What is the use of living, if it be not to strive for noble causes and to make this muddled world a better place for those who will live in it after we are gone? — Speech at Kinnaird Hall, Dundee, Scotland (“Unemployment”), October 10, 1908

My Take – We are here to provide for the next generation, both that they may survive to replace us and so that they have a good life when we are gone.  I refuse to believe the “first generation to not do better than their parents” crap.  I am doing better than my parents did, and I will be damned if my children will settle for a lesser life than I have led.  I can’t control what happens to them in regards to material wealth, but I can raise my sons and daughters to be better people than I am.