Present Circumstances Quotes

The decisions of our past are the architects of our present.

'What is' is more important than 'what should be.' Too many people are looking at 'what is' from a position of thinking 'what should be'.

Reflecting on where I came from helps me to appreciate and balance what I have now.

Political activity means working for the future; the more we look into the future the more far-sighted will our policy be - so much the more clear and decided. The less far we try to see into the future, the more we content ourselves with the daily routine (Alltäglichkeit), the more weak and uncertain will be our policy of to-day. Every politician of note must, therefore endeavor out of the present to conclude what the future will be, and, if he wants to win the masses to his politics then he must attempt to make his expectations of the future plausible

If we understand the past, we are more likely to recognise what is happening around us.

She tried to be calm, and leave things to take their course; and tried to dwell much on this argument of rational dependence – “Surely, if there be constant attachment on each side, our hearts must understand each other ere long. We are not boy and girl, to be captiously irritable, misled by every moment’s inadvertence, and wantonly playing with our own happiness.” And yet, a few minutes afterwards, she felt as if their being in company with each other, under their present circumstances, could only be exposing them to inadvertencies and misconstructions of the most mischievous kind.

A society that does not correctly interpret and appreciate its past cannot understand its present fortunes and adversities and can be caught unawares in a fast changing world.

Historical analogy is the last refuge of people who can't grasp the current situation.

If you remember your past too well you start blaming your present for it. Look what they did to me, that's what caused me to be like this, it's not my fault. Permit me to correct you: it probably is your fault. And kindly spare me the details.

It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.

We face the future with our past and our present as guarantors of our promises; and we are content to stand or to fall by the record which we have made and are making.

Throughout your life, you've been influenced by what you have done in the past, what you have been told you can and cannot do, and what your present circumstances seem to dictate.