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to All-Party Conservation Committee in London (18 February 1981).
“Ninety-five per cent of the Atlantic rainforest in Brazil has disappeared in the last hundred years. There is simply nowhere for the animals to live. At the basis of it all is this colossal increase in the human population which is reaching plague proportions.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In a 1984 interview
“The difference between a free society and one in which all issues are governed by inflexible dogma is the constant change of ideas. I hope this book helps people to see some of the problems of this life from a different point of view.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In the book "Men, Machines and Sacred Cow" (1984)
“If it has four legs and is not a chair, has wings and is not an aeroplane, or swims and is not a submarine, the Cantonese will eat it.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1986 statement as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes", BBC News (1 March 2002)
“If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to a group of British students in China in 1986, as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes", BBC News (1 March 2002).
“In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, to contribute something to solving overpopulation.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1998 quote from "When Prince Philip wanted to be reincarnated as a pandemic – and 6 more wild facts about Britain’s oldest royal as he turns 99", Style (Jun 8, 2020)
“It looks like a tart's bedroom.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On seeing plans for the (then) Duke and Duchess of York's house at Sunninghill Park in (1988), as quoted in "48 of Prince Philip's greatest gaffes and funny moments", The Telegraph (2 August 2017).
“It is now apparent that the ecological pragmatism of the so-called pagan religions, such as that of the American Indians, the Polynesians, and the Australian Aborigines, was a great deal more realistic in terms of conservation ethics than the more intellectual monotheistic philosophies of the revealed religions.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on the occasion of the "Caring for Creation" conference of the North American Conference on Religion and Ecology (18 May 1990).
“People usually say that after a fire it is water damage that is the worst. We are still trying to dry out Windsor Castle.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said on a visit to Lockerbie in 1993 to a man who lived in a road where eleven people had been killed by wreckage from the Pan Am jumbo jet, as quoted in "Prince Philip's gaffes", BBC News (10 August 1999).
“You can't have been here that long—you haven't got a pot belly.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to a Briton in Budapest, Hungary in 1993, as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes", BBC News (1 March 2002).
“Aren't most of you descended from pirates?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1994 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said in 1994 to an inhabitant of the Cayman Islands as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes", BBC News (1 March 2002).
“I sympathise desperately with the people who are bereaved at Dunblane, but I'm not altogether convinced that it's the best system to somehow shift the blame onto a very large and peaceable part of the community. I mean if ... look, if somebody ... if a cricketer, for instance, suddenly decided to go into a school and batter a lot of people to death with a cricket bat which he could do very easily, I mean are you going to ban cricket bats? I'm not sure that the reaction is the most rational. I think one's got to make a difference between what the weapons can do and what the people can do.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview on BBC Radio Five Live (18 December 1996); Said in relation to the proposal to ban firearms in the UK following the Dunblane shooting, as quoted in "48 of Prince Philip's greatest gaffes and funny moments", Th…
“Welcome Mr. Reich Chancellor.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said in 1997 during a visit by the Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl, as quoted in "Willkommen, Herr Reichskanzler" welt.de
“It looks as if it was put in by an Indian.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Of a fuse box, whilst on a tour of a factory in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1999, as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes", BBC News (1 March 2002)
“Deaf? If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On a visit to the new National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff, said to a group of deaf children standing next to a Jamaican steel drum band, as quoted in "Deaf insulted by duke's remark" BBC News (27 May 1999).
“What’s the matter with these people? Can’t they see what’s good for them?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reportedly said in response to the Australian people voting to retain the monarchy in the 1999 republic referendum. "Monarchy and the End of Empire" Philip Murphy (2013).
“You are a woman, aren't you?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: After accepting a gift from a Kenyan woman, as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes" BBC News (1 March 2002).
“How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to get them through the test?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Asked of a driving instructor in Scotland, as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes", BBC News (1 March 2002).
“You managed not to get eaten then?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to a British student in Papua New Guinea, as quoted in "Long line of princely gaffes" BBC News (1 March 2002).
“Do you still throw spears at each other?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said in 2002 to an Indigenous Australian businessman, as quoted in "Prince Philip's spear 'gaffe'", BBC News (1 March 2002).
“Do you know they're now producing eating dogs for the anorexics?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to a blind, wheelchair-bound woman who was accompanied by her guide dog, as quoted in "Philip tells blind woman: 'They've got eating dogs for anorexics'" in The Telegraph (3 May 2002).
“You look like you’re ready for bed!”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said in 2003 to President of Nigeria, who was in national dress, as quoted in "Prince Philip quotes: Relive 65 classic gaffes as Duke of Edinburgh celebrates 65th wedding anniversary
“Ah good, there's so many over there you feel they breed them just to put in orphanages.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said while presenting a Duke of Edinburgh Award to a student. When informed that the young man was going to help out in Romania for six months, he asked if the student was going to help the Romanian orphans and was told…
“Can you tell the difference between them?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to United States President Barack Obama after being told that Obama had met with the Chinese and Russian ambassadors along with David Cameron, "Prince Philip makes a faux pas" at Youtube (1 April 2009).
