Louis Leakey Quotations

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

I put a bullet into the back of the crocodile's 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.

Although we followed that hyena for the best part of half an hour, we never caught up with it.

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.

I have examined the stomach contents of seven aardvarks.

At Olduvai, for 20 years, Mary and I had investigated and made a general survey of the overall geology.

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

I felt that in time simple stone tools would be found in early Pleistocene in England.

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!

I kept an open mind on the question of whether a hominid had been present in Europe in the early Pleistocene.

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

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.

The majority of people in Angola were not provided with any kind of schooling and were completely illiterate, very badly paid, and treated almost as slaves.

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.

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

The Foxhall jaw has now been missing for many years.

The Dalmatian breed of dog has many primitive characteristics.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

We explored about 180 miles of exposures, ranging from a depth of about 300 feet to 50 feet, before we undertook any major digging.

We decided to leave a part of each and every excavated area exactly as we had found it, protecting the specimens from rain and excessive sun.

Our water hole at the camp was little more than a liquid, muddy swamp, in which a rhino wallowed daily and added urine to the puddle.

I withdrew my support for the validity of the evidence for early Pleistocene Stone Age tools in Europe on the grounds of not proven.

Tracing the paintings was often complicated because of high winds and by the difficulties of getting within reach of the paintings.

During our first night in the new camp a number of lions came round to investigate. The lions contented themselves by roaring at us.

I held a research fellowship at St. John's College, Cambridge, and had been allowed to retain my rooms there while I was away in Africa.

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

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.

Stone tools are fossilized human behavior.

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.

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.

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.

The crocodile was laid stomach upwards to be cut open. The stomach contents included bracelets, beads, necklaces, and indications of human meals.