Quotes about the future (4510 quotes, page 42)

“How helpless human beings are—in fact, how helpless all beings are! How hopelessly dependent we are upon the past, and how impossible it is to be really original! What the future will be depends upon what the present is, for the future will grow out of, and inherit, the present. What the present is depends upon what the past was, for the present has grown out of, and inherited, the past. And what the past was depends upon a remoter past from which it evolved, and so on. There is no end anywhere of dependence, either forward or backward. Every fact, from an idea to a sun, is a contingent link in an eternal chain.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

"The Genealogy of Animals", p. 85
The Universal Kinship (1906), The Physical Kinship

Dependency , Sun , Past , Idea

“Parenthood is the gravest of all responsibilities. The act of generation is a momentous act. It should be illuminated. It should be more serious, and deliberate, and conscious. It should be far more frequently neglected. Human beings should know that it is a grave conspiracy, the conspiracy to bring into the universe a living being, an organism with lungs and responsibilities and the faculty for being affected. Would-be parents should ascertain whether or not they are undertaking the dissemination of disease and crime among future generations. For society not to know, nor care to know, and not to determine, nor care to determine, the character of purposed contributions to a new generation, would seem amazing, were we not born looking upon it. Were we accustomed to accomplished and scientific procreation, our indiscriminate somnambulism would scarce wear the aspects of sanity.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: Better-World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis (1899), Race Culture, p. 238–239

Universe , Parent , Disease

“Longitudinal or serial altruism, that is, altruism toward the generations in future time, arises, like lateral or space altruism, thru sympathy, that is, thru the imagination. The living sustain a vital relation to the unborn. Every one who recognizes and shows any regard for this relation, and there are very few who do, does so by putting himself in the place of the unborn billions, and by anticipation sharing their welfare and ill-fare.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: Better-World Philosophy: A Sociological Synthesis (1899), Egoism and Altruism, p. 120

Imagination , Time , Relation ships

“Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

These two statements are very similar, widely quoted, and seem to paraphrase some ideas in the essay "Religion and Science" (see below), but neither of the two specific quotes above been properly sourced. Notable Einstein scholars such as John Stachel and Thomas J. McFarlane (author of Buddha and Einstein: The Parallel Sayings) know of this statement but have not found any source for it. Any information on any definite original sources for these is welcome.
This quote does not actually appear in Albert Einstein: The Human Side as is sometimes claimed.
Only two sources from before 1970 can be found on Google Books. The first is The Theosophist: Volume 86 which seems to cover the years 1964 http://books.google.com/books?id=7pLjAAAAMAAJ&q=1964#search_anchor and 1965 http://books.google.com/books?id=7pLjAAAAMAAJ&q=1965#search_anchor. The quote appears attributed to Einstein on p. 255 http://books.google.com/books?id=7pLjAAAAMAAJ&q=%22natural+and+spiritual%22#search_anchor, with the wording given as "The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description." An identical quote appears on p. 284 http://books.google.com/books?id=YpsfAQAAIAAJ&q=%22dogmas+and+theology%22#search_anchor of The Maha Bodhi: Volume 72 published by the Maha Bodhi Society of India, which seems to contain issues from throughout 1964 http://books.google.com/books?id=YpsfAQAAIAAJ&q=%22volume+72%22#search_anchor.
A number of phrases in the quote are similar to phrases in Einstein's "Religion and Science". Comparing the version of the quote in The Theosophist to the version of "Religion and Science" published in 1930, "a cosmic religion" in the first resembles "the cosmic religious sense" in the second; "transcend a personal God" resembles "does not involve an anthropomorphic idea of God"; "covering both the natural and the spiritual" resembles "revealed in nature and in the world of thought"; "the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity" resembles "experience the totality of existence as a unity full of significance"; and "Buddhism answers this description" resembles "The cosmic element is much stronger in Buddhism". These phrases appear in the same order in both cases, and the ones from "Religion and Science" are all from a single paragraph of the essay.
Misattributed
Variant: The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism.

God , Religion , Personality , Nature

“A love of tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril; but the new view must come, the world must roll forward … Let us have no fear of the future.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

Source: Speech in the House of Commons, November 29, 1944 "Debate on the Address" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/nov/29/debate-on-the-address#column_31.

World , Love , Fear , Making love

“I must point out … that the British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst, and like to be told that they are very likely to get much worse in the future and must prepare themselves for further reverses.”

Winston S. Churchill book The Second World War

Speech in the House of Commons, June 10, 1941 "Defence of Crete" http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1941/jun/10/defence-of-crete#column_152, in The Churchill War Papers : 1941 (1993), Churchill/Gilbert, Norton, p. 785 ISBN 0393019594
The Second World War (1939–1945)

Bad luck , People

“The seconds marched past, traversing that mysterious boundary which separates future from past.”

Jack Vance Demon Princes

Source: Demon Princes (1964-1981), The Face (1979), Chapter 11 (p. 145)

Past

“There is no way to tell whether the patterns extracted by the right hemisphere are real or imagined without subjecting them to left-hemisphere scrutiny. On the other hand, mere critical thinking, without creative and intuitive insights, without the search for new patterns, is sterile and doomed. To solve complex problems in changing circumstances requires the activity of both cerebral hemispheres: the path to the future lies through the corpus callosum.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

Source: The Dragons of Eden (1977), Chapter 7, “Lovers and Madmen” (pp. 190-191)

Imagination , Search , Problem , Thinking

“The price we pay for the anticipation of our future is anxiety about it. Foretelling disaster is probably not much fun; Pollyanna was much happier than Cassandra. But the Cassandric components of our nature are necessary for survival.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

Source: The Dragons of Eden (1977), Chapter 3, “The Brain and the Chariot” (p. 74)

Nature

“The State is abdicating and appealing in its holy functions to private individuals. Everywhere free organization trespasses on its domain. And yet, the facts we have quoted let us catch only a glimpse of what free agreement has in store for us in the future, when there will be no more State.”

Peter Kropotkin book The Conquest of Bread

Ch 11 : Free Agreement
The Conquest of Bread (1892)

Quotes

“I think that having 24 people around the Cabinet table whose future depends upon maintaining the good will of one man is fundamentally undemocratic and it would be far better if Cabinet ministers were accountable to the Parliamentary Labour Party.”

Tony Benn (1925–2014) British Labour Party politician

Interview for London Weekend Television's Weekend World, quoted in The Times (11 February 1980), p. 2
1980s

Thinking , People , Dependency

“As the rope tightened around the neck of the Soviet Republic in late April, life for any real or perceived counterrevolutionaries left in Munich grew very dangerous indeed. For instance, on April 29 and the following day, revolutionaries showed up at the neoclassical palace on Brienner Straße that housed the papal nunciature, entering the building and threatening the nuncio, Eugenio Pacelli, with guns, daggers and even hand grenades. Pacelli was hit so hard in his chest with a revolver that it deformed the cross that he carried on a chain around his neck. The attack on the future Pope Pius XII was not the only reported case of aborted action taken against real or perceived adversaries of the Soviet Union.”

