This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
"Depression boils down to one of two things: either dwelling excessively on the past or fantasizing excessively about the future. They have no present. Living in the past or living in the future produces a spiritual and emotional numbness to the present. And a depressed person chooses that numbness over facing the pain of the present." - Ezriel Tauber
"What the future holds for you depends on your state of consciousness now." - Eckhart Tolle, born Ulrich Leonard Tolle
"Do you believe in a future life? Asked Pierre… If I see, and see clearly, the ladder rising from plant to man, why should I suppose that it breaks off with me, and does not lead further and further? I feel not only that I cannot perish, since nothing in the universe is annihilated, but that I always shall exist and always have existed." - Leo Tolstoy, aka Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy or Tolstoi
"The future need not be a repetition of the past. Frequently one is caught by a paucity of imagination which conceives of the future only in terms of rearranging past events or experiences that are already known. Persistent attempts to explain the unknown in terms of what is already known, can lead to blind repetition of unsatisfactory patterns that limit growth and restrict possibilities." -
"Our whole civilization is based on a hypothetical future and the idiocy of fortune-telling." - Stephen Vizinczey, born István Vizinczey
"The future is made of the same stuff as the present." - Simone Weil
"The 'preferred future' - an image of aspiration - [is] a powerful guidance mechanism… When people plan present actions by working backward from what is really desired, they develop energy, enthusiasm, optimism and high commitment." - Marvin Weisbord
"It is the business of the statesman to provide a decent burial for the past and to facilitate the birth of the future." - Victor Wellesley, fully Sir Victor Alexander Augustus Henry Wellesley
"It is our fear of the future that distorts the now that could lead to a different future if we dared to be whole in the present." - Marion Woodman
"If we want to work out a policy for the present, we must examine the past and prepare for the future, discard the material and elevate the spirit, rely on the individual and exclude the mass." - Lu Xun, or Lu Hsün, pen name of Zhou Shuren
"I naturally believe there will be a future, but I do not waste my time imagining its radiant beauty… It seems tome that we ought to think first about the present. Even if the present is desperately dark, I do not wish to leave it. Will tomorrow be free from darkness? We’ll talk about that tomorrow." - Lu Xun, or Lu Hsün, pen name of Zhou Shuren
"He searches all around for his thought. But what thought? It is either passionate, or hateful, or confused. What about the past, future or present? What is past that is extinct, what is future that has not yet arrived, and the present has no stability. For thought, Kasyapa, cannot be apprehended, inside, or outside, or in between both. For thought is immaterial, invisible, nonresisting, inconceivable, unsupported, and homeless. Thought has never been seen by any of the Buddhas, nor do they see it, nor will they see it. And what the Buddhas never see, how can that be an observable process, except in the sense that dharmas proceed by the way of mistaken perception? Thought is like a magical illusion; by an imagination of what is actually unreal it takes hold of a manifold variety of rebirths. A thought is like the stream of a river, without any staying power; as soon as it is produced it breaks up and disappears. A thought is like a flame of a lamp, and it proceeds through causes and conditions. A thought is like lightning, it breaks up in a moment and does not stay on... Can thought review thought? No, thought cannot review thought. As the blade of a sword cannot cut itself, so a thought cannot see itself. Moreover, vexed and pressed hard on all sides, thought proceeds, without any staying power, like a monkey or like the wind. It ranges far, bodiless, easily changing, agitated by the objects of sense, with the six sense-fields for its sphere, connected with one thing after another. The stability of thought, its one-pointedness, its immobility, its undistraughtness, its one-pointed calm, its nondistraction, that is on the other hand called mindfulness as to thought." - Satipatthana Sutra NULL
"What you did in the past, though it might have made you the person you are today, has absolutely no bearing on what you do in the future." - Fred D. Anderson
"And it’s a good reason to forgive. Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future." - Paul Boose
"What is life worth if we don’t strive to build something that is bigger than we are and lasts longer than we do? For too long, we’ve not worried about future generations or met our obligations to each other. Instead, we have lived for ourselves, and for today. Such a world is simply not sustainable." - Bill Bradley, fully William Warren "Bill" Bradley
"A well-conceived vision consists of two major components; core ideology and envisioned future." - James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras
