Depressed? You’re in the past. Anxious? You’re in the future. At peace? You’re present. – Lao Tzu
Every man’s life lies within the present. The past is spent and done with. The future is uncertain. – Marcus Aurelius
Fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand. – Paulo Coelho
Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a better past. – Anne Lamott
History can be written in a simple little formula: Challenge, Response. – Arnold Toynbee
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. – Mark Twain
History is more or less bunk. – Henry Ford
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. – Thomas Jefferson
I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened. – Winston Churchill
If you live to the age of a hundred, you have it made because very few people die past the age of a hundred. – George Burns
Invent a past for the present. – Daniel Stern
It’s precisely the disappointing stories which have no proper ending and, therefore, no proper meaning that sound true to life. – Max Frisch
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. – William Shakespeare
Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding out the truth but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear. – Thucydides
Myths are not invented as stories are. Myths are inspired, they really are. They come from the same realm that dream comes from. – Joseph Campbell
One’s past is either made useful or else mutates and becomes cancerous. – Dave Eggers
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. – C. S. Lewis
Some historians hold that history… is just one damned thing after another. – Arnold Toynbee
Sooner or later, everyone will invent a story they think is their life. – Max Frisch
Tell your own story, and you will be interesting. Don’t get the green disease of envy. Don’t be fooled by success and money. Don’t let anything come between you and your work. – Louise Bourgeois
The great thing about history is that it is adaptable. – Sir Peter Ustinov
The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments. – William E. Borah
The one charm of the past is that it is past. – Oscar Wilde
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. – Buddha
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. – Maya Angelou
Until the lioness tells her tale, the story will always glorify the hunter . – Proverb
We do not heal the past by dwelling there. We heal the past by living fully in the present. – Marianne Williamson
What would there be in a story of happiness? Only what prepares it, only what destroys it can be told. – André Gide
Whether a story genuinely happened or not doesn’t matter. The main thing is that it’s true. – Erich Kästner
You can’t move forward until you let go of the past. You must never look back. – Debra Jones