It is to be regretted that few persons who have arrived at any degree of eminence or fame, have written Memorials of themselves, at least such as have embraced their private as well as their public life.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
One writes to memorialize, and to bring to life again that which has been lost.
Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.
But we cannot rely on memorials and museums alone. We can tell ourselves we will never forget and we likely won't. But we need to make sure that we teach history to those who never had the opportunity to remember in the first place.
I think it's very important for writers and artists generally to be witnesses to the world, and to be transparent. To let other people speak... to travel... to experience the world. And memorialize it.
Since it is not granted to us to live long, let us transmit to posterity some memorial that we have at least lived.
I realized so much of my life hasn't been in a well-lit room, and I realized the importance of documenting my experiences as a way to memorialize them.
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.
I have tried for much of my life to write as if I was composing my sentences to be read posthumously.
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing.
For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial.