I would rather live a short life of glory than a long one of obscurity.
In the end, when it's over, all that matters is what you've done.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
If my body dies, let my body die, but do not let my country die.
With Heaven's aid I have conquered for you a huge empire. But my life was too short to achieve the conquest of the world.
Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments.
I have united the world under one rule. Let the achievements of the past be surpassed.
I am the First Emperor, and my successors shall be numbered accordingly for ten thousand generations.
The walls of the north shall protect ten thousand generations from the barbarians beyond.
I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free, so other people would also be free.
Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.
Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom.
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.
I shall not depart from the example of my father.
He could boast that he received it brick and left it marble.
Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
I used to measure the heavens, now I measure the shadows of Earth. The mind belonged to heaven, the body's shadow lies here.
The die is cast; I have written my book; it will be read either in the present age or by posterity, it matters not which.
If someday they say of me that in my work I have contributed something to the welfare and happiness of my fellow man, I shall be satisfied.
If some day they say of me that with the airbrake I contributed something to civilization, something to the safety of human life, it will be sufficient.
I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say - I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love. If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles.
Be a clock builder, not a time teller.
Like the Bible said, man was born to trouble. Henrietta made the trouble worthwhile.
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.
