Legacy Quotes

What I really want is to be recognized as a writer; that someday, my poetry — this is an interesting paradox — would be taught in English classes; for my name, along with my poetry, to exist 500 years from now.

There is need to focus on selling an emotional experience instead of a mere product or service - the impression you make on others must be lasting and permanent. These experiences have to be positive and worth remembering. This will increase the chances of repeat business and referrals, guaranteeing customer loyalty. And that is what sustains businesses, brands and careers for generations! The principle remains the same for comedians, actors, footballers, musicians, sales executives or any other area of specialty.

The wealth of the imperial countries is our wealth too. On the universal plane this affirmation, you may be sure, should on no account be taken to signify that we feel ourselves affected by the creations of Western arts or techniques. For in a very concrete way Europe has stuffed herself inordinately with the gold and raw materials of the colonial countries:Latin America, China, and Africa. From all these continents, under whose eyes Europe today raises up her tower of opulence, there has flowed out for centuries toward that same Europe diamonds and oil, silk and cotton, wood and exotic products. Europe is literally the creation of the Third World. The wealth which smothers her is that which was stolen from the underdeveloped peoples. The ports of Holland, the docks of Bordeaux and Liverpool were specialized in the Negro slave trade, and owe their renown to millions of deported slaves. So when we hear the head of a European state declare with his hand on his heart that he must come to the aid of the poor underdeveloped peoples, we do not tremble with gratitude. Quite the contrary; we say to ourselves: "It's a just reparation which will be paid to us.

Stored personal memories along with handed down collective memories of stories, legends, and history allows us to collate our interactions with a physical and social world and develop a personal code of survival. In essence, we all become self-styled sages, creating our own book of wisdom based upon our studied observations and practical knowledge gleaned from living and learning. What we quickly discover is that no textbook exist how to conduct our life, because the world has yet to produce a perfect person – an ideal observer – whom is capable of handing down a concrete exemplar of epistemic virtues. We each draw upon the guiding knowledge, theories, and advice available for us in order to explore the paradoxes, ironies, inconsistencies, and the absurdities encountered while living in a supernatural world. We mold our personal collection of information into a practical practicum how to live and die. Each day we define and redefine who we are, determine how we will react today, and chart our quest into an uncertain future.

Leaders don’t hide good news from their followers. As long as they discover knowledge, they share knowledge. They leave part of them with people they meet; hence they are hardly missed when they are gone.

Shift from mediocrity to excellence. Mediocrity and Excellence are like jealous suitors fighting for a partner and competing to please him/her, to the extent they do all they can to reproduce in sets of twins. Mediocrity gives birth to Irrelevance and Obscurity, whilst Excellence breeds Relevance and Significance. These sets of twins cannot inhabit the same life, only one compatible pair can co-exist.

Your life as an effective person must always have productivity surrounding all your efforts, there must be a sustained forward and upward trajectory in every area of your life. This is where the Shona Shereketa meets the Japanese Kaizen - you are moving and shaking past mediocrity on the basis of small but continuous improvements that will ultimately result in positive quality changes to your life.

Until you make a destiny defining decision, you can't move from where you are to the rightful place you should be.

Read what you like, not what you're told to like. That way you'll read for a lifetime.

I don’t call it "Life Insurance," I call it "Love Insurance." We buy it because we want to leave a legacy for those we love.

If you want to excel in any endeavour you must pay attention to detail, know exactly what you want, have the detail on how you want it done and how you will get it done. You must realize the importance of definitions and love defining things in your life and about your life – Define your mission, define your problem, define your future, define your path and the finer details of your vision. Use your sense of imagination and creativity.

Beginning to work your plan means movement and action. The success of your movements and actions can only be guaranteed if they are well calculated.

Someone once said that every man is trying to live up to his father's expectations or make up for their father's mistakes....

Every country has a cultural legacy and religious practices for reasons that I don’t believe fall under the category of superstition, something that a religious scholar should understand.

Don’t do things or act out your posture and gestures to impress people, just be yourself and portray the confident ‘you’ with that high self-esteem. So relax because you are ‘you’. Be sincere, be authentic. That will be impressive enough.

Even if you are counted amongst the best, you will slip into mediocrity by remaining comfortable being the worst of the best. You might be relevant, but because your level of effectiveness is in the bottom tier and your impact minimal – you will soon become obscure as your relevance begins to wear off.

