Dear Hope Nation,
Although I can be passably humorous, I’ve got lines I think are hilaaaaaaaaaarious,
but that have never gotten much more than a grunt. For example, whenever I’m asked to sign a yearbook or a going-away card, I write, “If I don’t see you in the future, at least I’ll see you in the pasture.” Alternately, “I’ll bury you in the pasture.” Neither one strikes anyone else as witty or amusing, much less hilarious.
Tomorrow’s letter will have some big news (and a call for volunteers!), but today I’d simply like to share some interesting thoughts about the past and the future. Hint: focus on the future.
The past is never where you think you left it.–Katherine Anne Porter
When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago. —Friedrich Nietzsche
The past can’t hurt you anymore, not unless you let it.–Alan Moore
Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you.–Sarah Dessen
Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories.–Steven Wright
Just because the past taps you on the shoulders, doesn’t mean you have to look back.–unknown
The past is strapped to our backs. We do not have to see it; we can always feel it.–Mignon McLaughlin
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.–Lesley P. Hartley
We go to the past to lay the blame – since the past can’t argue.–Glen Duncan
Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter. —William Ralph Inge
“The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.” Mary Pickford
“What is coming is better than what is gone.” Arabic Proverb
“Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” Anonymous
“The future starts today, not tomorrow.” Pope John Paul II
“If we could unfold the future, the present would be our greatest care.” Edward Counsel
“Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” Jim Rohn
“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Abraham Lincoln
“My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.” Anonymous
“Study the past if you want to define the future.” Confucious
“A person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” Earl Nightingale
“Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.” Dean Acheson
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” Steve Jobs
“Think. About. Your. Future.” Anonymous
“If there is hope in the future, there is literally power in the present.” Zig Ziglar
“Be loyal to your future, not your past.” Anonymous
“The future influences the present.” Friedrich Nietzsche
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Enjoy this day and this night and the days and nights to come.
You matter. I matter. We matter.
Keith