“It's people like that who make you realize how little you've accomplished. It is a sobering thought, for example, that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.”

— Tom Lehrer

Introduction to "Alma"
That Was the Year That Was (1965)
Context: Last December 13th, there appeared in the newspapers the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary it has ever been my pleasure to read.
It was that of a lady named Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel, who had, in her lifetime, managed to acquire as lovers practically all of the top creative men in central Europe. And, among these lovers, who were listed in the obituary, by the way, which is what made it so interesting, there were three whom she went so far as to marry: One of the leading composers of the day, Gustav Mahler, composer of "Das Lied von der Erde" and other light classics, one of the leading architects, Walter Gropius, of the "Bauhaus" school of design, and one of the leading writers, Franz Werfel, author of the "Song of Bernadette" and other masterpieces.
It's people like that who make you realize how little you've accomplished. It is a sobering thought, for example, that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update July 24, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It's people like that who make you realize how little you've accomplished. It is a sobering thought, for example, that …" by Tom Lehrer?

Tom Lehrer 60

American singer-songwriter and mathematician 1928

Related quotes

“I try to see my films just once. It's like a dream you've been through when it's been intense, and you just have to go through it once more just to make sure you've had it.”

Juliette Binoche (1964) French actress

Quoted at Juliette Binoche: The Art of Being http://juliettebinoche.net, her official website

“There's much to be said for immortality – for example, the saving on funeral expenses. And no more nonsense about "legacies," and about how anything you've accomplished will "live on after you."”

Ashleigh Brilliant (1933) American author and cartoonist

From his weekly column for the Montecito Journal: MJ#37, an attachment to his "Brilliant friends" email messages, 1 April 2018

“He undertook to disparage my age when he himself had appointed his ten-year-old son.”

Elagabalus (203–222) Roman Emperor

Referring to the Emperor Macrinus and his declaration of his son Diadumenianus to be '"Caesar". The head of Diadumenianus was presented to Elagabalus as a trophy. As quoted in Dio's Roman History (1955), as translated by Earnest Cary, p. 439