Quotes about Ancestors

We may not be able to choose our ancestors, but we can attempt to shape our descendants. If we encourage our children to stand on our shoulders, they will certainly see farther than we have. John

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes -- our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking around.

Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.

We are the heirs of the ages

It is absurd and a detestable shame, that we should suffer those traditions to be changed which we have received from the fathers of old.

The Jitong chapter of the Book of Rites says, "There are three ways of caring for one's parents: when they are alive, look after them; when they are deceased, tend to the death rites; when the death rites have been completed, offer them sacrifice.

I know they's a lots of things in a family history that just plain aint so. Any family. The stories get passed on and the truth gets passed over. As the saying goes.

It does not follow, because our ancestors made so many errors of fact and mixed them with their religion, that we should therefore leave off being religious at all. By being religious we establish ourselves in possession of ultimate reality at the only points at which reality is given us to guard. Our responsible concern is with our private destiny, after all.

Everything else follows from this responsibility to those who have come before us. It is the root of flourishing humanity.

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.

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.

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.