Thomas Weber (historian) (1974) German historian

Source: Becoming Hitler: The Making of a Nazi (2017), p. 53

Life , Housing

“Just what form the future telephone will take, or course, pure speculation. Here is my prophecy: In its final development, the telephone will be carried about by the individual, perhaps as we carry a watch today. It probably will require no dial or equivalent, and I think the users will be able to see each other, if they want, as they talk. Who knows but what it may actually translate from one language to another?”

Mark R. Sullivan (1896) company director and president

an address given on April 9, 1953, quoted in The Kingston Daily Freeman (p. 1), April 10, 1953; and in The Tacoma News Tribune, April 11, 1953

Thinking

“All persons exist to society by some shining trait of beauty or utility, which they have. We borrow the proportions of the man from that one fine feature, and finish the portrait symmetrically; which is false; for the rest of his body is small or deformed. I observe a person who makes a good public appearance, and conclude thence the perfection of his private character, on which this is based; but he has no private character. He is a graceful cloak or lay-figure for holidays. All our poets, heroes, and saints, fail utterly in some one or in many parts to satisfy our idea, fail to draw our spontaneous interest, and so leave us without any hope of realization but in our own future. Our exaggeration of all fine characters arises from the fact, that we identify each in turn with the soul. But there are no such men as we fable; no Jesus, nor Pericles, nor Caesar, nor Angelo, nor Washington, such as we have made. We consecrate a great deal of nonsense, because it was allowed by great men. There is none without his foible. I verily believe if an angel should come to chant the chorus of the moral law, he would eat too much gingerbread, or take liberties with private letters, or do some precious atrocity.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

1840s, Essays: Second Series (1844), Nominalist and Realist

Soul , Drawing , Law , Personality

“Future nationalisations will be more concerned with equality than with planning, and this means that we can leave the monolithic public corporation behind us and look for more intimate forms of ownership and control.”

Roy Jenkins (1920–2003) British politician, historian and writer

Fair Shares for the Rich (Tribune, 1951), p. 16
1950s

“While we call ourselves animal lovers, and lavish kindness on our dogs and cats, we inflict brutal deprivations on billions of animals that are just as capable of suffering. The hypocrisy is so rank that future generations will marvel at how we could have failed to see it.”

George Monbiot (1963) English writer and political activist

"Goodbye – and good riddance – to livestock farming" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/04/livestock-farming-artificial-meat-industry-animals, The Guardian, 4 October 2017.

Dogs , Suffering , Cats , Animals

“We can forgive, but we cannot forget. That quote is mine. Those that forget their past are sentenced not to have a future.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

About the Holocaust, at a meeting with evangelical pastors in Rio de Janeiro, on 11 April 2019. Bolsonaro: Brazil will vote ‘in line’ with Israel, US at UN Human Rights Council https://www.timesofisrael.com/bolsonaro-brazil-will-vote-in-line-with-israel-us-at-un-human-rights-council/. The Times of Israel (14 April 2019).

Forgiveness , Past , Forgetting , Quotes

“Those who see the existence of all mankind in their own person are miserable. Obviously, that man will disappear as an individual. The need for any person to be satisfied and happy to live is to work not for himself but for the future. An insightful man can only act this way. Full enjoyment and happiness in life, but the honor, presence, happiness of future generations can be found.”

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first President of Turkey

He told Romanian Foreign Minister Victor Antonescu on 20 March 1937 http://web.archive.org/web/20180628120602/http://www.atam.gov.tr/ataturkun-soylev-ve-demecleri/romanya-disisleri-bakani-antonescu-ile-konusma

Way , Personality , Life , Happiness

“Suffrage is not simply about the right to vote but also about what that represents. The basic and fundamental human right of being able to participate in the choices for your future and that of your community.”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (1981) American former actress and member by marriage of the British royal family

Since marriage
Source: At the celebration of 125 years of women's suffrage in New Zealand http://archive.today/zYlFS

Communication

“In the future, there will be no blue-green (KMT or DPP) partisanship in Kaohsiung. All-out efforts will be made to pump up the (city) economy.”

Han Kuo-yu (1957) Taiwanese political figure

Han Kuo-yu (2018) cited in " KMT's Han Kuo-yu wins Kaohsiung mayoral election http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201811250003.aspx" on Focus Taiwan, 25 November 2018.
2018

Effort

“We have now reached a point in the twenty-first century in which the externalities of this irrational system, such as the costs of war, the depletion of natural resources, the waste of human lives, and the disruption of the planetary environment, now far exceed any future economic benefits that capitalism offers to society as a whole. The accumulation of capital and the amassing of wealth are increasingly occurring at the expense of an irrevocable rift in the social and environmental conditions governing human life on earth.”

John Bellamy Foster (1953) Sociology professor and Marxist writer

Capitalism Has Failed—What Next?, 2019

War , Wealth , Nature , Life

“What we now have to do is define the future of the world. Dawn is breaking out all over. You can see it in Africa and Europe and Latin America and Oceanea. I want to emphasize that optimistic vision.”

Hugo Chávez (1954–2013) 48th President of Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez's Speech at the U.N. General Assembly, Wednesday, September 20, 2006

World

“The Existence of Perfected Men is one of the most important of the many new facts which Theosophy puts before us. It follows logically from the other great Theosophical teachings of karma and evolution by reincarnation. As we look round us we see men obviously at all stages of their evolution—many far below ourselves in development, and others who in one way or another are distinctly in advance of us. Since that is so, there may well be others who are very much further advanced; indeed, if men are steadily growing better and better through a long series of successive lives, tending towards a definite goal, there should certainly be some who have already reached that goal. Some of us in the process of that development have already succeeded in unfolding some of those higher senses which are latent in every man, and will be the heritage of all in the future; and by means of those senses we are enabled to see the ladder of evolution extending far above us as well as far below us, and we can also see that there are men standing upon every rung of that ladder. There is a considerable amount of direct testimony to the existence of these Perfected Men whom we call Masters, but I think that the first step which each one of us should take is to make certain that there must be such men…”

Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934) English theosophist

Source: The Masters and the Path (1925), Ch. 1

Success , Perfection , Thinking , Sense

“Death is a subject which cannot but be of the deepest interest to every one, since the one thing which is absolutely certain in the future biography of all men alike is that one day they must die-still more since there is hardly anyone, except the very young, from whose kin death has not already removed some dearly loved one. Yet though this is thus a question of such universal interest, there is perhaps none about which the misconceptions current in the popular mind are so many and so serious. It is impossible for us to calculate the vast amount of utterly unnecessary sorrow and terror and misery which mankind in the aggregate has suffered simply from its ignorance and superstition with regard to this one most important matter. There is amongst us a mass of ·false and foolish belief along this line which has worked untold evil in the past and is causing indescribable suffering in the present, and its eradication would be one of the greatest benefits that could be conferred upon the human race.”

Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934) English theosophist

Source: The Other Side of Death (1903), p. 3

Making love , Question , Past , Suffering

“The attainment of perfection is but postponed to a future birth. Every preliminary step in self-conquest and self-knowledge is so much experience and developed power, stored up psychic energy, for the use of the individuality in its next incarnation.”

Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907) Union United States Army officer

The Source and Value of the "Mysteries" (1888)

Knowledge , Self-confidence , Perfection , Birth

“All the great religions posit the idea of a further revelation to be given by a future Teacher. Christians hope for the return of the Christ, the Buddhists look for the coming of another Buddha (the Lord Maitreya), while Moslems await the appearance of the Imam Mahdi, the Hindus a reincarnation of Krishna, and the Jews the Messiah. Students of the esoteric tradition know these as different names for one and the same individual, the World Teacher, the head of the Spiritual Hierarchy of Masters, and they look for His imminent return now.”

Benjamin Creme (1922–2016) artist, author, esotericist

Maitreya's Mission Vol. I (1986)

Religion , Hope , Teachers , Appearance

“Here we go again! The US sending more troops to Middle East for what will be disastrous war with Iran. To prevent Trump and future presidents from waging war illegally (without Congress approval) we must sign my No More Presidential Wars Act.”

Tulsi Gabbard (1981) U.S. Representative from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district

Twitter post https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard, (18 Jun 2019)
Twitter account, June 2019

War

“I’ve often said our children are the living messages we send to a future that we will never see. But now our children are sending us to a future that they will never see. There’s something wrong with this picture.”

Elijah Cummings (1951–2019) U.S. Representative from Maryland

Speeech at the funeral of Freddie Gray (April 27, 2015)
Source: [Cobb, Jelani, October 18, 2019, What Elijah Cummings Meant to Baltimore, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-elijah-cummings-meant-to-baltimore, New Yorker, New York, October 20, 2019]

Children

“We are a capitalist party. We believe in capitalism. When we look at the astonishing material achievements of the West, at our own high and rising physical standard of living, we see these things as the result, not of compulsion or government action or the superior wisdom of a few, but of that system of competition and free enterprise, rewarding success and penalising failure, which enables every individual to participate by his private decisions in shaping the future of his society.”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

Speech in Bromsgrove (6 July 1963), quoted in A Nation Not Afraid. The Thinking of Enoch Powell (B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1965), p. 25
1960s

Success , Failure , Decision , Wisdom

“Jim said he was more depressed as a trade-unionist now about the future of this country than he had been for fifty years. He never believed it would come to this.”

James Callaghan (1912–2005) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; 1976-1979

Remarks to the Cabinet quoted in Tony Benn's diary (1 February 1979), quoted in Tony Benn, Conflicts of Interest: Diaries 1977–80 (Hutchinson, 1990), p. 450
Prime Minister

Country

“Man may be excused for feeling some pride at having risen, though not through his own exertions, to the very summit of the organic scale; and the fact of his having thus risen, instead of having been aboriginally placed there, may give him hopes for a still higher destiny in the distant future. But we are not here concerned with hopes or fears, only with the truth as far as our reason allows us to discover it. I have given the evidence to the best of my ability; and we must acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system — with all these exalted powers — Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.”

Charles Darwin book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

volume II, chapter XXI: "General Summary and Conclusion", page 405 http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=422&itemID=F937.2&viewtype=image
Closing paragraph of the book.
The Descent of Man (1871)

God , Hope , Truth , Distant

“I see a future for us only in a Great War in which we lastingly cripple an opponent, France or Russia. Unless there should be a great war, the only way out of our dilemma will be through internal commotion, preferably revolutions in France or Russia.”

Alfred von Waldersee (1832–1904) Prussian Field Marshal

Waldersee in his diary, 15 October 1885, quoted in Scott A. Silverstone, From Hitler's Germany to Saddam's Iraq

Way , War

“Reparations are ultimately about respect and reconciliation — and the hope that one day, all Americans can walk together toward a more just future. We owe it to those who were ripped from their homes those many years ago an ocean away; we owe it to the millions of Americans- yes they were Americans – who were born into bondage, knew a life of servitude, and died anonymous deaths, as prisoners of this system. We owe it to the millions of descendants of these slaves, for they are the heirs to a society of inequities and indignities that naturally filled the vacuum after slavery was formally abolished 154 years ago. Today represents the first time in history that the House of Representatives will host a hearing on H. R. 40.”

Sheila Jackson Lee (1950) American politician

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee Statement on the Historic Hearing on H.R. 40 - a Bill to Establish a Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans (19 June 2019)

Home , Time , Housing , History

“In the future, the eyes of humanity will be fixed upon the Christ, and not upon any such man-made institutions as the Church and its dignitaries; Christ will be seen as He is in reality, working through His disciples, through the Masters of the Wisdom, and through His followers who toil unseen (and usually unrecognised) behind world affairs. The sphere of His activity will be known to be the human heart and also the crowded market places of the world, but not some stone edifice, and not the pomp and ceremony of any ecclesiastical headquarters.”

Alice A. Bailey (1880–1949) esoteric, theosophist, writer

Source: The Reappearance of the Christ (1948), Chapter IV:

Heart , Reality , Christ , World

“Our future is imperiled, our economy is fragile, and frontline communities are vulnerable to major threats from rising sea levels to lead in our water. A #GreenNewDeal is a common sense, moral solution to fix these issues with the urgency they demand.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (1989) American politician

Twitter post, https://twitter.com/AOC (22 February 2019)
Twitter Quotes (2019), February 2019

Communication , Water , Sense , Sea

“I do not think that for the future of humanity, and for our country to continue to prosper, that we cannot have another presidential cycle where climate change is not being asked about at almost every debate, and that includes the role of fossil fuel, fossil fuel industries, and that includes the role of a broad spectrum of issues.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (1989) American politician

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her First Weeks In Washington, The Intercept https://theintercept.com/2019/01/28/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-podcast/ (28 January 2019)
Quotes (2019)

Thinking , Change , Country

“The age difference between myself (29) + oldest House members is ~60yrs. For better or worse, young people will live in the world Congress leaves behind. That’s why I focus on our future: addressing climate change & runaway income inequality, ending school-to-prison pipelines, etc.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (1989) American politician

Twitter post, https://twitter.com/Ocasio2018/status/1076894689352142848 (23 December 2018)
Twitter Quotes (2018)

School , Housing , People , Age

“Man…. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Tenzin Gyatso (1935) spiritual leader of Tibet

Misattributed, "What surprises you most about humanity?"

