Quotes about the future
page 45

Joanna Haigh photo

“The climate system takes decades to respond to changes in carbon emissions so decisions made now will affect future generations - for better or worse.”

Joanna Haigh (1954) British physicist

"Imperial climate experts respond to IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report" https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/161770/imperial-climate-experts-respond-ipccs-fifth/, Imperial College London (November 3, 2014)

“As men, you stand at the center of the universe. You spout pearls of wisdom that shape the future of the world. So when your female friend comes to you, you might wonder: ‘Is she hoping to share her sadness with me? No, she must be hoping to learn something from me!’”

Yang Li (1992) Chinese stand-up comedian

Source: "The ‘Punchline Queens’ Ripping Into Chinese Comedy’s Boys’ Club" in Sixth Tone https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006067/the-punchline-queens-ripping-into-chinese-comedys-boys-club (21 August 2020)

Isaac Asimov photo

“Predicting the future is a hopeless, thankless task, with ridicule to begin with and, all too often, scorn to end with.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

"The World of 1990" in The Diners' Club Magazine, January 1965
General sources

Poemen photo
Franjo Tuđman photo
Vera Stanley Alder photo

“We will build up a vision of what the future could be like if humanity so chooses — for “without vision the people perish.””

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

Source: Humanity Comes of Age, A study of Individual and World Fulfillment (1950), Introduction p. I - XII

José Hermano Saraiva photo

“He who doesn't prize his past, ill-prepares his future.”

José Hermano Saraiva (1919–2012) Historian, Jurist, Politician

Original: (pt) Quem mal-preza o seu passado, mal-prepara o seu futuro.
Source: "A Alma e a Gente - Os Lusitanos", 24 Jan 2010

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez photo

“If those promises do not get fulfilled, it will make future passage of anything much more difficult. BIF will look like a cakewalk”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (1989) American politician

Source: via Twitter Tweet https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1457374737722654725 (November 7, 2021)

Ivica Dačić photo

“There is no doubt that we have a different vision of the past. What’s important is that I see no reasons for any kind of conflicts in the future. We have no interests that could be contradictory in the future.”

Ivica Dačić (1966) Serbian politician

Source: "Ivica Dacic: Forced solutions don’t lead to stability of the region" in The Srpska Times https://thesrpskatimes.com/ivica-dacic-forced-solutions-dont-lead-to-stability-of-the-region/ (18 September 2018)

Ivica Dačić photo

“Stability is of huge significance to the future of our region. And I have to express great pleasure, and it is a huge potential and advantage that Serbia has, and that is that in Serbia there is political stability. On our part we will do everything to make a contribution to regional stability.”

Ivica Dačić (1966) Serbian politician

Source: "ΙΒΝΑ-Exclusive Interview-Ivica Dacic: Stability is of huge importance to the future of our region" in Independent Balkan News Agency https://balkaneu.com/ibna-exclusive-interview-ivica-dacic-stability-is-of-huge-importance-to-the-future-of-our-region/ (20 May 2017)

Ana Brnabić photo

“It is important to launch core reforms in education and healthcare and boost production primarily through developing agriculture and IT sector. We see the latter as a potentially key sector for future development because there is a real need today for several thousand programmers.”

Ana Brnabić (1975) Prime Minister of Serbia

Source: "Serbia Would Look Very Different Without NALED" in CORD Magazine https://cordmagazine.com/interview/ana-brnabic-serbia-different-without-naled/ (17 June 2016)

Wojciech Jaruzelski photo
Subramanian Swamy photo
Marcus Aurelius photo
Marcus Aurelius photo
Edward Bond photo

“I have melancholy for a future”

Edward Bond (1934) English writer best known as a dramatist

Source: Letter

John D. Bulkeley photo

“What else could I do? You engage, you fight, you win. That is the reputation of our Navy, then and in the future.”

John D. Bulkeley (1911–1996) United States Navy Medal of Honor recipient

Source: As quoted in 1944, "Namesake USS Bulkeley (DDG 84) https://www.surflant.usff.navy.mil/Organization/Operational-Forces/Destroyers/USS-Bulkeley-DDG-84/About-Us/Namesake/

Peter Thiel photo
Nanfu Wang photo

“I’m pretty pessimistic about the Chinese government because I think there is no balance within it or any institution, country or organization that can hold it accountable. So, I don’t know what the future will be.”

