When I look at the future, it’s so bright, it burns my eyes.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken, and I’d rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken pieces as long as I lived.
—Margaret Mitchell (1900–49) American Novelist, Journalist
The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
Life is like riding a bicycle. You don’t fall off unless you stop pedaling.
—Claude Pepper (1900–89) American Politician
I have not ceased being fearful, but I have ceased to let fear control me. I have accepted fear as a part of life—specifically the fear of change, the fear of the unknown; and I have gone ahead despite the pounding in my heart that says: turn back, turn back, you’ll die if you venture too far.
—Erica Jong (b.1942) American Novelist, Feminist
This, too, shall pass.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The biggest thing in today’s sorrow is the memory of yesterday’s joy.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
One must be thrust out of a finished cycle in life, and that leap is the most difficult to make—to part with one’s faith, one’s love, when one would prefer to renew the faith and recreate the passion.
—Anais Nin (1903–77) French-American Essayist
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
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Readjusting is a painful process, but most of us need it at one time or another.
—A. C. Benson (1862–1925) English Essayist, Poet, Academic
‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
Let the dead Past bury its dead.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Make voyages. Attempt them. There’s nothing else.
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
Time is like a river of fleeting events, and its current is strong; as soon as something comes into sight, it is swept past us, and something else takes its place, and that too will be swept away.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
You are responsible for your life. You can’t keep blaming somebody else for your dysfunction. Life is really about moving on.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
If someone you love hurts you cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it.
—Unknown
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
Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.
—Harry Crews (1935–2012) American Novelist, Essayist, Teacher
Everything passes, everything perishes, everything palls.
—French Proverb
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
Life is about making the right decisions and moving on.
—Anonymous
Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
Everything flows, nothing stays still.
—Heraclitus (535BCE–475BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
I demolish my bridges behind me … then there is no choice but forward.
—Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930) Norwegian Explorer, Biologist, Oceanographer
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