Marshall McLuhan Quotes

While you have a future do not live too much in contemplation of your past: unless you are content to walk backward the mirror is a poor guide.

I do not want to go back to the past; I want to go back to the past way of facing the future.

As a musician you have to keep one foot back in the past and have one foot forward into the future.

Americans as no one else in the Old World are looking ahead and are future-minded without the limitations of traditions and can look ahead without the burdens of the past.

I'm so totally future oriented that, for me, I don't know what the future's about, but I can promise you it's gonna be exciting.

The past is always triple-A. We can all remember what the past was. But if we try to make the future triple-A, we have no future. The future is always single-B.

If we are to make the most of the opportunities ahead we need a bold break with the past.

Let us turn to the future and not deal with the past.

Instead of running from what you don't want, walk with commitment toward what you desire. Focus on where you are going rather than being obsessed with where you have been.

We look at the present through a rear view mirror. We march backwards into the future.

Wizard's Seventh Rule Life is the future, not the past.

We ought to remember the past, yes -- but we shouldn't allow it to consume us. We live in the present moment, and some people are too tied to the ideals of that period to fully move forward. We'll never work through the future unless we accept the present. We must fill the twenty-first century with dreams.

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.

Our reliance in this country is on the inquiring, individual human mind. Our strength is founded there; our resilience, our ability to face an ever-changing future and to master it. We are not frozen into the backward-facing impotence of those societies, fixed in the rigidness of an official dogma, to which the future is the mirror of the past. We are free to make the future for ourselves.

I do not believe that every person, in every walk of life, can succeed in spite of any handicap. That would be perfection. But I do believe that what I was able to attain came to be because we put behind us (no matter how slowly) the dogmas of the past: to discover the truth of today; and perhaps the greatness of tomorrow.

I don't live in the past. And besides, there are too many times in my career to remember specific events, because I played so many games.

It's important to have a non-nostalgic view and say, let's look forward, because if we don't, all we'll hear are voices telling us to go back.

The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it. Between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past. Between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists.

My call is not to those who believe they belong to the past. My call is to those who believe in the future.

There's something about the American spirit -– inherent in the American spirit -- we don't hang on to the past. We always move forward.... We are going to leave something better for our children –- not just here in the United States, but all around the world.

You cannot drive with your eyes in the rear-view mirror… But dignity is difficult to maintain. Stamina requires constant upkeep. Repetition is boring. And you pay for grace.

I'm not the type of person who likes to look backwards. I've always felt compelled to move forward and I've never been one to dwell in the past. All the people I've met, all the places I've been, and all the things that I've done have simply been part of who I am.

You jump right over anything in the past, and you don't analyze problems.

We are bound no longer by the straitjacket of the past and nowhere is the change greater than in our profession of arms. What, you may well ask, will be the end of all of this? I would not know! But I would hope that our beloved country will drink deep from the chalice of courage.

The general rule is that my life is focused on the present, and very little on the past. If anything, I'm a little bit more focused toward the future.