Quotes about the future
page 44

“The future will increasingly see the home place becoming the work place.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: The Boy Crisis (2018), pp. 203

“Boys who are not interested in school almost always have an interest that can be catalyzed into future employment if it is pursued via hands-on experience.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: The Boy Crisis (2018), pp. 87

School, Boy

“The aims and ideals of the Soviet revolution inspired the patriotic enthusiasm of millions of people in the 1930s, during World War II, and in the postwar reconstruction period. This explains the Soviet Union's great leap forward, the achievement of a high level of industrial capacity in a very short time, the transformation of the Soviet Union into a major power in terms of science and culture. The historic victory in the Great Patriotic War against Nazism, which was a surprise not only for Hitler but also for the Western democracies is also explained by what we have said above. All this is true. But the historical truth is also that the regime and the system abused the faith of the people in these high ideals, turning them to its own advantage. Rule by the people, equality, justice, and the promise of a happy future — all these ideas were utilized for the sake of maintaining and strengthening totalitarianism.”

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931) General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

1990s, On My Country and the World (1999)

War, Happiness, People, Truth

“...the French business is no light or trivial thing, or such as has commonly occurd in the course of political Events. At present the whole political State of Europe hinges upon it. On the Continent there is little doubt; every thing will take is future shape and colour from the good or ill success of the Duke of Brunswick. In my opinion, it is the most important crisis that ever existed in the World. ... My poor opinion is, that these principles...cannot possibly be realized in practice in France, without an absolute certainty and that at no remote period, of overturning the whole fabrick of the British Constitution.”

Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman

1790s
Source: Letter to the Foreign Secretary Lord Grenville (19 September 1792), quoted in P. J. Marshall and John A. Woods (eds.), The Correspondence of Edmund Burke, Volume VII: January 1792–August 1794 (1968), pp. 218-219

World, Business, Light, Success

“Buddha, as the source, and Maitreya, as a universal hope, will unite the austere followers of the Teaching of the South with the multiformity of the North. That which is most essential for the immediate future will definitely manifest itself. Instead of swelling the Teaching with commentaries, it will again be restored to the beauty of the value of concise conviction. The new time of the Era of Maitreya is in need of conviction.”

Helena Roerich (1879–1955) Russian philosopher

Source: Foundations of Buddhism (1930)

Beauty, Hope, Universe, Time

“Throughout the entire Buddhist world the rocks on the roadsides, with the images of Maitreya, point out the approaching future. From the most ancient times until now this Image has been erected by Buddhists who know the approach of the New Era. In our day, venerable lamas, accompanied by disciples, painters, and sculptors, travel through the Buddhist countries, erecting new images of the symbol of aspirations toward the radiant future.”

Helena Roerich (1879–1955) Russian philosopher

Source: Foundations of Buddhism (1930)

World, Travel, Time, Country

“According to tradition, the Blessed One preordained the Bodhisattva Maitreya as his successor. “And the Blessed One said to Ananda, ‘I am not the first Buddha who has come upon Earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world, a Holy One, a supremely enlightened One, endowed with wisdom in conduct, embracing the Universe, an incomparable leader of men, a ruler of devas and mortals. He will reveal to you the same eternal truths, that I have taught you. He will establish his Law, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax, and glorious at the goal, in the spirit and in the letter. He will proclaim a righteous life, wholly perfect and pure, such as I now proclaim. His disciples will number many thousands while mine number many hundreds.’ “Ananda said, ‘How shall we know him?’ “The Blessed One said, ‘He will be known as Maitreya!’ ”  (Paul Carus, The Gospel of Buddha) The future Buddha, Maitreya, as his name indicates, is the Buddha of compassion and love. This Bodhisattva, according to the power of his qualities, is often called Ajita—the Invincible.”

Helena Roerich (1879–1955) Russian philosopher

Source: Foundations of Buddhism (1930)

Love, Life, Wisdom, Men

“The task of material phenomenology is immense. It is not simply to be attached to another order of phenomena that remained neglected up to now but to rethink everything, if one can think reality. Every sphere of reality must become the object of a new analysis that goes back to its invisible dimension. And this concerns material nature as well, which is a living cosmos. Since material phenomenology implies the revival of philosophical questioning in its entirety, it offers a future to phenomenology and to philosophy itself. At the same time, it discovers a new past.”

Michel Henry (1922–2002) French writer

Source: Michel Henry, Material Phenomenology, Fordham University Press, 2008, p. 6
Source: Books on Phenomenology and Life, Material Phenomenology (1990)

Question, Nature, Thinking, Reality

“The New Deal has enormously increased the sense of awareness; it has contributed radically to the breakdown of confidence in the forms and procedures of yesterday. But it has offered us no comprehensible picture of a future in which we can believe. We cannot believe that this vague eleemosynary humanitarianism, coupled with ruthless aggrandizement by politicians, is a picture of a new heaven and a new earth.”

Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American journalist and radio broadcaster

Dorothy Thompson’s Political Guide: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
Source: A Study of American Liberalism and its Relationship to Modern Totalitarian States (1938)
p. 46

Confidence, Sense, Self-confidence

“The time has not yet come for dealing with the world illusion on a large scale, for the race is not adequately mental nor has the illusion (which is, as I have stated, pre-eminently the result of the misinterpretation of ideas) reached its height. But the hour has struck for the first steps to be taken in the dissipation of glamour, and the hold of glamour upon the race should be appreciably lessened in the future. Hence the practical training now being given in this group in their own lives; hence also the intended teaching later to be given to the group—if they measure up to the opportunity—which will enable them to aid in the concerted and planned attack upon the world glamour. Wrestle therefore with your personal problems along these lines, my brothers, for in this way you will gain facility in discernment, in clear precise action, and in strengthened understanding.”

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

Source: Glamour: A World Problem (1950), The Nature of Glamor

World, Way, Idea, Understanding

“There's a moment in everybody's life...where you have more past than future, and then you better start organizing your time. So I thought maybe this is the time to do this. I'm not keen on people following me and recording my life and asking personal questions and what-not, but I figured I had to do it.”

Rubén Blades (1948) Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician

Source: On the documentary Ruben Blades Is Not My Name in "Inside Ruben Blades: New Documentary Showcases the Man Behind the Music" https://afropop.org/articles/inside-ruben-blades-new-documentary-showcases-the-man-behind-the-music in Afropop Worldwide (2018 Apr 10)

Life, People, Question, Time

“I repeat: our practical choice is not between a tax-cut deficit and a budgetary surplus. It is between two kinds of deficits: a chronic deficit of inertia, as the unwanted result of inadequate revenues and a restricted economy; or a temporary deficit of transition, resulting from a tax cut designed to boost the economy, increase tax revenues, and achieve--and I believe this can be done--a budget surplus. The first type of deficit is a sign of waste and weakness; the second reflects an investment in the future.”

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

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

“Too large a tax cut, of course, could result in inflation and insufficient future revenues--but the greatest danger is a tax cut too little or too late to be effective.”

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

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

“Finally, our greatest asset in this struggle is the American people--their willingness to pay the price for these programs--to understand and accept a long struggle--to share their resources with other less fortunate people-to meet the tax levels and close the tax loopholes I have requested--to exercise self-restraint instead of pushing up wages or prices, or over-producing certain crops, or spreading military secrets, or urging unessential expenditures or improper monopolies or harmful work stoppages--to serve in the Peace Corps or the Armed Services or the Federal Civil Service or the Congress--to strive for excellence in their schools, in their cities and in their physical fitness and that of their children--to take part in Civil Defense-to pay higher postal rates, and higher payroll taxes and higher teachers' salaries, in order to strengthen our society--to show friendship to students and visitors from other lands who visit us and go back in many cases to be the future leaders, with an image of America--and I want that image, and I know you do, to be affirmative and positive-and, finally, to practice democracy at home, in all States, with all races, to respect each other and to protect the Constitutional rights of all citizens.”

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

Source: 1961, Speech to Special Joint Session of Congress

Friendship, Children, People, Secret

“The thing we really need to fix is ourselves. It's not about the fish; it's not about the pollution; it's not about the climate change. It's about us and our greed and our need for growth and our inability to imagine a world that is different from the selfish world we live in today. So the question is: Will we respond to this or not? I would say that the future of life and the dignity of human beings depends on our doing that.”

Jeremy Jackson (scientist) (1942) American marine biologist

Source: How we wrecked the ocean https://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_jackson_how_we_wrecked_the_ocean (April 2010)

Life, World, Imagination, Question

“Every gentleman here is born a petty tyrant. Practised in acts of despotism and cruelty, we become callous to the dictates of humanity and all the finer feelings of the soul. Taught to regard a part of our own Species in the most abject and contemptible Degree below us, we lose that Idea of the dignity of Man which the Hand of Nature had implanted in us, for great and useful purposes. Habituated from our Infancy to trample upon the Rights of Human Nature, every generous, every liberal Sentiment, if not extinguished, is enfeebled in our Minds; and in such an infernal school are to be educated our future legislators and rulers. The laws of impartial Providence may even by such means as these avenge upon our posterity the injury done to a set of wretches whom our injustice hath debased to a level with the brute creation. These remarks were extorted by a kind of irresistible, perhaps an enthusiastic impulse; and the author of them, conscious of his own good intentions, cares not whom they please or offend.”

