"Who could look on these monuments without reflecting on the vanity of mortals in thus offering up testimonials of their respect for persons of whose very names posterity is ignorant?"

This quote by Marguerite Gardiner speaks to the fleeting nature of fame and the vanity of humans in attempting to celebrate themselves. It is a pointer that no matter how much effort we took into maintaining our tradition, it will eventually be forgotten. The monuments pointed out in the quote are likely physical structures, such as statues or buildings, that were built to honor a person or event. The quote indicates that these monoliths are eventually futile, as the names of those they were constructed to honor will become forgotten by posterity. This quote functions as a tip that our lives are short lived and that our efforts to commemorate ourselves are eventually fruitless. It is a reminder to concentrate on today and to take advantage of our lives, rather than trying to accomplish a kind of immortality through monoliths and other physical structures.