“At least within our own consciousness, the past is malleable and flexible, constantly changing as our recollection reinterprets and re-explains what has happened.”

— Peter L. Berger

Source: Invitation to Sociology (1963), p. 57 ; Cited in: Robert Benjamin Smith, ‎Peter K. Manning (1982), Qualitative methods. p. 64

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Peter L. Berger45

Austrian-born American sociologist 1929–2017

John Twelve Hawks book Spark

Spark (2014)

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

“Yet I have come to believe that while the past is unchangeable, our perceptions of is are malleable…”

Nicholas Sparks book The Wedding

Source: The Wedding

“We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.”

Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker

“Immigration policy should be
generous; it should be fair; it should
be flexible. With such a policy we
can turn to the world, and to our own
past, with clean hands and a clear
conscience.”

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

Source: A Nation of Immigrants

“The past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now. No powers are to be employed that are not natural to the globe, no action to be admitted except those of which we know the principle.”

James Hutton book Theory of the Earth

Source: Theory of the Earth (Paper, published in Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1785)

“We now apply these laws of mental processes, to which the explanation of our own inner consciousness leads, to explain the order and adaptation observed on the earth, i. e., to explain Being and historical development.”

Bernhard Riemann (1826–1866) German mathematician

Gesammelte Mathematische Werke (1876)

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready.”

Paulo Coelho book The Devil and Miss Prym

Source: The Devil and Miss Prym‎ [O Demônio e a srta Prym] (2000), p. x; this has also been misquoted as "A moment is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny."
Context: When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.

“We are all affected by our pasts, but it is within our power not to let what we have done to dictate what we will do.”

Kristin Cast book Tempted

Source: Tempted

“We are all affected by our pasts, but it is within our power not to let what we have done to dictate what we will do.”

P. C. Cast book Tempted

Source: Tempted

“At least within our own consciousness, the past is malleable and flexible, constantly changing as our recollection reinterprets and re-explains what has happened.”

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Peter L. Berger45

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