George Mason (1725–1792) American delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention

Source: Virginia Charters (1773)

Education, School, Law, Feeling

“The world's problems are pressing in on us all. The scale and impact of human activities now affects a great portion of the global resources important to human welfare. These activities are putting growing, often destructive pressure on the global environment, pressure that appears likely to increase as human numbers swell toward the doubling of the world's population that evidently lies ahead. These pressures can spawn or aggravate conflict that. in a world with so much destructive weaponry, generates important national security problems. Great changes are necessary to help ensure a humane future for the generations to come.
Most of the world's scientific community and many people in the environmental movement are aware of the gravity of the problems. Yet despite sober warnings from these and other groups, in both the industrial and the developing world, re- medial efforts frequently appear powerless and ineffectual. The scientific community has not taken a sustained, powerful role in the public arena where this great cluster of issues is debated and where the problems must be resolved. There is much more that our community can contribute to assessment, warning, and proposals for new patterns of behavior.”

Henry Way Kendall (1926–1999) American physicist

Source: A Distant Light : Scientists and Public Policy (2000), Introduction, p. 1

People, World, Behavior, Communication

“May you be able to overclimb the obstacles custom, tradition, thoughtlessness, and habit have built up; may even such poor words as mine win you to the realization that there is no joy in life like the joy of discipleship, no so-called sacrifice that can be made which is not as the dross cast into the fire where gold comes out instead; oh! that in the hearts of even a few of you — one here and there scattered through this vast audience — the feeble words may light the eternal flame, and the passing movement caused by speech may grow into resolute will and a determined endeavor. Oh, then for you, too, in the near future there awaits the Finding of the Master, for you also who seek shall find; if you knock with the hammer of these Qualifications, surely the door shall swing open before you, that you may find Him, as I have been blessed enough to find Him, that you may know that service which is perfect freedom, that joy which is in the presence of the Master.”

Annie Besant (1847–1933) British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator

Source: Initiation, The Perfecting of Man, 1923, p. 83

Life, Freedom, Light, Heart

“Who will find peace with the lands? The future of humankind lies waiting for those who will come to understand their lives and take up their responsibilities to all living things. Who will listen to the trees, the animals and birds, the voices of the places of the land? As the long forgotten peoples of the respective continents rise and begin to reclaim their ancient heritage, they will discover the meaning of the lands of their ancestors. That is when the invaders of the North American continent will finally discover that for this land, God is red.”

Vine Deloria Jr. (1933–2005) American writer

pg. ix
God Is Red (1973)

God, People, Peace, Understanding

“Look—I understand that many of my fellow Americans view the future with fear and trepidation. I understand they worry about their jobs. I understand like my dad, they lay in bed wondering, can I keep my health care, can I pay my mortgage. Thinking about their families, about what comes next. I promise you, I get it.But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don′t look like you or worship the way you do or don′t get their news from the same source as you do. We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts.If we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we are willing to stand in the other person′s shoes—as my mom would say—just for a moment, stand in their shoes. Because here′s the thing about life: there′s no accounting for what fate will deal you.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

Life, Fate, War, Health

“Nothing troubled the charm and silence of this solitude. Making the most serious reflections on what we behold, and on our present position, I said to myself: Thus does life also pass away, now calm, now agitated, but at last the end is attained. Happy, ah, thrice happy they who can then look out to the never-ending future with calm and confidence, who can cast themselves on the bosom of God, the Center of our felicity.”

Théodore Guérin (1798–1856) Catholic saint and nun from France

First Journal of Travel (1840)

Life, God, Happiness, Making love

“Soldiers of the Reich! This day, you are to take part in an offensive of such importance that the whole future of the war may depend on its outcome. More than anything else, your victory will show the whole world that resistance to the power of the German Army is hopeless.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

In a message to German soldiers at the start of the Battle of Kursk, 5 July 1943, as quoted in Kursk by Rupert Matthews
1940s

War, World, Victory, Parting

“If we want a strong Germany, you must one day be strong, too. If we want a powerful Germany, you, too, must one day be powerful. If we want an honorable Germany, you must one day uphold this honor. If we want order in Germany, you must maintain this order. If we want to once again create a loyal Germany, you yourselves must learn to be loyal. You are the Germany of the future, and thus we want you to be what this Germany of the future must and will be.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

Speech at a youth rally in Berlin http://der-fuehrer.org/reden/english/34-05-01.htm, 1 May 1934 <br class="br">1930s

Strong, Learning

“If a man who claims to see the future is a fool,
how much more so, the man who believes he can control it?
We think we steer the ship of fate,
but all of us are guided by unseen stars.”

Megan Whalen Turner book Thick as Thieves

Enoclitus (Epigraph)
Thick as Thieves

Fate, Fools, Star, Thinking

“Hate comes from the past, fear from the future. Pain and pleasure are now, and therefore their own trap.”

Steven Barnes (1952) American writer and author

Source: Street Lethal (1983), Chapter 16 “Warrior” (p. 234)

Pain, Hate, Pleasure, Fear

“I never planned ahead for anything in my life -- not for my exams, not when I had to buy clothes for an occasion -- I always do things at the last moment. So when I got the captaincy, I kept doing what I always did. I never thought about success, failure, future or past.”

Mashrafe Mortaza (1983) Bangladeshi international cricketer and politician

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/26113613/espn-world-fame-100-2019#mashrafe-bin-mortaza

Life, Failure, Success, Past

“So we know that young people are the present and the future, but what inspires me are older people who are becoming transformed in the service of this movement. I'm inspired by seeing older people step into their own power and leadership and say, "I'm not passing a torch, I'm helping you light the fire."”

Alicia Garza (1981) Co-founder of the Black Lives Matter International movement

An Interview with the Founders of Black Lives Matter, Ted Talks, https://www.ted.com/talks/alicia_garza_patrisse_cullors_and_opal_tometi_an_interview_with_the_founders_of_black_lives_matter?language=en (October 2016)

People, Light, Help

“If we describe... heat... the air... it's this temperature, this pressure. That's as much as we can say... People [from the future] will say, "I just can't believe they didn't realize that there was this detail and all these molecules that were bouncing around, and that they could make use of that."”

Stephen Wolfram (1959) British-American computer scientist, mathematician, physicist, writer and businessman

...One of the scenarios for the very long term history ...is the heat death of the universe where everything... becomes thermodynamically boring... equilibrium. People say that's a really bad outcome, but actually... it's an outcome where there's all this computation going on... molecules bouncing around in very complicated ways, doing this very elaborate computation. It just happens to be a computation that right now, we haven't found ways to understand... [O]ur brains... and our mathematics and our science... haven't found ways to tell an interesting story about that. It just looks boring to us.
Stephen Wolfram: Fundamental Theory of Physics, Life, and the Universe (Sep 15, 2020)

People, Making love

“Let your every moment be always better than the past, you live in the present for the future, you live with love, music, happiness and above all courage in difficult times.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Fa che ogni tuo istante sia sempre migliore di quello passato, si vive di presente per il futuro, si vive d'amore, musica, felicità e soprattutto coraggio nei momenti difficili.
Source: prevale.net

Love, Happiness, Making love, Music

“The past has ended its time, the present is the moment, the future the becoming.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Il passato ha concluso il suo tempo, il presente è l'attimo, il futuro il divenire.
Source: prevale.net

Time, Past

“Avoid the past, live the present, anticipate the future.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Evita il passato, vivi il presente, anticipa il futuro.
Source: prevale.net

Past

“The future [...] looks bright, if only we learn to accept the spontaneous character of the underlying public discourse without venturing to “show it the way” and without succumbing to still another pretense of knowledge.”

Karen Horn (1966) Karen Horn

"A Market Like Any Other: Against the Double Standard in Judging the Media", The Independent Review (Summer 2007)

Way, Knowledge, Learning

“Today, on this day that is so extraordinarily important for me, I want to say just a few more personal words than usual.
I want to ask for your forgiveness.
For the fact that many of the dreams we shared did not come true. And for the fact that what seemed simple to us turned out to be tormentingly difficult. I ask forgiveness for not justifying some hopes of those people who believed that at one stroke, in one spurt, we could leap from the gray, stagnant, totalitarian past into the light, rich, civilized future. I myself believed in this, that we could overcome everything in one spurt.
I turned out to be too naive in something. In some places, problems seemed to be too complicated. We forced our way forward through mistakes, through failures. Many people in this hard time experienced shock.”

Boris Yeltsin (1931–2007) 1st President of Russia and Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR

1990s, Farewell speech (1999)

People, Dreams, Hope, Way

“Music allows me to disconnect from my present reality, and communicate to my future wisdom.”

Isaac Mashman (2000) businessman, speaker

Wisdom, Music, Communication, Reality

“No one I imagine is so stupid as to believe that truth or even an approximation of truth is derived from counting pieces of marked paper and that the largest pile of papers is it. What makes democracy so fragile is the certain knowledge, even by the winners, that it is often wrong and if they think it’s right now, then it’s either been wrong at some time in the past or will be at some time in the future. There is then a shaky agreement on both sides of a democratic debate that there is some more fundamental reason for using this method to make decisions than that it is always right. In Western Europe over the last century or so that shaky agreement has not always held together and indeed it still is far from ordinary worldwide. A common everyday reason why most people accept democratic results is that they are rarely always on the losing side. And in the case of government elections they can have another opportunity to persuade the majority that the opinion they hold is correct and hope that the mistakes of the previous few years are not so very bad. On a much deeper level however respecting the “will of the people” comes from a profoundly scary place.”

