Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Consider those who came before you and those who will come after to guide your actions.
In plain terms
Think of your ancestors and your future generations.
What can you take from it?
Act with consideration for past and future generations.

Where it applies

  • leadership
  • family planning
  • policy making

Putting it to work

  • plan for future
  • honor heritage
  • make lasting decisions

Questions to consider

  • Who are you living for?
  • What legacy do you want to leave?

Another view

Sometimes immediate needs conflict with long-term legacy concerns.

More from John Quincy Adams

  1. I can never join with my voice in the toast which I see in the papers attributed to one of our gallant naval heroes. I cannot ask of heaven success, even for m…

    Permalink to quote #2
  2. Individual liberty is individual power, and as the power of a community is a mass compounded of individual powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom mus…

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. This house will bear witness to his piety; this town, his birthplace, to his munificence; history to his patriotism; posterity to the depth and compass of his …

    Permalink to quote #4

Related quotes

  1. From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.

    Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte quote #3
  2. Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now.

    PericlesPericles quote #7
  3. He seems to think that posterity is a pack-horse, always ready to be loaded.

    Benjamin DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli quote #27