“The more shared past there is in a relationship, the more present you need to be…”
Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer
Source: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
“The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present.”
— Alan Lightman, book Einstein's Dreams
Source: Einstein's Dreams
Last update June 3, 2021. History
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Alan Lightman18
Physicist, science writer, essayist, novelist 1948Related quotes
William Pfaff (1928–2015) American journalist
Source: Barbarian Sentiments - How The American Century Ends (1989), Chapter 1, Dead Stars, p. 3.
Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer
Oneness With All Life: Inspirational Selections from A New Earth (2008)
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist
Variant: Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.
“… why bother remembering a past that cannot be made into a present?”
Sören Kierkegaard book Fear and Trembling
Source: Fear and Trembling
“We should not be obsessed with the present alone, we must heed the past too.”
Mahāprajña (1920–2010) Acharya or the Svetambar Terapanth sect of Jainism
Thought at Sunrise (2007)
Context: We should not be obsessed with the present alone, we must heed the past too. Is it fair, for instance, to see only the 25 ft. tall tree and forget the seed that brought it forth? Will the tree accept it if we forget the seed of it all? Is it possible to visualise a future without the seed? We must learn to appraise ourselves of the past if we want a meaningful present. You could call this an act of gratitude or an evaluation of reality.
“Life is the past, the present and the perhaps.”
Bette Davis (1908–1989) film and television actress from the United States
“That we cannot rise equal to situations when we are in them — that is the tragedy of life.”
Henry Miller (1891–1980) American novelist
Source: A Literate Passion: Letters of Anaïs Nin Henry Miller, 1932-1953