“A transmitter and not a maker, believing in and loving the ancients.”
Confucius, c. 500 BC · Chinese teacher whose sayings were gathered by his students
Chapter 1
On Tradition
“Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”
Book of Jeremiah, c. 600 BC · Hebrew prophet of the sixth century before the common era
“Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.”
Book of Proverbs, c. 400 BC · Hebrew wisdom collection
“Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.”
Book of Isaiah, c. 540 BC · Hebrew prophetic writing
“Do not pass by the talk of those who have grown old. They learned from their own fathers, and from them you will learn understanding, and how to answer when the need comes.”
Ben Sira, c. 180 BC · Jerusalem scribe, author of the Book of Sirach
“Attend carefully to the last rites of parents, and keep them in mind long after with the ceremonies of remembrance. Then the virtue of the people will return to its fullness.”
Zengzi, c. 450 BC · student of Confucius
“The words from the mouth of one who has grown old are worth more than any charm.”
Akan proverb, 1916 · Asante, Ghana, collected in the field before 1916
“It is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.”
Akan proverb (Sankofa), 2009 · Ghana and Ivory Coast, carried in the adinkra symbol of the backward-looking bird
“Men's thoughts are much according to their inclination, their speeches according to their learning, but their deeds are after as they have been accustomed.”
Francis Bacon, 1625 · English essayist and Lord Chancellor
“It becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.”
Edmund Burke, 1790 · Irish statesman and political writer
Across fifty years of studies, families that keep regular routines and rituals show steadier health, better adjusted children, and a firmer sense of who they are.
Barbara Fiese and colleagues, 2002 · review of 50 years of research on naturally occurring family routines and rituals
Researchers describe an intergenerational self. A child's identity is built not only from what that child remembers, but from the family stories handed down before the child was born.
Natalie Merrill and Robyn Fivush, 2016 · developmental psychologists, Emory University
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