Where We Came Quotes

• In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we came from.

  Alex Haley

  Heritage, Who We Are, Lineage

  Alex Haley (2007). “Alex Haley: The Man Who Traced America's Roots”, Reader's Digest Association

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• People must belong to a tribe; they yearn to have a purpose larger than themselves. We are obligated by the deepest drives of the human spirit to make ourselves more than animated dust, and we must have a story to tell about where we came from, and why we are here.

  E. O. Wilson

  Dust, People, Purpose

  "Consilience: Unity of Knowledge". Book by E. O. Wilson, www.cnn.com. 1998.

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  Never to forget where we came from and always praise the bridges that carried us over.

  Fannie Lou Hamer

  Bridges, Forget, Praise

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• The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. On this shore, we've learned most of what we know. Recently, we've waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return, and we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.

  Carl Sagan

  Stars, Ocean, Long

  "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Documentary (1990 Update). Episode 1: "The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean", 1990.

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• In hip hop no one cares. No one stands up for it and it's a mess. We need order so we can all follow the tradition of where we came from. We need to keep referring to the pioneers.

  Nas

  Order, Hip Hop, Pioneers

  Source: www.hypemagazine.co.za

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• Well, you have to understand where we came from. We are not here because we decided 10 years ago that we were going to be x-size company, and, oh, yeah, Jackson would be a good headquarters. We work here in Mississippi because we started here, and we are certainly happy here. Those of us working out of Jackson intend to continue working out of Jackson.

  Bernard Ebbers

  Years, Work Out, Size

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• Both of us were orphans. No one would remember what we remembered. The elders that stood as protective shields, as references to our past, and as reflections of who we were and are and where we came from, were gone.

  Sylvia Browne

  Grief, Reflection, Past

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• I think we all want to know where we came from and how we fit into the world, but some of us need to know how it all works in great detail.

  George Smoot

  Thinking, World, Want

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• The most important thing in business is honesty, integrity, hard work familynever forgetting where we came from.

  Frank Lucas

  Honesty, Integrity, Hard Work

  "Fictional character: Frank Lucas". "American Gangster", 2007.

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• Our passionate preoccupation with the sky, the stars, and a God somewhere in outer space is a homing impulse. We are drawn back to where we came from.

  Eric Hoffer

  God, Stars, Airplane

  www.nytimes.com. July 21, 1969.

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• One of the significant facts about the moment of birth is that it is an unconscious moment. No one ever knows when he is being born that the event is actually taking place, and sometimes we don't find out about it until quite a long time afterward. Sometimes, we never do really find out that we have been born. So frequently, we don't know why we were born; we don't know where we came from; we don't know what the purpose of life is; nor do we understand the possibilities of our godly destiny.

  Sterling W Sill

  Life, Godly, Destiny

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• With so many scientific achievements we know so little of where we came from and where we are going. But we know even less of the most important discovery of all – Love. Only love can accept our differences as we journey through life. And only love can allow space for our growth.

  Akiane Kramarik

  Love, Life, Acceptance

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• In the lifetime of one person, we went from figuring out where we came from to figuring out how to get rid of ourselves.

  Jack Horner

  Society, Lifetime, Persons

  1993 On the 80-year period from Darwin's Origin of Species to the first nuclear bomb. In Time, 26 Apr.

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• Evolution isn't just a take-it-or-leave-it story about where we came from. It's an epic at the centre of life itself. It tells us we are part of nature in every respect.

  Kenneth R. Miller

  Epic, Stories, Evolution

  "Seals, evolution, and the real 'missing link'" by Kenneth R Miller, www.theguardian.com. April 29, 2009.

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• We don't really remember where we came from, and we're not too sure about where we go to, if we are, after this thing we call life.

  Frederick Lenz

  Death, Remember, Ifs

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• There's something about watching an animal that puts you in contact with where we came from and what we're still a part of.

  John Cleese

  Animal, Contact, Stills

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• Evolution isn't just a story about where we came from. It's an epic at the center of life itself. Far from robbing our lives of meaning, it instills an appreciation for the beautiful, enduring, and ultimately triumphant fabric of life that covers our planet. Understanding that doesn't demean human life - it enhances it.

  Kenneth R. Miller

  Beautiful, Gratitude, Appreciation

  "America’s Darwin Problem". www.huffingtonpost.com. February 10, 2012.

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• We humans are in such a strange position—we are still animals whose behavior reflects that of our ancestors, yet we are unique—unlike any other animal on earth. Our distinctiveness separates us and makes it easy to forget where we came from. Perhaps dogs help us remember the depth of our roots, reminding us—the animals at the other end of the leash—that we may be special, but we are not alone. No wonder we call them our best friends.

  Patricia McConnell

  Dog, Animal, Unique

  Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. (2009). “The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs”, p.225, Ballantine Books

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• Most of all, however, critics of black conservatives say we've forgotten where we came from. I may forget a federal budget number or, God forbid, to set the alarm clock for my weekly 6 a.m. flight to Washington, but I know exactly where I came from.

  J. C. Watts

  Numbers, Black, Alarms

  "What Color Is a Conservative?". Book by Chriss Winston and J. C. Watts, abcnews.go.com. October 22, 2002.

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• I want some fact-based evidence about where we came from. Things we consider mysterious need not be attributed to a deity.

  Greg Graffin

  Deities, Needs, Want

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• A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.

  Woodrow Wilson

  Yesterday, Trying, Doe

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• To get back up to the shining world from there My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel, And Following its path, we took no care To rest, but climbed: he first, then I-so far, through a round aperture I saw appear Some of the beautiful things that Heaven bears, Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.

  Dante Alighieri

  Beautiful, Stars, Tunnels

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• Ever since the dawn of civilization, people have not been content to see events as unconnected and inexplicable. They have craved an understanding of the underlying order in the world. Today we still yearn to know why we are here and where we came from. Humanity's deepest desire for knowledge is justification enough for our continuing quest. And our goal is nothing less than a complete description of the universe we live in.

  Stephen Hawking

  Order, Civilization, People

  Stephen W. Hawking (1990). “A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes”, Bantam

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• And the seasons they go 'round and 'round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game.

  Joni Mitchell

  Time, Games, Circles

  Song: The Circle Game

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• Darwin matters because evolution matters. Evolution matters because science matters. Science matters because it is the preeminent story of our age, an epic saga about who we are, where we came from and where we are going.

  Michael Shermer

  Epic, Age, Stories

  Michael Shermer (2007). “Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design”, p.161, Macmillan

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