--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Why is man man? As long as we have had…" description: "\"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 meditat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c70/robert-ardrey-17947_cellars_why-is-man-man-as-long-as-we-have-had-mi_2155917.jpg" --- # Why is man man? As long as we have had minds to think… ![“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.” quote by Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c70/robert-ardrey-17947_cellars_why-is-man-man-as-long-as-we-have-had-mi_2155917.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c70/robert-ardrey-17947_cellars_why-is-man-man-as-long-as-we-have-had-mi_2155917.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c70/robert-ardrey-17947_cellars_why-is-man-man-as-long-as-we-have-had-mi_2155917.jpg) > “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.” [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human curiosity drives inquiry, imagination, and the search for meaning beyond daily life. **In simple terms:** Curiosity pushes us to explore and reflect. Key Takeaway Embrace wonder and thoughtful reflection. Themes curiosity existence philosophy Mood reflective inquisitive Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education - research - personal meditation - creative writing Key Concepts human nature intellectual pursuit Questions to Reflect On - What sparks your deepest questions? - How does curiosity shape your daily actions? A Different Perspective Too much introspection can lead to paralysis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cellars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cellars/) [Cellars Consciousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cellars-consciousness-4553057/) [Consciousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consciousness/) [Curiosity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/curiosity/) [Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dream/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost/) [Hours](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hours/) [Inspire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspire/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Meditation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meditation/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Minds Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minds-think/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Ponder Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ponder-dreams-4553056/) [Pondering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pondering/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Restless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/restless/) [Stars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stars/) [Think](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thoughts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thoughts/) ## Related quotes > [Great minds think alike because a greater Mind is thinking through them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/great-minds-think-alike-because-a-greater-mind-is-thinking-through/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [Narrow minds think nothing right that is above their own capacity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/narrow-minds-think-nothing-right-that-is-above-their-own-capacity/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [Great minds think a like. So I bet you know what I mean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rakii-retondo/great-minds-think-a-like-so-i-bet-you-know-what-i-mean/) [Rakii Retondo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rakii-retondo/) > [“Successful men and women train their minds to think only about what they want to happen in their lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/newberry-tommy/successful-men-and-women-train-their-minds-to-think-only-about-what/) [Newberry, Tommy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/newberry-tommy/) > [Weak minds think alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-icke/weak-minds-think-alike/) [David Icke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-icke/) > [Most minds think from A to B to G to O, or hold goals and ambitions to keep them going.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynette-fromme/most-minds-think-from-a-to-b-to-g-to-o-or-hold-goals-and-ambitions-to/) [Lynette Fromme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynette-fromme/) > [ “\[Great creative minds\] think like artists but work like accountants.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cal-newport/great-creative-minds-think-like-artists-but-work-like-accountants/) [Cal Newport](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cal-newport/) > [“What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.1”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-ingram/what-comes-to-our-minds-when-we-think-about-god-is-the-most-important/) [Chip Ingram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-ingram/) > [Great minds think alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-elkeles/great-minds-think-alike/) [Simone Elkeles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-elkeles/) > [I know dumb minds think alike too.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikhil-saluja/i-know-dumb-minds-think-alike-too/) [Nikhil Saluja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikhil-saluja/) > [I don't think you see your minds. I think you see your thoughts; you see your desires; you see your relatives, friends, lovers, enemies.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/i-don-t-think-you-see-your-minds-i-think-you-see-your-thoughts-you/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Individuals will speak their minds, which I think is healthy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-p-leahy/individuals-will-speak-their-minds-which-i-think-is-healthy/) [William P. Leahy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-p-leahy/) > [“Average minds think alike, but unique minds do not.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calvin-w-allison/average-minds-think-alike-but-unique-minds-do-not/) [Calvin W. Allison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calvin-w-allison/) > [Many have original minds who do not think it - they are led away by custom!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/many-have-original-minds-who-do-not-think-it-they-are-led-away-by/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [I prefer open minds over like minds. Its part of that whole think for yourself thingy that I try to subscribe to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rock-cowles/i-prefer-open-minds-over-like-minds-its-part-of-that-whole-think-for/) [Rock Cowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rock-cowles/) ## More by Robert Ardrey > [The city is a cultural invention enforcing on the citizen knowledge of his own nature. And this we do not like. That we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/the-city-is-a-cultural-invention-enforcing-on-the-citizen-knowledge/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [Do you care about freedom? Dreams may have inspired it, and wishes prompted it, but only war and weapons have made it yours.