Posterity is a most limited assembly. Those gentlemen who reach posterity are not much more numerous than the planets. Benj. DisraeliSpeech. June 3, 1862.
Was glänzt ist für den Augenblick geboren; Das Aechte bleibt der Nachwelt unverloren. What dazzles, for the moment spends its spirit; Whats genuine, shall posterity inherit. GoetheFaust. Vorspiel auf dem Theater. L. 41.
Ich verachte die Menschheit in allen ihren Schichten; ich sehe es voraus, dass unsere Nachkommen noch weit unglücklicher sein werden, als wir. Sollte ich nicht ein Sünder sein, wenn ich trotz dieser Ansicht für Nachkommen, d. h. für Unglückliche sorgte? I despise mankind in all its strata; I foresee that our descendants will be still far unhappier than we are. Would I not be a criminal if, notwithstanding this view, I should provide for progeny, i. e. for unfortunates? Alexander von Humboldt, during a conversation with Arago in 1812.
The man was laughed at as a blunderer who said in a public business: We do much for posterity; I would fain see them do something for us. Mrs. Elizabeth MontaguLetters. Jan. 1, 1742.
Why should we put ourselves out of our way to do anything for posterity; for what has posterity done for us? Sir Boyle Roche. During Grattans Parliament. See C. Litton Flakiners Studies in Irish History and Biography.
The survivorship of a worthy man in his son is a pleasure scarce inferior to the hopes of the continuance of his own life. SteeleSpectator. Oct. 10, 1711.
What has posterty done for us, That we, lest they their rights should lose, Should trust our necks to gripe of noose? John TrumbullMcFingal. Canto II. L. 121.
A foreign nation is a kind of contemporaneous posterity. H. B. WallaceStanley. Vol. II. P. 89. (See also de Staël. Same idea in Franklins Letter to Wm. Strahan, 1745).