Quotes About Tradition

Rejoice at the death and cry at the birth: New Orleans sticks close to the Scriptures.

Ritual disposal of the dead speaks clearly of an awareness of death, and thus an awareness of self.

The Wedding March has a bit of a death march in it.

When the human race has once acquired a superstition, nothing short of death is ever likely to remove it.

A solemn funeral is inconceivable to the Chinese mind.

OH, THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING IN THE STOCKING THAT MAKES A NOISE, said Death. OTHERWISE, WHAT IS 4:30 A.M. FOR?

Una universidad era una universidad: que fueras a una cualquiera y acabaras licenciándote era lo único que le importaba a una familia tan poco mundana como la mía.

When Heshie was killed in the war, the only thing people could think to say to my Aunt Clara and my Uncle Hymie, to somehow mitigate the horror, to somehow console them in their grief, was, "At least he didn't leave you with a shikse wife. At least he didn't leave you with goyische children." End of Heshie and his story.

Por outro lado, é justamente o que há de normal nos funerais o que os torna mais dolorosos, mais um registro da realidade da morte que avassala tudo.

Maybe it's still a bit of an affront to people, to fail to abide by the old clock of life.

Old English, the heart and soul of the old regime at Oxford, ceased to be a required course only as of 2002.

Poor little girl. Poor little girl, Nan says, and at first I think she is speaking of the baby, perhaps it is a girl after all. But then I realize she is speaking of me, a girl of thirteen years, whose own mother has said that they can let her die as long as a son and heir is born.

He must desire the scent of the smoke of their sacrifice.

A single man's imperfect conscience can never be superior to centuries of tradition.

It's as if our name is both our greatest pride and our curse," I say.

If everyone in Christendom ate nothing but fish on Friday, then the fishermen and their children would eat well the rest of the week.

A harem is not a brothel, as so many Westerners erroneously believe. It is merely the women's living quarters. Male relatives can join them -- but no male nonrelatives may do so. It is hardly a den of eroticism.

L'adulte ne croit pas au Père Noël. Il vote.

Let parents then bequeath to their children not riches but the spirit of reverence.

The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them.

Habit is not unimportant.

The civilized East is immeasurably in advance of any savage tribes; the Greeks and Romans have improved upon the East; the Christian nations have been stricter in their views of the marriage relation than any of the ancients.

Above all the mighty detest change.

That was my costume for the past five years. A hobo. Actually, it wasn't much of a costume. I wore one of Dad's baggy old suits with patches on the pants. Mom rubbed charcoal on my face to make me look dirty. And I carried a knapsack on a fishing pole over my shoulder. Bor-ring!