# Quote — Richard E. Leakey, Origins

> It appears that the evolutionary process promotes its own progress: learning about the environment (which demands a certain intelligence) means living in a stable social mileau (which demands at least an equal and possibly a greater intelligence); as social intelligence increases, so too will the ability to learn; this in turn encourages an even longer social apprenticeship; and longer group living leads to more social intelligence.

- Author: [Richard E. Leakey](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-e-leakey.md)
- Book: [Origins](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-e-leakey/origins.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Leakey#Origins_(1977)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-e-leakey/origins/it-appears-that

## More from this book

> In its extreme form self-awareness manifests itself in notions such as that of the soul, but in simple form it merely means to be aware of oneself as an individual among others.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-e-leakey/origins/in-its-extreme.md)

> A vital leap in the evolution of intellectual capacity would have been the ability to form concepts, to conceive of individual objects as belonging to distinct classes, and thus do away with the almost intolerable burden of relating one experience to another. Concepts, moreover, can be manipulated and this is the root of abstract thought and of invention. The formation of concepts is also a necessary, but apparently not sufficient, condition for the emergence of language.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-e-leakey/origins/a-vital-leap.md)

> The quality that accompanies the emergence of learning in the evolution of higher animals, namely intelligence, is surprisingly difficult to define.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-e-leakey/origins/the-quality-that.md)