Tradition Critique Quotes

Those who feel guilty contemplating "betraying" the tradition they love by acknowledging their disapproval of elements within it should reflect on the fact that the very tradition to which they are so loyal—the "eternal" tradition introduced to them in their youth—is in fact the evolved product of many adjustments firmly but delicately made by earlier lovers of the same tradition.

Loyalty to our ancestors does not include loyalty to their mistakes.

Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn't it, of a long line of proven criminals?

I will always speak out when someone says that a principle or a rule or a tradition trumps people.

Times change. Context changes. Just because something is old and a 'part of our history' shouldn't mean we are forced to honor it forever.

If children understand that beliefs should be substantiated with evidence, as opposed to tradition, authority, revelation or faith, they will automatically work out for themselves that they are atheists.

The thinking man must oppose all cruel customs no matter how deeply rooted in tradition or surrounded by a halo. We need a boundless ethics which will include the animals also. My life is full of meaning to me. The life around me must be full of significance to it. If I want others to respect my life, then I must respect the other life I see however strange it may be to mine. Ethics in our western world has hitherto been largely limited to the relation of man to man... but that is a limited ethics.

For God's sake build not your faith upon Tradition, 'tis as rotten as a rotten Post.

My parents are both college professors, and it made me want to question authority, standards and traditions.

It is a mark of civilised man that he seeks to understand his traditions, and to criticise them, not to swallow them whole.

Everywhere, authority and tradition have to justify themselves in the face of questions.

The cure for false theology is motherwit. Forget your books and traditions, and obey your moral perceptions at this hour.

Throughout history, we have only moved forward when society has distinguished between traditional values and valueless traditions.

I detest tradition for tradition's sake; the half-alive; that which is not real. I feel no hatred of individuals, but of customs, traditions; superstitions that go against life, against truth, against the reality of experience, against the spontaneous living out of the sense of wonder-of fresh experience, freshly seen and communicated.