Maya Lin Quotes

The deepest instinct is to want to do something enduring, something worthwhile, and to be engaged by that, whether one achieves it or not.

I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name.

I just want to complete my legacy.

To do what you wanna do, to leave a mark - in a way that you think is important and lasting - that's a life well-lived.

Ultimately you want to do something in life that people will remember. And with Buffy, I did that. I don't feel like I need to achieve something. I just do it because it's fun. And that takes the pressure off.

The sublimity of wisdom is to do those things living, which are to be desired when dying.

Everyone has to die someday. I'd rather die after doing something worthwhile.

As an artist, as a person, I don't want to be here for just a little while.

Success is a relative quotient, and fame can be ephemeral. An Oscar is something that becomes a part of your record, a tangible acknowledgement that your efforts have made a difference.

When I die, the world is going to talk about me. They will never forget me and I will never have any regrets. If nothing else, the world will know I was here. I think that everyone should make their mark wherever they are. They will talk about you way after you're gone. Make your mark. Live your life.

I like to think of my shining tombstone. It gives me, as you might say, something to live for.

If you make something your life's work, make sure it's something you can feel proud of when you're an old relic like me.

Leonard asks me if there's anything I need to know before he dies, I think about it for a minute, turn to him, say what's the meaning of life, Leonard? He laughs, says that's an easy one, my son, it's whatever you want it to be.

Everyone's life is a page in the human history irrespective of the position he or she holds or the work he or she performs.

If we keep a goal firmly in mind, we will know when we have reached it. This gives us a sense of accomplishment and the challenge of establishing fresh, new goals - always keeping the long-range objective in mind. If we can state our goals clearly, we will gain a purpose and meaning in all our actions.

The whole idea is not to figure out what you should do that will matter, but to make each thing you do reflect the values you want, because we don't know what's going to matter in the future

To die is nothing. One is here, one is no longer here. It is only at the end one must be able to say 'I was a man'.

I'd like to be remembered. I'd like to think that someday two guys will be talking in a bar and one of them will say something like, 'Yeah, he's a good shortstop, but he's not as good as ole Ripken was.'

I don't expect to live forever, nor do I repine over that, but I am weak enough to want to be remembered forever. - Yet how few of those who have lived, even of those who have accomplished far more than I have, linger on in world memory for even a single century after death

A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant.

The way we get to live forever is through memories stored in the hearts and souls of those whose lives we touch. That's our soul print. It's our comfort, our emotional nourishment at the end of the day and the end of a life. How wonderful that they are called up at will and savored randomly. It seems to me we should spend our lives in a conscious state of creating these meaningful moments that live on. Memories matter.

You can only make so much money in life and only enjoy so many creature comforts. The important thing is to do something meaningful-to leave something behind.

We’re here, and then we’re gone, and it’s not about the time we’re here, but what we do with the time.

I can't think of a greater legacy than, "Because you lived, another species survived."

For man to be able to live he must either not see the infinite, or have such an explanation of the meaning of life as will connect the finite with the infinite.