The past is there to teach us lessons and make us store an enormous amount of memories of all kinds, because life is about a balance between good and bad and not about a bubble isolated from reality.
That is why we must appreciate the past for what it is, a teacher who teaches us and at the same time encourages us to move forward and become better and better people.
So, below we will see a compilation of the most interesting phrases about the past commented.
The most memorable phrases about the past
To understand a little more about the impact of yesterday, let’s look at several of the best phrases from the past that invite you to reflect on your own history.
1. The distinction between past, present and future is just a stubbornly persistent illusion. (Albert Einstein)
We spend too much time dwelling on what was or what will come.
2. The memory of the heart eliminates bad memories and magnifies the good ones, and thanks to that artifice, we manage to cope with the past. (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
If there are memories we should hold on to, they are the ones that make us smile.
3. And it is there, right at that moment, when you realize that things only happen once, and that no matter how hard you try, you will never feel the same again.
No matter what we do, things can’t go back to the way they were before.
4. Love is intensity and for this reason it is a relaxation of time: it stretches the minutes and lengthens them like centuries. (Octavio Paz)
Love changes the perception of time.
5. Let the past be content with itself, since man needs forgetting and memory. (James Stephens)
The past must stay where it belongs and we must move forward.
6. Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (George Santayana)
It is necessary to learn from our mistakes to walk the right path.
7. Studying the past can define the future. (Confucius)
By doing this we can analyze our actions to know which ones benefit us or not.
8. Time is the most valuable thing a person can spend (Theophrastus)
Life is not a race, but it is short to be procrastinating.
9. I’m not really here right now. I should have left yesterday and here I am nothing but my own delay. (Milan Kundera)
The feeling of making a bad decision.
10. It is a serious mistake to look at the past with the eyes of the present. (Arturo Pérez-Reverte)
Who we were yesterday does not compare to who we are today.
11. The quality of a painter depends on the amount of past he carries with him. (Pablo Picasso)
Many artists use their past as inspiration.
12. What happens in the past is experienced again in memory. (John Dewey)
The past never dies in our minds.
13. We should use the past as a springboard and not as a couch. (Harold MacMillan)
A warning about using the past as motivation to continue and not as an excuse to stagnate.
14. Old dreams were good dreams. They weren’t fulfilled, but I’m glad I had them. (Clint Eastwood)
Not all dreams come true, but we can find a better goal to live.
15. The past is a bucket full of ashes. Live neither in yesterday nor in tomorrow, but here and now. (Carl Sandburg)
The past no longer exists and there is no point in bringing it into your present.
16. It is more fun to think about the future than to live in the past. (Sara Shepard)
We find more encouragement by thinking about what is coming than by looking at what we have stopped doing.
17. The past is never dead. It’s not even past. (William Faulkner)
The past is always present, we just have to prevent it from controlling us.
18. It is useless to return to what has been and is no longer. (Frédéric Chopin)
Holding on to what was not prevents you from seeing what you can do now.
19. Do you love life? Well, if you love life, don’t waste time, because time is what life is made of (Benjamin Franklin)
A great reflection on taking advantage of our moments.
20. And if you don’t give more, just find what is in your hands, think that giving love is never in vain. Go ahead without looking back. (Pablo Neruda)
There is always something that makes us regain faith.
21. Even the past can be modified. (Jean-Paul Sartre)
Not all memories are one hundred percent real.
22. Past water does not move mills. (Spanish proverb)
The things of yesterday are not what you need for your future.
23. In the past is the history of the future. (Juan Donoso Cortés)
Many agree that history repeats itself.
24. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. (Steve Jobs)
Focus on yourself and what you can do to build your dreams.
25. If you don’t want to repeat the past, study it. (Baruch Spinoza)
It is the only way we have to avoid making the same mistakes.
26. If you have a past that doesn’t leave you satisfied, forget it now. Imagine a new story for your life, and believe in it. (Paulo Coelho)
It is not about erasing our origin, but about turning the page to create new stories.
27. Learn from the past and look to the future, but live in the present.
The way we should analyze time.
