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

“What was the future? The future was a solid wall, not promising, not threatening—all bunk. No guarantees of anything, not even the guarantee that life isn't one big joke.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

“There are no guarantees in life
Not for the present,
Nor for the future.”

Kate Havnevik (1975) Norwegian singer-songwriter

“Men and women were created to be jointly the guarantee of the future of the humanity — not only a physical guarantee, but also a moral one.”

Pope Benedict XVI (1927) 265th Pope of the Catholic Church

“Roger: Well, because you’re guaranteed to see Buddy make some funny faces, you’re guaranteed that Chris will say something that is sort of out of line or inappropriate, and I’m gonna play a bunch of fuckin’ really fast bass licks, it’s gonna be great.”

Roger Manganelli (1973) American musician

“It is obvious: The past was once the future and the future will become the past.”

Richard Hamming (1915–1998) American mathematician and information theorist

“The past and future are veiled; but the past wears the widow's veil; the future, the virgin's.”

Jean Paul (1763–1825) German novelist

“The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.”

Stephen E. Ambrose (1936–2002) American historian

“As the future ripens in the past,
so the past rots in the future --
a terrible festival of dead leaves.”

Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) Russian modernist poet

“I take responsibility only for the future, not the past. The past can't hurt you the way the future can.”

Gregory Maguire book Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister