Quotes about the past

„When I hear a certain song playing in the background, I think of you and a vision of your face, pervades my soul. When the second song plays, your sweet fragrance fills the air around me. The third song and her gentle hand caresses my face and tingles my body that is covered with goosebumps. At the fourth song, I gently glide to the radio and turn it off. There is no sense roaming in the darkened marred past. And I have adjusted to living without her.“

—  RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

2009

„We all gaze back into our past, to recall fond memories; the mistakes and errors we made, so we shall not repeat them in the present or the future.“

—  RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

1977

„There is no present or future-only the past, happening over and over again-now.“

—  Eugene O'Neill, A Moon for the Misbegotten

Source: A Moon for the Misbegotten

„When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.“

—  Dian Fossey American zoologist, gorilla researcher 1932 - 1985

„I think we're past the time in history where you have to come out and say, "you know I'm just happy all the time! I'm a joker, I'm a crazy man!"“

—  Jim Carrey Canadian-American actor, comedian, and producer 1962

you know kind of thing. I think people understand I can turn that switch on but I'm also a sensitive, normal human being with feelings and I know how to express those too.
Fun with Dick & Jane: An Interview with Jim Carrey http://www.blackfilm.com/20051216/features/jimcarrey.shtml by Wilson Morales in Features, BlackFilm.com (December 2005)

„An imagination is a powerful tool. It can tint memories of the past, shade perceptions of the present, or paint a future so vivid that it can entice… or terrify, all depending upon how we conduct ourselves today.“

—  Jim Davis American cartoonist and creator of Garfield 1945

„I put a lot of mannequins in my room in the past, and I still have mannequins in my room, because I used to be very lonely, painfully lonely. You have no idea. I used to walk the streets looking for people to talk to. I'm talking about the height of one's career…. I would walk up to them, strangers, and say, "will you be my friend?" They'd go, "my god, Michael Jackson!"“

—  Michael Jackson American singer, songwriter and dancer 1958 - 2009

and that's not what I wanted.
The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See (2002)

„When you speak in His presence about your past sins, He does not even understand your language. Only the present and the future have any interest for Him... I have committed crimes and have blood on my conscience. I told Jesus about it again and again. But because He had long ago washed all this away, there was no possibility of communication between us. He did not understand what I was talking about.“

—  Richard Wurmbrand Romanian Christian minister of Jewish descent 1909 - 2001

If Prison Walls Could Speak (1972)

„I’ve got demons in my past so I’ve got daughters on the way,
If the prophecy is correct then the child should have to pay,
For the sins of the father so I barter my tomorrows against my yesterday’s
In hopes that she’ll be okay“

—  Jay-Z American rapper, businessman, entrepreneur, record executive, songwriter, record producer and investor 1969

"Beach Chair"
The Black Album (2003)

„It isn't a matter of forgetting. What one has to learn is how to remember and yet be free of the past.“

—  Aldous Huxley, book Island

Source: Island

„Live in the present, remember the past, and fear not the future, for it doesn't exist and never shall. There is only now.“

—  Christopher Paolini, book Eldest

Saphira
Source: Eldest (2005)

„The past year and a half has been really transitional for me, just personally, as well as transitioning into becoming a woman.“

—  Selena Gomez American singer and actress 1992

„I wish the very best for each and every one of you. Even if you think you are the most pitiful wretch on two feet, this is completely possible. It doesn't matter how bad we have been or how much difficulty and trouble we've created for ourselves and others in the past. The question is, how will it end? "All's well that ends well," as the saying goes, and that's as true as can be. The way things end is the way they will remain. Things won't be as they were before.“

—  Elias Aslaksen Norwegian clergyman 1888 - 1976

Closing remark - Aslaksen's last recorded message
No difficulties (Stavanger, 18 January, 1976)

„Endurance is composed of four attributes: eagerness, fear, piety and anticipation (of death). so whoever is eager for Paradise will ignore temptations; whoever fears the fire of Hell will abstain from sins; whoever practices piety will easily bear the difficulties of life and whoever anticipates death will hasten towards good deeds.
Conviction has also four aspects to guard oneself against infatuations of sin; to search for explanation of truth through knowledge; to gain lessons from instructive things and to follow the precedent of the past people, because whoever wants to guard himself against vices and sins will have to search for the true causes of infatuation and the true ways of combating them out and to find those true ways one has to search them with the help of knowledge, whoever gets fully acquainted with various branches of knowledge will take lessons from life and whoever tries to take lessons from life is actually engaged in the study of the causes of rise and fall of previous civilizations.
Justice also has four aspects depth of understanding, profoundness of knowledge, fairness of judgment and dearness of mind; because whoever tries his best to understand a problem will have to study it, whoever has the practice of studying the subject he is to deal with, will develop a clear mind and will always come to correct decisions, whoever tries to achieve all this will have to develop ample patience and forbearance and whoever does this has done justice to the cause of religion and has led a life of good repute and fame.
Jihad is divided into four branches: to persuade people to be obedient to Allah; to prohibit them from sin and vice; to struggle (in the cause of Allah) sincerely and firmly on all occasions and to detest the vicious. Whoever persuades people to obey the orders of Allah provides strength to the believers; whoever dissuades them from vices and sins humiliates the unbelievers; whoever struggles on all occasions discharges all his obligations and whoever detests the vicious only for the sake of Allah, then Allah will take revenge on his enemies and will be pleased with Him on the Day of Judgment.“

—  Ali, book Nahj al-Balagha

Nahj al-Balagha

„More attention to the History of Science is needed, as much by scientists as by historians, and especially by biologists, and this should mean a deliberate attempt to understand the thoughts of the great masters of the past, to see in what circumstances or intellectual milieu their ideas were formed, where they took the wrong turning or stopped short on the right track.“

—  Ronald Fisher English statistician, evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and eugenicist 1890 - 1962

Natural selection from the genetical standpoint. Australian Journal of Science 22, 16-17, 1959.
1950s

„We are what the past has made us. We are what the future will make us. Live now. Right now.“

—  Tom Hiddleston English actor, producer and musical performer 1981

„The future's too bright to dwell on the past. Life moves fast, run faster.“

—  Frank Iero American musician 1981

„The past is never dead. It's not even past.“

—  William Faulkner, book Requiem for a Nun

Act 1, sc. 3; this has sometimes been paraphrased or misquoted as "The past isn't over. It isn't even past."
Source: Requiem for a Nun (1951)

„If we dwell on real or imagined sins of the past, we shall never be able to find one another in the present, nor shall we be able to work together on building the future.“

—  F. W. de Klerk South African politician 1936

Speech to the Good-will Foundation (9 March 1991)
1990s