Top 106 Quotes & Sayings by Prince Charles

Something as curious as the monarchy won't survive unless you take account of people's attitudes. After all, if people don't want it, they won't have it.

Women are not automatically second-class citizens because they live in Islamic countries. We cannot judge the position of women in Islam aright if we take the most conservative Islamic states as representative of the whole.

I'm not very good at being a performing monkey.

We are not the technology. It should be our - you know, our slave, the technology. But it's rapidly becoming our master in many areas, I think.

There is an old show business saying which warns never to work with animals or children, but nobody prepared me for Molly Meldrum.

I have often thought that one of the less attractive traits of various professional bodies and institutions is the deeply ingrained suspicion and outright hostility which can exist towards anything unorthodox or unconventional.

You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe: when it knocked down our buildings it did not replace them with anything more offensive than rubble. We did that.

We need to be realistic. There is very little we can do now to stop the ice from disappearing from the North Pole in the summer. And we probably cannot prevent the melting of the permafrost and the resulting release of methane. In addition, I fear that we may be too late to help the oceans maintain their ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

We might be more inclined to think about the longer term if we were more aware of what is happening around us. Perhaps daily weather forecasts could include a few basic facts about the Earth's vital signs or details of where climate change is increasing the likelihood of damaging weather?

As human beings, we suffer from an innate tendency to jump to conclusions, to judge people too quickly, and to pronounce them failures or heroes without due consideration.

We would never comment on private correspondence.

I learned the way a monkey learns - by watching its parents.

Perhaps it has been too uncomfortable for those with vested interests to acknowledge, but we have spent the best part of the past century enthusiastically testing the world to utter destruction; not looking closely enough at the long-term impact our actions will have.

It's always nice to have somebody on your side.

Do you seriously expect me to be the first Prince of Wales in history not to have a mistress?

The whole imposing edifice of modern medicine is like the celebrated tower of Pisa - slightly off balance.

As you may possibly have noticed from time to time, I have tended to make a habit of sticking my head above the parapet and generally getting it shot off for pointing out what has always been blindingly obvious to me.

Christianity was literally born in the Middle East, and we must not forget our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ.

I have for some time now been deeply troubled by the growing difficulties faced by Christian communities in various parts of the Middle East. It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are increasingly being deliberately targeted by fundamentalist Islamist militants.

The whole of the 20th century has always put the car at the center. So by putting the pedestrian first, you create these livable places, I think, with more attraction and interest and character.

I think I can safely say that, as adolescents, most people have excess energy to spare and need adventure, excitement, and a challenge.

Congratulations to 'Countdown' - it was an evening I will never forget - and a special thank you to Molly Meldrum.

We're busily wrecking the chances for future generations at a rapid rate of knots by not recognizing the damage we're doing to the natural environment, bearing in mind that this is the only planet that we know has any life on it.

I find myself born into this particular position. I'm determined to make the most of it and to do whatever I can to help. And I hope I leave things behind a little bit better than I found them.

Father told me that if I ever met a lady in a dress like yours, I must look her straight in the eyes.

We can halt the destruction of the world's rainforests - and even restore parts of them - in order to ensure that the forests do what they are so good at - in other words, storing carbon naturally.

It is baffling, I must say, that in our modern world we have such blind trust in science and technology that we all accept what science tells us about everything - until, that is, it comes to climate science.

The whole of nature cries out at our mistreatment of her. If the planet were a patient, we would have treated her long ago.

All my life, people have been telling me what to do. I'm tired of it. My private life has become an industry.

Conflict, of course, comes about because of the misuse of power and the clash of ideals, not to mention the inflammatory activities of unscrupulous and bigoted leaders. But it also arises, tragically, from an inability to understand and from the powerful emotions which, out of misunderstanding, lead to distrust and fear.

All the time I feel I must justify my existence.

The mistake is to think that clever technology can solve everything, but it can't solve our relationship with nature, which is where I think it's gone wrong in that we have somehow abandoned our proper connection with nature.

That's called a microphone. It's a big sausage that picks up everything you say - and you're starting early.

The medieval Islamic world, from Central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society, and system of belief, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history.

There's nothing like a jolly good disaster to get people to start doing something.

On an increasingly crowded planet, humanity faces many threats - but none is greater than climate change. It magnifies every hazard and tension of our existence.

It's always marvelous to have somebody who, you know, you feel understands and wants to encourage.

As long as I do not take myself too seriously, I should not be too badly off.

I'd rather go by bus.

Your greatest achievement is to love me.

You don't want to see me all the time. You get bored.

Hong Kong has created one of the most successful societies on Earth.

For me, Lord Mountbatten represented the grandfather I never had.

I believe passionately that everyone has a particular God-given ability.

I sometimes wonder if two thirds of the globe is covered in red carpet.

Extremism is no more the monopoly of Islam than it is the monopoly of other religions, including Christianity.

It is vitally important that we can continue to say, with absolute conviction, that organic farming delivers the highest quality, best-tasting food, produced without artificial chemicals or genetic modification, and with respect for animal welfare and the environment, while helping to maintain the landscape and rural communities.

To get the best results you must talk to your vegetables.

I think it's something that dawns on you with the most ghastly, inexorable sense. I didn't suddenly wake up in my pram one day and say 'Yippee, I - ', you know. But I think it just dawns on you, you know, slowly, that people are interested in one, and slowly you get the idea that you have a certain duty and responsibility.

A large number of us have developed a feeling that architects tend to design houses for the approval of fellow architects and critics, not for the tenants.

Only the other day I was inquiring of an entire bed of old-fashioned roses, forced to listen to my ramblings on the meaning of the universe as I sat cross-legged in the lotus position in front of them.

Scientists themselves readily admit that they do not fully understand the consequences of our many-faceted assault upon the interwoven fabric of atmosphere, water, land and life in all its biological diversity. But things could also turn out to be worse than the current scientific best guess. In military affairs, policy has long been based on the dictum that we should be prepared for the worst case. Why should it be so different when the security is that of the planet and our long-term future?

Forests are the world's air-conditioning system-the lungs of the planet-and we are on the verge of switching it off.

I find myself born into this particular position. I'm determined to make the most of it. And to do whatever I can to help. And I hope I leave things behind a little bit better than I found them.

Grandparenthood is a unique moment in anyone's life, as countless kind people have told me in recent months, so I am enormously proud and happy to be a grandfather for the first time and we are eagerly looking forward to seeing the baby in the near future.

The less people know about what is really going on, the easier it is to wield power and authority.

Forests ... are in fact the world's air-conditioning system-the very lungs of the planet-and help to store the largest body of freshwater on the planet ... essential to produce food for our planet's growing population. The rainforests of the world also provide the livelihoods of more than a billion of the poorest people on this Earth... In simple terms, the rainforests, which encircle the world, are our very life-support system-and we are on the verge of switching it off.

I miss my grandmother every day. I miss her vitality, her interest in the lives of others, her courage and determination, her perceptive wisdom, her calm in the face of all difficulties, her steadfast belief in the British people and above all her unstoppable sense of mischievous humour.

As human beings we suffer from an innate tendency to jump to conclusions; to judge people too quickly and to pronounce them failures or heroes without due consideration of the actual facts and ideals of the period.

Be neither too remote nor too familiar.