Tradition is ninety nine percent of what makes civilization possible. Tradition gives us the giants’ shoulders on which rare genius stands. Tradition counsels caution, shaking its head at the newcomer whose fresh ideas promise so much but at such great risk. Tradition preserves ideas that work, ideas that have brought us this far—whether or not they can bring us farther. Tradition is the autonomic nervous system of culture.
Tradition is the sweeping label we apply to the ideas, practices, and conventions that quietly guide our daily lives. Some of these ideas, practices, and conventions are better than others. Many are good, a great many are equivocal, and a few are very bad. They vary not only in quality but also in relevance to our lives, and in the degree to which we will extend to them our affinity—the degree to which they represent tradition to us.
Tradition is ninety nine percent of what makes civilization possible. The other one percent is radicalism, without which tradition would slowly kill us all.
