Generation

Agenerationis "all of the peoplebornandlivingat about the same time, regardedcollectively."It can also be described as," the averageperiod,generally considered to be about thirty years, during which children are born andgrow up,become adults, and begin to have children of their own. "Inkinshipterminology, it is a structural term designating the parent-child relationship. It is also known asbiogenesis,reproduction,orprocreationin thebiological sciences.

Quotes

As is the generation of leaves, so is that ofhumanity.~Homer

• Οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν.
  φύλλα τὰ μέν τ' ἄνεμος χαμάδις χέει, ἄλλα δέ θ' ὕλη
  τηλεθόωσα φύει, ἔαρος δ' ἐπιγίγνεται ὥρη·
  ὣς ἀνδρῶν γενεὴ ἣ μὲν φύει ἣ δ' ἀπολήγει.
  • As is the generation of leaves, so is that ofhumanity.
    Thewindscatters the leaves on the ground, but the live timber
    Burgeons with leaves again in theseasonofspringreturning.
    So one generation ofmenwillgrowwhile anotherdies.
  • Homer,Iliad(c. 750 BC), Book VI. 146–149 (tr. R. Lattimore); Glaucus to Diomed.

• It isfortunatethat each generation does notcomprehendits ownignorance.We are thus enabled to call ourancestorsbarbarous.
  • Charles Dudley Warner,Backlog Studies, "Second Study”(1873).

• TheDon Quixoteof one generation maylivetohearhimself called thesaviorofsocietyby the next.
  • James Russell Lowell,Don Quixote.Reported inHoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations(1922), p. 724–25.

• There is amysteriouscycle inhumanevents.To some generations much isgiven.Of other generations much is expected.This generation ofAmericanshas a rendezvous withdestiny.
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt,speech accepting renomination for the presidency, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 27, 1936. The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936, p. 235 (1938).

• Belonging to a generation is one of the lowest forms of solidarity.
  • Harold Rosenberg,"Death in the Wilderness" (1957) inMidstream3/3, Summer 1957, p. 17. Republished in:The Tradition of the New,(1959),p. 244.

• Ourideals,lawsandcustomsshould be based on the proposition that each generation, in turn, becomes the custodian rather than the absolute owner of our resources and each generation has the obligation to pass thisinheritanceon to the future.
  • Charles Lindbergh,New York Times Magazine(23 May 1971)

• A generation which ignoreshistoryhas nopast— and nofuture.
  • Robert A. Heinlein,Time Enough for Love(1973)

• In 20th-century England, anindividual announcing that he was the son of God and would return after death in glory would probably attract psychiatric attention;but earlier generations might have regarded such claims as unsurprising.
  • Anthony Storr,Feet of Clay; Saints, Sinners, and Madmen: A Study of Gurus,New York: Free Press Paperbacks (1996), Chapter VII "The Jesuit and Jesus", p. 144 (1997).

External links

• Generations and Population Doublings.optusnet.au.
• Resources on the Generations.McCrindle.au.
• What is Generation Jones?.Wisegeek.