“I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.”

— W. Somerset Maugham , book The Moon and Sixpence

Source: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 21, p. 79

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present." by W. Somerset Maugham?

W. Somerset Maugham 158

British playwright, novelist, short story writer 1874–1965

Related quotes

“You are the only young man that I know of who ignores the fact that the future becomes the present, the present the past and the past turns into everlasting regret if you don't plan for it!”

Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie

Amanda, Scene Five
Source: The Glass Menagerie (1944)

“Because I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present".”

Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist

Source: The Alchemist

“The present no matter what I brought couldn’t change the past. The Past was set and sealed.”

Ann Brashares book Sisterhood Everlasting

Source: Sisterhood Everlasting

“We think we’re in the present, but we aren’t. The present we know is only a movie of the past.”

Ken Kesey (1935–2001) novelist

Source: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968), Ch. 11: The Unspoken Thing
Context: We are always acting on what has just finished happening. It happened at least 1/30th of a second ago. We think we’re in the present, but we aren’t. The present we know is only a movie of the past.