Ancestral Spirits

Famous quotes containing the words ancestral and/or spirits:

    “The ancestral deed is thought and done,
    And in a million Edens fall
    A million Adams drowned in darkness,
    For small is great and great is small,
    And a blind seed all.”
    —Edwin Muir (1887–1959)

    “We were as twinned lambs that did frisk i’ the sun
    And bleat the one at th’ other. What we changed
    Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
    The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dreamed
    That any did. Had we pursued that life,
    And our weak spirits ne’er been higher reared
    With stronger blood, we should have answered heaven
    Boldly “Not guilty,” the imposition cleared
    Hereditary ours.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)