“Neither look forward where there is doubt nor backward where there is regret. Look inward and ask not if there is anything outside you want, but whether there is anything inside that you have not yet unpacked.”

— Quentin Crisp

Last update March 9, 2022. History

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Quentin Crisp 66

writer, Actor 1908–1999

James Van Praagh (1958) American psychic

Source: Unfinished Business: What the Dead Can Teach Us About Life

“You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary. But the stars neither require nor demand it.”

Annie Dillard (1945) American writer

Source: Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

“The further backward you look, the further forward you can see.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

In Churchill by Himself (2008), Appendix I: Red Herrings, ed. Langworth, PublicAffairs, p. 577 ISBN 1586486381; “Commonly ascribed to WSC, even by The Queen (Christmas Message, 1999). What Churchill actually said was ‘The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward’”.
The attribution of the mistaken form of the quote to Churchill dates from at least 1959 https://books.google.com/books?id=QN3hAAAAMAAJ&dq=The+farther+backward+you+look%2C+the+further+forward+you+can+see&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22backward+you+can+look%22.
Misattributed

“Everywhere you look it unpacks to infinity. What you look for, you find. And you people can have it. All of it.”

M. John Harrison book Light

The comfortable generosity of this offer puzzled Kearney, so he decided to ignore it. It seemed meaningless anyway.
Source: Light (2002), Chapter 31 “I’ve Been Here” (p. 390)

“But I don't have anything left inside of me to figure out where I fit in or what I want. If I want anything, it's to know what's possible to want.”

Amy Tan book The Bonesetter's Daughter

Source: The Bonesetter's Daughter

“You can't go forward if you're looking backward. You run into walls that way.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Bloodfever

“When you don't have a hammer, you don't want anything to look like a nail.”

Robert Kagan book Of Paradise and Power

Alternate version: If you don't have a hammer, you don't want anything to look like a nail.
Of Paradise and Power, p. 26
According to Kagan, this is a variation of the proverb "When you have a hammer, all problems start to look like nails." (p. 25 of the same book)

“You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge. And if you project forward from that pattern, then sometimes you can come up with something.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.”

Jim Carrey (1962) Canadian-American actor, comedian, and producer

Carrey: 'Life Is Too Beautiful': Star Talks About Bouts With Depression And His Spirituality http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/18/60minutes/main656547.shtml 60 Minutes (21 November 2004)

“Sitting and writing music on your own makes you think a lot about your life. Who are you? Would you change anything about yourself? This is where it comes from. It is like having a mirror held up in front of you, looking into yourself and asking these questions.”

Enya (1961) Irish singer, songwriter, and musician

Women's Weekly interview (2006)

“Neither look forward where there is doubt nor backward where there is regret. Look inward and ask not if there is anything outside you want, but whether there is anything inside that you have not yet unpacked.”

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Quentin Crisp 66

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