Nanfu Wang (1985) director and filmmaker

Source: "It Didn’t Take Long for Me to Feel Empathy: Nanfu Wang on In the Same Breath" in Roger Ebert https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/it-didnt-take-long-for-me-to-feel-empathy-nanfu-wang-on-in-the-same-breath (17 August 2021)

“I know Colorado to be a beautiful land of beautiful people and I look forward to serving the faithful of Pueblo as their shepherd in Christ. I eagerly anticipate our future together as we grow and build our local church.”

Stephen Jay Berg (1951) Fifth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pueblo

Source: Newly appointed Pueblo, Colo. bishop promises to give his all https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/newly-appointed-pueblo-colo-bishop-promises-to-give-his-all (January 15, 2014)

Scott Adams photo

“Humanity is a moral disaster. There would have been much less destruction had we never evolved. The fewer humans there are in the future, the less destruction there will still be.”

David Benatar (1966) South African philosopher

Source: Chapter 1: The Misanthropic Argument for Anti-natalism https://books.google.com/books?id=J6dBCgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA44&pg=PA55#v=onepage&q&f=false, 2015, p. 55
Source: Permissible Progeny? The Morality of Procreation and Parenting (2015)

Isaac Asimov photo

“This - this - was my life's work. My past - humanity's future. Foundation. So beatiful. So alive. And nothing can...Dors!”

The Foundation series (1951–1993), Forward the Foundation (1993)
Source: Part 5 "Epilogue", Hari Seldon's last words

“You need to focus on what’s in front of you, what your character’s going through in that exact moment. I don’t want to know the future. I don’t want to know too far ahead.”

Andrea Brooks (1989) Canadian actor

Source: Katie McGrath and Andrea Brooks Interview: Supergirl Season 5 https://www.showbizjunkies.com/tv/supergirl-katie-mcgrath-andrea-brooks-interview/ (September 23, 2019)

Desmond Tutu photo
George Bernard Shaw photo
Marcus Aurelius photo
Milan Stipić photo
Laurence Tribe photo
Taneti Maamau photo

“My government has no intention to acquire large loans from any country in the near future.”

Taneti Maamau (1960) Kiribati politician

Source: Taneti Maamau (2021) cited in " Kiribati's president's plans to raise islands in fight against sea-level rise https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/10/kiribatis-presidents-plans-to-raise-islands-in-fight-against-sea-level-rise" on The Guardian, 10 August 2021.

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad photo
Jay Samit photo
Jay Samit photo
Gautama Buddha photo

“All beings are not only the parents in the past.
They will become the Buddha in the future.
If you free their lives, you are Buddha.”

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

Source: Buddha Book

Stéphane Valeri photo

“Exploring the infinitely small particles to better protect our planet and understand its major challenges is essential, so that our decisions live up to the hopes of future generations.”

Stéphane Valeri (1962) Monaco politician

Source: Stéphane Valeri (2021) cited in: " High Level Visit to IAEA Monaco Laboratories Highlights Nuclear Techniques to Protect People, the Ocean https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/high-level-visit-to-iaea-monaco-laboratories-highlights-nuclear-techniques-to-protect-people-the-ocean" in International Atomic Energy Agency, 4 March 2021.

Joseph Fiorenza photo

“There's a right of self-defense here that's involved: We know the government has to respond, so we will not be subjected to these types of attacks in the future. But the response should be measured, restrained as much as possible, to protect innocent civilians. It should not just be military. We should pursue diplomatic ways, legal ways, any other ways we can address that.”

Joseph Fiorenza (1931–2022) US Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Bishops Write Bush to Back U.S. Efforts https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/21/us/a-nation-challenged-support-from-churches-bishops-write-bush-to-back-us-efforts.html (21 September 2001)

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor photo
Edgar Guest photo
Edgar Guest photo
Gong Yoo photo

“I still don’t know how to define or answer what is the meaning behind life and death. And I don’t think I will be able to define them in the future either. It’s difficult. What I can do, is to live my life, which is only given to me once, without regret until it runs its course. That’s I think the best I can do, at the present.”