Funny how we do not realize the true value and legacy of a living icon until they suddenly pass away. Truth is, there are many living legends among us, we just do not stop and take time to notice their worth until it's too late.

So many people think that they are not gifted because they don’t have an obvious talent that people can recognize because it doesn’t fall under the creative arts category—writing, dancing, music, acting, art or singing. Sadly, they let their real talents go undeveloped, while they chase after fame. I am grateful for the people with obscure unremarked talents because they make our lives easier---inventors, organizers, planners, peacemakers, communicators, activists, scientists, and so forth. However, there is one gift that trumps all other talents—being an excellent parent. If you can successfully raise a child in this day in age to have integrity then you have left a legacy that future generations will benefit from.

Men's lives are short .The hard man and his cruelties will beCursed behind his back and mocked in death.But one whose heart and ways are kind - of himstrangers will bear report to the whole wide world,and distant men will praise him.- Penelope in Robert Fitzgerald trans. THE ODYSSEY (364)

His famous, soul-stirring "I have a dream" speech will still give you chills and break your heart today. Decades later, long after his life on earth tragically ended, the legacy of his burden lives on, improving lives for generations to come. All because one man allowed his burden to birth a dream.

Fake friends; those who only drill holes under your boat to get it leaking; those who discredit your ambitions and those who pretend they love you, but behind their backs they know they are in to destroy your legacies.

If you are not sure or you don’t know something, politely ask. Asking is not a sign of being daft, but of confidence.

There must be a clear distinction between wishing and believing. A wish is a hazy thread of desires that leaves room for the winds of doubt to toss it about, meaning it might happen by chance or not. A belief has no equivocation; it is clear, stubborn and deliberate in taking hold of what remains yet unseen by the physical eye. If there is no visible way, a belief will draft the way, create the way, walk the path and reach the desired destination.

Work is simply, “force x distance” or the product of a force applied to an object and the displacement of the object in the direction of the applied force…holding an object in the air does not involve any work, no matter how painful your hand will be after a few minutes… reflect on your daily activities and the results from them. Are you really working or just increasing your potential without progress or desired results? Your work must produce some movement, progress and change, by effectively using all your energies whether intellectual or physical.

What are the obvious temptations and inclinations that consistently call me or entice me to go against my personal beliefs, values and standards? You don’t need a prophet for this!

My God, what a sensation to be an atom in the scheme of such grandiosity. The allurement, the jazz, and the physics of it all . . .

We stopped you from going, didn't we? Me and Shiva. Our birth?"Don't be silly. Can you imagine me giving up this?" he said sweeping his hand to indicate family, Missing, the home he'd made out of a bungalow. "I've been blessed. My genius was to know long ago that money alone wouldn't make me happy. Or maybe that's my excuse for not leaving you a huge fortune! I certainly could have made more money if that had been my goal. But one thing I won't have is regrets. My VIP patients often regret so many things on their deathbeds. They regret the bitterness they'll leave in people's hearts. They realize the no money, no church service, no eulogy, no funeral procession no matter how elaborate, can remove the legacy of a mean spirit.Of course, you and I have seen countless deaths among the poor. Their only regret surely is being born poor, suffering from birth to death. You know, in the book of Job, Job says to God, 'You should've taken me straight from the womb to the tomb! Why the in-between part, why life, if it was just to suffer?' Something like that. For the poor, death is at least the end of suffering.

Some people are known, they have the platform and presence, but still remain irrelevant. They know you and what you do, but they don’t need you or your offering. I see too many people with a platform but without substance, again this is not sustainable. Lack of substance can only relegate your talent or skill towards the league of the mediocre, if at all you become much by superficial branding then you will become the best of the worst. You don't have what it takes but you depend on your ability to sell substandard offerings to the market. It will not last for long, but quickly become irrelevant.

You must not end your life because you failed an examination. Failing an examination or making a mistake does not make you a failure at life. The context of life is broader than that.

Each person leaves a legacy -- a single, small piece of herself, which makes richer each individual life and the collective life of humanity as a whole.

Just like watering the field will cause both the desired seed and the undesirable weed to germinate, the opportunities for your mission in life will be equally presented with real-life threats.

Who are you’ is a question of both substance and position. In other words, what is the authority of your voice, service, product or performance in relation to the needs of those you intend to serve? Secondly, have you defined and demystified yourself enough to be accepted as the solution of choice?