Money , Making love , Health

“Our future as an industrial and trading nation depends on the success of our export drive. Increased production and increased exports are vital to the health of the shipping industry. … Our fundamental need is still increased production to enable us to increase our volume of exports and so pay for our imports. … That is the need of the country to-day.”

Clement Attlee (1883–1967) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Prime Minister
Source: Speech to the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom at the Dorchester Hotel (13 October 1949), quoted in The Times (14 October 1949), p. 4

Dependency , Success , Country , Health

“This year, the first-ever labor affairs consultation meeting represented the beginning of a regular exchange mechanism to facilitate future cooperation between the two sides (Taiwan and the European Union).”

Lin San-quei Taiwanese politician

Lin San-quei (2018) cited in " Taiwan, EU labor affairs meeting a milestone: official http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2018/10/16/2003702462" on Taipei Times, 16 October 2018.

“We sincerely welcome more foreign experts to China to spark innovation and pursue successful careers. And we welcome the talents from all over the world to be part of our modernization drive, and make even greater contribution to building a community with a shared future for mankind, to world peace and development, and to human progress.”

Han Zheng (1954) Chinese politician

Han Zheng (2019) cited in " China warns Taiwan of continued lockout from WHO assembly http://www.arabnews.com/node/1102951/world" on CCTV English, 28 September 2019.

Peace , Success , Communication , Sincerity

“Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.”

D.H. Lawrence book Lady Chatterley's Lover

First paragraph
Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)

Hope , Age

“The launch of satellite SLV was possible in India only due to the inspiration from Prof Vikram Sarabhai. It wont be an exaggeration if it is said that Prof Sarabhai is the sun shining over the horizon of Indian Science who would keep showing light to the future scientists.”

Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971) (1919-1971), Indian physicist

About, Pride Of The Nation: Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Light , Science , Sun

“It was sometimes easier to read the future from the entrails of a cat than get a fix on what a judge was thinking, and Torres-Jones was particularly hard to get a handle on.”

Michael Nava (1954) American writer

Source: Henry Rios series of novels, The Death of Friends (1996), p.189

Cats , Thinking , Reading

“The US has been unable to imagine a better future that goes beyond four plus one G, where they have been unable to imagine what 5G has to offer. They are clearly jealous that a Chinese company called Huawei has outstripped them and because they have been outstripped, they must now punish that one company. We cannot afford to have our own economy being held back because there is this fight that the US is having.”

Cyril Ramaphosa (1952) 5th President of South Africa

As quoted by Peter Fabricius in Washington rejects Ramaphosa’s jibe that it is ‘jealous’ of Huawei’s 5G technology https://www.msn.com/en-za/money/technology/washington-rejects-ramaphosas-jibe-that-it-is-jealous-of-huaweis-5g-technology/ar-AAEckaI?ocid=spartanntp, Daily Maverick, 12 July 2019

Fight , Imagination

“Thunberg and the many other amazing young organizers have been very clear that they do not want adults to pat them on the head and thank them for the hope infusion. They want us to join them and fight for the future alongside them. Because it is their right. And all of our duty.”

Naomi Klein (1970) Canadian author and activist

Greta Thunberg on the Climate Fight: If We Can Save the Banks, Then We Can Save the World, https://theintercept.com/2019/09/13/greta-thunberg-naomi-klein-climate/ The Intercept (13 September 2019)

Fight , Hope

“And now this movement is gearing up for its biggest challenge yet: They have called on people of all ages to join the and go on strike, all around the world, on September 20. Because protecting the future is not a spectator sport.”

Naomi Klein (1970) Canadian author and activist

Sport , People , Age , World

“If you believe in the future life and, instead of preparing for it, sell it in order to buy this world, then that is folly! You do not normally sell two things for one; how can you give up an endless life for a limited number of days.”

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058–1111) Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic

The Deliverance from Error https://www.amazon.com/Al-Ghazalis-Path-Sufism-Deliverance-al-Munqidh/dp/1887752307

World , Life

“Or, if you enjoy living with Greeks also, spend your time with Socrates and with Zeno: the former will show you how to die if it be necessary; the latter how to die before it is necessary. Live with Chrysippus, with Posidonius: they will make you acquainted with things earthly and things heavenly; they will bid you work hard over something more than neat turns of language and phrases mouthed forth for the entertainment of listeners; they will bid you be stout of heart and rise superior to threats. The only harbour safe from the seething storms of this life is scorn of the future, a firm stand, a readiness to receive Fortune’s missiles full in the breast, neither skulking nor turning the back.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter CIV: On Care of Health and Peace of Mind

Time , Heart , Life , Making love

“Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all—the fear of future suffering, and the recollection of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter LXXVIII: On the Healing Power of the Mind

Past , Fear , Suffering

“I cannot name the 8 million people who share my Israeli citizenship, I have never met most of them, and I am very unlikely ever to meet them in the future. My ability to nevertheless feel loyal to this nebulous mass is not a legacy from my hunter-gatherer ancestors, but a miracle of recent history.”

Yuval Noah Harari book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Feeling , People , History

“One light-year is not much as galactic distances go. You could walk it in about 270 million years, beginning at the middle of the Permian Era, when dinosaurs belonged to the remote future, and continuing to the present day.”

Poul Anderson book The Queen of Air and Darkness

The Queen of Air and Darkness (p. 43)
Short fiction, The Book of Poul Anderson (1975)

Light

“Although they themselves moved beyond the dominant ideas of their day, they carried few of their contemporaries with them. Most often they were misunderstood, lonely, even ostracized. Until this century, with its rapid communication, there was little chance for linkage among these scattered individuals. Their ideas, however, served as fuel for future generations.”

Marilyn Ferguson (1938–2008) American writer

The Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), Chapter Two, Premonitions of Transformation and Conspiracy

Idea , Chance , Communication

“I certainly hold an Iraqi national thought and I am an Arab belonging to Iraq. I do not believe in an Islamic state in Iraq. I believe that an Islamic state will harm Iraq a lot and may harm the region. Therefore, I look forward to having a national project in Iraq that controls the future of the country in a civilized and modern form and respects the heritage of Iraq.”

Ayad Allawi (1945) Iraqi politician

18 October 2005 https://www.aljazeera.net/programs/today-interview/2005/10/18/إياد-علاوي-الدستور-العراقي%20إياد%20علاوي..%20الدستور%20العراقي

Country

“We are clear about what must be done--and we intend to do it. I want to talk frankly with you tonight about the first steps that we shall take. These actions will require sacrifice on the part of many of our citizens. More will be required in the future. They will require, from all of us, courage and perseverance in the years to come. But if we and our allies act out of strength and unity of purpose--with calm determination and steady nerves--using restraint in our words as well as our weapons--I am hopeful that both peace and freedom will be sustained.”