Gong Yoo (1979) South Korean actor

Source: "Gong Yoo talks life, death and 20 years in the business" in Korea JoongAng Daily https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2021/04/19/entertainment/movies/Gong-Yoo-actor-interview/20210419145803689.html (19 April 2021)

Alastair Reynolds photo

“Nature shouldn’t be able to do this, Sunday thought. It shouldn’t be able to produce something that resembled the work of directed intelligence, something artful, when the only factors involved were unthinking physics and obscene, spendthrift quantities of time. Time to lay down the sediments, in deluge after deluge, entire epochs in the impossibly distant past when Mars had been both warm and wet, a world deluded into thinking it had a future. Time for cosmic happenstance to hurl a fist from the sky, punching down through these carefully superimposed layers, drilling through these carefully superimposed layers, drilling the geological chapters like a bullet through a book. And then yesterday more time—countless millions of years—for wind and dust to work their callous handiwork, scouring and abrading, wearing the exposed layers back at subtly different rates depending on hardness and chemistry, util these deliberate-looking right-angled steps and contours began to assume grand and imperial solidity, rising from the depths like the stairways of the gods.
Awe-inspiring, yesterday. Sometimes it was entirely right and proper to be awed. And recognising the physics in these formations, the hand of time and matter and the nuclear forces underpinning all things, did not lessen that feeling. What was she, ultimately, but the end product of physics and matter? And what was her art but the product of physics and matter working on itself?”

Source: Blue Remembered Earth (2012), Chapter 17 (pp. 292-293)

Gilbert Murray photo
Chris Hedges photo
Lindsey Graham photo

“I don’t want to reinforce that defiling the Capitol was okay. I don’t want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future.
I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it.”

Lindsey Graham (1955) United States Senator from South Carolina

Source: 30 January 2022 reported by TGP https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/hope-go-jail-get-book-thrown-deserve-lindsey-graham-susan-collins-buck-trump-vow-persecute-jan-6ers/

Tara Westover photo
Divine Ndhlukula photo
Qin Gang photo

“History is our best guide. It faithfully records the past journey, and gives us inspiration for the future.”

Qin Gang (1966) politician

Source: "Keynote Speech by Ambassador Qin Gang at the Commemoration for the 50th Anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s Visit to China" https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjb_663304/zwjg_665342/zwbd_665378/202203/t20220303_10647768.html (25 February 2021)

Qin Gang photo

“You say we are Chinese, and they say we are Americans, but if we look at the planets from space and think about the future of mankind, we have only one identity, that is, we are all citizens of the Earth.”

Qin Gang (1966) politician

"Ambassador Qin: China, U.S. should work together to promote interest of mankind" in CGTN https://newsus.cgtn.com/news/2022-04-12/CGTN-exclusive-interview-with-Ambassador-Qin-Gang-199PKD3NXSU/index.html (12 April 2022)

Amantle Montsho photo
Rollo May photo

“[D]epression… can be usefully seen, from one point of view, as the inability to see or construct a future.”

Source: Love and Will (1969), Ch. 9 : Intentionality, p. 243

Protase Rugambwa photo

“We are convinced that the future of the Church depends on the quality of its priests. This is why our Dicastery considers formation, especially priesthood, as a priority, and is strongly committed to supporting not only formators but also the formation structures in mission territories.”

Protase Rugambwa (1960) Tanzanian bishop

Archbishop Rugambwa to Rectors and vice-Rectors of Seminaries: "Forming priests according to the heart of God" http://www.fides.org/en/news/65594-VATICAN_Archbishop_Rugambwa_to_Rectors_and_vice_Rectors_of_Seminaries_Forming_priests_according_to_the_heart_of_God (20 February 2019)

“You can only picture the future based on what you know about the past. If history dies the future can only be hideous.”

Jack Cady (1932–2004) American writer

Source: Kilroy Was Here (1996), p. 145

Ron English photo

“Memories remake the past, dreams remake the future.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy: Volume 2 (2022)

Joe Biden photo

“I just can’t imagine how the families are feeling — the victims whose futures were stolen from them, from their families, from their loved ones who now have to struggle to go on and try to make sense of what’s happened.”

