“If you are wise you will never pity the past for what it did not know, but pity yourself for what it did.”

— John Fowles , book Daniel Martin

Daniel Martin (1977)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If you are wise you will never pity the past for what it did not know, but pity yourself for what it did." by John Fowles?

John Fowles 120

British writer 1926–2005

John Fowles book The Magus

Source: The Magus

“Take a drink because you pity yourself, and then the drink pities you and has a drink, and then two good drinks get together and that calls for drinks all around.”

H. Beam Piper book Little Fuzzy

Source: Little Fuzzy

“Why do you do these things to yourself? Not just what you did to the window, but the way you talked to Clary. What are you punishing yourself for? You can't help how you feel.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Glass

Source: City of Glass

“If you don't understand other people in their time and why they did what they did, then you don't understand your own past. And when you lose your past, you lose some potential for your own future.”

C. J. Cherryh (1942) United States science fiction and fantasy author

The Camelot Project interview (1996)
Context: When the legend is retold, it mirrors the reality of the time, and one can learn from studying how various authors have attempted to retell the story. I don't think we have an obligation to change it radically. I think that if we ever move too far from the basic story, we would lose something very precious. I don't, for instance, approve of fantasy that attempts to go back and rewrite the Middle Ages until it conforms to political correctness in the twentieth century. That removes all the benefit from reading the story. If you don't understand other people in their time and why they did what they did, then you don't understand your own past. And when you lose your past, you lose some potential for your own future.