It is my belief that whereas the twentieth century has been a century of war and untold suffering, the twenty-first century should be one of peace and dialogue. As the continued advances in information technology make our world a truly global village, I believe there will come a time when war and armed conflict will be considered an outdated and obsolete method of settling differences among nations and communities.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
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
Pop artists deal with the lowly trivia of possessions and equipment that the present generation is lugging along with it on its safari into the future.
—J. G. Ballard (1930–2009) English Novelist, Short Story Writer
We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
We all need to take great interest in the future because we will spend the rest of our life there.
—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 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
For you and me, today is all we have; tomorrow is a mirage that may never become reality.
—Louis L’Amour (1908–88) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
They who lose today may win tomorrow.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
I believe the future is only the past again, entered through another gate.
—Arthur Wing Pinero (1855–1934) English Playwright, Actor
The future is the shape of things to come.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
The future influences the present just as much as the past.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
To make of human affairs a coherent, precise, predictable whole one must ignore or suppress man as he really is. It is by eliminating man from their equation that the makers of history can predict the future, and the writers of history can give a pattern to the past.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
America, which has the most glorious present still existing in the world today, hardly stops to enjoy it, in her insatiable appetite for the future.
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) American Aviator, Author
By the streets of “by and by,” one arrives at the house of “never.”
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
The future is a world limited by ourselves—in it we discover only what concerns us.
—Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) Belgian Poet, Playwright, Essayist
It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
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
When I look at the future, it’s so bright, it burns my eyes.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Fortunately for children, the uncertainties of the present always give way to the enchanted possibilities of the future.
—Gelsey Kirkland (b.1952) American Ballerina
The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
I don’t try to describe the future. I try to prevent it.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Every man, through fear, mugs his aspirations a dozen times a day.
—Brendan Behan (1923–64) Irish Poet, Novelist, Playwright
When I look into the future, it is so bright it burns my eyes.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
The cradle of the future is the grave of the past.
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872) Austrian Dramatist, Playwright
People are always shouting they want to create a better future. It’s not true. The future is an apathetic void of no interest to anyone. The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past.
—Milan Kundera (b.1929) Czech Novelist
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
Men love to wonder and that is the seed of our science.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher