We have inherited the past; we can create the future.
—Unknown
You can never plan the future by the past.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
I fear there will be no future for those who do not change.
—Louis L’Amour (1908–88) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
The future is an opaque mirror. Anyone who tries to look into it sees nothing but the dim outlines of an old and worried face.
—Jim Bishop (1907–87) American Journalist, Author
The most reliable way to forecast the future is to try to understand the present.
—John Naisbitt American Trend Analyst
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
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
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
That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
As people used to be wrong about the motion of the sun, so they are still wrong about the motion of the future. The future stands still, it is we who move in infinite space.
—Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian 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 man least dependent upon the morrow goes to meet the morrow most cheerfully.
—Epicurus (c.341–270 BCE) Greek Philosopher
The mind of man is capable of anything – because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.
—John M. Richardson, Jr.
Imagine a baseball thrown thru the air. A high speed camera takes pictures of it showing very great detail—names, laces, etc. Someone shows you a picture—can you tell what direction it is travelling? or even if it is moving? NO. You would have to know where it was thrown FROM to know what direction it is going. In times of high change, it’s good to know a little bit about the PAST to understand the present freeze frame of the NOW and project to some degree of accuracy where we are GOING (The Future).
—Unknown
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
If we were logical, the future would be bleak, indeed. But we are more than logical. We are human beings, and we have faith, and we have hope, and we can work.
—Jacques Cousteau (1910–97) French Oceanographer, Documentary Director
The future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
The future? Like unwritten books and unborn children, you don’t talk about it.
—Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925–2012) German Operatic Baritone
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
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
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
Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
The future is purchased by the present.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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
The future is a convenient place for dreams.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
I neither complain of the past, nor do I fear the future.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
The past is an old armchair in the attic, the present an ominous ticking sound, and the future is anybody’s guess
—James Thurber
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
The future is… black.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
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
We know nothing of tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
It has been a thousand times observed, and I must observe it once more, that the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.
—Unknown
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
The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be.
—Paul Valery (1871–1945) French Critic, Poet
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
I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.
—William Allen White (1868–1944) American Editor, Politician, Author
Future is purely a mental construct—an illusion—because you never exist in the future, only in the present. By using a consistent, internally congruent vision of the future to make decisions day after day, you start to build momentum, and you’ll ultimately achieve your goals.
—Steve Pavlina (b.1971) American Motivational Speaker
All the past died yesterday; the future is born today.
—Chinese Proverb
At every crossroad on the way that leads to the future, each progressive spirit is opposed by a thousand men appointed to guard the past.
—Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) Belgian Poet, Playwright, Essayist
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
There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again, now.
—Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) American Playwright
History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
Everything you need for your better future and success has already been written. And guess what? It’s all available. All you have to do is go to the library.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
The future has a way of arriving unannounced.
—George Will (b.1941) American Columnist, Journalist, Writer
The future… seems to me no unified dream but a mince pie, long in the baking, never quite done.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day.
—Gloria Steinem (b.1934) American Feminist, Journalist, Social Activist, Political Activist
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