People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors. Society is indeed a contract. One of the surest ways of killing a tree is to lay bare its roots. It is the same with institutions. We must not be too ready to disinter the origins of those we wish to preserve.
All beginnings are small.
Remove not the ancient landmarks the fathers have set. Everywhere men have made the way for us with sweat and submission. We may fling ourselves into a hammock in a fit of divine carelessness. But we are glad that the netmaker did not make the hammock in a fit of divine carelessness. We cannot know where we are, much less where we are going, until we know where we have been.