Justin Barrett (1971) Irish activist

A Republic of Innocent Dead Cannot Live https://nationalparty.ie/a-republic-of-innocent-dead-cannot-live/ (June 4, 2018)

Bad luck, People, Truth, Stupidity

“To the wrongs that need resistance, To the right that needs assistance, To the future in the distance, Give yourselves.”

Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947) American social reformer, suffragist (1859-1947)

Quoted in Great Women of the Suffrage Movement (We the People: Industrial America) by Dana Meachen Rau (2005)

“Cotton is to-day by far the most important textile used by mankind, and wool is next. And we may expect that this sartorial reform, already so far advanced, will go on, and that the more enlightened generations of the future, for both moral and economic reasons, will clothe themselves entirely in fabrics of bloodless origin.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: The New Ethics (1907), The Cost of a Skin, p. 74

Clothes

“The conflict which we have to fight is still a conflict of tariffs. In every country resolutions are being formed and plans are being worked out for limiting still further the intercourse of nations with each other and interposing new barriers of tariff... And as years go on we shall have to fight that battle. ... It is the world's conflict of the future.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Speech in the Mansion House, London (10 November 1890), quoted in The Times (11 November 1890), p. 4
1890s

World, Fight, Country

“The truth is that the connection of Ireland with England has been full of trouble, and I fear there is no remedy. ... It is a chronic disease, and even if it is not to be cured we have proved in the past that we can get on with it and yet carry on our Empire to a vast pitch of prosperity. What has been done in the past can be done in the future. ... [D]o not let us attempt to cure it by a measure which will put this island into a condition which never during 700 years of our history has existed—which will hand over those who have had the courage to defend us to the maltreatment of their worst enemies, and which will establish at our very doors a post—a hostile post—which will be at the pleasure of any foreign power which may sometimes be hostile to us.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Speech to a banquet of the Merchant Taylors' Company, London (10 May 1886), quoted in The Times (11 May 1886), p. 12
1880s

Hostility, Pleasure, Truth, Fear

“The slow decline of Christianity prepared the way for new Utopias and doomsdays. Indeed some of the new views of the future contained many of the characteristics of a religion.”

Geoffrey Blainey (1930) Australian historian

The Great Seesaw: A New View of the Western World, 1750-2000 (1988)

Religion, Way

“I am told that there is a proverbial phrase among the Inuit: 'a long time ago, in the future.”

Romeo LeBlanc (1927–2009) Canadian politician

Let the children see our history, and maybe it will help to shape the future."
Source: address to the Empire Club and the Royal Commonwealth Society, June 26, 1996

Time

“Practice spoke its positive language to Theory whose word is always in the Future.”

Honoré de Balzac book Illusions perdues

Illusions perdues, part III. Ève et David (Ève and David), later Les Souffrances de l'inventeur (The Inventor's Sufferings).
Original: (fr) La Pratique parlait son langage positif à la Théorie dont la parole est toujours au Futur.

“The fastest way to the future is to bypass the past.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

Way, Past

“Tomorrow’s the future’s yesterday”

Ron English (1959) American artist

We Are the New They (2020)

“You’re guaranteed a past, but not a future.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

Past

“If questioning something endangers its existence, extinction is probably in its future.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

Question

“In today’s world, governments cannot create the future on their own; it is important to involve everyone including the private sector, the youth, international partners and others in creating policies."”

Mohammad Al Gergawi (1963) Minister of Cabinet Affairs of the United Arab Emirates and the Chairman of the Executive Office in Dubai.

Statement during the third Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Councils as quoted in Mohammed bin Rashid attends opening session of the Annual Meeting of WEF’s Global Future Councils http://Mohammed%20bin%20Rashid%20attends%20opening%20session%20of%20the%20Annual%20Meeting%20of%20WEF’s%20Global%20Future%20Councils in Wam (11th November, 2018). <br class="br">2018 <br class="br">Source: http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302719712

Youth, World

“And we see it in the mothers and the fathers who get up at the crack of dawn; they work two jobs and sometimes three jobs. They sacrifice every day for the furniture and — future of their children.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Remarks by President Trump at the 2017 Values Voter Summit https://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/random-words-donald-trump/5573/ (13 October 2017) <br class="br">2017, October 2017

Children

“Historically the belief in heaven and the belief in utopia are like compensatory buckets in a well: when one goes down the other comes up. When the classic religions decayed, communistic agitation rose in Athens (430 B.C.), and revolution began in Rome (133 B.C.); when these movements failed, resurrection faiths succeeded, culminating in Christianity; when, in our eighteenth century, Christian belief weakened, communism reappeared. In this perspective the future of religion is secure.”

Will Durant book The Story of Civilization

Source: The Story of Civilization (1935–1975), III - Caesar and Christ (1944), Chapter 28, Part 5 (Footnote 2)

Faith, Religion, Communication

“I follow in this tradition because I believe literature matters, and in this book I insist that Asian American literature literally embodies the contradictions, conﬂicts, and potential future options of Asian American culture”

Viet Thanh Nguyen (1971) American author of fiction

Source: As quoted in “Race & Resistance Literature & Politics In Asian America" (2002) p.3

Books, Literature

“Hope is the lies we tell ourselves about the future.”

