The future has a way of arriving unannounced.
—George Will (b.1941) American Columnist, Journalist, Writer
The person who predicts the future is lying, even when he is right.
—Arabic Proverb
We can’t always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) American Head of State, Lawyer
We steal if we touch tomorrow. It is God’s.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
The future is always beginning now.
—Mark Strand (1934–2014) American Poet, Essayist, Translator
All futurity seems teeming with endless destruction never to be repelled; Desperate remorse swallows the present in a quenchless rage.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do you know that his future will not be equal to our present?
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
The future arrives too soon and in the wrong order
—Alvin Toffler (1928–2016) American Writer, Futurist
The future comes slowly, the present flies and the past stands still forever.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and to take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options.
—David Suzuki (b.1936) Canadian Scientist, TV Personality, Environmental Activist
A speculator is a man who observes the future, and acts before it occurs.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
This is the first age that’s ever paid much attention to the future, which is a little ironic since we may not have one.
—Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) British Scientist, Science-fiction Writer
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
How happy the station which every moment furnishes opportunities of doing good to thousands!—How dangerous that which every moment exposes to the injuring of millions.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
The future you shall know when it has come; before then, forget it.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Playwright
For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today
—African Proverb
Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
The best of prophets of the future is the past.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working in the present toward the future.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author
The road to the future leads us smack into the wall. We simply ricochet off the alternatives that destiny offers. Our survival is no more than a question of 25, 50 or perhaps 100 years.
—Jacques Cousteau (1910–97) French Oceanographer, Documentary Director
In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.
—Unknown
By the streets of “by and by,” one arrives at the house of “never.”
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
I would sum up my fear about the future in one word: boring. And that’s my one fear: that everything has happened; nothing exciting or new or interesting is ever going to happen again… the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul.
—J. G. Ballard (1930–2009) English Novelist, Short Story Writer
The only certain thing about the future is that it will surprise even those who have seen furthest into it.
—Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) British Historian
The past is the future of the present.
—Japanese Proverb
Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader