The past is a bucket of ashes, so live not in your yesterdays, nor just for tomorrow, but in the here and now. Keep moving and forget the post-mortems. And remember, no one can get the jump on the future.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
Opportunities fly by while we sit regretting the chances we have lost, and the happiness that comes to us we heed not, because of the happiness that is gone.
—Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) English Humorous Writer, Novelist, Playwright
I have realized that the past and the future are real illusions, that they exist only in the present, which is what there is and all that there is.
—Alan Watts (1915–73) British-American Philosopher, Author
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Slight not what’s near through aiming at what’s far.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road.
—Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) (1885–1962) Danish Novelist, Short-story Writer
It’s not what if, it’s what now.
—Unknown
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
No yesterdays are ever wasted for those who give themselves to today.
—Brendan Behan (1923–64) Irish Poet, Novelist, Playwright
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
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon—instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
The living moment is everything.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Critic
Trust no future, howe’er pleasant! Let the dead past bury its dead! Act,—act in the living Present! Heart within and God o’erhead.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
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 Author, Journalist, Columnist
Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
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
We can easily manage, if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed for it.—But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow to the weight before we are required to bear it.
—John Newton (1725–1807) English Clergyman, Writer
Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized.
—Leo Buscaglia (1924–98) American Motivational Speaker
The past is a good place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
—Anonymous
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, Critic
If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you don’t wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes.
—African Proverb
The Past is the textbook of tyrants; the Future the Bible of the Free. Those who are solely governed by the Past stand like Lot’s wife, crystallized in the act of looking backward, and forever incapable of looking before.
—Herman Melville (1819–91) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist, Poet
Eternity is not something that begins after you’re dead. It is going on all the time. We are in it now.
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) American Feminist, Writer
If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is.
—Anonymous
Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you, you haven’t done much today.
—Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) Soviet Head of State
We are always getting ready to live, but never living.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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