“In this our social state, where petty cares
And mercenary interests only look
Upon the present's littleness, and shrink
From the bold future, and the stately past”

A Summer Evening’s Tale
The Venetian Bracelet (1829)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 15, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In this our social state, where petty cares And mercenary interests only look Upon the present's littleness, and shri…" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon?
Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 785
English poet and novelist 1802–1838

Related quotes

Paulo Coelho photo
Fali Sam Nariman photo
John F. Kennedy photo

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Variant: Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

Barry Eichengreen photo
Andy Stanley photo
J. Howard Moore photo
Philip K. Dick photo

“It would seem like the present. He has a broader present. But his present lies ahead, not back. Our present is related to the past. Only the past is certain, to us. To him, the future is certain.”

Philip K. Dick (1928–1982) American author

The Golden Man (1954)
Context: "He can look ahead. See what's coming. He can — prethink. Let's call it that. He can see into the future. Probably he doesn't perceive it as the future."
"No," Anita said thoughtfully. "It would seem like the present. He has a broader present. But his present lies ahead, not back. Our present is related to the past. Only the past is certain, to us. To him, the future is certain. And he probably doesn't remember the past, any more than any animal remembers what happened."
"As he develops," Baines said, "as his race evolves, it'll probably expand its ability to prethink. Instead of ten minutes, thirty minutes. Then an hour. A day. A year. Eventually they'll be able to keep ahead a whole lifetime. Each one of them will live in a solid, unchanging world. There'll be no variables, no uncertainty. No motion! They won't have anything to fear. Their world will be perfectly static, a solid block of matter."
"And when death comes," Anita said, "they'll accept it. There won't be any struggle; to them, it'll already have happened."

Gottfried Leibniz photo

“And as every present state of a simple substance is naturally a consequence of its preceding state, so its present is pregnant with its future.”

Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716) German mathematician and philosopher

Et comme tout présent état d'une substance simple est naturellement une suite de son état précédent, tellement, que le présent y est gros de l'avenir.
La monadologie (22).
The Monadology (1714)

Related topics