Quotes About Tradition

I have seen him set fire to his wigwam and smooth over the graves of his fathers... clap his hand in silence over his mouth, and take the last look over his fair hunting ground, and turn his face in sadness to the setting sun.

You know, Christianity has its own superstition anyway: Why you turn three times, what this saint means, why you pray to the patron saint of lost causes, why you go this way or that way.

China traditionally has been a tea-drinking country but we turned them into coffee drinkers.

I was bar mitzvahed, which was hard. I feel it was the hardest thing I ever had to do; harder than making a movie. It was a lot of studying, you know. I wasn't a perfect Hebrew reader, and also, they say when you're reading your Torah portion, you're not supposed to memorize it. It turned out very tricky.

If you think about art, if you look at Rembrandt and Vermeer and Caravaggio, if you look at Turner and Constable and all the Impressionists and the Hudson River School, there's a tradition of light in art, especially painting.

I'm a Turner Classic Movies guy. That's it. I'd much rather sit here and watch an oldie than anything new.

We used to go around tipping outhouses over, or turning over corn shocks on Halloween. Anything to be mean.

The South is the home of 'an eye for an eye.' 'Turning the other cheek'? The South can't see that.

We must resist the temptation of once again turning America into the traditional bogeyman of the left.

The Orthodox believe in Jewish literacy, and most of the rest of us couldn't care less. Rabbis and other creatures have a monopoly on Judaism. This is a turnoff in a world that is increasingly secular and that has turned away from religion. Jews are simply turning away from Judaism.

I'm one of the culprits who keeps turning stuff around, shaking up original tunes and trying to stand the canon on its ear. But sometimes, you just need to sing the song.

All my life, I have been a celebrant of Halloween. For me, it is the most important day of the year, the turning point in the old pagan calendar.

I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending.

Before the reader turns his back upon the Grand Basin once for all, I should like to put a name upon the glacier it contains - since it is the fashion to name glaciers.

At the age of about eight years, if he is a boy, she turns him over to his father for more Spartan training.

Opening presents at midnight on Christmas Eve - midnight! As soon as it turns to Christmas Day, we're opening those gifts.

I grew up and fell out of love with hunting, though I still appreciate the meats I grew up eating: braised rabbit, pheasant jambalaya, snapping turtle soup, and venison backstrap with eggs.

I love things that have one foot in history - I was going to be a history professor before I sold out and went into TV.

Theater is an old thing. It's thousands of years old. TV isn't. Film isn't. We're doing a really old thing.

I was joking the other day about how my real life feels like a TV show, and my TV life feels real - because, to be on Thursday nights on NBC, which is what I grew up with, has been such a big part of inspiring me. To be part of that tradition is really completely surreal, and I'm so grateful.

Growing up, there were TV shows that were very funny but very traditional. Classic things like 'Fawlty Towers,' obviously, and 'Blackadder' were pretty traditionally shot. And then there were the ones that start to break the mold or be really ambitious. The ones that spring particularly to mind would be 'The Young Ones.'

In Chinese culture, it wouldn't occur to kids to question or talk back to their parents. In American culture, kids in books, TV shows and movies constantly score points with their snappy back talk. Typically, it's the parents who need to be taught a life lesson - by their children.

Twain is my keystone. He reminds me of my people because that's the way they told stories.

'White Christmas' is the best holiday song and I've grown up listening to Michael Buble's version with Shania Twain.