If Sparta and Rome perished, what state can hope to live forever? Hence, if we wish to form a lasting institution, let us not think about making it eternal. In order to succeed we should not attempt the impossible, or flatter ourselves that we are giving the work of men a solidity that does not belong to human things.

the idea is not to live forever, but create something that will

We don’t ask to be eternal beings. We only ask that things do not lose all their meaning.

No greater mistake can be made than to think that our institutions are fixed or may not be changed for the worse.

We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.

Los gobiernos formados por elementos heterogéneos no son duraderos.

But then, as she knew too well, the more fondly we imagine something will last forever, the more ephemeral it often proves to be.

Your now is not your forever.

Nós não pedimos para ser eternos, mas apenas para não ver os atos e as coisas perderem subitamente o seu sentido. O vazio que nos rodeia faz-se então sentir...

As we peer into society's future, we — you and I, and our government — must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

Todos tenemos ideas. Las ideas son inmortales. Duran siempre. Lo que no dura siempre es la inspiración. Es como la fruta fresca o la leche: tiene fecha de caducidad. Si quieres hacer algo, tienes que hacerlo ahora.

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.

See and realize that this world is not permanent. Neither late nor early flowers will remain.