Quotes about The Past

“History is merely a list of surprises… It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again.”
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., via Sunbeams (Page 75)

Stop reliving pain of the past.

“Edit your life frequently and ruthlessly. It’s your masterpiece after all.”
Nathan W. Morris (Read Matt’s Blog On This Quote)

“Psychoanalysts are fond of pointing out that the past is alive in the present. But the future is alive in the present too. The future is not some place we’re going to, but an idea in our mind now. It is something we’re creating, that in turn creates us. The future is a fantasy that shapes our present.”
Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life (Page 157)

“Experience has taught me that our childhoods leave in us stories like this—stories we never found a way to voice, because no one helped us to find the words. When we cannot find a way of telling our story, our story tells us—we dream these stories, we develop symptoms, or we find ourselves acting in ways we don’t understand.”
Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life (Page 10)

John Cowper Powys Quote on The Past and How It’s Not Set In Stone, But Open To Interpretation

“The mistake we make is to turn upon our past with angry wholesale negation… The way of wisdom is to treat it airily, lightly, wantonly, and in a spirit of poetry; and above all to use its symbols, which are its spiritual essence, giving them a new connotation, a fresh meaning.”
John Cowper Powys, Sunbeams (Page 26)

Beyond the Quote (Day 408)

Not only do we try to deny (often angrily) the events of our past, but we often turn on our past as if it’s without any use at all. Like it just is what it is and any time spent looking back is wasteful. But, that’s not entirely true. While, yes, our past is composed of unalterable events, what it’s not composed of is unalterable interpretations. We are free to interpret the events of our past however we choose. But, when we believe that looking back isn’t worth our time—because we “aren’t going that way”—we miss the chance to update our interpretations and give the events of our past fresh meaning.

“We do not remember days, we remember moments.”
Cesare Pavese, Sunbeams (Page 21)

“The past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don’t have complete emotions about the present, only about the past.”
Virginia Woolf, via Educated

Alan Watts Quote on The Present and How It’s Not A Result Of The Past

“Everyone automatically assumes that the present is the result of the past. Turn it around, and consider whether the past may not be a result of the present. The past may be streaming back from the now, like the country as seen from an airplane.”
Alan Watts, Sunbeams (Page 14)

Beyond the Quote (Day 388)

Seeing the past as being the cause of your present steals from you the accountability that’s needed to take ownership of your future. For, you can’t change the outcome of your future if you’re busy blaming what happened in the past. You have to realize, as Watts outlines above, that it’s the present that caused the past, not the past that caused the present.

“For if we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and the future are abstractions without any concrete reality. Until this has become clear, it seems that our life is all past and future, and that the present is nothing more than the infinitesimal hairline which divides them. From this comes the sensation of ‘having no time,’ of a world which hurries by so rapidly that it is gone before we can enjoy it. But through ‘awakening to the instant’ one sees that this is the reverse of the truth: it is rather the past and future which are the fleeting illusions, and the present which is eternally real.”
Alan Watts, The Way of Zen, via Sunbeams (Page 12)

Hannah Brencher Quote on Baggage and How We Might Best Move Forward From Our Past

“We all have a bag. We all pack differently. Some of us are traveling light. Some of us are secret hoarders who’ve never parted with a memory in our lives. I think we are all called to figure out how to carry our bag to the best of our ability, how to unpack it, and how to face the mess. I think part of growing up is learning how to sit down on the floor with all your things and figuring out what to take with you and what to leave behind.”
Hannah Brencher

Beyond the Quote (301/365)

Part of me loves this idea. Just sit down on the floor, unpack all of the memories, feelings, and experiences and figure out what to take and what to leave behind. Sounds great, doesn’t it? We could all just pack up our bags with all of the good and take all of the “bad” to the curb and part with it forever. But, as great as it sounds, the other part of me knows that it isn’t that easy.

Good judgement comes from bad judgement remembered.

Andy Andrews Quote on Creating a New Future and No Longer Dwelling On The Past

“Beginning today, I will create a new future by creating a new me. No longer will I dwell in a pit of despair, moaning over squandered time and lost opportunity. I can do nothing about the past. My future is immediate. I will grasp it in both hands and carry it with running feet. When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act! I seize this moment. I choose now.”
Andy Andrews

Beyond the Quote (196/365)

One of the best ways to build a better lifestyle is to focus less on trying to break bad habits and to focus more on building new, better habits. One of the best ways to feel better when you’re hurt is to focus less on analyzing the pain and to focus more on doing what heals you. One of the best ways to overcome hate is to focus less on the hate and to focus more on love. This is all to say, one of the best ways to move on from a rough past is to focus on building a better future.

“‘History has failed us, but no matter’ serves as my thesis statement. I believe history has failed almost everybody who is ordinary in the world …I am also arguing that the discipline of history has failed. It is not that historians aren’t doing their jobs but rather that the memory of history has been reconstructed by the elite, because the overwhelming majority of ordinary people rarely leave sufficient primary documents; they do not have others recording their lives in real time. The phrase ‘but no matter’ is a statement of defiance. It doesn’t matter that history has failed us because ordinary people have persisted anyway. This idea gives me an enormous amount of strength and hope as a writer because I am an ordinary person. Those of us who may be women of color, immigrants, or working class aren’t often meant to be people who write novels about ideas, but no matter.”
Min Jin Lee, The Guardian

It do be like that. Let it go.

“Who is so talented that they can afford to bring only part of themselves to bear on a problem or opportunity? Whose relationships are so strong that they can get away with not showing up? Who is so certain that they’ll get another moment that they can confidently skip over this one? The less energy we waste regretting the past or worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what’s in front of us.” ~ Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 27)

“Usually, the future is a replica of the past. Superficial changes are possible, but real transformation is rare and depends upon whether you can become present enough to dissolve the past by accessing the power of the Now. What you perceive as future is an intrinsic part of your state of consciousness now. If your mind carries a heavy burden of past, you will experience more of the same. The past perpetuates itself through lack of presence. The quality of your consciousness at this moment is what shapes the future—which, of course, can only be experienced as the Now.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 60)

“To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation. This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be. The compulsion arises because the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.” ~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 49)

“You must determine where you have been in your life, so that you can know where you are now. If you don’t know where you are, precisely, then you could be anywhere. Anywhere is too many places to be, and some of those places are very bad. You must determine where you have been in your life, because otherwise you can’t get to where you’re going. You can’t get from point A to point B unless you are already at point A, and if you’re just ‘anywhere’ the chances you are at point A are very small indeed.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 282)

“Be careful with what you tell yourself and others about what you have done, what you are doing, and where you are going. Search for the correct words. Organize those words into correct sentences, and those sentences into the correct paragraphs. The past can be redeemed, when reduced by precise language to its essence. The present can flow by without robbing the future if its realities are spoken out clearly. With careful thought and language, the singular, stellar destiny that justifies existence can be extracted from the multitude of murky and unpleasant futures that are far more likely to manifest themselves of their own accord.” ~ Jordan Peterson, via 12 Rules for Life (Page 281)