Zukunft braucht Herkunft. The future needs origins. The philosopher Odo Marquard (1928–2015) gave this title to a book of essays in 2003. The national biography says the title became a well-known saying.
Marquard argued that people should orient themselves by customs that exist for good reasons, rather than chase what is new. He saw himself as a Berufsskeptiker, a professional skeptic.