28. There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again, now. (Eugene O’Neill)
Another reference to the fact that life is cyclical and everything repeats itself.
29. In the past things seem better than they really were. (Denn Carr)
It doesn’t matter if it really happened that way, that’s the way we remember it.
30. The past, a lake for a single swimmer: memory. (Ali Ahmad Said Esber)
What really weighs on the past are the memories.
31. The past limits us, but the future frightens us. The only safe place is the present. (Isaac Lopez)
That’s why we should devote more energy to this one than the other two.
32. There are times when life places you at the same distance between running away or staying forever. (Elvira Sastre)
Hold on to the past or walk into the future.
33. He who controls the past also controls the present. (George Orwell)
Don’t let your past drag you down.
34. Longing for the past is running after the wind. (Russian proverb)
An activity that only slows you down.
35. Not even God can change the past. (Agaton)
Proving that the past only turns to dust.
36. Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who maintains the ability to see beauty does not age. (Franz Kafka)
Beauty is in those simple things that make you smile and want to continue.
37. Five minutes are enough to dream a lifetime, that’s how relative time is. (Mario Benedetti)
Time passes according to our actions.
38. Life is divided into three times: present, past and future. Of these, the present is very brief; the future, doubtful; the past, right. (Seneca)
The past contains our history, the present is where we live it and the future is what it will become.
39. Life is divided into three periods; what was, what is and what will be. Let’s learn from the past to take advantage of today, and from the present to live better in the future. (William Wordsworth)
Three periods that live with us daily.
40. We can draw lessons from our past, but we cannot live in it. (Lyndon B. Johnson)
The way of seeing the past.
41. The past really happened, but history is just what someone wrote. (A. Whitney Brown)
We all have a different story to tell.
42. I can’t understand why the past has to be so important. (Cassandra Clare)
The past tells us about who we were but not about what we can become.
43. The only charm of the past is that it is the past. (Oscar Wilde)
It is something that has already happened and will not return.
44. If we are not co-responsible for the past, we will not have the right to claim to be legitimate owners of the future. (Fernando Savater)
We must always take responsibility for our past actions to compensate ourselves in the future.
45. The past has fled, what you hope for is absent, but the present is yours. (Arabic proverb)
Take advantage of the present that is in your hands.
46. ​​The present is only formed from the past, and what is found in the effect was already in the cause. (Henry Bergson)
A way to remind us that we sow what we reap.
47. Only he who builds the future has the right to judge the past. (Friedrich Nietzsche)
An interesting reflection on the power of time in our hands.
48. We must be willing to let go of the life we ​​planned to have the life that is waiting for us. (Joseph Campbell)
It is necessary to understand that part of our desires are just fanciful inventions.
49. The past is what you remember, what you imagine you remember, what you convince yourself to remember, or what you intend to remember. (Harold Pinter)
The past is as you remember it.
50. You can lose your way in the shadows of the past. (Louis-Ferdinand Celine)
That is why it is necessary not to get carried away by this.
51. Save the worst of the past to live better in the present. (Diane Lier)
Don’t let that disastrous moment ruin the happiness that awaits you.
52. One cannot and should not try to erase the past simply because it does not fit the present. (Golda Meir)
The past cannot be erased, but neither can it be lived in today.
53. The memory of the past makes the pillows uncomfortable and the nights very long.
There are memories that do not allow us to live with peace of mind.
54. Look back and laugh at past dangers. (Walter Scott)
No matter the good or the bad, laugh at the past and leave it there.
55. When we are tired, we are attacked by the ideas we conquered a long time ago. (Friedrich Nietzsche)
Sometimes the past takes advantage of our moments of weakness to attack us.
56. Everyone has a past, but that’s all. It’s in the past. You can learn from it, but you can’t change it. (Nicholas Sparks)
They are the lessons, what is valuable from the past.
57. It is an error of human evil to always praise the past and disdain the present. (Tacit)
Every time is important.
58. If the present tries to judge the past, it will lose the future. (Winston Churchill)
A way to waste time.
