Tradition Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old tradition quotes, tradition sayings, and tradition proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Traditions are important, but there's always that balance between traditions and newness and change. Change is hard, but this will be the start of new traditions and experiences. Jeff Wardle
Tradition, which is always old, is at the same time ever new because it is always reviving born again in each new generation, to be lived and applied in a new and particular way. Thomas Merton
Every tradition grows ever more venerable the more remote its origin, the more confused that origin is. The reverence due to it increases from generation to generation. The tradition finally becomes holy and inspires awe. Friedrich Nietzsche
The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it Mark Twain
A science that hesitates to forget its founders is lost. Alfred North Whitehead
Immorality sanctified by tradition is still immorality. Bernard Rollin
As tradition is a gift of the Spirit, its trajectory moves in the right direction, although it has not arrived at its destination. Brian D. McLaren
There is no creation without tradition; the 'new' is an inflection on a preceding form; novelty is always a variation on the past. Carlos Fuentes
It is a fine thing to establish one's own religion in one's heart, not to be dependent on tradition and second-hand ideals. Life will seem to you, later, not a lesser, but a greater thing. D.H. Lawrence
Custom is the great guide to human life. David Hume
Tradition is a great resistant force and the inertia of history. Yet because it is only negative, it must be destroyed. Friedrich Engels
To recognize untruth as a condition of life--that certainly means resisting accustomed value feelings in a dangerous way; and a philosophy that risks this would by that token alone place itself beyond good and evil. Friedrich Nietzsche
It takes an endless amount of history to make even a little tradition. Henry James
Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition. Jacques Barzun
Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name. Jaroslav Pelikan
As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears. John Locke
You do not understand your own tradition if you do not see it in relation to others. John Searle
Cultures grow on the vine of tradition. Jonah Goldberg
Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course. Lemony Snicket
It is of the essence of traditions that they cover or conceal their humble foundations by erecting impressive edifices on them. Leo Strauss
When men are oppressed, it's a tragedy. When women are oppressed, it's tradition. Letty Cottin Pogrebin
The Black skin is not a badge of shame, but rather a glorious symbol of national greatness. Marcus Garvey
Every heart that has beat strong and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind. Robert Louis Stevenson
Don't bother about being modern. Unfortunately it is the one thing that, whatever you do, you cannot avoid. Salvador Dali
No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead. T.S. Eliot
Learning to touch deeply the jewels of our own tradition will allow us to understand and appreciate the values of other traditions. Thich Nhat Hanh
He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher. Walt Whitman
Tradition, one of those words conservative people use as a shortcut to thinking. Warren Ellis
A love of tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril; but the new view must come, the world must roll forward. Winston Churchill