“Well, you'll never fly in it, you're too fat to be an astronaut.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said at the University of Salford to a 13-year-old aspiring astronaut, who was wishing to fly the NOVA rocket, as quoted in of the gaffe: Prince Philip’s top ten embarrassing moments" in the Daily Mirror (14 December 20…
“Are you all one family?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to multi-racial dance troupe Diversity at the 2009 Royal Variety Performance, as quoted in Prince Philip asks Diversity, 'Are you all one family?'" in The Mirror (20 December 2009)
“Oh, what, a strip club?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Response to Elizabeth Rendle, a 24-year-old, who, when introduced to the prince, said that she worked as a barmaid in a nightclub, as quoted in "Prince Philip in strip club gaffe" Yahoo! News (12 March 2010).
“Constitutionally I don't exist.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Royal wedding: Should the royals have real jobs?", BBC News (27 January 2011).
“There is nothing like it for morale to be reminded that the years are passing—ever more quickly—and that bits are dropping off the ancient frame. But it is nice to be remembered at all.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said in a letter to The Oldie magazine after being voted "Consort of the Year", as quoted in "Prince Philip voted 'Consort of the Year'", BBC News (11 February 2011).
“Is it made with Liffey water?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said about a pint Guinness at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, as quoted in "'Is it made with Liffey water?' Philip enquires of Guinness" in Irish Independent (18 May 2011).
“Q: "What do you see as the biggest problem in conservation?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From an interview for the BBC documentary "The Duke at 90" (2011)
“Have you run over anybody?”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to the Mayor of Waltham Forest who uses a mobility scooter, as quoted in "Duke of Edinburgh has fun with mobility scooter jokes on London visit", Metro (29 March 2012).
“Just take the thing! Just take the fucking picture!”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said during an official photo shoot of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2015.
“Education, journalism, technology, entertainment and business may also find better methods for their purpose than books and writing. But this does not mean that tapes and films have made books obsolescent—the contention is almost too ludicrous to be taken seriously. Books are certainly old fashioned, but only people with a very limited perception are silly enough to condemn ideas because of their age. It is, of course, equally silly to condemn the new fangled simply because it is strange, and I am full of admiration for the technologists who have developed all sorts of gadgets for the purpose of improving communications. However, I believe that all these fascinating machines are complementary to, and not substitutes for, books and the printed word.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Do Books Matter? (ed. Brian Baumfield), , p. 15 (1973).
“Why then be concerned about the conservation of wildlife when for all practical purposes we would be much better off if humans and their domestic animals and pets were the only living creatures on the face of the earth? There is no obvious and demolishing answer to this rather doubtful logic although in practice the destruction of all wild animals would certainly bring devastating changes to our existence on this planet as we know it today...The trouble is that everything in nature is completely interdependent. Tinker with one part of it and the repercussions ripple out in all directions... Wildlife — and that includes everything from microbes to blue whales and from a fungus to a redwood tree — has been so much part of life on the earth that we are inclined to take its continued existence for granted...Yet the wildlife of the world is disappearing, not because of a malicious and deliberate policy of slaughter and extermination, but simply because of a general and widespread ignorance and neglect.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: World Wildlife Fund Dinner, York, (1969).
“The sheer weight of numbers of the human population, our habitations, our machinery and our ruthless exploitation of the living and organic resources of the earth; together these are changing our whole environment. This is what we call progress and much of this development is naturally to the direct and welcome benefit of mankind. However, we cannot at the same time ignore the awkward consequences and the most direct and menacing, but not the only consequence of this change, is pollution... Pollution is a direct outcome of man's ruthless exploitation of the earth's resources. Experience shows that the growth of successful organic populations is eventually balanced by the destruction of its own habitat. The vast man-made deserts show that the human population started this process long ago. There are two important differences today. In the first place the process has gone from a walking pace to a breakneck gallop. Secondly we know exactly what is happening. If not exactly in all cases, we know enough to appreciate what is happening and the need to take care... Pollution is no longer a matter of local incidents, today it has the whole biosphere in its grip. The processes which devastated the Welsh valleys a hundred years ago are now at work, over, on and under the earth and the oceans. Even if we bury all this waste underground there still remains the risk that toxic materials through chemical reactions will be washed out and into underground water courses. If ever there was an area of research more closely related to human welfare it is the problem of the safe disposal of waste and effluents... The fact is that we have got to make a choice between human prosperity on the one hand and the total well-being of the planet Earth on the other. Even then it is hardly a choice because if we only look for human prosperity we shall certainly destroy by pollution the earth and the human population which has existed on it for millions of years... If the world pollution situation is not critical at the moment it is as certain as anything can be that the situation will become increasingly intolerable within a very short time. The situation can be controlled and even reversed but it demands co-operation on a scale and intensity beyond anything achieved so far...I realise that there are any number of vital causes to be fought for, I sympathise with people who work up a passionate concern about the all too many examples of inhumanity, injustice, and unfairness, but behind all this hangs a really deadly cloud. Still largely unnoticed and unrecognised, the process of destroying our natural environment is gathering speed and momentum. If we fail to cope with this challenge, all the other problems will pale into insignificance.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Edinburgh University Union (24 November 1969).
“If we are to exercise our responsibilities so that all life can continue on earth, they must have a moral and philosophical basis. Simple self-interest, economic profit and absolute materialism are no longer enough... It has been made perfectly clear that a concern for any part of life on this planet — human, plant or animal, wild or tame — is a concern for all life. A threat to any part of the environment is a threat to the whole environment, but we must have a basis of assessment of these threats, not so that we can establish a priority of fears, but so that we can make a positive contribution to improvement and ultimate survival.”
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source