Literary notes about posterity (AI summary)
The term "posterity" has been wielded in literature as a powerful emblem of legacy, responsibility, and the enduring impact of human actions. In historical texts, authors like Josephus and Tacitus use it to denote an unbroken line of descent or the lasting memory of ancient achievements and failures [1, 2, 3]. Meanwhile, Romantic and modern writers offer a more nuanced critique, suggesting that posterity serves as both a silent judge and an inheritor of our moral and artistic endeavors [4, 5, 6]. In political and philosophical works, posterity emerges as a cautionary concept—a reminder that the actions taken today will be assessed and lived with by future generations [7, 8, 9]. Across genres and eras, therefore, "posterity" encapsulates the hope, burden, and inevitable continuity that define human existence.
- According To The Will Of God; And How Aaron, Moses's Brother Both He And His Posterity, Retained The Priesthood. 1.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus - Concerning The Posterity Of Adam, And The Ten Generations From Him To The Deluge.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus - Their ancestors established it, and are imitated by posterity.
— from The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus by Cornelius Tacitus - Unless some unforeseen mortality should break out among the progeny of the Muse, now that she has become so prolific, I tremble for posterity.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - He declined two bishoprics that he might shut himself up and write for posterity; but posterity never inquires after his labors.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - The poet or the artist never yet had so fair and noble a design but some of his posterity at least could accomplish it.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau - It is easy also to see that alienation of liberty, even if possible for an individual, which Rousseau denies, cannot bind his posterity.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - If you cannot do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon posterity.
— from Common Sense by Thomas Paine - I have no connexion through kindred with the deceased, his heirs, or his posterity, and I expect on this account neither favour nor reward.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
