I believe we inherit a great river of knowledge, a flow of patterns coming from many sources. The information that comes from deep in the evolutionary past we call genetics. The information passed along from hundreds of years ago we call culture. The information passed along from decades ago we call family, and the information offered months ago we call education. But it is all information that flows through us. The brain is adapted to the river of knowledge and exists only as a creature in that river. Our thoughts are profoundly molded by this long historic flow, and none of us exists, self-made, in isolation from it.

W. Brooks (1901–1999) American farmer and businessman
Bubba Brooks (David Kenneth Brooks Jr. David Brooks may refer to:
David Brooks (actor) (1917–1999) American actor and stage director and producer
David Brooks (author) (born 1953) Australian author of short stories and co-editor for Southerly
David Brooks (inventor) inventor who patented an innovative insulator for telegraph lines in 1867 while working for the Central Pacific Railroad
David Brooks (journalist) (born 1961) commentator for The New York Times and other publications
David Brooks (murderer) (born 1955) teenaged accomplice of serial killer Dean Corll
David Brooks (politician) (1756–1838) United States representative in the Fifth United States Congress
David Brooks (rugby league) (born 1962) Australian rugby league footballer
David Brooks (rugby union) (1924–2002) British rugby union footballer
David Allen Brooks (born 1947) American film and television actor
David H.