In the East, the Confucians believe that the success…

In the East, the Confucians believe that the success of the family represents their highest calling. Frequently, when I ask an Easterner how he wishes to be remembered in his epitaph, the answer is, "That I left my family in better condition than I found it." Rarely has this been the first answer from a Western client. My Chinese clients nevertheless suffer the effects of the proverb in equal proportions to my clients in other cultures. My point is only that the Confucian cultural idea that in harmony we find the definition of beauty is demonstrated in the belief that beauty is found in a harmonious family. This is a very powerful concept

— from Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue) · Family: The Compact Among Generations by James E. Hughes Jr.

In the book

A friend's wife, a photographer, used to ask people to choose five objects to represent their lives and arrange them to be photographed; the exercise forced them to decide what was central and what was merely incidental — and in the center of her own she placed a small sculpture of two golden seeds her children had given her, standing for her belief that there is in every one of us a seed of unrealized potential. Leave them better than you found them. When I ask people how they want to be remembered, the wisest answer I have heard is the one a man once gave me: "that I left my family in better condition than I found it". Hold the family together — remember Aesop's bundle of sticks, which cannot be broken together but snaps one at a time. […] Refuse entitlement. Use no blessing at another's expense, and never feel you are owed. Plant the slow trees. Think seven generations out; leave the family better than you found it. Say it now. Give without scorekeeping, create to be of use, and tell the people you love that you're proud of them. — Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue)

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