Quotes About Tradition

We used to indulge hopelessly as a family at Christmas. When the children were little, I dressed up as Father Christmas. They knew it was a gag, but they loved it. I remember stealing into their bedrooms at 1 A.M. and filling the stockings up at the end of the bed.

Everywhere I look, there are ads marking Mother's Day. Mostly they conform to stereotype: flowers, jewelry, perfume. Not a lot of books. Not many computers. Few tools. Little that's useful.

Come Christmas Eve, we usually go to my mom and dad's. Everybody brings one gift and then we play that game when we all steal it from each other. Some are really cool, others are useful and some are a bit out there.

Sure, Tod's makes shoes and bags. But we make them using leather, which is a living substance to me. And behind each shoe and bag, which in itself may be attractive and useful and comfortable to carry and wear, there is this Italian spirit, this Italian dream.

The conceptual artist Ai WeiWei illustrates the schizoid society that rapid change has produced - sometimes by reassembling Ming-style furniture into absurd and useless arrangements, or by carefully painting and antiquing a Coca-Cola logo on an ancient Chinese pot.

Considered now as a possession, one may define culture as the residuum of a large body of useless knowledge that has been well and truly forgotten.

I remember an old Singer sewing machine at home that belonged to my grandmother. It had a pedal. My mom taught me how to use it when I was 12 years old. I used to find it so intriguing, how a flat piece of material could be made into an object that had so many uses.

What appeals to me? There are things, points of view, uses of the language, habits of dress, ways of thought and believing that came to me from my grandparents and came to them from theirs. Things that are of good use in any situation, no matter what the future may hold.

There are several forms of oppari, but cinema largely uses only one format.

I love BioTherm and my Clarins moisturizer. I also use Eau Precieuse, which means 'precious water.' It's a toner. Everyone calls it a 'granny product,' because it's so old, and no one uses it anymore. But it has always been a part of my routine, so I always have to use it.

Japanese chefs believe our soul goes into our knives once we start using them. You wouldn't put your soul in a dishwasher!

I love taking prints, embroidery, appliques - precious things that seem to be from another time - and using them to create a contemporary, new story.

Traditionally baklava is made by using honey - but I'm making it extra sweet and extra sticky by using golden syrup.

I don't understand why some people will only accept a guitar if it has an instantly recognizable guitar sound. Finding ways to use the same guitar people have been using for 50 years to make sounds that no one has heard before is truly what gets me off.

When you have to do as much as women do, the Internet allows you to - from home - figure out a way to extend your reach and power in the world. It allows you to do what job you've done traditionally, and create aspirations by carrying on a job and using the Internet to amplify everything you're doing.

One of the brilliant things about Britain is the way you've managed to save old things but to keep using them - that they've not just become museums the way they do in the United States.

A single camel can carry around 300 kilograms. Using camels for hauling during migration is becoming a rarity in Mongolia, where mechanized transport is gradually replacing traditional means.

My mother, R. Rajalakshmi, taught at Annamalai University in Chidambaram, and during the day, I was well cared for by aunts and grandparents in the usual way of an extended Indian family.

Standing near the door, we dipped our fingers in the holy water, crossed and blessed ourselves, and proceeded up to the sleeping-room, in the usual order, two by two.

My nana was strict and didn't express a lot, so naturally, I was scared of him. I would even get the usual 'strict-father' scolding if I didn't study or stick to my curfew.

We never considered Christmas a holiday because the budget was really tight, so Christmas was just a usual day for us.

Trying to fuse a Jewish-Russian family with a Mormon family from Utah definitely is a challenge.

Classicism becomes avant-garde when everyone else is doing their utmost to develop new stylistic forms. I think it's healthy to return to classical forms.

People used to believe only a professional could do tiling or install track lighting. That's utter nonsense.