“It is a pathetic thought. We struggle, we rise, we tower in the zenith a brief and gorgeous moment, with the adoring eyes of the nations upon us, then the lights go out, oblivion closes around us, our glory fades and vanishes, a few generations drift by, and naught remains but a mystery and a name.”
-Mark Twain

What does it really mean, when we pass into inevitable oblivion, to possess fame or claim glory?  Fame vanishes and glory dies in the press of our own ego.

It is nothing but what we leave behind that is important in the end. Best to consider what that might be while it is still in our power, lest we be caught with nothing at all to show for it