Grandfather Quotes - Page 11

• The humour of the Chinese people in inventing gunpowder and finding its best use in making firecrackers for their grandfathers' birthdays is merely symbolical of their inventiveness along merely pacific lines.

  Lin Yutang

  People, Chinese, Gunpowder

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• It is not altogether a bad thing to have criminal ancestors. An arsonist grandfather may bequeath one a nose for smelling smoke.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Criminals, Noses, May

  Ursula K. Le Guin (2000). “The Left Hand of Darkness”, p.103, Penguin

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• I told them that my grandfather had died in the Great Crash of 1929 - a stockbroker jumped out of a window and crushed him and his pushcart down below.

  Mario Cuomo

  Window, Crash, Crushed

  The New York Times, September 14, 1986.

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• It's in my blood. My great-grandfather made wine and it's a tradition I want to pass on to my son.

  Maynard James Keenan

  Wine, Son, Blood

  "33 Things You Should Know About Tool". Blender, August 2006.

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• Our grandfathers lived in a world of largely self-sufficient, inward-looking national economies - but our great-great grandfathers lived, as we do, in a world of large-scale international trade and investment, a world destroyed by nationalism.

  Paul Krugman

  Self, Inward, World

  "The Great Illusion" by Paul Krugman, www.nytimes.com. August 14, 2008.

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• The family believes that my grandfather, Mark Felt Sr., is a great American hero who went well above and beyond the call of duty at much risk to himself to save his country from a horrible injustice. We all sincerely hope the country will see him this way as well.

  Mark Felt

  Country, Believe, Hero

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• My mother and grandmothers could never have lived my life; my father and my grandfathers could never have imagined it. But they bestowed on me the promise of America, which made my life and my choices possible.

  Hillary Clinton

  Mother, Father, America

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• My grandfather was a most gifted person, and amongst his many qualities, one of them had always particularly impressed me. While the past was a book he had read and re-read may times, the future was just one more literary work of art into which he used to pour himself with deep thought and concentration. Innumerable people since his death have told me how he used to read in the future, and this certainly was one of his very great strengths.

  Aga Khan IV

  Art, Book, Past

  "My Beloved Grandfather: A few words by Mowlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan IV". www.amaana.org. November 1977.

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• My grandfather was a teacher, my grandmother on my mom's side, four of my aunts, my sister-in-law, my best friend. So I've always, my entire life, been surrounded by teachers, and because of that I've had a tremendous respect for what teachers can do, the power that they can have.

  Michelle Rhee

  Mom, Teacher, Grandmother

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• My grandfather for example only died twice, once during the war and once in the 1980s.

  James Nicoll

  War, Example, Died

  Usenet article, 2003.

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• The brother of my grandfather was the patriarch of the Orthodox Church and revered as a saint. So everything in my childhood is about total sacrifice, whether to religion or to communism. This is what is engraved on me. This is why I have this insane willpower. My body is now beginning to be falling apart, but I will do it to the end. I don't care. With me it is about whatever it takes.

  Marina Abramovic

  Brother, Fall, Sacrifice

  "Interview: Marina Abramović" by Sean O'Hagan, www.theguardian.com. October 2, 2010.

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• After my grandfather's plane took enemy fire, he was denied permission to land at the first available airstrip. In that classic British bureaucratic way, they said he had to go back to your own airbase in the Midlands. They crashed between the coast and the airfield.

  Tom Hooper

  Fire, Land, Enemy

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• The truth is that my grandfather was quite wealthy, a shipbuilder.

  Mohamed Al-Fayed

  Truth Is, Wealthy, My Grandfather

  "Now, about that passport..." by Tim Adams, www.theguardian.com. August 24, 2002.

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• I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee; I went to college in New Orleans before moving to New York City for graduate school. Both sets of my grandparents grew up in rural Mississippi and brought a lot of agrarian knowledge to Memphis, which is an urban center in the South. Both sets had amazing backyard gardens. My paternal grandfather, practically every inch of available space was green.