Stories were heirlooms in these parts.

Do all the work you while you still have strength.

Life is what you make it and legacy is what you leave it. Stop trying to be perfect, stop waiting for perfection to find you, and start making your environment a product of you instead of the other way around.

Some people choose to lead, others to follow. Success is not primarily a matter of circumstances or native talent or even intelligence — it is a choice. Your beliefs, passion, values, enthusiasm, relationships, interpersonal skills and how they are blended, will move you further ahead towards success.

Understand that every ‘voice’ has the spirit to influence. Watch your tone, accent, volume and speed. Be careful that you don’t sound angry or argumentative whenever driving an important point. Equally important, is not sounding serious or sounding playful when the message being conveyed needs to be taken seriously.

Most of the things to guarantee your death have already been done so you can spend the rest of your time focusing on the things that can guarantee your success and happiness.

Even though your time on the job is temporary, if you do a good enough job, your work there will last forever.

Your success must never be left to others. You must be able to visualize it and see it through your own eyes, whilst others assist you to see it better and make it clearer.

At the end of the day, only what we do for Christ will last. Appreciate each day, one another, and the vessels God may use to acknowledge our individual and collective skillsets and let’s always remember the importance of planting seeds in our own lives, i.e., investing in ourselves and our spiritual purpose. If we can achieve this, we will be able to reflect on the journey and see the legacy we have built for our loved ones and the blessings we have sewn for God’s glory.

After I leave the earth my work is anyway going to belong to the world for centuries but till that time I want to work freely.

No legacy is so rich as honesty.

Internalising success means that even if a misfortune takes away all the evidence or traces of success, yet what made you successful, remains. Soon enough, the evidence will return.

Just because you cannot see it now, does not mean it is not there or not possible. See yourself succeeding and own that vision through all your planning and hard work.

Everything that the spider needs to make a spider-web is not found in the housefly... it's right there in the spider! Whatever you need to make impacts is in you! Discover yourself and make a difference!

When now we turn and look five miles above, there on the edge of town are five houses of prostitutes,—two of blacks and three of whites; and in one of the houses of the whites a worthless black boy was harbored too openly two years ago; so he was hanged for rape. And here, too, is the high whitewashed fence of the "stockade," as the county prison is called; the white folks say it is ever full of black criminals,—the black folks say that only colored boys are sent to jail, and they not because they are guilty, but because the State needs criminals to eke out its income by their forced labor.

You need to change the questions you ask yourself and of your situations, in order to change the trajectory of your life. These are questions that will help you define and refine your purpose.

Great writing is always rewriting or revisionism, and is founded on a reading that clears space for the self.

Attitude is the mind-set, the kind of thoughts you process and meditate on, to generate the kind of feelings you have towards life, people and issues. This is what makes you do what you do in the way you do it.

It must start by knowing Time = Life. Spending your life on impulse will lead to a broke life, just like impulse buying leads to an empty wallet! How much value you place on your time reflects in the activities that consume your time.

If you check your personal blind spots, you can be able to guard against focusing on what you cannot do, but reduce the areas of weakness by taking their space with more of your strengths.

Your patriotism is not measured by what your country can do for you. It's all about what you can do for your country for your own benefit and for the benefit of unborn generations!

Multi-colored lights flashed and glared on the wet road and cast eerie reflections, reminiscent of artistic surrealism. Fillion imagined that his distress and anger swirled and moved with the refracted lights, creating an urban masterpiece of demented fury.

When your leadership and legacy are built on love, obstacles are overcome through love’s fruit of optimism, foundations are built solid and secure in love’s values, and success is achieved through the strength found in love’s endurance.

Ten years from now, no one is going to care how quickly the books came out. The only thing that will matter, the only thing anyone will remember, is how good they were. That's my main concern, and always will be.

We're all just songs in the end. If we are lucky.

Be deliberate about what you choose to read, watch or listen to – these are source codes to your internal programming.

You make the plans - otherwise you will die thinking it is not possible to plan to have time for work, for exercise, for sleep, for relaxation, for recreation, for eating, for entertainment, for love, for family, for spirituality, for friends, for personal reflection, for personal development, for business, for charity all in one life!

How freeing of a thought: instead of worrying about leaving a legacy, to leave no trace of one's existence. How liberating indeed!