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/do-you-care-about-freedom-dreams-may-have-inspired-it-and-wishes/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [If you watch lizards and lions copulating, then you will see that in 200 million years the male has not had a single new idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/if-you-watch-lizards-and-lions-copulating-then-you-will-see-that-in/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [The dog barking at you from behind his master's fence acts for a motive indistinguishable from that of his master when the fence was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/the-dog-barking-at-you-from-behind-his-master-s-fence-acts-for-a/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [Not in innocence, and not in Asia, was mankind born. The home of our fathers was that African highland reaching north from the Cape…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/not-in-innocence-and-not-in-asia-was-mankind-born-the-home-of-our/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [“I have lived my life in the shelter of too many northern alliances. I have made alliance with the gentle cow, the health department,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/i-have-lived-my-life-in-the-shelter-of-too-many-northern-alliances-i/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/the-miracle-of-man-is-not-how-far-he-has-sunk-but-how-magnificently/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [The hunter died when he achieved supremacy. Perhaps the death of the hunter will be the long monument to interglacial man. We denied a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/the-hunter-died-when-he-achieved-supremacy-perhaps-the-death-of-the/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/the-miracle-of-man-is-not-how-far-he-has-sunk-but-how-magnificently-2/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [Human war has been the most successful of our cultural traditions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/human-war-has-been-the-most-successful-of-our-cultural-traditions/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [Natural selection deals ruthlessly with any population, bird or beaver, which fails to solve the problems of its environment with all those resources, learned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/natural-selection-deals-ruthlessly-with-any-population-bird-or-beaver/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [There is nothing so moving - not even acts of love or hate - as the discovery that one is not alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/there-is-nothing-so-moving-not-even-acts-of-love-or-hate-as-the/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [Man is a fraction of the animal world. Our history is an afterthought, no more, tacked to an infinite calender. We are not so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/man-is-a-fraction-of-the-animal-world-our-history-is-an-afterthought/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [Far from the truth lay the antique assumption that man had fathered the weapon. The weapon, instead, had fathered man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/far-from-the-truth-lay-the-antique-assumption-that-man-had-fathered/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) > [A bird does not fly because it has wings; it has wings because it flies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-ardrey/a-bird-does-not-fly-because-it-has-wings-it-has-wings-because-it-flies/) [Robert Ardrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) [Explore all 36 Robert Ardrey quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-ardrey/) ## More Cellars quotes > [Friendship, "the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed; and it is consolatory to think, that although we can seldom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-boswell/friendship-the-wine-of-life-should-like-a-well-stocked-cellar-be/) [James Boswell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-boswell/) > [All she saw, down in the cellar well beneath the stoop, was a light yellow feather with a tip of green. And she had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/all-she-saw-down-in-the-cellar-well-beneath-the-stoop-was-a-light/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [If I was at the Comedy Cellar at midnight you yelled at the back of the room. But you, for television, play it to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mulaney/if-i-was-at-the-comedy-cellar-at-midnight-you-yelled-at-the-back-of/) [John Mulaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mulaney/) > [Too many of the organizations I have observed resemble a farm in Kansas. They have lots of fences and silos as well as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-buckingham/too-many-of-the-organizations-i-have-observed-resemble-a-farm-in/) [Marcus Buckingham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-buckingham/) > [To be successful, keep looking tanned, live in an elegant building (even if you're in the cellar), be seen in smart restaurants (even if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-be-successful-keep-looking-tanned-live-in-an-elegant-building-even/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [But the people cannot have wells, and so they take rain-water. Neither can they conveniently have cellars or graves, the town being built upon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/but-the-people-cannot-have-wells-and-so-they-take-rain-water-neither/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“Have they known scorn like you Five cellars down?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-a-bucchianeri/have-they-known-scorn-like-you-five-cellars-down/) [E.A. Bucchianeri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-a-bucchianeri/) > [The Torment turned his head to him, and frowned. "Who are you?" "I'm... sorry? It's me, it's Vaurien. Vaurien Scapegrace. I... built the cellar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/derek-landy/the-torment-turned-his-head-to-him-and-frowned-who-are-you-i-m-sorry/) [Derek Landy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/derek-landy/) > [We shall soon be obliged to meet in cellars, or in darkened rooms with closed doors, and speak in whispers lest our next door…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-goldman/we-shall-soon-be-obliged-to-meet-in-cellars-or-in-darkened-rooms-with/) [Emma Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-goldman/) > [The devil personifies not the nature that is around us but the nature that is within us- the infinitely ferocious and cunning prehuman creature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/the-devil-personifies-not-the-nature-that-is-around-us-but-the-nature/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [Raziel’s sixty feet tall?” “Actually, he’s only fifty-nine feet tall, but he likes to exaggerate,” said Magnus. Isabelle clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Valentine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/raziel-s-sixty-feet-tall-actually-he-s-only-fifty-nine-feet-tall-but/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [It had occurred to Sean once - on a bender about ten years before with some buddies, Sean and a bloodstream full of bourbon…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-lehane/it-had-occurred-to-sean-once-on-a-bender-about-ten-years-before-with/) [Dennis Lehane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-lehane/) > [Look, we're all the same; a man is a fourteen-room house - in the bedroom he's asleep with his intelligent wife, in the living-room…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-miller/look-we-re-all-the-same-a-man-is-a-fourteen-room-house-in-the-bedroom/) [Arthur Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-miller/) > [Even St. Teresa said, "I can pray better when I'm comfortable," and she refused to wear her haircloth shirt or starve herself. I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-anne-porter/even-st-teresa-said-i-can-pray-better-when-i-m-comfortable-and-she/) [Katherine Anne Porter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-anne-porter/) > [Wine to me is passion. It's family and friends. It's warmth of heart and generosity of spirit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-mondavi/wine-to-me-is-passion-it-s-family-and-friends-it-s-warmth-of-heart/) [Robert Mondavi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-mondavi/) [Browse all 134 Cellars quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cellars/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Why is man man? 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