Brent Weeks book The Way of Shadows

Source: The Way of Shadows (2008), Chapter 16 (p. 128)

Hope

“If you want your enemy to trust you in the future, keep the promises you made during bargaining.”

Attila (406–453) King of the Hunnic Empire

Turkish Wikipedia
https://quotestats.com/topic/attila-hun-quotes/

“It is veils that wrap past, present and future time from your view. When the veils are withdrawn one can see all.”

Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani (963–1033) Iranian Sufi (963–1033)

Source: The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2002), p. 93

Time, Past

“Lord yes, in a certain sense it was a preventive war, [motivated by] the constant threat of attack, the greater likelihood of its inevitability in the future, and by the military's claim: today war is still possible without defeat, but not in two years! Yes, the generals. It could only have been avoided by a rapprochement with England, that is still my conviction. But after we had decided for a [common] policy with Austria, we could not desert her in such danger.”

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (1856–1921) German chancellor during World War I

Remarks to Conrad Haussmann (24 February 1918), quoted in Konrad H. Jarauschl, ‘The Illusion of Limited War: Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg's Calculated Risk, July 1914’, Central European History, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar., 1969), p. 48

War, Motivation, Sense

“What I am able to say concerning the direction and aim of our terms, I have already said repeatedly. To put an end to the war with a durable peace that will compensate us for all the wrongs we have suffered and will safeguard the existence and future of a strong Germany—that is our aim.”

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (1856–1921) German chancellor during World War I

Speech to the Reichstag (27 February 1917), quoted in W. M. Knight-Patterson, Germany from Defeat to Conquest, 1913–1933 (1945), p. 91

War, Peace, Strong, Suffering

“We must keep France in check through a cautious policy towards Russia and England. Naturally this does not please our chauvinists and is unpopular. But I see no alternative for Germany in the near future.”

Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (1856–1921) German chancellor during World War I

Letter to Eisendecher (23 March 1913), quoted in Konrad H. Jarauschl, ‘The Illusion of Limited War: Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg's Calculated Risk, July 1914’, Central European History, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Mar., 1969), p. 53

Nature

“If we want to give back to future generations what we have taken for granted, we have to understand the planet as a natural resource bank account. In other words, we need to start investing in depleted capital and live off the interest instead. There are plenty of individuals from both countries who are conscious of these things and trying to do better. But, we need to do much better as a global society. All countries need to communicate the importance of this life support system and protect this web of life. We must be able to live with the planet and not on it.”

Fabien Cousteau (1967) French filmmaker and oceanographer

Deep Sea Rendez-Vous with Fabien Cousteau https://beautyandwellbeing.com/well-being/deep-sea-rendez-vous-with-celine-fabien-cousteau/ (September 30, 2020)

Life, Communication, Understanding, Support

“Nothing is impossible. We need to dream, we need to be creative, and we all need to have an adventure in order to create miracles in the darkest of times. And whether it's about climate change or eradicating poverty or giving back to future generations what we've taken for granted, it's about adventure. And who knows, maybe there will be underwater cities, and maybe some of you will become the future aquanauts.”

Fabien Cousteau (1967) French filmmaker and oceanographer

What I learned from spending 31 days underwater https://www.ted.com/talks/fabien_cousteau_what_i_learned_from_spending_31_days_underwater (October 2014)

Dreams, Change, Time

“This is an inheritance for the future, and what better way to get people interested and understanding that than getting them involved. The key elements are education, empowerment, and restoration. Education: getting people to connect with the ocean, to understand why it's important, why they should care, whether they're on the oceanside or not. Empowerment: saying, you can make a difference, and come with us, let's go do it together. And of course the restoration aspect is the payoff.”

Fabien Cousteau (1967) French filmmaker and oceanographer

An Interview with Ocean Explorer Fabien Cousteau https://blogs.sierraclub.org/greenlife/2010/10/an-interview-with-ocean-explorer-fabien-cousteau.html (October 19, 2010)

People, Education, Making love, Way

“. We should nurture great minds of the future, not tunnel their vision.”

Kate Williams (historian) (1974) British historian

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-41777200
Historian Kate Williams on Tory and Labour policies
BBC
27 October 2017
2 May 2021

“No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.”

Alan Watts (1915–1973) British philosopher, writer and speaker

“I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.”

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

Wisdom, Country, Wealth

“Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible.”

Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) Jewish-American political theorist

Way

“A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.”

