
“You have to know the past to understand the present.”
Source: Dust & Decay
“You have to know the past to understand the present.”
"The Genealogy of Animals", p. 85
The Universal Kinship (1906), The Physical Kinship
“We think we’re in the present, but we aren’t. The present we know is only a movie of the past.”
Source: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968), Ch. 11: The Unspoken Thing
Context: We are always acting on what has just finished happening. It happened at least 1/30th of a second ago. We think we’re in the present, but we aren’t. The present we know is only a movie of the past.
“Through it [literature] we know the past, govern the present, and influence the future.”
Source: The Man-Made World
As quoted in "According to Plan" in TIME magazine (13 March 1950) http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,812125,00.html
Interview with David Brancaccio (2003)
Context: You know, I learned at a very early age that what kind of social system or political system prevails is very important. Not just for your well-being, but for your very survival. Because, you know, I could have been killed by the Nazis. I could have wasted my life under the Communists. So, that's what led me to this idea of an open society. And that is the idea that is motivating me.
“The past cannot survive in your presence. It can only survive in your absence.”
Source: The Power of Now (1997), p. 76
Inner Freedom: A Spiritual Journey for Prison Inmates (2008)