Mary Leakey Quotes

“Basically, I have been compelled by curiosity.”

— Mary Leakey

“There were details like clothing, hair styles and the fragile objects that hardly ever survive for the archaeologist-musical instruments, bows and arrows, and body ornaments depicted as they were worn. ... No amounts of stone and bone could yield the kinds of information that the paintings gave so freely.”

— Mary Leakey

I'd rather be in a tent than in a house.

— Mary Leakey

Theories come and go, but fundamental data always remain the same.

— Mary Leakey

I dug things up. I was curious. I liked to draw what I found.

— Mary Leakey

“The first money I ever earned was for drawing stone tools.”

— Mary Leakey

“I go once a year to the Serengeti to see the wildebeest migrations because that means a lot to me, but I avoid Olduvai if I can because it is a ruin. It is most depressing.”

— Mary Leakey

I had never passed a single school exam, and clearly never would.

— Mary Leakey

“You only find what you are looking for, really, if the truth be known.”

— Mary Leakey

“She stops, pauses, turns to the left to glance at some possible threat or irregularity, and then continues to the north. This motion, so intensely human, transcends time.”

— Mary Leakey

I quite liked having a baby - I think I won't put it more strongly than that. But I had no intention of allowing motherhood to disrupt my work as an archeologist.

— Mary Leakey

“I never felt interpretation was my job.”

— Mary Leakey

“I got too old to live in the bush. You really need to be youngish and healthy, so it seemed stupid to keep going.”

— Mary Leakey

“Now this really is something to put on the mantelpiece.”

— Mary Leakey