Tomorrow is the day when idlers work, and fools reform, and mortal men lay hold on heaven.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
He who foresees calamities suffers them twice over.
—Beilby Porteus (1731–1809) Anglican Bishop of London
He who lives in the future lives in a featureless blank; he lives in impersonality; he lives in Nirvana. The past is democratic, because it is a people. The future is despotic, because it is a caprice. Every man is alone in his prediction, just as each man is alone in a dream.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Tomorrow is another day.
—Common Proverb
Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
The future is an unknown, but a somewhat predictable unknown. To look to the future we must first look back upon the past. That is where the seeds of the future were planted. I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
It is extraordinary that whole populations have no projects for the future, none at all. It certainly is extraordinary, but it is certainly true.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. We should live for the future, and yet should find our life in the fidelities of the present; the last is only the method of the first.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
The trouble with the future is that is usually arrives before we’re ready for it.
—Arnold Glasow (1905–98) American Businessman
The future is purchased by the present.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
The wisdom of the wise and the experience of ages may be preserved by quotation.
—Isaac D’Israeli (1766–1848) English Writer, Scholar
If you do not think about the future, you cannot have one.
—John Galsworthy (1867–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It’s amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
My interest is in the future because I’m going to spend the rest of my life there.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Tomorrow is the mysterious, unknown guest.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
There was a door to which I found no key: There was the veil through which I might not see.
—Omar Khayyam (1048–1123) Persian Mathematician
I don’t try to describe the future. I try to prevent it.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
For you and me, today is all we have; tomorrow is a mirage that may never become reality.
—Louis L’Amour (1908–88) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
The future looks extremely bright indeed, with lots of possibilities ahead—big possibilities. Like the song says, “We’ve just begun.”
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
Hardly anyone knows how much is gained by ignoring the future.
—Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) French Essayist, Polymath, Philosopher
By and by never comes.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
I don’t ever look back. I look forward.
—Steffi Graf (b.1969) German Tennis Player, Philanthropist
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
It is possible to believe that all the past is but the beginning of a beginning, and that all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. It is possible to believe that all the human mind has ever accomplished is but the dream before the awakening.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
It has been well said that no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when to-morrow’s burden is added to the burden of to-day that the weight is more than a man can bear.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future, without fear, and with a manly heart.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
By the streets of “by and by,” one arrives at the house of “never.”
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
I believe the future is only the past again, entered through another gate.
—Arthur Wing Pinero (1855–1934) English Playwright, Actor
The wave of the future is coming and there is no fighting it.
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) American Aviator, Author
The child is not to be educated for the present, but for the remote future, and often is opposition to the immediate future.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
Tomorrow do thy worst, I have lived today.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.
—William Allen White (1868–1944) American Editor, Politician, Author
Every man, through fear, mugs his aspirations a dozen times a day.
—Brendan Behan (1923–64) Irish Poet, Novelist, Playwright
To relinquish a present good through apprehension of a future evil is in most instances unwise … from a fear which may afterwards turn out groundless, you lost the good that lay within your grasp.
—Francesco Guicciardini (1483–1540) Italian Historian, Political leader
Tomorrow never comes.
—Common Proverb
To the being of fully alive, the future is not ominous but a promise; it surrounds the present like a halo.
—John Dewey (1859–1952) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Educator
To-morrow, every fault is to be amended; but that To-morrow never comes.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
I’ve read the last page of the Bible. It’s all going to turn out all right.
—Billy Graham (1918–91) American Baptist Religious Leader
Everything that looks to the future elevates human nature; for life is never so low or so little as when occupied with the present.
—Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–38) English Poet, Novelist
The future is the most expensive luxury in the world.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
The good days weren’t really so good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.
—Billy Joel (b.1949) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
Power is not a means; it is an end….
Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself….
The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy – everything…. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends….
We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science…. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always – do not forget this, Winston – always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless….
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
When all else is lost, the future still remains.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
We already have the statistics for the future: the growth percentages of pollution, overpopulation, desertification. The future is already in place.
—Gunter Grass (1927–2015) German Novelist, Poet
Up to a point a man’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and the movements and changes in the world around him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate. Everyone has it within his power to say, ‘This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.’ The wish, however, must be implemented by deeds.
—Louis L’Amour (1908–88) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
The future is hidden even from those who make it.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
The cradle of the future is the grave of the past.
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872) Austrian Dramatist, Playwright
Pop artists deal with the lowly trivia of possessions and equipment that the present generation is lugging along with it on its safari into the future.
—J. G. Ballard (1930–2009) English Novelist, Short Story Writer
We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots. True enough, robots do not rebel. But given man’s nature, robots cannot live and remain sane, they become Golems,” they will destroy their world and themselves because they cannot stand any longer the boredom of a meaningless life.”
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher