Louis Leakey Quotes

• People frequently ask me why I devote so much time to seeking out facts about man’s past…the past shows clearly that we all have a common origin and that our differences in race, colour and creed are only superficial.

  Louis Leakey

  Past, Men, Race

  20 Copy quote

• Stone tools are fossilized human behavior.

  Louis Leakey

  Tools, Stones, Behavior

  16 Copy quote

• Far too often animals are put to sleep when they could be saved through proper care and nursing.

  Louis Leakey

  Sleep, Nursing, Animal

  15 Copy quote

• To save an animal's life in order that it may suffer indefinitely is something I would never condone.

  Louis Leakey

  Animal, Order, Suffering

  15 Copy quote

• As a social anthropologist, I naturally accept and even stress the fact that there are major differences, both mental and psychological, which separate the different races of mankind. Indeed, I would be inclined to suggest that however great may be the physical differences between such races as the European and the Negro, the mental and psychological differences are greater still.

  Louis Leakey

  Stress, Race, Differences

  16 Copy quote

• Olduvai Gorge gives us one of the most remarkable stories of the past-the last chapter of the Earth's history, starting at the present day, right away back 2 million years.

  Louis Leakey

  Past, Years, Giving

  16 Copy quote

• When my father arrived in Kenya, he had found the Kikuyu way of life similar to that of the British at the time the Romans invaded England 2,000 years ago.

  Louis Leakey

  Father, Years, Kenya

  14 Copy quote

• There is tragic evidence to show that the paintings at the French prehistoric art sites are deteriorating.

  Louis Leakey

  Art, Aggravation, Painting

  12 Copy quote

• The trip I made to Angola to study the prehistoric contents of the gravel beds as a means of deciding the age of the deposits and their economic potential was the first time prehistory had ever been used for such a purpose.

  Louis Leakey

  Mean, Age, Bed

  90 Copy quote

• Sometimes string figures were used to illustrate stories, as in the case of an Eskimo example that depicts a man catching a salmon. Sometimes they had magic or religious significance.

  Louis Leakey

  Religious, Men, Magic

  13 Copy quote

• Most Kikuyu marriages were arranged on the basis of what is described by anthropologists as the bride price.

  Louis Leakey

  Swag, Brides, Bases

  13 Copy quote

• The Dalmatian breed of dog has many primitive characteristics.

  Louis Leakey

  Dog, Dalmatians, Characteristics

  15 Copy quote

• The author knows just what he wants to illustrate and how he would like it to be done.

  Louis Leakey

  Done, Want, Knows

  5 Copy quote

• South Africa had a long record of studies in prehistory, going back to the end of the last century.

  Louis Leakey

  Long, Records, Lasts

  55 Copy quote

• I saw what looked like another fallen tree in front of me and put my foot on it to cross over. At that moment it reared up in front of me-the biggest python I had ever seen!

  Louis Leakey

  Python, Feet, Tree

  10 Copy quote

• Colonial governors and senior civil servants are not easy people to argue with, and I was not popular because of my criticism of the colonial service in Kenya.

  Louis Leakey

  Senior, Hippie, People

  9 Copy quote

• The Foxhall jaw has now been missing for many years.

  Louis Leakey

  Missing You, Years, Missing

  4 Copy quote

• Raising funds for my fourth expedition proved to be very difficult.

  Louis Leakey

  Travel, Difficult, Expeditions

  14 Copy quote

• Eloquent testimony to the recovery powers of wild animals frequently becomes apparent from the study of skeletons housed in museums.

  Louis Leakey

  Recovery, Animal, Skeletons

  13 Copy quote

• I put a bullet into the back of the crocodiles neck just behind the head, thus killing it. If a crocodile is hit in any other part of its anatomy it disappears into the water and is irrecoverable.

  Louis Leakey

  Water, Bullets, Necks

  20 Copy quote

• Sometime during the many millions of years that have elapsed since mammalian faunas came into existence, some sort of island crossed from West Africa to South America.

  Louis Leakey

  Islands, Years, America

  12 Copy quote

• We set up the promised clinic for the sick and wounded Masai.

  Louis Leakey

  Sick, Masai, Clinic

  66 Copy quote

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