Best not to mix the past with the present. The present paints the past with gold. The past paints the present with lead.
We romanticize the past with an illusion that we'd know how we'd fit.
Sentimentality works by our seeing only what we want to see.
I find that the further I go back, the better things were, whether they happened or not.
Life isn't all diamonds and rose... but it should be.
Every day is great for me. I dislike rose-coloured glasses.
We tend to paint the past only in extremes, as having been either categorically better than the present or irredeemably bad.
The problem with relying on nostalgia for commentary is that people only remember the good things.