--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Without the hope of posterity, for our…" description: "\"Without the hope of posterity, for our race if not for ourselves, without the assurance that we being dead yet live, all pleasures of the mind and sens..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/anonymous-1_assurance_without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-ra_1114562.jpg" --- # Without the hope of posterity, for our race if not for… ![“Without the hope of posterity, for our race if not for ourselves, without the assurance that we being dead yet live, all pleasures of the mind and senses sometimes seem to me no more than pathetic and crumbling defences shored up against our ruin.” quote by Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/anonymous-1_assurance_without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-ra_1114562.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/anonymous-1_assurance_without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-ra_1114562.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/anonymous-1_assurance_without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-ra_1114562.jpg) > “Without the hope of posterity, for our race if not for ourselves, without the assurance that we being dead yet live, all pleasures of the mind and senses sometimes seem to me no more than pathetic and crumbling defences shored up against our ruin.” [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Without hope for future generations, life’s pleasures feel empty, serving only as fragile defenses against inevitable decline. **In simple terms:** Lack of hope makes life’s joys seem meaningless. Key Takeaway Find purpose beyond fleeting pleasures. Themes existentialism hope mortality meaning Mood contemplative melancholic Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - personal reflection - creative writing - philosophical discourse Key Concepts nihilism psychology philosophy Questions to Reflect On - What gives your life meaning beyond the present? - How can you create lasting impact? A Different Perspective Hope can be cultivated through community and legacy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assurance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assurance/) [Confidence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/confidence/) [Defence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defence/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race/) [Ruin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruin/) [Ruins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruins/) ## Related quotes > [A mule has neither pride of ancestry nor hope of posterity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/a-mule-has-neither-pride-of-ancestry-nor-hope-of-posterity/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which I have explained, but also to those which I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ren-descartes/i-hope-that-posterity-will-judge-me-kindly-not-only-as-to-the-things/) [Rene Descartes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ren-descartes/) > [It happened, as many things do, imperceptibly, in many ways at once. 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Fresh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/who-are-we-really-combinations-of-common-chemicals-that-perform/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God I hate being broken up with my lifes crumbling before my eyes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/god-i-hate-being-broken-up-with-my-lifes-crumbling-before-my-eyes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [a connotation of infinity sharpens the temporal splendor of this night when souls which have forgot frivolity in lowliness,noting the fatal flight of worlds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-connotation-of-infinity-sharpens-the-temporal-splendor-of-this/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Among the sentiments of most powerful operation upon the human heart, and most highly honorable to the human character, are those of veneration for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/among-the-sentiments-of-most-powerful-operation-upon-the-human-heart/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The god which the vast majority of professing Christians love is looked upon very much like an indulgent old man, who himself has no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-god-which-the-vast-majority-of-professing-christians-love-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Never forget posterity when devising a policy. Never think of posterity when making a speech.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/never-forget-posterity-when-devising-a-policy-never-think-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Though a hundred crooked paths may conduct to a temporary success, the one plain and straight path of public and private virtue can alone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/though-a-hundred-crooked-paths-may-conduct-to-a-temporary-success-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-principle-office-of-history-i-take-to-be-this-to-prevent-virtuous/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Anonymous > [And a tear rolled down her cheek, as she said goodbye; because she's walking away, and she's never looking back](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-a-tear-rolled-down-her-cheek-as-she-said-goodbye-because-she-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life is full of change. That's how we learn and grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-full-of-change-that-s-how-we-learn-and-grow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You'll seldom experience regret for anything that you've done. It is what you haven't done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-ll-seldom-experience-regret-for-anything-that-you-ve-done-it-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Scrabble - The game is available in Braille. That’s a nice fact. This makes me feel better about humanity for some reason. I can’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/scrabble-the-game-is-available-in-braille-that-s-a-nice-fact-this/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Everyone needs someone to love, and I choose you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/everyone-needs-someone-to-love-and-i-choose-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“THIS tale of my sore-troubled life I write,    To thank the God of nature, who conveyed    My soul to me, and with such care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/this-tale-of-my-sore-troubled-life-i-write-to-thank-the-god-of-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Put on my J's and dance the whole night away Im naughty by nature like Im hip-hop hooray With my hands in the sky,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/put-on-my-j-s-and-dance-the-whole-night-away-im-naughty-by-nature/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Me.. I have been through a lot, but I still manage to have a smile on my face. Im not worried about the past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/me-i-have-been-through-a-lot-but-i-still-manage-to-have-a-smile-on-my/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Distance is a test of love. many will fail for those who can't withstand it, but for those who can, theres only one answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/distance-is-a-test-of-love-many-will-fail-for-those-who-can-t/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Im sorry I ever tried...