George Eliot Quotes

What we call wisdom is the result of all the wisdom of past ages. Our best institutions are like young trees growing upon the roots of the old trunks that have crumbled away.

We have traditions, attitudes, an attachment to social welfare and even if change is desirable, we won’t accept change overnight.

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

We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him as a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

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

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.

Almost always tradition is nothing but a record and a machine-made imitation of the habits that our ancestors created.

Tradition! We scarcely know the word anymore. We are afraid to be either proud of our ancestors or ashamed of them. We scorn nobility in name and in fact. We cling to a bourgeois mediocrity which would make it appear we are all Americans, made in the image and likeness of George Washington.

It sometimes occurs to me that the British have more heritage than isgood for them.

The wisdom of our parents, grandparents, ancestors. In each individual life, it seems, we must first reject that wisdom, then later come to appreciate it.

Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. It means that it still matters what Penn did two hundred years ago or what Franklin did a hundred years ago; I never could feel in New York that it mattered what anybody did an hour ago.

The wisdom of our ancestors.

We are not primitive. We live differently to you, but we do not live exactly like our grandparents did, nor do you. Were your ancestors 'primitive'? I don't think so. We respect our ancestors. We love our children. This is the same for all people.

Whatever statesman or sage will effect reforms upon a gigantic or godlike scale must begin with the young.

Be as proud of your race today as our as our fathers were in days of yore. We have beautiful history, and we shall create another in the future that will astonish the world.

(Tradition) is the democracy of the dead.

We need the rock of the past under our feet in order to spring forward into the future.

Throughout human history, people have developed strong loyalties to traditions, rituals, and symbols. In the most effective organizations, they are not only respected but celebrated. It is no coincidence that the most highly admired corporations are also among the most profitable. Why? Because everyone involved is committed to certain non-negotiable core values. Traditions keep them alive. Rituals such as special occasions reaffirm them. Symbols serve as constant reminders of their enduring importance.

Change does not change tradition, it strengthens it. Change is a challenge and anopportunity, not a threat.

I adore tradition. I cannot stand habit. Simply to repeat is nothing, also to destroy is nothing. Tradition is never interrupted, we are always evolving but never interrupted.

We move through places every day that would never have been if not for those who came before us. Our workplaces, where we spend so much time--we often think they began with our arrival. That's not true.

Tradition simply means that we need to end what began well and continue what is worth continuing

Just as a tree without roots is dead, a people without history or cultural roots also becomes a dead people.

It hurts me to think that people in their rush for everything modern despise all their ancient traditions and ignore them in their lives.

We never leave our roots. We just grow new branches.