Lord Illingworth http://books.google.com/books?id=RHkWAAAAYAAJ&q="The+only+difference+between+the+saint+and+the+sinner+is+that+every+saint+has+a+past+and+every+sinner+has+a+future"&pg=PA119#v=onepage, Act III
A Woman of No Importance (1893)
“Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future.”
“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.”
This is sometimes attributed to Augustine, but the earliest known occurrence is in Persian Rosary (c. 1929) by Ahmad Sohrab (PDF) http://magshare.net/narchive/NArchive/Misc/Raw_Data/A_Persian_Rosary_by_Mirza_Ahmad_Sohrab.pdf, which probably originates as a paraphrase of a statement in Oscar Wilde's 1893 play A Woman of No Importance: "The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."
Misattributed
Source: Esther: A Novel (1884), Ch. IV
“Every age has a keyhole to which its eye is pasted.”
"My Confession", p. 74. First published in two parts in The Reporter (December 22, 1953 and January 5, 1954)
On the Contrary: Articles of Belief 1946–1961 (1961)
Source: James Madison: Writings
2015, Remarks to the Kenyan People (July 2015)
Context: Every country and every culture has traditions that are unique and help make that country what it is. But just because something is a part of your past doesn’t make it right. It doesn’t mean that it defines your future. [... ] Just because something is a tradition doesn’t make it right.
