Judith Viorst Quotes

We need the courage to learn from our past and not live in it.

I believe that you go through your past and you learn what you learn for whatever reason. I'm just glad I'm not making fifteen-year-old mistakes at twenty-six - I got that out of the way.

Regretting the past does not prevent me from repeating it.

Too many people live too much in the past. The past must be a springboard, not a sofa.

Life can only be understood backwards.

I have learned that the consequences of our past actions are always interesting; I have learned to view the present with a forward-looking eye.

The past is important for all the information and wisdom it holds. But you can get lost in it. You've got to learn to keep the knowledge of the past with you as you pursue the present.

Only he who can view his own past as an abortion sprung from compulsion and need can use it to full advantage in the present. For what one has lived is at best comparable to a beautiful statue which has had all its limbs knocked off in transit, and now yields nothing but the precious block out of which the image of one's future must be hewn.

Yes, the past is another country, but one that we can visit, and once there we can bring back the things we need.

Looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who they are so that they can more wisely build the future.

A lot of people talk about life. Some love it. Some disparage it. And a few realize that life can be what you make it because they have learned from past experiences. Lessons learned from these experiences have often contributed greatly toward seeing the possibilities in what some people call "the game of life." When we've "been there" and "done that," we can have as good of an idea of what we don't want as what we do want. Experience is certainly an excellent teacher!

The past was always there, lived inside of you, and it helped to make you who you were. But it had to be placed in perspective. The past could not dominate the future.

When I was right out of college, I felt competitive with some of the guys in my class over career stuff. It's funny now to think about it - that a friend getting a job or something had anything to do with me... I think that my relationship with my wife has played a pivotal role in the chilling out of Aaron.

Whether it is better to forget and let wounds heal or remember and learn from the past is a crucial question for all of us, wherever we are.

Because that's just the way it is, and don't sleep on what you did before, you know, because it can... not hurt you, but you can find yourself sleeping on something that happened in the past, but you dare to progress and there is always room for progression.

You realize yourself when you start reflecting - because I don't live in the past, although your past is so much a part of what you are - that you can't ignore it. But I don't look at scrapbooks.

I'm not into nostalgia, and I only look back to find lessons.

I'm going to have setbacks and failures; I'm not going to see change right away all of the time or most of the time. But everybody I've ever respected has failed at one thing or another. I've definitely fallen on my face. But I've also had a comparatively easy life.

So, do I think I'm missing something? I really don't, and I think that comes with age.

The older you get the more you understand what you're doing.

I've never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I don't understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now.

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.

We have all examined our past critically and are very much aware of even the unpleasant things. Now, we need to look at what we plan to do with the lessons we have learned from the past.

The difference between a 20-something and a 30-something man? Wisdom. At 20 years old, we don't really get how sensitive and beautiful women are. By 30, we're finally starting to learn.

I find myself thinking more about the past as I get older... maybe because there's just more of it to think about. At the same time, I'm less haunted by it than I was as a younger person. I guess that's probably the ideal: to reach a point where you have access to all of your memories, but you don't feel victimized by them.