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

1961, Berlin Crisis speech

Courage , Peace , Freedom , Hope

“As a local government, Kinmen should avoid becoming embroiled in (cross-strait) political affairs, but the county needs to seize opportunities (with Mainland China) when the atmosphere is right. Fujian and Kinmen are neighbors and during the trip to the (Fujian) province, the (Kinmen) county government can put forward ideas on future exchanges and cooperation between the two sides, in the hope of concrete results.”

Yang Cheng-wu (1972) Taiwanese politician

Yang Cheng-wu (2019) cited in " Fujian, Kinmen ties lauded by county magistrate http://focustaiwan.tw/news/acs/201901150024.aspx" on Focus Taiwan, 15 January 2019

Idea , Hope

“You know, in his last six months Vasyl had changed a lot. Many tried to talk him out of going to the war, but he was adamant. All his money and all his energy he gave to the cause of the new Ukraine. It was his motivation in life. What a shame that a sharpshooter’s bullet took the life of terrific vocalist and patriot. Our duty is to remember Vasyl Slipak. I want to join my Ukrainian colleagues to discuss some future art projects. We already had a meeting with Volodymyr Syvokhip, director of the Lviv Philharmonic Society, and we plan to hold a Vasyl Slipak Open International Memorial Music Marathon in Lviv from June 29 till July 1.”

Vasyl Slipak (1974–2016) Ukrainian opera singer

2017
Nicolas Krauze, conductor, the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Europe (France). “He loved Ukraine above all”. The Day. Кyiv.ua. - 2017. - 7 March. https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/culture/he-loved-ukraine-above-all

Money , War , Art , Music

“Vasyl was supposed to become my vocal adviser in my future project. For three years Slipak was a soloist at the Grand Opera. He got solo parts, but he also wanted to have concert practice, that is why he chose a sort of freelance. Mind you, when the war in the east of Ukraine broke out, his vocal career was on the rise. Characteristically, Vasyl did not give up his career, he would be active as a volunteer, then he would return from Ukraine to France to give concerts and appear in performances, and then again he would go to Ukraine, which he loved above all. And then again more concerts, and again back to the front.”

Vasyl Slipak (1974–2016) Ukrainian opera singer

2017
Nicolas Krauze, conductor, the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Europe (France). “He loved Ukraine above all”. The Day. Кyiv.ua. - 2017. - 7 March. https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/culture/he-loved-ukraine-above-all

War , Appearance , Love , Making love

“I think the important thing is to stop a no-deal exit and let the people of this country decide their own future.”

Jeremy Corbyn (1949) British Labour Party politician

Brexit: Boris Johnson faces showdown in Parliament https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49560557 BBC News (3 September 2019)
2010s, 2019

Thinking , People , Country

“I are very concerned, however, to make sure there can be open and proper debate about Israel and its foreign policy, and about the future for Palestinian people. Hence there has to be that space for debate, you cannot shut that down. But it can never, ever be conducted in an anti-Semitic way.”

Jeremy Corbyn (1949) British Labour Party politician

Jeremy Corbyn condemns ex-Labour MP's comments in anti-Semitism row https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-45244081, BBC News, 20 August 2018
2010s, 2018

Way , Making love , People

“The referendum has taken place, a decision has been made, I think we have got to respect that decision and work out our relationship with Europe in the future.”

Jeremy Corbyn (1949) British Labour Party politician

EU referendum: Corbyn tells activists 'I did all I could' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36628305 BBC News (25 June 2016)
2010s, 2016

Thinking , Decision

“The point that I made in the article is that if any of us lapse sometimes from standards that we uphold, that is human. The thing to do is not necessarily then to say that the standards should be lowered. It should be to reflect on the lapse and to seek to do better in the future.”

Michael Gove (1967) British politician

Michael Gove admits he was lucky to avoid jail over cocaine use https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48572982, BBC News, 9 June 2019
2019

“A future prime minister could always choose to alter the relationship between Britain and the European Union. But the Chequers approach is the right one for now because we have got to make sure that we respect that vote and take advantage of the opportunities of being outside the European Union.”

Michael Gove (1967) British politician

Brexit: Future PM 'could change EU relationship' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45541240 BBC News (16 September 2018)
2018

Making love

“I have repeatedly said that I do not want to be prime minister. That has always been my view. But events since last Thursday have weighed heavily with me. I respect and admire all the candidates running for the leadership. In particular, I wanted to help build a team behind Boris Johnson so that a politician who argued for leaving the European Union could lead us to a better future. But I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead.”

Michael Gove (1967) British politician

Michael Gove and Theresa May head five-way Conservative race https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36671336, BBC News, 30 June 2016
2016

Help

“My view is that whatever happens in the future we will be in a strong position to deal with any crises that occur as a result of leaving the EU.”

Michael Gove (1967) British politician

Michael Gove calls for 'balanced' migration system on Question Time special https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36542417 BBC News (15 June 2016)
2016

Strong

“If you want my opinion, some of the noise is generated by people who are not happy with the agenda that I have, over the last few weeks, tried to advance, of ensuring that we achieve a Brexit which is focused on protecting our economy, protecting our jobs and making sure that we can have continued rising living standards in the future.”

Philip Hammond (1955) British Conservative politician

Chancellor Philip Hammond hits back over public pay leaks https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40623343, BBC News, 16 July 2017
2017

Making love , People , Happiness

“I understand how angry people are on both sides. There are some angry Leavers and there are some very angry Remainers too, particularly young people who feel their future has been taken away from them on the basis of a very narrow majority, where a significant majority of the electorate did not vote and many young people did not get an opportunity to vote.”

Vince Cable (1943) British Liberal Democrat politician

European elections 2019: Remainers are angry too, says Vince Cable https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48339921, BBC News, 20 May 2019
2019

Feeling , People , Understanding

“If the House of Commons remains deadlocked, then going back to the people will have to be the way forward. A prosperous future for Wales is secured by continuing membership of the EU.”

Mark Drakeford (1954) First Minister of Wales

Rees-Mogg says reformed Brexit deal could win over critics https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46971390 BBC News (23 January 2019)
2019

Way , Housing , People

“I appeal to the English-speaking people of South Africa not to allow themselves to be hurt, though I can feel their sadness. A framework has fallen away, but what is of greater importance is friendship and getting together as one nation – as white people who have to defend their future together. Now there is a chance of standing together – one free country standing together on a basis which is the desire of friendship with Great Britain.”

Hendrik Verwoerd (1901–1966) Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966

In response to a comment by Douglas Mitchell (leader of the opposition) that South Africa was retreating into isolation, as quoted in The New Republic https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rRI1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=wqULAAAAIBAJ&pg=5390%2C4506760, Glasgow Herald (30 May 1961)

Hurt , Chance , Friendship , Country

“Now we move forward. We stand on our own legs. Let us face the future with hope, confidence and zeal … What happened in London is not a defeat but a victory. The other Commonwealth members were expected to have reached a level of maturity that would have allowed them to work with South Africa within the Commonwealth, especially in the fight against Communism, while retaining their differences outside the Commonwealth. Some of the Commonwealth countries were however too young, too new and too small. … Something big happened. A peaceful South Africa emerged with dangers and possible disadvantages averted. South Africa is going out stronger from this hour than ever before. South Africa has triumphed … we have set ourselves free from the yoke of the Afro-Asian countries that occupy the Commonwealth, because we are not willing to let them dictate to us. The current Commonwealth is one in which we no longer feel ourselves at home.”

