Quotes about Ancestors

When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.

Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five in all.

So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our fathers died.

On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.

I believe there is a strong familial pull as the influence of beloved ancestors continues with us from the other side of the veil.

We don't know what inscriptions Washington's nephew found on the tombs of their early Virginian ancestors. But we do know what Washington's ancestors ultimately put on his Mount Vernon tomb. Should you visit Washington's tomb at Mount Vernon, you will read "I am the resurrection and the Life." (John 11:25), the very first words of the funeral service in the Book of Common Prayer.

It is significant that in most languages there is a single word for the essential virtue regarding both of these two relationships, which are the only two relationships where we cannot pay all that is owed. The word is "piety" (pietas). It means honor to both ancestors and God, the authors of our life.

Who has fully realized that history is not contained in thick books but lives in our very blood?

Maybe these are woodpile relatives? People my grandmother doesn't want to acknowledge as part of the family tree? Every clan must have a few of those.

was their job to always hold tight to the past, to tell it to the young'uns.

Highlight — Genesis 24:3 Marrying Foreigners From this earliest period of Israelite history, there was an emphasis on not marrying foreigners. The reason had to do with religion, not race—in many cases foreigners were distant relatives, but they worshiped false gods. When foreigners were willing to worship Israel's God, they were welcomed (see the book of Ruth, for example).

A spirit of innovation is generally the result of a selfish temper and confined views. People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.