  Bryant Terry

  Moving, School, College

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• In fact, Darwin's own grandfather anticipated the central tenet of Lamarckism by some seven years: "All animals undergo perpetual transformations; which are in part produced by their own exertions... and many of these acquired forms or propensities are transmitted to their posterity."

  Erasmus Darwin

  Animal, Years, Facts

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• Ultimately all hominids came from Africa, and therefore everyone in America should simply check the box next to 'African-American.' My maternal grandmother was German and my maternal grandfather was Greek. The next time I fill out one of those forms I am going to check 'Other' and write in the truth about my racial and cultural heritage: 'African-Greek-German-American.' And proud of it.

  Michael Shermer

  Writing, Grandmother, Thinking

  Michael Shermer (2002). “Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time”, p.251, Holt Paperbacks

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• Step by step, a path; stone by stone, a cathedral,' my great-grandfather used to say.

  Phil Cousineau

  Path, Steps, Stones

  Phil Cousineau (2008). “Stoking the Creative Fires: 9 Ways to Rekindle Passion and Imagination”, p.23, Conari Press

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• Other than his ex-wife and despite appearances with a series of cultivated blondes, Edward de Bono has never publicly aligned himself with a woman. 'I’m looking for a fat, cross-eyed hunchback,' he explains, stifling a giggle. 'A prosthetic hump would do.' His delight evaporates when asked about his three grandchildren. 'Am I a doting grandfather?' He pauses. 'I’m a … something grandfather, yes.' The fact that De Bono remains unperturbed by this lack betrays an emotionally austere childhood, and his passions for play, toys, and bad jokes tell of the same deprivation. 

  Antonella Gambotto-Burke

  Passion, Grandchildren, Play

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• Thanks to the gods I didn't spend much time while growing up with my grandfather's mistress and preserved the flower of my youth, waiting for the proper time to demonstrate my virility.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Growing Up, Flower, Waiting

  Marcus Aurelius, C. Scot Hicks, David Hicks (2002). “The Emperor's Handbook: A New Translation of The Meditations”, p.25, Simon and Schuster

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• My dad's father was a White Star Line trumpet player in the '20s. It shaped the way that I think about music. My grandfather was classically trained, military trained. He was an orphan who ended up in the Military School of Music in Kneller Hall.

  Elvis Costello

  Stars, Dad, Father

  "Elvis Costello: The ESQ&A". Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. December 17, 2013.

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• My grandfather and my father disagreed about music, not least of all because my dad wanted to improvise. It wasn't just that he wanted to play different music; it was just that he came off the dots.

  Elvis Costello

  Dad, Father, Play

  "Elvis Costello: The ESQ&A". Interview with Scott Raab, www.esquire.com. December 17, 2013.

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• My grandfather was Bob Shad, one of those legendary jazz and blues producers - he worked with Charlie Parker and Dinah Washington, and he produced Janis Joplin's album [1967's Big Brother & the Holding Company]. He always owned small labels as well - he had a label called Mainstream Records in the 70s.

  Judd Apatow

  Brother, Albums, Labels

  Interview with Larry Fitzmaurice, pitchfork.com. December 11, 2012.

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• My life and the life of my family has to do with exploration, with adventure. My grandfather was the first man in the stratosphere, and my father was the first to touch the deepest point in the ocean... For me, adventure and exploration is something in the blood.

  Bertrand Piccard

  Father, Ocean, Adventure

  "Adventurer sets sights on the sun for an 'impossible' dream". CNN Interview, www.cnn.com. January 19, 2010.

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• The country was a dreamland; and perhaps it even reminded my wife's grandfather of the night he woke up drunk in his friend's house, beside his friend's wife, everything similar but new, different, better. The United States of America was like an eternity of those first disorientating seconds of not knowing and not wanting to.

  Tod Wodicka

  Country, Night, Knowing

  Tod Wodicka (2008). “All Shall Be Well; And All Shall Be Well; And All Manner of Things Shall Be Well”, p.87, Random House

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• The assumption that anything true is knowable is the grandfather of paradoxes.

  William Poundstone

  Assumption, Paradox

  "Labyrinths of Reason: Paradox, Puzzles, and the Frailty of Knowledge". Book by William Poundstone, 1988.

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