My grandfather once ventured upon publishing a volume of hymns. I never heard anyone speak in their favour or argue that they ought to have been sung in the congregation. In that volume, he promised a second if the first should prove acceptable. We forgive him the first collection because he did not inflict another.
Both my parents’ brothers are into active politics and so was my grandfather.
My grandfather was a big influence on me, but I lost him when I was a kid.
All the lessons I learned from my grandfather from the day I was born until the day he passed away served me well, and I think about them and use them every day. It was much more valuable than any business school could have provided.
My dad’s an artist, and my grandfather paints – he’s not a painter; my grandfather’s a butcher – but he does a lot of crafts, stained glass, painting, that stuff. There is art in our family, and I was an art major in college along with being a theater major.
I was at a ballpark as much as I was in school. I was on a basketball court or football field as much as I was in school, so I definitely was receiving mentorship when it came to coaches, my father, my grandfather, and my uncles.
My grandfather was a ship’s cook, and he came back from the Far East very often with strange little toys. One of the things he brought back was a puzzle box, which obsessed me for a long time.
My grandfather carried me around on his shoulders at 85.
Until I was five, my immediate family lived near my grandfather’s farm where my mother had grown up and, with the exception of a few modern conveniences, had not changed a lot over the years.
I wasn’t going to get such a nice car – I was going to get a cute little hybrid or something, keep the trees happy – but then my grandfather died, and it was all: retail therapy!
My grandfather read the ‘John Carter of Mars’ books to me when I was young.
I had a sense of pride for the armed forces from the time I was a child because of my grandfather. He taught me to salute. He told me that every time I see army personnel, I should salute as a mark of respect.
My grandfather, who is English, was a member of a gentleman’s club called the Caledonian, which you can only be a member of if you have Scottish lineage.
My grandfather, my grandmother especially, I have a whole family of activists, they’ve always told me to stand up for what I believe in.
My grandfather was from outside of Moscow, and my grandmother, although some of her family were French, was from Odessa. They met as immigrants in New York in the early ’20s. My mother’s family came over from Ireland generations ago.
My mum left her job to allow me to pursue my dreams, coming along with me. But the person who really inspired me was my grandfather. He’ll always have a very special place in my heart.
I was born and raised in the Bronx and my grandfather and my brother Garry were huge Yankees fans. One of my first memories is of them listening to a game on the radio and screaming at the radio. My brother would cry when they lost, and when I was really little, I didn’t know why he was crying.
My father was the Prime Minister of Pakistan. My grandfather had been in politics, too; however, my own inclination was for a job other than politics. I wanted to be a diplomat, perhaps do some journalism – certainly not politics.
I grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina, which has the proud distinction of being the home to two of the eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the state: South Carolina State University and Claflin University. When I was a kid riding around town with my grandfather, we often drove by the colleges.
I’m not that hands-on as a grandfather.
Rock’s so good to me. Rock is my child and my grandfather.
Some say there is no uniquely Canadian identity, that our multicultural fabric is too varied to establish a common thread. I disagree. My grandfather came to a country that celebrates diversity, embraces strife with compassion and respects selfless idealism.
I can’t play a 65-year-old grandfather, as much as I’d like to.
I wrote a techno song about the four things I love in Germany to make myself happy, which are my grandfather, my two poodle pets, bread, and a strange but delicious Turkish dish called Doener Kebab.
My grandfather, K.R. Balan, a pioneer in the film industry, wanted me to try my hand at acting.
We need to work our level best in this legislative session to help grow Montana’s economy, so that grandchildren can stay in Montana, grandchildren can visit their grandmother and grandfather by driving across town, not flying across the country.
I was named after my Jewish grandfather who left Poland early in the 20th century. What I knew from an early age was that he had lived most of his life in England, his Jewish wife had died, and he married a non-Jewish woman who was my grandmother.
If the grandfather of the grandfather of Jesus had known what was hidden within him, he would have stood humble and awe-struck before his soul.
My mom is a painter and photographer and my grandfather was an artist, so I’ve always been surrounded by creative people.
My grandfather arrived in Houston in 1942 as a refugee from Nazi Germany. He had lost everything – his profession, his language, his money – but the city welcomed him, as it has hundreds of thousands of immigrants over the years.
My grandfather was smart and had a whole lot of pride. He didn’t speak a terrible amount, but you could tell there was a ton on his mind – like a quiet acceptance of how life had turned out.
My mom pushed me in a baby carriage at Martin Luther King rallies. My grandfather was a union organizer. And to me, there is no room – no room – for discrimination of any kind. To me, it’s just an anathema.
I started taking piano lessons when I was about 5, and there was always a lot of music in my family: my parents both play instruments, my grandparents were classical violinists, and my grandfather was actually a music professor and a conductor.
I want to live to be a grandfather, or to be doing this when I’m 80.
I was an overly young father, is the most polite way of putting it. I think I was rather immature and all I can say is that I think I’ve made a much better grandfather… I don’t think I was ready to be a father to be honest.
My brothers and I grew up on stories about our grandfather building one-room schoolhouses and about our grandparents’ courtship and their early lives together in Indian Territory.
My grandfather played a big part in raising me, and he taught me how to be a gentleman. Since he first told me those types of things when I was 13 years old, I’ve taken all those types of lessons from him to heart. I’d like to keep that with me.
My grandfather was a massive influence in my music. Growing up, he would play a lot of old-school records to me. A lot of jazz and swing music, actually, growing up.
My mom being raised in England, her father always wanted to pursue the arts and wanted to have a stage career in England. According to her, he never had the courage to actually pursue it full-time. I think that my grandfather’s parents thought that it wasn’t a formidable job to have.
My grandfather was a church organist and would sing in choirs and was a musical genius to a certain extent.
My dad’s really funny. The male sense of humor – like my grandfather’s and such – is pretty bizarre. Basically my dad’s side of the family is where the bizarreness comes from. It’s a little goofy and a little out there.
My mother’s father was from Brazil – a painter, and not a famous one – and was always broke. But he was a free spirit, a great grandfather.
My dad’s a bodybuilder. My whole life I’ve been taught to train the hard way. I believe in earning strength, not buying it. My grandfather raised me old school: In baseball, you work for whatever you get.
My grandfather was a practising Quaker. My father was a nihilist. But nihilism, if you like, is the beginning of faith anyway.
My grandmother and my mother and my grandfather, their style of praying was – all day long, they would pray by singing and humming.
Unfortunately, neither of my grandfathers were alive by the time I decided I wanted to write a book. I wish I had asked them questions when they were around, but I was too young and it remains a regret to this day.
My grandfather criticized me thousands of times, and he gave me a compliment once.
My grandfather and my father had wheat ranches, so we had quite a few trucks around and a lot of mules. Talk about horsepower – we had mule power.
My grandfather was actually a union organizer at Walt Disney. He was an animator. He used to draw Donald Duck for Walt Disney.
My grandfather influenced my brother, and my brother was my biggest influence.
The most important thing my grandfather taught me was that the most noble way to use your skills, intellect and energy is to defend the marginalized against those with the greatest power – and that the resulting animosity from those in power is a badge of honor.
You were only truly patriotic if you had a laborer for a grandfather and were glad of it.
I have been grateful for the influence of my grandmother and my grandfather in my life. I remember my grandmother as a queenly woman. My father could be stern, and my grandparents would remind him that we were just boys.