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/im-sorry-i-ever-tried/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Being betrayed by the one you love is the worst feeling in the world...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/being-betrayed-by-the-one-you-love-is-the-worst-feeling-in-the-world/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Let children support their parents or be imprisoned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/let-children-support-their-parents-or-be-imprisoned/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The only person I've ever purposely caused pain here is myself...By simply sharing, caring too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-only-person-i-ve-ever-purposely-caused-pain-here-is-myself-by/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Start a business, not a startup”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/start-a-business-not-a-startup/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-truth-is-of-course-that-the-curtness-of-the-ten-commandments-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Explore all 162,899 Anonymous quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More Assurance quotes > [She had been dragged in the most humiliating of all dusts, the dust reserved for older women who let themselves be approached, on amorous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/she-had-been-dragged-in-the-most-humiliating-of-all-dusts-the-dust/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [A wholesome regard for the memory of the great men of long ago is the best assurance to a people of a continuation of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calvin-coolidge/a-wholesome-regard-for-the-memory-of-the-great-men-of-long-ago-is-the/) [Calvin Coolidge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calvin-coolidge/) > [How arrogant - how very far from humility - would be the self-satisfied, smug assurance that God, a tidy-up-after-us God will come and clean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-whitehouse/how-arrogant-how-very-far-from-humility-would-be-the-self-satisfied/) [Sheldon Whitehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-whitehouse/) > [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [When God overcomes our difficulties for us, we have the assurance that we are engaged in His work and not our own](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-muller/when-god-overcomes-our-difficulties-for-us-we-have-the-assurance-that/) [George Muller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-muller/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There are believers who by God's grace, have climbed the mountains of full assurance and near communion, their place is with the eagle in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/there-are-believers-who-by-god-s-grace-have-climbed-the-mountains-of/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [Everybody in the real world will agree - the moment a project is behind deadline, quality assurance tends to go out the window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cox/everybody-in-the-real-world-will-agree-the-moment-a-project-is-behind/) Alan Cox > [Perhapsthemost sublimeinsights oftheJewishprophets and the Christian gospel is the knowledge that since perfection is love, the apprehension of perfection is at once the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/perhapsthemost-sublimeinsights-ofthejewishprophets-and-the-christian/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [We have a commitment to serve our Lord. We have an assurance that the cause is just and worthy. But, above all, we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/we-have-a-commitment-to-serve-our-lord-we-have-an-assurance-that-the/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [“Out of all its squalor and human decay, its eruptions of butchery, India produced so many people of grace and beauty, ruled by elaborate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/out-of-all-its-squalor-and-human-decay-its-eruptions-of-butchery/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Do not rest, believer, until you have full assurance of your interest in Jesus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-spurgeon/do-not-rest-believer-until-you-have-full-assurance-of-your-interest/) [Charles Spurgeon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-spurgeon/) > [Confidentially, the type of male I find most enjoyable for a friend is one who has enough fire and assurance to speak up for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-monroe/confidentially-the-type-of-male-i-find-most-enjoyable-for-a-friend-is/) [Marilyn Monroe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-monroe/) > [Great literature has always been written in a like spirit, and is, indeed, the Forgiveness of Sin, and when we find it becoming the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/great-literature-has-always-been-written-in-a-like-spirit-and-is/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Our assurance is anchored in the love and grace of God expressed in the glorious exchange: our sin for His righteousness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tullian-tchividjian/our-assurance-is-anchored-in-the-love-and-grace-of-god-expressed-in/) [Tullian Tchividjian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tullian-tchividjian/) [Browse all 557 Assurance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assurance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Without the hope of posterity, for our race if not for ourselves, without the assurance that we being dead yet live, all pleasures of the mind and senses sometimes seem to me no more than pathetic and crumbling defences shored up against our ruin.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anonymous" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-race-if-not-for-ourselves/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Assurance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-race-if-not-for-ourselves/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/anonymous-1_assurance_without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-ra_1114562.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/anonymous-1_assurance_without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-ra_1114562.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/anonymous-1_assurance_without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-ra_1114562.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Without the hope of posterity, for our race if not for ourselves, without the assurance that we being dead…” — Anonymous", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Anonymous", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Without the hope of posterity, for...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-race-if-not-for-ourselves/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/without-the-hope-of-posterity-for-our-race-if-not-for-ourselves/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```