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Future quotes

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“It would seem, Adeimantus, that the direction in which education starts a man, will determine his future life.” Plato, “The Republic”

“this cult of the future is not only a weakness but a cowardice of the age.” G. K. Chesterton, “What's Wrong with the World” - 1910

“The laws of science do not distinguish between the past and the future.” Stephen Hawking, “A Brief History of Time” - 1988

“If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not, Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear Your favours nor your hate.” William Shakespeare, “Macbeth” - 1623

“The past is consumed in the present and the present is living only because it brings forth the future.” James Joyce, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” - 1916

“So far as I can see, all political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.” George Orwell, “London Letter” - 1945

“The only immediate utility of all sciences, is to teach us, how to control and regulate future events by their causes.” David Hume, “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” - 1748

“And there is nothing like dreams for engendering the future.” Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables” - 1862

“The mind of man is capable of anything—because everything is in it, all the past as well as all the future.” Joseph Conrad, “Heart of Darkness” - 1899

“Economy is the method by which we prepare to-day to afford the improvements of to-morrow.” Calvin Coolidge, “State of the Union Address” - 8 December 1925

“Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied with the past and the future.” Blaise Pascal, “Pensées” - 1670

“The future isn't set in stone. Things change.” Stephenie Meyer, “Twilight” - 2005

“The future stands still, dear Mr. Kappus, but we move in infinite space.” Rainer Maria Rilke, “Letters to a Young Poet” - 1929

“The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” Oscar Wilde, “A Woman of No Importance” - 1893

“You realize that our mistrust of the future makes it hard to give up the past.” Chuck Palahniuk, “Survivor” - 1999

“Who controls the past . . . controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“We are the dead. Our only true life is in the future.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“I like men who have a future and women who have a past” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.” Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick” - 1851

“I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results.” Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” - 1839

“We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why. Not until the future eats the present, anyway. We know when it’s too late.” Stephen King, “11/22/63” - 2011

“The visions we offer our children shape the future.” Carl Sagan, “Pale Blue Dot” - 1994

“We gave the Future to the winds, and slumbered tranquilly in the Present, weaving the dull world around us into dreams.” Edgar Allan Poe, “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” - 1842

“He didn’t know what he was going to — but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.” J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone” - 1997

“And the upshot of this modern attitude is really this: that men invent new ideals because they dare not attempt old ideals. They look forward with enthusiasm, because they are afraid to look back.” G. K. Chesterton, “What's Wrong with the World” - 1910

“I say decisively that nothing is so marked in modern writing as the prediction of such ideals in the future combined with the ignoring of them in the past.” G. K. Chesterton, “What's Wrong with the World” - 1910

“The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day; it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us.” Abraham Lincoln, “State of the Union Address” - 3 December 1861

“The past and the present are within the field of my inquiry, but what a man may do in the future is a hard question to answer.” Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Hound of the Baskervilles” - 1902

“The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.” Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist” - 1988

“How do we know that his future will not be equal to our present?” Confucius, “Analects”

“The taste of the usual was like cinders in his mouth, and there were moments when he felt as if he were being buried alive under his future.” Edith Wharton, “The Age of Innocence” - 1920

“It is preposterous to suppose that the people of one generation can lay down the best and only rules of government for all who are to come after them, and under unforeseen contingencies.” Ulysses S. Grant, “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant” - 1885

“Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of...” Barack Obama, “Inaugural Address” - 20 January 2009

“Preparing for the future must begin, as always, with our children. We need to set for them new and more rigorous goals.” Ronald Reagan, “State of the Union Address” - 27 January 1987

“For everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.” Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” - c. 170 - 180

“In a cold as in a hot war it pays to know the enemy — not least because at some time in the future you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.” Margaret Thatcher, “The Downing Street Years” - 1993

“The past was like a bad dream; the future was all happy holiday as I moved southwards week by week, easily, lazily, lingering as long as I dared, but always heeding the call!” Kenneth Grahame, “The Wind in the Willows” - 1908

“The increase of disorder or entropy with time is one example of what is called an arrow of time, something that distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time.” Stephen Hawking, “A Brief History of Time” - 1988

“This would mean that any time travel would be confined to the future. There would be no chance of Captain Kirk and the Starship Enterprise turning up at the present time.” Stephen Hawking, “A Brief History of Time” - 1988

“We cannot always assure the future of our friends; we have a better chance of assuring our future if we remember who our friends are.” Henry Kissinger, “The White House Years” - 1979

“I stole their future from them; I can only begin to repay by seeing what I can learn from their past.” Orson Scott Card, “Ender's Game” - 1985

“What was the future? The future was a solid wall, not promising, not threatening — all bunk. No guarantees of anything, not even the guarantee that life isn’t one big joke.” Bob Dylan, “Chronicles, Volume One” - 2004

“The question of armaments, whether on land or sea, is the most immediately and intensely practical question connected with the future fortunes of nations and of mankind.” Woodrow Wilson, “A World League For Peace” - 22 January 1917

“The past could always be annihilated. Regret, denial, or forgetfulness could do that. But the future was inevitable.” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.” John Green, “Looking for Alaska” - 2005

“And God only rarely reveals the future. When he does so, it is for only one reason: it's a future that was written so as to be altered.” Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist” - 1988

“I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present.” Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist” - 1988

“When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?” Chuck Palahniuk, “Invisible Monsters” - 1999

“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.” Haruki Murakami, “Dance Dance Dance” - 1994

Related topics

past present time life hope control fate dream boredom children change consequences ideals science infinite men women death trust youth

Related authors

Chuck Palahniuk (5)
George Orwell (4)
Oscar Wilde (3)
J. K. Rowling (3)
G. K. Chesterton (3)
Paulo Coelho (3)
Stephen Hawking (3)
Edgar Allan Poe (2)
James Joyce (2)
John Green (2)
C. S. Lewis (2)
Edith Wharton (2)
William Shakespeare (1)
Charlotte Brontë (1)
Herman Melville (1)
George Eliot (1)
Abraham Lincoln (1)
Arthur Conan Doyle (1)
David Hume (1)
Victor Hugo (1)

Related sources

Invisible Monsters (4)
1984 (3)
What's Wrong with the World (3)
State of the Union Address (3)
The Alchemist (3)
A Brief History of Time (3)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (2)
The Age of Innocence (2)
The Screwtape Letters (2)
Macbeth (1)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1)
The Fall of the House of Usher (1)
The Mystery of Marie Rogêt (1)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1)
Jane Eyre (1)
Moby-Dick (1)
London Letter (1)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1)
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1)
Les Misérables (1)

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