“We were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever they may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted to battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses.”

—  Robert Ardrey , book African Genesis

African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man (1961)

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Robert Ardrey 8
Screenwriter and author of several books on anthropology 1908–1980

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