382 Quotes About Tradition

Duty. That was a word I hated as much as tradition.

It is at least as possible for a Philadelphian to feel the presence of Penn and Franklin as for an Englishman to see the ghosts of Alfred and Becket. 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 Kantian imperative to have the courage to think for oneself has involved a contemptuous disregard for the resources of tradition and an infantile view of authority as inherently oppressive.

Tradition with all its happy assumptions and necessary evils, all of its content majorities and stout killers, is not always a reliable guide.

Hello, Lucy. Do you name all your weapons, Grunthor?”“O’ course. It’s tradition.”Rhapsody nodded, understanding coming into her eyes. “That makes perfect sense. Do you find that you fight better with a weapon you’ve named?”“Yep.”Her eyes began to sparkle with excitement. “Why, Grunthor, in a way, you’re a Namer, too!”The giant broke into a pleased grin. “Well, whaddaya know. Should Oi sing a lit’le song?”“No,” said Rhapsody and Achmed in unison.

Modern colonialism won its great victories not so much through its military and technological prowess as through its ability to create secular hierarchies incompatible with the traditional order.

It's wonderful to me that bees have this simple, age-old thing going on.

Who says that tradition cannot be changed? The traditions which go against the human values has to be changed, otherwise it is like a poisonous snake that is hanging on our neck to kill us.

Tradition looks at a traditional civilization as a tree. The root of the tree is permanent and firm in the ground of revelation, but the branches grow in different seasons and in different directions. Tradition does not deny the fact that if you have a harsh and dry winter, the next spring you have fewer flowers and that if you have a winter with more agreeable conditions, you will have more flowers.