We have embraced the 21st century by entering such cutting-edge industries as brick, carpet, insulation and paint. Try to control your excitement.
—Warren Buffett (b.1930) American Investor
Salvation of the Dawn
Look to this day,
For it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the truths
And realities of your existence;
The bliss of growth
The glory of action, and
The splendor of beauty;
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived makes
Every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.
Such is the salvation of the dawn.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The future is like heaven—everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
I like men who have a future and women who have a past.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
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
The future comes slowly, the present flies and the past stands still forever.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Telling the future by looking at the past assumes that conditions remain constant. This is like driving a car by looking in the rearview mirror.
—Indian Proverb
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’s the idea of using a vision of the future to sharpen your present-moment decisions that is the real key to planning
—Steve Pavlina (b.1971) American Motivational Speaker
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
All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Whether or not we have hope depends on two dimensions of our explanatory style; pervasiveness and permanence. Finding temporary and specific causes for misfortune is the art of hope: Temporary causes limit helplessness in time, and specific causes limit helplessness to the original situation. On the other hand, permanent causes produce helplessness far into the future, and universal causes spread helplessness through all your endeavors. Finding permanent and universal causes for misfortune is the practice of despair… The optimistic style of explaining good events is the opposite of that used for bad events: It’s internal rather than external. People who believe they cause good things tend to like themselves better than people who believe good things come from other people or circumstances.
—Martin Seligman (b.1942) American Psychologist, Author
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband, while a man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
—Indian Proverb
The only way to predict the future is to have power to shape the future.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Men love to wonder and that is the seed of our science.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
I don’t try to describe the future. I try to prevent it.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
I have always sought to guide the future— but it is very lonely sometimes trying to play God.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
What else does anxiety about the future bring you but sorrow upon sorrow?
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
When we have nothing to worry about we are not doing much, and not doing much may supply us with plenty of future worries.
—Chinese Proverb
Tomorrow is an old deceiver, and his cheat never grows stale.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.
—William Allen White (1868–1944) American Editor, Politician, Author
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
Very strange is this quality of our human nature which decrees that unless we feel a future before us we do not live completely in the present.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
An affirmation states that a goal is already happening. I’m not crazy about this because, often when we affirm something that is not yet real, the little voice in our head usually responds with “This isn’t true, this is BS…On the other hand, a declaration is not saying something is true, it’s saying we have an intention of doing or being something. This is a position the little voice can buy, because we’re not stating it’s true right now, but again, it’s an intention for us ion the future.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
Genius appeals to the future.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The future struggles against being mastered.
—Latin Proverb
If you do not think about the future, you cannot have one.
—John Galsworthy (1867–1933) English Novelist, Playwright
The future influences the present just as much as the past.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again, now.
—Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) American Playwright
As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
By the streets of “by and by,” one arrives at the house of “never.”
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
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
Isn’t it amazing the way the future succeeds in creating an appropriate past?
—John Loengard (1934–2020) American Photographer
Light tomorrow with today.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
To line only for some unknown future is superficial.
—A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015) Indian Head of State, Scientist
The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of bold projects and new ideas. Rather, it will belong to those who can blend passion, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals of American society.
—Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68) American Politician, Civil Rights Activist
Fear, desire, hope, still push us on toward the future.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Our duty is to preserve what the past has had to say for itself, and to say for ourselves what shall be true for the future.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
The course of life is unpredictable… no one can write his autobiography in advance.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–72) American Jewish Rabbi
Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
—Alan Kay
O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
There is no medicine like hope, no incentives so great, and no tonics so powerful as the expectation of something better tomorrow.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
In the future, instead of striving to be right at a high cost, it will be more appropriate to be flexible and plural at a lower cost. If you cannot accurately predict the future then you must flexibly be prepared to deal with various possible futures.
—Edward de Bono (b.1933) Maltese-British Psychologist, Writer