#ancestry

We were kids without fathers, so we found our fathers on wax and on the streets and in history, and in a way, that was a gift. We got to pick and choose the ancestors who would inspire the world we were going to make for ourselves. ↗

— Jay-Z

#ancestry #art #fathers #inspiration #art

When I opened the box, I had to remove myself from whose handwriting it was that I was reading and whose story I was hearing. I had to, or I never would have made it past the first letter. If I stopped to think about my Grandpa writing to my Grandma, knowing how much he loved her and how many years he spent without her after her death, I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it through just one letter without an onslaught of tears. And it was Grandpa, a voice I knew so well. One that I miss terribly. ↗

— Kara Martinelli

#friendship #longing #love #wwii-history #death

I get anxious. That lovely Jewish guilt that comes with ancestry. ↗

— Maya Rudolph

#anxious #comes #get #guilt #i

Distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality. ↗

— Harlan Stone

#because #between #citizens #distinctions #doctrine

Ever since I watched 'Roots,' I've dreamed of tracing my African ancestry and helping other people do the same. ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#ancestry #dreamed #ever #helping #i

Maybe if I go far enough back into my ancestry, I have African roots or something. I've got no idea. ↗

— Mick Taylor

#ancestry #back #enough #far #go

Character is better than ancestry, and personal conduct is of more importance than the highest. ↗

— Thomas John Barnardo

#better #character #conduct #highest #importance

Individually, every grain of sand brushing against my hands represents a story, an experience, and a block for me to build upon for the next generation. ↗

— Raquel Cepeda

#ancestry #build #building-blocks #globe-trotting #inspiration

After all, what is every man? A horde of ghosts – like a Chinese nest of boxes – oaks that were acorns that were oaks. Death lies behind us, not in front – in our ancestors, back and back until... ↗

— Walter de La Mare

#death #death

Our names were made for us in another century. ↗

— Richard Brautigan

#freedom #names #time #freedom