Hendrik Verwoerd (1901–1966) Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966

Home , Peace , Confidence , Country

“As we begin to look beyond the war to the re-ordering of the world which must follow, we see three great Powers, the United States, Russia, and China. … In the company of these Titans Britain, apart from the rest of the Commonwealth and Empire, could hardly claim equal partnership. … If, in the future, Britain is to play her part without assuming burdens greater than she can support she must have with her in peace the same strength that has sustained her in this war. Not Great Britain only, but the British Commonwealth and Empire must be the fourth Power in that group upon which, under Providence, the peace of the world will henceforth depend.”

Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (1881–1959) British politician

Speech to centenary dinner of the Toronto Board of Trade (24 January 1944), quoted in The Times (25 January 1944), p. 3
Ambassador to the United States

Peace , Partnership , Dependency , War

“Not only does it deny the corporate claim to liberty of men and women organized in national societies, but it refuses the much more fundamental claim of men and women to the free expression of human personality, which rests upon the eternal value of every human soul. True pride of race may be tested by the behaviour of its possessors towards their own fellow citizens and towards others. It will forbid conduct to individuals of which they should be ashamed in their private lives. It is thus evidently something far removed from the ideal of a race which by the German philosophy of to-day is called to stamp out the civilization of another. Between these two conceptions there is a great gulf fixed. … Until these false creeds are abjured, and replaced by a wider toleration, they must continue to excite resistance. The future of humanity must not be left in the hands of those who would imprison and enslave it.”

Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (1881–1959) British politician

Speech to the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford (27 February 1940), quoted in The Times (28 February 1940), p. 10
Foreign Secretary

Soul , Personality , Falseness , Women

“I firmly believe that after the deal the prime minister negotiated in Europe, Britain will be better off and more secure if we remain a member of the EU. The settlement secures special status for Britain giving us a stronger voice and platform for freedom, democracy and human rights. It also means our sovereignty and the British Pound are protected and will ensure that as part of the EU we carry more weight and influence on future important decisions.”

Jeremy Hunt (1966) British politician

What is Brexit? Conservative Surrey MPs divided over in/out EU question https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/what-brexit-conservative-surrey-mps-10969473 Get Surrey (1 Mar 2016)
2016

Democracy , Freedom , Decision , Parting

“First minister, last night you participated in the first major public debate on the future for Wales within the European Union. You went head-to-head with the voice of the far right. Do you think your performance helped or hindered the Welsh campaign on the EU?”

Leanne Wood (1971) Welsh Plaid Cymru politician

UKIP condemns Leanne Wood's 'far right' Farage jibe https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-35292163 BBC News (12 January 2016)
2016

Night , Thinking , Help

“We may be a small party and a small country but we can stand tall if we stand together and if we stand up for our principles. Real independence means collectively lifting our people out of poverty leaving no-one behind, building a future based on hope not on fear.”

Leanne Wood (1971) Welsh Plaid Cymru politician

Plaid Cymru elect Leanne Wood as new leader https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-17381377, BBC News, 15 March 2012
2012

Country , Hope , People , Fear

“The last thing I would say is that you can achieve a lot of things in politics and get a lot of things done; in the end, public service and the national interest is what it is all about. Nothing is really impossible if you put your mind to it. After all, as I once said, I was the future once.”

David Cameron (1966) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Last statement to the House of Commons as Prime Minister, ending by paraphrasing his 2005 comment to Tony Blair, "he was the future once" (July 13, 2016), see Hansard https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-07-13/debates/4A1B874C-54B5-4BEF-8D79-AFA264A78068/Engagements#contribution-E7A04179-9154-4077-87DF-1642C1BD3B4D
2010s, 2016

“I think we should be helping the opposition groups because they want a democratic Libya, they want a future for that country.”

David Cameron (1966) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

William Hague suggests Libya rebel funding https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13059958 BBC News (13 April 2011)
2010s, 2011

Thinking , Help , Country

“I am very sorry that Andy Coulson has decided to resign as my Director of Communications, although I understand that the continuing pressures on him and his family mean that he feels compelled to do so. Andy has told me that the focus on him was impeding his ability to do his job and was starting to prove a distraction for the Government. During his time working for me, Andy has carried out his role with complete professionalism. He has been a brilliant member of my team and has thrown himself at the job with skill and dedication. He can be extremely proud of the role he has played, including for the last eight months in Government. I wish Andy all the very best for his future, which I am certain will be a successful one.”

David Cameron (1966) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Resignation of Andy Coulson statement (21 January 2011) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/8273786/Andy-Coulson-resignation-David-Camerons-statement.html
2010s, 2011

Family , Time , Understanding , Success

“We will take back control of our laws, by ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK. In future, our laws will be made, interpreted and enforced by our own courts and legislatures.”

Theresa May (1956) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Reality Check: Theresa May's Brexit letter https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46344443 BBC News (26 November 2018)
2010s, On Brexit

Justice , Law

“If we again slink out of this affair with our tail between our legs, if we cannot pull ourselves together to present demands which we are prepared to enforce by the sword, then I despair of the future of the German Reich.”

Helmuth von Moltke the Younger (1848–1916) Chief of the German General Staff

Letter to his wife during the Agadir Crisis (1911), quoted in L. C. F. Turner, 'The Significance of the Schlieffen Plan', in Paul Kennedy (ed.), The War Plans of the Great Powers, 1880-1914 (Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1985), p. 211

Despair

“Should there not be manifest progress and development but in a higher sense than people have imagined it? … No one is in his age alone, he builds on the preceding one, this becomes nothing but the foundation of the future, wants to be nothing but that — this is what we are told by the analogy in nature, God’s speaking exemplary model in all works! Manifestly so in the human species!”

Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic

"This Too a Philosophy of History for the Formation of Humanity" ["Auch eine Philosophie zur Geschichte der Menscheit"] (1774), as translated by Michael N. Forster, in Johann Gottlieb von Herder: Philosophical Writings (2002), edited by Michael N. Forster, p. 299

God , Imagination , People , Nature

“I look for the distant horizon, the existence of life, the infinite, the rays of the sun, evolution, I seek the irrational, the indestructible, the wave of the sea, the invincible, I seek the unexpected, the timeless, the intelligible, the resourcefulness, the institutable, I look for the insurable, the non-transferable, the immutable, the insurrection, I seek the unusual, the irreplaceable, the insoluble, the impossible, I seek the onset, the invisible, the primordial, the unreachable, I seek the organism of the cosmos, the mystery of the air, the breath of the wind, the dawning of the dawn, I seek an earth to cultivate, the first flower, the first seed, the future, I seek …”

Ibrahim Kodra (1918–2006) father of Albanian contemporary art

Io cerco l'orizzonte lontano, l'esistenza della vita, l'infinito, i raggi del sole, l'evoluzione, io cerco l'irrazionale, l'indistruttibile, l'onda del mare, l'invincibile, io cerco l'inatteso, l'intemporale, l'inteleggibile, l'intraprendenza, l'istituibile, io cerco l'instaurabile, l'intrasferibile, l'intramutabile, l'insurrezione, io cerco l' inconsueto, l'insostituibile, l'insolubile, l'impossibile, io cerco l'insorgenza, l'invisibile, il primordiale, l'inarrivabile, io cerco l'organismo del cosmo, il mistero dell'aria, il soffio del vento, il sorgere dell'aurora, io cerco una terra da coltivare, il primo fiore, il primo seme, dell'avvenire, io cerco ...

Sun , Intelligence , Flowers , Distant

“It seems to me that the future of peaceful international relations and the safety of persons in foreign countries would have been much better served if, after the Iranian Government placed itself outside the community of nations by approving the holding captive of the personnel of the United States embassy, the United States Government had at once sent an ultimatum saying that, unless every single member of the embassy staff were within 48 hours handed over unharmed to representatives of the United States Government at some place outside Iran, bombs would be falling at an increasing rate at the seat of the Iranian Government.”

Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) Austrian and British economist and Nobel Prize for Economics laureate

On the Iran hostage crisis; letter to The Times (12 January 1980), p. 13
1980s and later

Peace , Country , Personality , Communication

“Spinoza is the clear and luminous side of Modern philosophy. He is the negation of bourgeois mediation and of all the logical, metaphysical, and juridical fictions that organize its expansion. He is the attempt to determine the continuity of the revolutionary project of humanism. With Spinoza, philosophy succeeds for the first time in negating itself as a science of mediation. In Spinoza there is the sense of a great anticipation of the future centuries; there is the intuition of such a radical truth of future philosophy that it not only keeps him from being flattened onto seventeenth-century thought but also, it often seems, denies any confrontation, any comparison. Really, none of his contemporaries understands him or refutes him.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Antonio Negri, The Savage Anomaly: The Power of Spinoza's Metaphysics and Politics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991). Translated from the Italian by Michael Hardt. Originally published as L'anomalia selvaggia. Saggio su potere e potenza in Baruch Spinoza (Milano: Feltrinelli, 1981)
M - R

Time , Understanding , Truth , Sense

“The philosophy of a purely theoretical thinker, who contemplates all things from the point of view of things in themselves, belongs in the same class as the attempt to apply abstract thought to the entire field of consciousness without meeting any byways or stops. Look at Baruch Spinoza, that true hero of thought, who studied in his own person the way in which the emotions and passions, as expressions of his internal mechanism, transform themselves for him into objects of geometrical analysis! In the meantime, until the heroism of Baruch Spinoza shall become the matter-of-fact virtue of everyday life in the higher developed humanity of the future, and until myths, poetry, metaphysics and religion shall no longer overshadow the field of consciousness, let us be content that up to now, and for the present, philosophy in its differentiated and its improved sense has served, and serves, as a critical instrument and helps science to keep its formal methods and logical processes clear; that it helps us in our lives to reduce the obstacles, which the fantastic projections of the emotions, passions, fears and hopes pile in the way of free thought; that it helps and serves, as Spinoza himself would say, to vanquish imaginationem et ignorantiam.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Antonio Labriola, Socialism and Philosophy (1897) [original in Italian]
G - L

Fear , Study , Religion , Personality

“When we read Spinoza, we are seized with a feeling like that of seeing nature at its grandest in most vigorous repose: a forest of thoughts, tall as the sky, whose blooming tree-tops sway back and forth, while imperturbable trunks stand rooted in the eternal soil. There is a certain soft breeze in the writings of Spinoza which is inexplicable. It stirs the reader with the winds of the future. The spirit of the Hebrew prophets still rested perhaps on their late descendant. At the same time, there is a seriousness to him, a self-confident pride, a grandeur of thought which also seems to be an inheritance, since Spinoza belonged to one of those families of martyrs which had been expelled from Spain by those most Catholic kings.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Heinrich Heine, On the History of Philosophy and Religion and Other Writings [original in German]
G - L

Family , Confidence , Time , Tree

“An empire that cannot distance itself from such a gruesome sin that so deeply affects its internal structure does not have the right to education, to future development and participation in history.”

Alexander Herzen (1812–1870) Russian author

"Appeal to Nobles", (June 1853), Imperial Russia, A Source Book 1700-1917

Education , History

“The peasants will be emancipated if there is a future for Rus and for the Slavic world.”

Alexander Herzen (1812–1870) Russian author

"Appeal to Nobles", (June 1853), Imperial Russia, A Source Book 1700-1917

World

“Whatever you are in the future, young ladies and gentlemen, will depend largely upon your conceptions of life, its duties, its responsibilities, its end. For this reason I have proposed to myself to speak to you in a practical manner on the importance of correct ideals.”

William H. Crogman (1841–1931) American classical philologist

Source: Talks for the Times (1896), "The Importance of Correct Ideals" (1892), p. 272

Life , Dependency

“But how shall the condition, the true subjection of the other to the law, be given? Not through signs of repentance, promises of future better behavior, offers of damages, etc.; for there is no ground to believe his sincerity. It is quite as possible that he has been forced by his present weakness into this repentance, and is only awaiting a better opportunity to renew the attack. This uncertainty does not warrant the other in laying down his arms and thus again exposing all his safety. He will, therefore, continue to exercise his compulsion; but since the condition of the right is problematical, his exercise also will be problematical. t is the same with the violator. If he has offered the complete restitution which the law inevitably requires, and it being possible that he may now have voluntarily subjected himself in all sincerity to the law, it is also likely that he will oppose any further restriction of his freedom, (any further compulsion by the other,) but his right to make this opposition is also problematical. It seems, therefore, that the decisive point can not be ascertained, since it rests in the ascertainment of inner sincerity, which can not be proved, but is a matter of conscience for each. The ground of decision, indeed, could be given only, if it were possible to ascertain the whole future life of the violator.”

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) German philosopher

Source: The Science of Rights 1796, P. 145

Life , Law , Freedom , Sincerity

“I posit myself as individual, in opposition to another individual, by ascribing to myself a sphere for my freedom, from which I exclude the other, and by ascribing to him a sphere, from which I exclude myself — of course, only in the thinking of a fact and by virtue of this fact. Hence, I have posited myself as free a side of him without danger to the possibility of his freedom. Through this positing of my freedom I have determined myself; to be free constitutes my essential character. But what does to be free mean? Evidently to be able to carry out the conceptions of acts I may entertain. But the carrying out always follows the conception, and the perception of the desired product of my causality is always — in relation to its first conception — a matter of the future. Freedom is therefore always posited in the future; and if it is to constitute the character of a being, it is posited for all the future of the individual; is posited in the future as far as the individual himself is posited in the future.”

