Posts Tagged ‘quote’

To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root. 

Author: Chinese proverb

Our genealogy quote today is by magazine editor and writer Shirley Jean Abbott Tomkievicz (born November 16, 1934).

Shirley Abbott

To quote from The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “Shirley Jean Abbott Tomkievicz . . .  has achieved her greatest fame for her three volumes of memoirs, which detail the story of her family history and her own coming of age in Hot Springs (Garland County): Womenfolks: Growing Up Down South (1983), The Bookmaker’s Daughter: A Memory Unbound (1991), and Love’s Apprentice: The Education of a Modern Woman (1998), all written under the name Shirley Abbott. Critics have lauded her books as well-written examinations, not only of her own life, but of the South in an age of transition.

“Though now a resident of New York, Abbott continues to write about Arkansas for a wide audience in magazines and newspapers. She once commented, “I learned to respect and love history from being born a Southerner. To come from a definable place and to seek understanding of that place are incentives for the writer’s imagination . . . In 2005, Abbott received the Porter Prize, which is presented annually to an Arkansas writer of recognized literary excellence, for her nonfiction works, and, in 2008, she published her first novel, The Future of Love.”

Genealogy quote from Shirley Abbott

We all grow up with the weight of history on us. Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies.

Today’s genealogy quote comes from award-winning author and genealogist, G. G. Vandagriff, and is taken from the Introduction to True Miracles with Genealogy, Volume Two.

G. G. Vandagriff

G.G. is Gail Vandagriff’s pen name.  She is the author of twelve books. G.G. studied International Relations (Central/Eastern Europe), at both Stanford and George Washington Universities from 1965 to 1969.

Before becoming a writer, G.G. was employed in the following areas of expertise:
Hoover Institution as Research Associate and Editor
Harvard University as Assistant Treasurer
Fidelity Investments as Assistant Bond Analyst
Benjamin Franklin University as Instructor of Money and Banking
Continental Bank, Chicago and LA, as International Banker
Golden West College as Instructor of Economics
Southwest Missouri State University as Instructor of American Politics
University of Dayton as Assistant Director of International Programs

G.G.’s latest books are The Only Way to Paradise , and her Whitney Award winning volume, The Last Waltz. G. G. is also known for her genealogy mystery series featuring the intrepid Alex and Briggie. Her website is at www.ggvandagriff.com/.

Genealogy Quote from G.G. Vandagriff

I don’t believe in luck or coincidence where family history is concerned. I do believe in miracles.

This week our genealogy quote comes from the Book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament in the Holy Bible (KJV).

Deuteronomy

The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch.

The book consists of three sermons or speeches delivered to the Israelites by Moses on the plains of Moab, shortly before they enter the Promised Land.

Wikipedia says the Book of Deuteronomy is  ” . . . traditionally accepted as the genuine words of Moses delivered on the eve of the occupation of Canaan. A broad consensus of modern scholars see its origins in traditions from Israel (the northern kingdom) brought south to the Kingdom of Judah in the wake of the Assyrian destruction of Samaria (8th century BCE) and then adapted to a program of nationalist reform in the time of King Josiah (late 7th century), with the final form of the modern book emerging in the milieu of the return from the Babylonian exile during the late 6th century.”

Genealogy quote from Deuteronomy Chapter 4 Verse 9

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons. 

This week’s genealogy quote is from the French philosopher and poet, Gaston Bachelard.

Gaston Bachelard 

Gaston Bachelard, born 1884 in Bar-sur-Aube, France, was a poet and philosopher. His career began as a postmaster in Bar-sur-Aube, after which he studied physics and then philosophy. He was a professor at Dijon from 1930 to 1940 and later became the inaugural chair in history and philosophy of the sciences at the Sorbonne.

Genealogy quote from Gaston Bachelard

One must always maintain one’s connection to the past and yet ceaselessly pull away from it. To remain in touch with the past requires a love of memory. To remain in touch with the past requires a constant imaginative effort.