Denis Waitley (1933) American writer

Life, Dreams

“By living deeply in the present moment we can understand the past better and we can prepare for a better future.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Understanding, Past

“Let us revere, let us worship, but erect and open-eyed, the highest, not the lowest; the future, not the past!”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) American feminist, writer, commercial artist, lecturer and social reformer

Past

“The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.”

Pema Chödron (1936) American philosopher

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism

Dreams, Past, Motivational, Deep

“Common good also has a future dimension. Our task is hand over our country to the next generations better than we inherited that. One's own country must be continuously adjusted, renewed and modernised so that it would be sustainable. That is our duty towards the history.”

Egils Levits (1955) Latvian judge, jurist and politician

Source: Address given Assuming the Office / at the Saeima, https://www.president.lv/en/article/address-he-president-latvia-mr-egils-levits-assuming-office-saeima

History, Country

“Free Trade in the sense in which we have always understood it is either a sound economic policy or it is not. Judging by results in national prosperity I should have thought it would take a lot of disproving, but the Tories are ready to play fast and lose with it and some of our own people who ought to know far better seem ready to back them up. If there is any future for the Liberal party it surely rests on the rock of Free Trade.”

C. P. Scott (1846–1932) British journalist, publisher and politician

Letter to John Lawrence Hammond (22 December 1931), quoted in The Political Diaries of C. P. Scott, 1911–1928, ed. Trevor Wilson (1970), p. 495

People, Sense

“God is not interested in the freedom of black men or brown men or yellow men. God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race, the creation of a society where every man will respect the dignity and worth of personality. So when we sing We Shall Overcome, we are singing a hymn of faith, a hymn of optimism, a hymn of faith in the future.
I can still sing that song because I have faith in the future. I believe that we, as Negroes, are going to gain our freedom in America because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is tied up with the destiny of America.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution (1965)

Men, God, Faith, Optimism

“One thing we must do, most of all, in the future, is to harness the atom for peace and get all of the miners out of the earth.”

Walter Reuther (1907–1970) Labor union leader

Text of interview with Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev, San Francisco, California, September 20, 1959, as quoted in Walter P Reuther: Selected Papers (1961), by Henry M. Christman, p. 301
1950s, Meeting with Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev (1959)

Peace

“Fear means being afraid of the future. When you are not ready to accept the future moments, it becomes fear.”

Nithyananda (1978) Indian guru

Living Enlightenment

Fear

“You can not change what has been, but you can feel good "Here and now", if you do everything for a better future.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Non puoi cambiare ciò che è stato, ma puoi stare bene "Qui e ora", se fai di tutto per un futuro migliore.
Source: prevale.net

Feeling, Change

“Never allow your past to interfere with your future.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Non consentire mai al tuo passato di interferire con il tuo avvenire.
Source: prevale.net

Past

“Meritocracy is a concept that should exist in every workplace. Unfortunately, sometimes the inability of an executive reaches the point that it does not consider such an essential value for the development and the future of an entire generation of talents.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La meritocrazia è un concetto che dovrebbe esistere in ogni luogo di lavoro. Purtroppo, a volte l'incapacità di un dirigente arriva a tal punto da non considerare un valore così essenziale per lo sviluppo ed il futuro di un'intera generazione di talenti.
Source: prevale.net

“Resilience isn't predicting the correct future and preparing for it; resilience is acting in ways that make sense across the widest range of possible futures.”

Shaun Chamberlin

Chamberlin's @DarkOptimism account (2021) https://twitter.com/DarkOptimism/status/1435951949258661898

Way, Sense

“The past and present speak to the future. The future does not speak, but waits to see what we bring to it.”

Randolph Roque Calvo (1951) Catholic bishop

Bishop visits Virginia City to give homily at final St. Mary's Mass https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2008/sep/08/bishop-visits-virginia-city-to-give-homily-at-fina/ (September 8, 2008)

Waiting, Past

“The nature of being raised in the way that I was, it's like, you get told you will be the future leaders of the world and then you get there and you find out the world is not enough.”

Abigail Thorn (1993) British actress and YouTuber

World, Way, Nature

“The dark shadow we seem to see in the distance is not really a mountain ahead, but the shadow of the mountain behind - a shadow from the past thrown forward into our future. It is a dark sludge of historical sectarianism. We can leave it behind us if we wish.”

David Trimble (1944–2022) Northern Irish politician

David Trimble in: Peace 1996-2000 http://books.google.com/books?id=zCmliED4M_UC&pg=PA114, World Scientific, 2005, p. 114

Mountain, Past

“At this time of crisis, I find great comfort in returning to nature, the wilderness, the richness and vast scale of the land. It has shaped the American identity; circling back to the landscape gives me hope for the future.”

An-My Lê (1960) American photographer

Interview with ARTNews (March 3, 2020)

Hope, Nature, Time

“If we had a starship, we could move near a black hole, stay there for a half hour and then come out. Outside hundreds of years could have gone. So we could... come away from the black hole into the far future easily.”