59. The past is written in memory and the future is present in desire. (Carlos Fuentes)
The two ways in which both scenarios coexist.
60. If you let time pass without doing anything, you will soon realize that you are only going to live once. (Anonymous)
If you get to that point, then focus on what you can do now, instead of the time you wasted.
61. Let the past be the past. (Homer)
Something so simple but complicated.
62. Don’t let the past steal your present. (Taylor Caldwell)
Make the actions of your past count, but without them becoming a burden.
63.Memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be expelled. (Jean Paul)
But be careful that your paradise does not become hell.
64. Your past may not have been very happy, but that doesn’t make you who you are.
Don’t let what you’ve experienced before determine who you can be tomorrow.
- You may be interested: “150 wise phrases to reflect on life”
65. Focus only on the moments when you got what you wanted, and this strength will help you get what you want now. (Paulo Coelho)
It is from there where we can find energy to be better.
66. The past is no longer and the future is not yet. (San Agustin)
So take advantage of your present.
67. In all our actions, correct value and respect for time determines success or failure. (Malcolm X)
The secret behind achievements.
68. You can’t take on anything new if your hands are still in yesterday’s suitcase. (Louise Smith)
Living clinging to old times prevents us from creating new memories.
69. The best prophet of the future is the past. (Lord Byron)
It never hurts to listen to our past to make better decisions for our future.
70. I like dreams of the future more than the history of the past. (Thomas Jefferson)
In the dreams of the future there are new hopes.
71. Nothing is lost if you have the courage to proclaim that everything is lost and you have to start again. (Julio Cortazar)
We fail not when we lose, but when that makes us stop trying.
72. Our past may shape us, but it does not define what we will become. (Ellen Hopkins)
It warns us about what we have to take care of, but not to stop us from trying something.
73. The past is a prologue. (William Shakespeare)
It’s time to write your story.
74. There is a delicate balance between honoring the past and getting lost in it. (Eckhart Tolle)
A balance that is constantly battled.
75. True freedom is creative, proactive, and will take me to new territories. I am not free if my freedom is based on the reaction to my past. (Kenny Loggins)
Holding on to the past will not set you free.
76. Yesterday is the past, tomorrow is the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called present. (Bil Keane)
A gift that you should always be grateful for.
- Related article: “Stoic psychology: a commitment to tranquility”
77. We have scars in the most unexpected places as if they were secret maps of our personal history, vestiges of old wounds. Some wounds close, leaving only a scar, but others do not.
Not all people are able to overcome their past.
78. The past is the only dead thing whose aroma is sweet. (Edward Thomas)
The only thing we must kill.
79. The past is important for all the information and wisdom it offers us. But you can still get lost in it. (Lauren Kate)
Respecting the past is not the same as living clinging to it.
80. The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. (Leo Tolstoy)
These always help us to be better.
81. The past never dies, it is not even the past. (William Faulkner)
The past is what lives inside our mind.
82. The present is the living sum total of the past. (Thomas Carlyle)
What we are today is the result of our actions yesterday.
83. God cannot alter the past, although historians can. (Samuel Butler)
Don’t go by the things that others say.
84. My past tries to catch up with me and I must continue to run away from it. It’s the only way I can live. (Nicole Sobon)
You live forward, not backward.
85. Sometimes I think that I live more closely with the past than with the present. (Patricia Briggs)
Many people focus more on the past than on what they are experiencing now.
86. The past beats inside me like a second heart. (John Banville)
The past is with us permanently.
87. We are a product of our past, but we do not have to be its prisoner. (Rick Warren)
A very important reflection on what we owe to the past.
88. Use the past to have a better future. (Darren Witt)
The best way to use the past.
89. Don’t look back, because you can remember that there was a heart that didn’t know how to love you.
There are memories that are better left forgotten.
90. It is neither easy nor important to go back to the past and reopen the scars from there. The only justification is to know that this knowledge will help me better understand the present. (Paulo Coelho)
Always look for yesterday, may it be to have a better tomorrow.
Intense reflections on the power of the past and above all the importance of not getting stuck in it so as not to ruin our future.
