Inherited Wisdom Quotes

As each generation comes into the world devoid of knowledge, its first duty is to obtain possession of the stores already amassed. It must overtake its predecessors before it can pass by them.

What you have inherited from your fathers, earn over again for yourselves, or it will not be yours.

The only thing I have to go by is what my mother and father told me, how I was brought up.

The Present is the living sum-total of the whole Past.

What you have inherited from your forefathers, it takes work to make it your own.

Pay heed to the tales of old wives. It may well be that they alone keep in memory what it was once needful for the wise to know.

We live not by things, but by the meaning of things. It is needful to transmit the passwords from generation to generation.

Not every father gets a chance to start his son off in his own footsteps.

If anything, I'd say my family was entrepreneurial - my grandfather and father. It was in our blood. But I didn't have this one mentor that was super successful.

I had a great teacher in my brother and my dad, and to be able to follow Kurt's footsteps has helped out a whole bunch.

As I walk to my office every morning, I know I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me.

My father was a huge influence on me.

For those things which were done either by our fathers or ancestors, and in which we ourselves had no share, I can scarcely call our own.

I think mothers and daughters are meant to give birth to each other, over and over; that is why our challenges to each other are so fierce; that is why, when love and trust have not been too badly blemished or destroyed, the teaching and learning one from the other is so indelible and bittersweet. We daughters must risk losing the only love we instinctively feel we can't live without in order to be who we are, and I am convinced this sends a message to our mothers to break their own chains, though they may be anchored in prehistory and attached to their own great grandmothers' hearts.

The tree of knowledge is not the tree of life! And yet can we cast out of our spirits all the good or evil poured into them by so many learned generations? Ignorance cannot be learned.

My great-grandmother lived to be 100 years old, so I got to know her. She always sent us birthday cards that had $2 bills inside - we kept them for good luck.

I am what I am thanks to my mother, my father, my brother, my sister... because they have given me everything. The education I have is thanks to them.

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

I've been trying to think of things to tell my kids, something that I could pass down, and it's like, gee whiz, I maybe never learned anything that didn't contradict itself.

I wish my mother had left me something about how she felt growing up. I wish my grandmother had done the same. I wanted my girls to know me.

My father is my father, and I am me. I have the advantage of this honest comparison, quiet, and the opportunity to share in his profession.

One thing that's great about seeing your kids is you see things that you admired in your parents.

Everything I am today, I owe to my father.

My father was an exceptionally strong influence on me.

Tradition matters. To me it's not a limiting force; it's a springboard.