Ancestor Quotes

Ancestors do not mean so much. The rebel who succeeds generally makes it easier for the posterity that follows him; so these descendants are usually contented and smug and soft. Rebels are made from life, not ancestors.

Offspring, the due performance on religious rites, faithful service, highest conjugal happiness and heavenly bliss for the ancestors and oneself, depend on one’s wife alone.

Birth is nothing without virtue, and we have no claim to share in the glory of our ancestors unless we endeavor to resemble them.

Our ancestors lived out of doors. They were as familiar with the night sky as most of us are with our favorite television programs.

My spirit is sad – I carry the tears of my ancestors.

Distinguished ancestors shed a powerful light on their descendants, and forbid the concealment either of their merits or of their demerits.

People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors.

We came to America, either ourselves or in the persons of our ancestors, to better the ideals of men, to make them see finer things than they had seen before, to get rid of the things that divide and to make sure of the things that unite.

Like our ancestors, we act in ways that will bemuse future societies.

Each has his own tree of ancestors, but at the top of all sits Probably Arboreal.