Only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Basketball Coach, Educator
Everybody is like a magnet. You attract to yourself reflections of that which you are. If you’re friendly then everybody else seems to be friendly too.
—David R. Hawkins (1927–2012) American Physician, Author
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.
—L. P. Hartley (1895–1972) British Writer, Critic
Then is then. Now is now. We must grow to learn the difference.
—Unknown
When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine yourself.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Sum up at night what thou hast done by day, and in the morning what thou hast to do.—Dress and undress thy soul; mark the decay and growth of it.—If with thy watch, that too be down, then wind up both; since we shall be most surely judged, make thine accounts agree.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
When I wanted to understand what is happening today, I try to decide what will happen tomorrow; I look back, a page of history is worth a volume of logic.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
We live in the present, we dream of the future, but we learn eternal truths from the past.
—Soong Mei-ling (1898–2003) First Lady of the Republic of China
Enjoy yourself. These are the “good old days” you’re going to miss in the years ahead.
—Unknown
We believe at once in evil, we only believe in good upon reflection.—Is not this sad?
—Dorothee Luzy Dotinville (1747–1830) French Dancer, Actress
Let the past drift away with the water.
—Japanese Proverb
People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Every man deeply engaged in business, if all regard to another state be not extinguished, must have the conviction, if not the resolution of one who, being asked whether he retired from the army in disgust, answered, “that he laid down his commission for no other reason, but because there ought to be some time for sober reflection between the life of a soldier and his death.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Why should we grope among the dry bones of the past, or put the living generation into masquerade out of its faded wardrobe?
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Whereas the average individuals “often have not the slightest idea of what they are, of what they want, of what their own opinions are,” self-actualizing individuals have “superior awareness of their own impulses, desires, opinions, and subjective reactions in general.
—Abraham Maslow (1908–70) American Psychologist, Academic, Humanist
He that will not reflect is a ruined man.
—Common Proverb
I demolish my bridges behind me … then there is no choice but forward.
—Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930) Norwegian Explorer, Biologist, Oceanographer
Again at Park Corner. We came up to Kensington yesterday evening and drove down here. It was a beautiful evening and our drive was delightful. Besides, for me it had the charm of old scenes revisited. And when we came over the Irishtown hills and saw the beautiful gulf again and heard its low distant murmur, I thought of another evening long ago.
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) Canadian Novelist
The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditations on the past.
—Andre Maurois (1885–1967) French Novelist, Biographer
That sign of old age, extolling the past at the expense of the present.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post.
—Thomas L. Holdcroft
Reflection makes men cowards.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
The ages of seven to eleven is a huge chunk of life, full of dulling and forgetting. It is fabled that we slowly lose the gift of speech with animals, that birds no longer visit our windowsills to converse. As our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armour themselves against wonder.
—Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Novelist
It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The past not merely is not fugitive, it remains present.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
The biggest thing in today’s sorrow is the memory of yesterday’s joy.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
People of the world don’t look at themselves, and so they blame one another.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–73) Persian Muslim Mystic
The past with its pleasures, its rewards, its foolishness, its punishments, is there for each of us forever, and it should be.
—Lillian Hellman (1905–84) American Dramatist, Memoirist
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