“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.”
Nescire autem quid antequam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?”
Variant translation: To be ignorant of the past is to be forever a child.
Chapter XXXIV, section 120
Orator Ad M. Brutum (46 BC)
Variant: Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever. For what is the time of a man, except it be interwoven with that memory of ancient things of a superior age?
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Marcus Tullius Cicero180
Roman philosopher and statesman -106–-43 BCRelated quotes
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James Nasmyth (1808–1890) Scottish mechanical engineer and inventor
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Context: Our history begins before we are born. We represent the hereditary influences of our race, and our ancestors virtually live in us. The sentiment of ancestry seems to be inherent in human nature, especially in the more civilised races. At all events, we cannot help having a due regard for the history of our forefathers. Our curiosity is stimulated by their immediate or indirect influence upon ourselves. It may be a generous enthusiasm, or, as some might say, a harmless vanity, to take pride in the honour of their name. The gifts of nature, however, are more valuable than those of fortune; and no line of ancestry, however honourable, can absolve us from the duty of diligent application and perseverance, or from the practice of the virtues of self-control and self-help.
Paul Simon (1941) American musician, songwriter and producer
Train In The Distance
Song lyrics, Hearts and Bones (1983)
“What we cannot bear removes us from life; what remains can be borne.”
Marcus Aurelius book Meditations
Source: Meditations
P. L. Travers (1899–1996) Australian-British novelist, actress and journalist
What the Bee Knows : Reflections on Myth, Symbol, and Story (1989)
Context: The Sphinx, the Pyramids, the stone temples are, all of them, ultimately, as flimsy as London Bridge; our cities but tents set up in the cosmos. We pass. But what the bee knows, the wisdom that sustains our passing life — however much we deny or ignore it — that for ever remains.
“What horrible things would you have to do in your life to get woven into Hades' underwear?”
Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief
Source: The Lightning Thief
