Montaigne nails this one:

No reward falls due to a virtue, however great, that has passed into a custom; and for that matter I do not know whether we would ever call it great when it was common.

The thing about nearly every high honor in our world is that it’s something that recurs on a calendar, so even if you win the Nobel Prize, you cannot retire the world’s greatest title in whatever you do, someone new will pick up the exact same prize the next year — perhaps even your mortal enemy.

And it applies across the board … there will be another President, unless you destroy the country before the next can take the oath. Even the most sublime discoveries will be amended or replaced in time. Isaac Newton may have been the most brilliant human in history, but his physics do not survive the quantum level. Parts of Albert Einstein’s theories have needed readjustments.

Great books will fall out of favor. Moon landings are re-evaluated as wastes of public resources — or disbelieved by a public that has lost all grounding in historical fact. Half a generation ago, Steve Jobs was celebrated for his innovation and leadership. Today we question what he unleashed on the world.

In short, there are no lasting legacies in the world. All we have is how we affect each other in the moment. And yet, so many people — mostly men, disproportionately American — think and talk endlessly about their lasting marks. The running joke on the HBO sitcom “Silicon Valley” is that every pitch included how their business plan is also making the world a better place.

And maybe it is in a small way, as it is also making it a worse place. We’re in an endless dance of improvement and destruction with the tempo quickening each year. All of us have to adapt and maybe there’s nothing wrong with point out what we consider to be excellence along the way.

But a lot of humility should be part of it. They think you’re great this year — wonderful, enjoy it. Just bear in mind that the moment will pass quickly and in the long run, no one will care. And if you have to trample people along the way to your glory, maybe that is your real legacy.