James Madison Quotes

The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead.

Of present fame think little, and of future less; the praises that we receive after we are buried, like the flowers that are strewed over our grave, may be gratifying to the living, but they are nothing to the dead.

Children are the only form of immortality that we can be sure of.

When you've told someone that you've left them a legacy the only decent thing to do is to die at once.

When you have told anyone you have left him a legacy, the only decent thing to do is die at once.

I've reached the 50th year of my life, and now every question related with life also includes thinking about death. When I leave, I want to leave to my offspring a clear idea about identity.

The living are more important than the dead.

Why we should put ourselves out of our way to do anything for posterity, for what has posterity ever done for us?

I am not concerned about my posthumous fame. Monuments are no good to the dead.

Legacy is something you talk about when you're dead - and I'm not dead yet.

Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter.

As to posterity, I may ask what has it ever done to oblige me?

We all go to our grave thinking that we will never be forgotten, and we are forgotten ten minutes later.

If I die and am worth $50 million as opposed to $3 billion, it is really not important.

When you have a child, you think about your own mortality.

None of us can take anything with us when we're gone. It's what we leave that's gonna matter.

But do you know why we are always more just and generous toward the dead? The reason is simple. With them there is no obligation. They leave us free and we can take our time, fit the testimonial between a cocktail party and a nice little mistress, in our spare time, in short.

Death and taxes are inevitable.

We are only the trustees for those who come after us.

What madness it is for a man to starve himself to enrich his heir, and so turn a friend into an enemy! For his joy at your death will be proportioned to what you leave him.

Believe me, when you die, it's everybody else's but your problem

It is that fery person for all the orld, as just as you will desire; and seven hundred pounds of moneys, and gold, and silver, is her grandsire upon his death's-bed-Got deliver to a joyful resurrections!

The love of posterity is the consequence of the necessity of death. If a man were sure of living forever here, he would not care about his offspring.

Everybody is afraid they won't have any money after they die, but Jack Benny discovered a way to take it with him. He had his appendix taken out and a piggy bank put in.

But in the end it wasn't up to me. The bigs things never are. Birth, I mean, and death. And love. And what love bequeaths to us before we're born.