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

2021, April 2021, Remarks by President Biden on the Shooting in Boulder, Colorado

“The hope is there thanks to our communities, where faith is so alive that we can see a future through their open attitude to life, to God and the Church.”

Jesús Tirso Blanco (1957–2022) Argentinian bishop

"The population still needs to be reconciled in its innermost self", says the Bishop Lwena to Fides http://fides.org/en/news/30153-AFRICA_ANGOLA_The_population_still_needs_to_be_reconciled_in_its_innermost_self_says_the_Bishop_Lwena_to_Fides (21 October 2011)

Catherine Asaro photo

“How do you like that? The future of the universe may be in the hands of a crazy woman.”

Source: Saga of the Skolian Empire, Primary Inversion (1995), Chapter 11, “A Time to Speak” (p. 232)

Euripidés photo

“Let me tell you, if anyone in the past has spoken
ill of women, or speaks so now or will speak so
in the future, I’ll sum it up for him: Neither sea
nor land has ever produced a more monstrous
creature than woman.”

Hecuba, lines 1178-1182 ( tr. Jay Kardan and Laura-Gray Street (2010) http://didaskalia.net/issues/8/32/)
Variant ( tr. E. P. Coleridge (1938) http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg007.perseus-eng1:1145-1186):
[I]f any of the men of former times have spoken ill of women, if any does so now, or shall do so hereafter, I will say all this in one short sentence; for neither land or sea produces such a race, as whoever has had to do with them knows.

Walt Disney photo
Donal McKeown photo

“The future belongs to those who can generate hope from the past rather than despair.”

Donal McKeown (1950) Roman Catholic bishop

Northern Ireland: Bloody Sunday commemorated 50 years on https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2022-01/northern-ireland-bloody-sunday-commemorated-50-years-on.html (29 January 2022)

Garry Kasparov photo
Xi Jinping photo

“As long as we join hands and never slacken in efforts, we will build great synergy through win-win cooperation, overcome the various challenges along the way, and usher in a brighter and better future for humanity.”

Xi Jinping (1953) General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and paramount leader of China

Full text: Xi Jinping's speech at 2022 Boao Forum for Asia https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-04-21/Full-text-Xi-Jinping-s-speech-at-2022-Boao-Forum-for-Asia-19ppiaI90Eo/index.html
2020s

Joe Biden photo

“As we meet again today, in a moment when democracy is under assault around the world, let us unite again and renew our conviction that democracy is not only the defining feature of American histories, but the essential ingredient to Americas’ futures.”

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

2022, June 2022, Remarks by President Biden at the Inaugural Ceremony of the Ninth Summit of the Americas

David Allen photo
Viktor Yanukovych photo

“Our sacred duty is to overcome the shadows of the past, make new tragedies possible. Any encroachments on the peaceful future of Ukraine will meet with instant and resolute response...”

Viktor Yanukovych (1950) Ukrainian politician who was the President of Ukraine

Source: [2011-06-22, Янукович обмовився, пообіцявши "уможливити нові трагедії", https://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/yanukovich-obmovivsya-poobicyavshi-umozhliviti-novi-tragediyi.html, 2022-06-12, ТСН.ua, uk]

Prevale photo

“Be constantly on the lookout for people with a noble soul, extreme emotions, spontaneous smiles and sincere looks. People to write your future with.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Siate costantemente alla ricerca di persone con un animo nobile, emozioni estreme, sorrisi spontanei e sguardi sinceri. Persone con le quali scrivere il vostro futuro.
Source: prevale.net

Vitali Klitschko photo

“Russian soldiers are fighting for the money, Ukrainian soldiers, Ukrainian citizens are fighting for the future of our children - and you feel the difference between the money and the children.”

