B 52
Aphorisms (1765-1799), Notebook B (1768-1771)
“The future is a world limited by ourselves; in it we discover only what concerns us and, sometimes, by chance, what interests those whom we love the most.”
Joyzelle, Act i, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Maurice Maeterlinck 21
Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist 1862–1949Related quotes
Source: Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century
“The only limitations are those which we impose upon ourselves.”
On SETI, Nothing is Too Wonderful to be True (1995)
"1860. In Lodge of Sorrow at Washington: March 30.", p. 11 <!-- [books.google.com/books?id=PTpRwZ1yEWwC&pg=PA11&dq=What+we+have+done+for+ourselves+Albert+Pike&hl=en&sa=X&ei=akWkT_3QCqLA6AHG_7G6CQ&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=remains immortal&f=false page 11] -->
In sentiment this is similar to the expression made much earlier by Giordano Bruno in On the Infinite Universe and Worlds (1584) : "What you receive from others is a testimony to their virtue; but all that you do for others is the sign and clear indication of your own."
Ex Corde Locutiones: Words from the Heart Spoken of His Dead Brethren
Variant: What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.