Carlo Rovelli (1956) Italian physicist

Carlo Rovelli: The nature of time (Apr 10, 2020)

“The difference between past and future... cause and effect... memory and hope... regret and intention... in the elementary laws that describe the mechanisms of the world, there is no such difference.”

Carlo Rovelli book The Order of Time

2. Loss of Direction. Where Does the Eternal Current Come From?
The Order of Time (2018)

World, Law, Hope, Memory

“Being to reach out to your Goals and Future does not need to graduate in School, College, Training, or University. If you have a chance then just you need more practice, beliefs, discipline, and hard work.”

Ayuel Monykuch (1997) South Sudanese Entrepreneur

School, Universe, Chance, Training

“We cannot change the past to rewrite a better beginning - But we can work for the future and strive for a better ending.”

Yasir Qadhi (1975) Pakistani-American preacher and imam

Change, Past

“The conditions of the near future must naturally develop from those which we see today; and I think that as we look about us, unless we are terribly prejudiced, we must admit that in spite of our boasted civilization there is very much which is highly unsatisfactory. p. 324”

Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934) English theosophist

Some Glimpses of Occultism: Ancient and Modern, (1903), Chapter XII, The Future of Humanity

Nature, Thinking

“If I could talk face to face with the pilot who dropped the bomb, I could tell him we cannot change history. But we should try to do good things for the present and for the future to promote peace.”

Phan Thi Kim Phuc (1963) Child depicted in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph taken during the Vietnam War on June 8, 1972

"`Time To Heal, Time For Peace'" in Chicago Tribune https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6VPc2Y8SsL4J:https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-11-12-9611120185-story.html+&cd=21&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us (12 November 1996)

Peace, History, Change

“We remain very grateful for the historic communities who have served us so well in the Diocese over many years, and yet we are also grateful for the new life that the newer communities – like Sister Adorers – bring to our future life in God.”

Michael Campbell (bishop) (1941) Catholic bishop

Contemplative religious sisters are coming to this English diocese https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/36975/contemplative-religious-sisters-are-coming-to-this-english-diocese (6 October 2017)

Life, God, Communication, Sister

“We cannot accept turning perpetrators and those responsible for committing cruel crimes against both innocent people and invaded countries into victims. Together - in the name of those who perished and for the good of our common future - we must preserve the truth.”

Mateusz Morawiecki (1968) Prime Minister of Poland

"Statement by the Prime minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki" https://www.gov.pl/web/diplomacy/statement-by-the-prime-minister-of-poland-mateusz-morawiecki (29 December 2019)

People, Truth, Country

“My life? Oh, my life I abandon without a regret! I have seen the Past; and I foresee the Future. What friend of his country would wish to survive the moment when he could no longer serve it — when he could no longer defend innocence against oppression?”

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Last Speech to the National Convention (26 July 1794)

Life, Past, Country

“No one can predict the future exactly, but we know two things: it’s going to be different, and it must be rooted in today’s world.”

Peter Thiel (1967) American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager

Source: ZERO to ONE

World

“Anyone who wish to become a genius must seek for the process and not the final product. Forget about the shortcuts and take the longest road. The future and all the prizes shall be yours!”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Forgetting

“Do you want the shining diamonds and gold, or you wish to be given the seeds that will last and bear more fruits for you in the near future?!”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“Even your future wife / husband will be a complete stranger. Therefore, don't limit yourself to making more friends. At the same time, that doesn't mean not choosing wisely.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Time

“God knows the past, the present and the future. Therefore, He created angels, demons, and men mixed together for a specific purpose.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Men, God, Angels, Past

“If you continue to visualize things in the past, you are unlikely to make much progress in the present and the future.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Past

“The future is always bright. But it doesn't seem like we can take advantage of it with that kind of weak mindset.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“The world is still the same, keeping the atmospheric pressure aside, but it's the minds that are busy wandering around. Ruin and flee from the present moment, while seeking for the future.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

World, Business

“What if trying to avoid the future is what triggers it all?”

David Mitchell book Cloud Atlas

"Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery", p. 401
Cloud Atlas (2004), Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery (Part 2)

“Teenagers give me hope. We write them off so often. But I'm seeing a lot of things in this generation that’s coming up that gives me a lot of hope for the future. So I tell them when I'm in the old folks home, I think I can relax because I think you guys are going to do a great job.”

Angie Thomas (1988) American author

On looking to the next generation for hope in “Author Angie Thomas: Burn It All Down Or Use Those Emotions In My Art” https://www.ttbook.org/interview/author-angie-thomas-burn-it-all-down-or-use-those-emotions-my-art in To the Best of Our Knowledge (2019 Jan 14)

Hope, Guy, Home, Thinking

Quotes about the future page 44

Quotes about the future
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