Quotes About Legacy

General Douglas MacArthur was the most brilliant, most important, and most valuable military leader in American history—at least that's what Douglas MacArthur thought. When asked by a proper British gentlewoman if he had ever met the famous general, Dwight D. Eisenhower—himself about to march into history—supposedly replied, "Not only have I met him, ma'am; I studied dramatics under him for five years in Washington and four years in the Philippines.

O what a thing is age! Death without death's quiet.

The writing of the wise are the only riches our posterity cannot squander.

Dying Speech of an Old Philosopher I strove with none, for none was worth my strife. Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art: I warm'd both hands before the fire of life; It sinks; and I am ready to depart.

I strove with none for none were worth my strife. Nature I loved and next to nature, Art. I warmed both hands before the fire of life; it sinks, and I am ready to depart. - Walter Savage Landor 1776-1864

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes.

A mother's pride, a father's joy.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child's board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.

The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name

Maybe your college professor taught that the legacy of colonialism explains Third World poverty. That's nonsense as well. Canada was a colony. So were Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. In fact, the richest country in the world, the United States, was once a colony. By contrast, Ethiopia, Liberia, Tibet, Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan were never colonies, but they are home to the world's poorest people.

The generation that destroys the environment is not the generation that pays the price. That is the problem.

No matter how dark the cloud, there is always a thin, silver lining, and that is what we must look for. The silver lining will come, if not to us then to next generation or the generation after that. And maybe with that generation the lining will no longer be thin.

When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope. We also secure the future for our children.

socrates. Renouncing the honors at which the world aims, I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well as I can, and, when I die, to die as well as I can. And, to the utmost of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same. Gorgias 526de

Of this I am quite sure, that if we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future. Churchill, speech in the House of Commons (1940)

Products come and go, leaders come and go, trends come and go," says Yamashita, "but through all of that, you need to know the answer to the question What is true about us, at our core?

A rich person should leave his kids enough to do something, but not enough to do nothing.

Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

it is almost exclusively our sons who are willing to risk death so their family will have a better life.

Helping your son develop his sense of purpose requires beginning at a very different place than his dad-or granddad. His dad or granddad was told his sense of purpose. Your job is to help your son find his sense of purpose.

The challenge for your son's grandpa was grandpa's job going nowhere; for your son is his job going elsewhere.

My sons weren't sure what I was getting at. It doesn't matter anyway, because it won't be an option for them. They don't have a Tom Petty. They're borrowing mine.

I cannot believe that any man who deserved fame ever labored for it; that is, directly. For, as fame is but the contingent of excellence, it would be like an attempt to project a shadow, before its substance was obtained.