"Envisioned future is what we aspire to become, to achieve, to create-something that will require significant change and progress to attain." - James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras
"Vision provides guidance about what core to preserve and what future to stimulate progress toward." - James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras
"I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious theories of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God." - Thomas Edison, fully Thomas Alva Edison
"People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubborn, persistent illusion." - Albert Einstein
"The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion." - Albert Einstein
"This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career." - Albert Einstein
"Knowledge is telling the past. Wisdom is predicting the future." - Tim Garvey
"It seems to be a constant throughout history: In every period, people believed things that were just ridiculous, and believed them so strongly that you would have gotten in terrible trouble for saying otherwise. Is our time any different? To anyone who has read any amount of history, the answer is almost certainly no. It would be a remarkable coincidence if ours were the first era to get everything just right. It's tantalizing to think we believe things that people in the future will find ridiculous. What would someone coming back to visit us in a time machine have to be careful not to say?" - Paul Graham
"Each rebuff is an opportunity to move forward; turn away from them, avoid them, and you throw away your future." - Og Mandino
"Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats. Yet each struggle, each defeat, sharpens your skills and strengths, your courage and your endurance, your ability and your confidence and thus each obstacle is a comrade-in-arms forcing you to become better or quit. Each rebuff is an opportunity to move forward; turn away from them, avoid them, and you throw away your future." - Og Mandino
"The future's not set and the end is always near." - Jim Morrison
"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine." - Mike Murdock
"The primary function of myth is to validate an existing social order. Myth enshrines conservative social values, raising tradition on a pedestal. It expresses and confirms, rather than explains or questions, the sources of cultural attitudes and values. Because myth anchors the present in the past it is a sociological charter for a future society which is an exact replica of the present one." - Ann Oakley
"It is certain that the two World Wars in which I have participated would not have occurred had we been prepared. It is my belief that adequate preparation on our part would have prevented or materially shortened all our other wars beginning with that of 1812. Yet, after each of our wars, there has always been a great hue and cry to the effect that there will be no more wars, that disarmament is the sure road to health, happiness, and peace; and that by removing the fire department, we will remove fires. These ideas spring from wishful thinking and from the erroneous belief that wars result from logical processes. There is no logic in wars. They are produced by madmen. No man can say when future madmen will reappear. I do not say that there will be no more wars; I devoutly hope that there will not, but I do say that the chances of avoiding future wars will be greatly enhanced if we are ready." -
"The future is not some place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made. And the activity of making them changes both the maker and their destination." - John Schaar, fully John Homer Schaar
"Every moment of fulfillment or consummation symbolically defeats the idea of death. It is as if our experience proclaimed to the world: "Though I will die, at least I have achieved this much." Through deeds that are humane, artistic, or merely nurturing, the imagination propels us into a time when we will no longer be, but whatever we care about will survive and possibly prevail. We know we will die, but we deploy our energies toward possible occurrences that project themselves through life as if it continues in the future." - Irving Singer
"Only when one has lost all curiosity about the future has one reached the age to write an autobiography." - Evelyn Waugh, fully Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh
"The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." - Paul Wellstone, fully Paul David Wellstone
"I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness." - Abraham Harold Maslow
"Only the flexibly creative person can really manage the future, Only the one who can face novelty with confidence and without fear." - Abraham Harold Maslow
"To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny." - Alan Cohen
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." - Alan Curtis Kay
"Don't worry about what anybody else is going to do? The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Really smart people with reasonable funding can do just about anything that doesn't violate too many of Newton's Laws!" - Alan Curtis Kay
"Any authentic creation is a gift to the future." - Albert Camus
"Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present." - Albert Camus