Quotes on Ancestry
Every man is an omnibus in which his ancestors ride.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) American writer, physician
Each has his own tree of ancestors, but at the top of all sits Probably Arboreal.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish novelist, essayist, poet Geneology.
An account of one’s descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) American author
Englishmen hate Liberty and Equality too much to understand them. But every Englishman loves a pedigree.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Anglo-Irish playwright, critic
It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.
Plutarch (46-120) Greek essayist, biographer
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies.
Saint Paul (3-67) Apostle to the Gentiles
There is a certain class of people who prefer to say that their fathers came down in the world through their own follies than to boast that they rose in the world through their own industry and talents. It is the same shabby-genteel sentiment, the same vanity of birth which makes men prefer to believe that they are degenerated angels rather than elevated apes.
W. Winwoode Reade (1838-1875) English traveler, author
I would rather make my name than inherit it.
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) English author
I don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American president