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) German philosopher

Source: The Science of Rights 1796, P. 77

Thinking , Relation ships , Freedom

“To correct the tribe of our younger poets we shall soon require the aid of a physician, not of a critic. Their history may be told in a few words. A young man educated, or rather mis-educated, without experience, without study, without any definite tendency, without the power of exertion, or of tasting any genuine enjoyment, becomes conscious of his miserable oscillation between existence and non-existence —between not having lived and not being about to live—between a barren past and a barren future. He now takes to novel reading, frequents the theatres, compares himself to heroes or poets, and makes verses. All on a sudden the thought flashes across his mind that his unhappy condition is connected with the unfilled profundity of his feelings—with an unsatisfied yearning of the soul. He rushes headlong into the ocean of melancholy, and indulges in expressions with which the poetic springs of latter years have inundated us; he bathes in these waters, and contemplates his own image reflected from their surface.”

Ernst, Baron von Feuchtersleben (1806–1849) Austrian psychiatrist, poet and philosopher

Source: The Dietetics of the Soul; Or, True Mental Discipline (1838), pp. 136-137

Soul , Study , Reading , History

“I simulate various future scenarios relating to resistance efforts, confrontations with police, future interrogation scenarios, future court appearances, future media interviews etc.”

Anders Behring Breivik (1979) Norwegian mass murderer

Manifesto 22 July 2011

Appearance , Relation ships , Effort

“The one overlap between Sanders and Warren is their relative appeal to young people. This stands in contrast to Biden, for whom the greatest predictor of support is age. The older you are, the more likely you are to be ridin’ with Biden. This suggests that the progressive tussle between Warren and Sanders is about more than a competition for Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N. Y.) endorsement; it’s really about the future of the party… Already, progressives are setting the pace for new and popular policy ideas. Reformer, or revolutionary? The policies may be similar, but the results could be dramatically different.”

Elizabeth Warren (1949) 28th United States Senator from Massachusetts

Krystal Ball in Warren the reformer v. Sanders the revolutionary, The Hill, https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/450547-warren-the-reformer-v-sanders-the-revolutionary (27 June 2019)

Support , People , Age , Idea

“This is tribalism at its worst. Beginning with Israel’s Declaration of Independence, the Jewish value of human dignity and the principle of the equality of all people have formed the democratic foundation of the state. This law is completely incompatible with those values. It is a slap in the face to Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel and provides a legal basis to discriminate based on religion, race, and sex. Legislation that identifies first- and second-class citizens has no place in a democracy. Basic laws should define the fundamental values of the state. If racism, sexism, and religious fundamentalism are to be protected in Israel’s basic laws, it should be no surprise when the country embodies those values. This bill and the government that supported it are a danger to Israel’s future.”

Daniel Sokatch (1968) CEO of the New Israel Fund

About the Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, NIF CEO: Israel’s “Nation-State Bill” Is Tribalism At Its Worst; Completely Incompatible with Human Dignity and Equality https://www.nif.org/news-media/press-releases/nif-ceo-israels-nation-state-bill-is-tribalism-at-its-worst-completely-incompatible-with-human-dignity-and-equality/ (10 July 2018), New Israel Fund.

Democracy , Religion , Law , Country

“Even after his conversion to Islam, the Hindu remained an object of abhorrence… Barani is so maliciously vituperative against Hindus that even many modem Muslim scholars feel embarrassed at his language and find it difficult to defend him. It must, however, be remembered that Barani belonged to the common run of Muslim theologians and chroniclers. He was a personal friend of men like Amir Khusrau and Ala Hasan Sijzi and was a disciple of no less a Sufi than Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya. He possessed charming manners and was known for his wit and humour. But in the case of Hindus, his wit turned into rage. He is copiously quoted by future chroniclers like Nizamuddin Ahmad, Badaoni and Farishtah, who all praise him highly. Most of medieval Muslim chroniclers wrote in the idiom of Barani; only he excelled them all. All medieval chroniclers were scholars of Islamic scriptures and law. They often quote from these to defend or justify the actions of their kings in relation to their non-Muslim subjects.”

Ziauddin Barani (1285–1357) Indian Muslim historian and political thinker (1285–1357)

Lal, K. S. (1992). The legacy of Muslim rule in India. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. Chapter 3

Law , Personality , Relation ships , Rage

“Turkey now understands that the collective punishment of the Kurds on the southeastern periphery affects freedoms and democratic culture across the country. What was limited to the Kurds has become the norm for Mr. Erdogan’s opponents elsewhere too. The only hope for a liberal, democratic future lies in our coming together to defeat the authoritarian regime.”

Selahattin Demirtaş (1973) Turkish Kurdish politician

I Am Running for President in Turkey. From My Prison Cell. (2018)

Understanding , Country , Freedom , Hope

“When reading, writing and translating, it is important to have a way of keeping track of what you have absorbed and learned, so that you can build on it and acquire richer resources for the future. When reading, read actively and critically.”

John Minford (1946) New Zealand sinologist

Jot down interesting expressions, forceful adjectives, little turns of phrase, that strike you as effective, as things you might one day be able to use yourself—in both languages.
Public Lecture (2018)

Way , Reading , Learning

“Walking has been one of the constellations in the starry sky of human culture, a constellation whose three stars are the body, the imagination, and the wide-open world, and though all three exist independently, it is the lines drawn between them—drawn by the act of walking for cultural purposes—that makes them a constellation. Constellations are not natural phenomena but cultural impositions; the lines drawn between stars are like paths worn by the imagination of those who have gone before. This constellation called walking has a history, the history trod out by all those poets and philosophers and insurrectionaries, by jaywalkers, streetwalkers, pilgrims, tourists, hikers, mountaineers, but whether it has a future depends on whether those connecting paths are traveled still.”

Rebecca Solnit (1961) Author and essayist from United States

Wanderlust: A History of Walking (2001)

Imagination , History , Dependency , Mountain

“I’m finding the intrusion of the state into everything in our lives increasingly intolerable, we are being dismantled as thinking adults to the extent that we are dumbing down. Eventually we will become completely politically, spiritually, mentally enfeebled … That’s the future, that’s what we’re looking down the barrel of, and it shits me.”

Richard Roxburgh (1962) Australian actor

Richard Roxburgh on Rake, Donald Trump and the 'immeasurable madness' of the nanny state https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/may/17/richard-roxburgh-on-rake-donald-trump-and-the-immeasurable-madness-of-the-nanny-state (May 17, 2016)

Thinking

Quotes about the future page 42

Quotes about the future
page 42