legacy Quotes

I shook up the world, I shook up the world.

I used to tease Joe Louis by reminding him that I was the greatest of all time. But Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight fighter ever.

To write the lives of the great in separating them from their works necessarily ends by above all stressing their pettiness, because it is in their work that they have put the best of themselves.

An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmaster of ever afterwards.

My idea is always to reach my generation. The wise writer writes for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward.

It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.

Every man's reputation proceeds from those of his own household.

The longer a man's fame is likely to last, the longer it will be in coming.

Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them.

The foolish are like ripples on water, For whatsoever they do is quickly effaced; But the righteous are like carvings upon stone, For their smallest act is durable.