Quotes About Legacy

Now that child reminds me of something our sages taught. When a baby comes into the world, it's hands are clenched, right? Like this? He made a fist. Why? Because a baby, not knowing any better, wants to grab everything, to say 'The whole world is mine.' But when an old person dies, how does he do so? With his hands open. Why? Because he has learned the lesson. What lesson? I asked. He stretched open his empty fingers. We can take nothing with us.

No soul remembered is ever really gone.

What do people fear most about death? I asked the reb. Fear? he thought for a moment. 'Well, for one thing, what happens next? Where do we go? Is it what we imagined? That's big. Yes. But there's something else. What else? He leaned forward. Being forgotten, he whispered.

You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here...Death ends life, not a relationship.

when your time came, it came, and that was that. You might say something smart on your way out, but you might just as easily say something stupid.

Had he known his death was imminent, he might have gone somewhere else. Instead, he did what we all do. He went about his dull routine as if all the days in the world were still to come.

We move through places every day that would never have been if not for those who came before us. Our workplaces, where we spend so much time--we often think they began with our arrival. That's not true.

Tell me about your family, I said. And so she did. I listened intently as my mother went through each branch of the tree. Years later, after the funeral, Maria had asked me questions about the family - who was related to whom - and I struggled. I couldn't remember. A big chunk of our history had been buried with my mother. You should never let your past disappear that way.

Personally, I always wondered about authors and celebrities who loudly declared there was no God. It was usually when they were healthy and popular and being listened to by crowds. What happens, I wondered, in the quiet moments before death? By then, they have lost the stage, the world has moved on. If suddenly, in their last gasping moments, through fear, a vision, a late enlightenment, they change their minds about God, who would know?

This is a story about a family and, as there is a ghost involved, you might cal it a ghost story. But every family is a ghost story. The dead sit at out tables long after they have gone.

You cannot unplay your notes. Time, like music, is indelible that way.

And I suppose tapes are a desperate attempt to steal something from Death's suitcase.

When someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone.

Dying? Not the end of everything. We think it is. But what happens on earth is only the beginning.

Things that happen before you are born still affect you... And people who come before your time affect you as well. We move through places everyday that would never have been if not for those who came before us. Our workplaces, where we spend so much time - we often think they began with our arrival. That's not true.

What will you do with the time you have left?

At a certain point, your life is more about your legacy to your kids than anything else.

You didn't get it. Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father. That's the thing. Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.

Remember me for these days, not the old ones.

The dead sit at our tables long after they have gone.

How do people choose their final words? Do they realize their gravity? Are they fated to be wise?

We humans make so much of 'our' time on earth. We measure it, we compare it, we put it in our tombstones.

A teacher's shadow can hover for life.

As long as we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here. -Morrie