Vitali Klitschko (1971) Ukrainian boxer and politician

"Ukraine war: Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko says it is 'a big privilege for every man' to defend Ukraine and warns Russian soldiers to 'go away'" https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-kyiv-mayor-vitali-klitschko-says-it-is-a-big-privilege-for-every-man-to-defend-ukraine-and-warns-russian-soldiers-to-go-away-12578968, Sky News, 31 March 2022

Vitali Klitschko photo
Vitali Klitschko photo
Lee Camp photo
Chen Ruolin photo

“After I finished school, I started to get in touch with the referee's work. After all, I grew up in this circle and felt that the referee's job was more interesting, so I slowly decided that the referee's work was my future direction.”

Chen Ruolin (1992) Chinese diver

"从跳台女皇转身裁判席,陈若琳对跳水造星难有了更深的体会" http://m.thepaper.cn/kuaibao_detail.jsp?contid=3109243&from=kuaibao

Robert Menzies photo

“A national election campaign is not a conflict of self-interest, with the prize going to the highest bidder. It is an occasion for a re-statement of faith, a renewal of zeal, and a clear vision of the future.”

Robert Menzies (1894–1978) Australian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia

Election speech, Canterbury, Victoria, 29 October, 1958 https://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/1958-robert-menzies
Second Term as Prime Minister (1949-1966)

Lincoln Steffens photo

“I have seen the Future, and it works.”

Lincoln Steffens (1866–1936) American journalist (1866-1936)

Lincoln Steffens, letter to Marie Howe, 3 Apr. 1919. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations notes: "Steffens had composed the expression before he had even arrived in Russia."

Bertolt Brecht photo
Elizabeth Martinez photo

“The voices of the grassroots, of people, must always be heard if we are to understand the past and move effectively toward the future”

Elizabeth Martinez (1925) American community organizer, activist, author, and educator

De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century (2017)

Nguyễn Tấn Dũng photo
Leonid Kuchma photo

“Time requires of all of us to act in unity with resolve and to assume the responsibility for the future of the United Nations.”

Leonid Kuchma (1938) Second president of Ukraine

Speech at the 55th session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (2000)

Leonid Kuchma photo

“Like every people on earth, my compatriots want to live in a democratic country, without fear for their future and the life and destiny of coming generations.”

Leonid Kuchma (1938) Second president of Ukraine

Speech at the 55th session of the United Nations General Assembly (excerpts) (2000)

Leonid Kuchma photo
Leonid Kuchma photo
Sergei Korolev photo

“Cosmonautics has a boundless future, its prospects are boundless, like the Universe itself!”

Sergei Korolev (1906–1966) Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer

Original: (ru) Космонавтика имеет безграничное будущее, ее перспективы беспредельны, как сама Вселенная!,
Source: https://shkola-kletskij.oshkole.ru/news/93283.html "Всем в космос"

Idegu Ojonugwa Shadrach photo
Idegu Ojonugwa Shadrach photo

“The digital world is the future”

Andrew Lokenauth (1987) Personal finance expert, writer and public speaker

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertfarrington/2021/12/25/why-big-brands-are-spending-millions-on-nfts/

“Debt can rob you of your future because you are using the money you earn today to pay off things from the past”

Andrew Lokenauth (1987) Personal finance expert, writer and public speaker

Source: https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/how-credit-cards-can-help-during-a-recession/

Prevale photo

“Steal the moments from time, get excited, write the story leaving a footprint of your existence, have fun, forget the bad moments thinking about the future with optimism, have sex with the person who can give you pleasure at the mere thought and remember to live by daring, dreaming and loving. Life is one, take note!”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Ruba gli attimi al tempo, emozionati, scrivi la storia lasciando una traccia della tua esistenza, divertiti, dimentica i brutti momenti pensando al futuro con ottimismo, fai sesso con la persona che può darti piacere al solo pensiero e ricordati di vivere osando, sognando ed amando. La vita è una, prendi nota!
Source: prevale.net

Prevale photo

“Many thoughts often devour us. We all have a more or less beautiful past and we can all go haywire, but considering lived experiences as a learning an opportunity… will help us to love the present and the future of life.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Molti pensieri spesso ci divorano. Tutti abbiamo un passato più o meno bello e tutti possiamo andare in tilt, ma considerare le esperienze vissute come un'opportunità di apprendimento... ci aiuterà ad amare il presente e il futuro della vita.
Source: prevale.net