logo

Quotes About Ancestors

We can only solve our biggest problems if we come together and embrace the freedoms that our Founding Fathers established right here in Philadelphia, which permitted our ancestors to create the great American exceptionalism that all of us now enjoy.
~ Michael Bloomberg
It's important to remember that we evolved. Now, I know that's a dirty word for some people, but we evolved from common ancestors with the gorillas, the chimpanzee and also the bonobos. We have a common past, and we have a common future.
~ Louise Leakey
Am urmele unui trecut care, nu numai c? e mort, ca orice trecut, dar care n-a transmis nimic epocilor care au venit dup? el. Trecut f?r? urma?i.
~ Mircea Eliade
En resumen, la mayoría de los hombres -sin religión- comparten aún pseudo religiones y mitologías degradadas. Cosa que en nada nos asombra, desde el momento en que el hombre profano es el descendiente del homo religiosus y no puede anular su propia historia, es decir, los comportamientos de sus antepasados religiosos, que lo han constituido tal como es hoy día.
~ Mircea Eliade
Everything else follows from this responsibility to those who have come before us. It is the root of flourishing humanity.
~ Miroslav Volf
Tell me about your family, I said. And so she did. I listened intently as my mother went through each branch of the tree. Years later, after the funeral, Maria had asked me questions about the family - who was related to whom - and I struggled. I couldn't remember. A big chunk of our history had been buried with my mother. You should never let your past disappear that way.
~ Mitch Albom
Things that happen before you are born still affect you... And people who come before your time affect you as well. We move through places everyday that would never have been if not for those who came before us. Our workplaces, where we spend so much time - we often think they began with our arrival. That's not true.
~ Mitch Albom
But every family is a ghost story. The dead sit at our tables long after they have gone.
~ Mitch Albom
Remember this, Annie. When we build, we build on the shoulders of those who came before us. And when we fall apart, those who came before us help put us back together.
~ Mitch Albom
Things that happen before you are born still affect you, she said. And people who come before your time affect you as well. We move through places every day that would never have been if not for those who came before us. Our workplaces, where we spend so much time -- we often think they began with our arrival. That's not true.
~ Mitch Albom
Thy mother honored us. We do not forget. - The yarthkin, to Thorgil
~ Nancy Farmer
I should like to know if he has sunk a frigate, alone, with a Fleur-de-Nuit on his back; and as for distinction, my ancestors were scholars in China while his were starving in pits.
~ Naomi Novik
Since hominin skin doesn't fossilize, we can't say for sure what skin color our ancestors had four million years ago. But if our closest living primate relatives—gorillas and chimpanzees—are any guide, they likely had light skin.
~ Carl Zimmer
There is thus more Neanderthal DNA on Earth today than when Neanderthals existed.
~ Carl Zimmer
And they certainly would not have guessed that the human genome is partly composed from thousands of viruses that infected our distant ancestors, or that life as we know it may have gotten its start four billion years ago from viruses.
~ Carl Zimmer
Why is this place named Burnt Boot? Martin asked. Back in the days of the cattle drives old Hiram Cleary got tired of lookin' at the back end of cattle all day. He sat down right out there and pulled off his boot, threw it in the fire so he couldn't go no further, and built a store to sell stuff to the people comin' up the trail. He was an ancestor to my husband, Gladys answered.
~ Carolyn Brown
An elder once told me that stories and cultural practices are not lost. They are waiting in another realm for the right person to dream them and reintroduce them. The ancestors are waiting to pass them on to the right person. (p. 40)
~ Catherine Richardson
Long ago, there lived a people
~ Cathy Cassidy
In other words, there can be no real identity with our heritage until we know what our heritage really is. It is all hidden in our history, but we are ignorant of that history. We have been floating alone, basking blissfully in the sunny heritage of other peoples!
~ Chancellor Williams
Distinguished ancestors shed a powerful light on their descendants, and forbid the concealment either of their merits or of their demerits.
~ Sallust
If we're aware of the habit energies in us and can become more intentional in our thoughts, speech, and actions, then we can transform not only ourselves, but also our ancestors who planted the seeds. If we're able to do that, it means our ancestors are also able to smile at what is provoking them. If one person keeps calm and smiles at a provocation, the whole world will have a better chance for peace.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Our body is a masterpiece of the cosmos. Our body carries within it the stars, the moon, the universe, and the presence of all our ancestors. How many millions of years of evolution has it taken to give rise to these wondrous two eyes, legs, feet, and hands? Countless life-forms are supporting our existence in this moment. Reconnecting with our physical body takes only a few moments of stopping and breathing with awareness.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
When we walk, we can walk for our ancestors and future generations. Maybe they had to walk with sorrow; perhaps they were forced to march or migrate. When we walk freely, we are walking for them.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
My dear friend, you are on safe ground. Everything is okay now. Why do you continue to suffer? Don't go back to the past. It's only a ghost; it's unreal." And whenever we recognize that these are only movies and pictures, not reality, we are free. That is the practice of mindfulness. Reconciling with Our Past Our original fear isn't just from our own birth and childhood; the fear we feel comes from both our own and our ancestors' original fear.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh