“With an icy grand compassion for the human case, Robert Ardrey was a master craftsman of controversy and the human story. Admired by many, reviled by some, ignored by none, Robert Ardrey has always stimulated what Homo sapiens is supposed to do best: thinking. Yet, also, there is a mellow music [in his work], which makes it worthy to read and finish in the evening, near a fireplace, when one is thoughtfully proudest about human life.”

— Lionel Tiger, Rutgers University

Man beset by anarchy, banditry, chaos and extinction must at last resort turn to that chamber of horrors, human enlightenment. For he has nowhere else to turn.

— African Genesis (1961)

STREETER: Let’s just not argue. You can call me stupid, all right. I can call you a coward, all right. It’s just I believe one thing, you believe something else. I think the world’s got an outside chance, you believe it hasn’t. That’s all.

— Thunder Rock (1939)

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.

— African Genesis (1961)

Why is man man? As long as we have had minds to think with, stars to ponder upon, dreams to disturb us, curiosity to inspire us, hours free for meditation, words to place our thoughts in order, the question like a restless ghost has prowled the cellars of our consciousness.

— The Hunting Hypothesis (1976)