That man is prudent who neither hopes nor fears anything from the uncertain events of the future.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
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… black.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
Future. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.
—Chinese Proverb
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. We should live for the future, and yet should find our life in the fidelities of the present; the last is only the method of the first.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
We all need to take great interest in the future because we will spend the rest of our life there.
—Unknown
The future? Like unwritten books and unborn children, you don’t talk about it.
—Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925–2012) German Operatic Baritone
He who lives in the future lives in a featureless blank; he lives in impersonality; he lives in Nirvana. The past is democratic, because it is a people. The future is despotic, because it is a caprice. Every man is alone in his prediction, just as each man is alone in a dream.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Everything that looks to the future elevates human nature; for life is never so low or so little as when occupied with the present.
—Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–38) English Poet, Novelist
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
The future influences the present just as much as the past.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Nothing in life is more remarkable than the unnecessary anxiety which we endure, and generally create ourselves.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
The future is called “perhaps,” which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the only important thing is not to allow that to scare you.
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
They who lose today may win tomorrow.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Fortunately for children, the uncertainties of the present always give way to the enchanted possibilities of the future.
—Gelsey Kirkland (b.1952) American Ballerina
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
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
If a man carefully examine his thoughts he will be surprised to find how much he lives in the future. His well-being is always ahead. Such a creature is probably immortal.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The good days weren’t really so good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.
—Billy Joel (b.1949) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
The future looks extremely bright indeed, with lots of possibilities ahead—big possibilities. Like the song says, “We’ve just begun.”
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
The possibilities for tomorrow are usually beyond our expectations.
—Unknown
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
Tomorrow never comes.
—Common Proverb
I believe the future is only the past again, entered through another gate.
—Arthur Wing Pinero (1855–1934) English Playwright, Actor
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
A fixed image of the future is in the worst sense a historical.
—Juliet Mitchell (b.1934) British Writer, Psychoanalyst , Feminist
The future is hidden even from those who make it.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
I would sum up my fear about the future in one word: boring. And that’s my one fear: that everything has happened; nothing exciting or new or interesting is ever going to happen again… the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul.
—J. G. Ballard (1930–2009) English Novelist, Short Story Writer
Tomorrow is the mysterious, unknown guest.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
When all else is lost, the future still remains.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
To-morrow, every fault is to be amended; but that To-morrow never comes.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Hardly anyone knows how much is gained by ignoring the future.
—Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) French Essayist, Polymath, Philosopher
To the being of fully alive, the future is not ominous but a promise; it surrounds the present like a halo.
—John Dewey (1859–1952) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Educator
I look to the future because that’s where I’m going to spend the rest of my life.
—George Burns (1896–1996) American Comedian
Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meaning can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart. Such is the moment I am presently experiencing. I experience this high and joyous moment not for myself alone but for those devotees of nonviolence who have moved so courageously against the ramparts of racial injustice and who in the process have acquired a new estimate of their own human worth. Many of them are young and cultured. Others are middle aged and middle class. The majority are poor and untutored. But they are all united in the quiet conviction that it is better to suffer in dignity than to accept segregation in humiliation. These are the real heroes of the freedom struggle: they are the noble people for whom I accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
—Corrie Ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch Jewish Humanist
The future comes slowly, the present flies and the past stands still forever.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Tomorrow is the day when idlers work, and fools reform, and mortal men lay hold on heaven.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
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
The future is purchased by the present.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
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, Literary Critic
Power is not a means; it is an end….
Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself….
The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy – everything…. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends….
We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are at work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. There will be no art, no literature, no science…. There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always – do not forget this, Winston – always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless….
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
The wisdom of the wise and the experience of ages may be preserved by quotation.
—Isaac D’Israeli (1766–1848) English Writer, Scholar
The cradle of the future is the grave of the past.
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872) Austrian Dramatist, Playwright
When I look at the future, it’s so bright, it burns my eyes.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
When men speak of the The Future Gods laugh.
—Chinese Proverb
Tomorrow is another day.
—Common Proverb