“Habit is formed out of memory... We often shape our present situation according to those habitual memories. Instead of starting fresh, we go back to what we've done in the past... easier for us than fighting our way through foreign territory.” WayDonePastFightingMemoriesSituationHabitEasierShapesStartingTerritoryHabitualFresh StartPresent Situation Author:Chogyam Trungpa
“Psychoanalysts are fond of pointing out that the past is alive in the present. But the future is alive in the present too. The future is not some place we’re going to, but an idea in our mind now. It is something we’re creating, that in turn creates us. The future is a fantasy that shapes our present.” MindIdeasPastTurnsFantasyAliveShapesCreatingPointingLive In The Present Book:The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves Source: The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves
“I discovered that our clan included loads of cousins and uncles and aunts and animals of every shape. I was taught that chaos and competition were family values. And I learned that we all loved the sea. Somehow, the sea was about us-our past, our exuberance, our frailty, our longing.” PastValuesAnimalSeaTaughtShapesLongingCompetitionChaosLoadOur PastUnclesCousinAuntFrailtyFamily ValuesClansExuberance Author:Timothy Shriver
“All "if" statements about the past are as dubious as prophecies of the future are. It seems fairly plausible that if Alexander or Ghengis Khan had never been born, some other individual would have filled his place and executed the design of the Hellenic or Mongolic expansion; but the Alexanders of philosophy and religion, of science and art, seem less expendable; their impact seems less determined by economic challenges and social pressures; and they seem to have a much wider range of possibilities to influence the direction, shape and texture of civilizations.” IfsArtPhilosophySeemsPastIndividualSocialBornChallengesInfluenceEconomicDesignPossibilityCivilizationShapesPressureImpactFilledDeterminedStatementsRangeProphecyExpansionTextureArt And SciencePlausibleDubiousPhilosophy And ReligionSocial PressureExpendables Author:Arthur Koestler
“While I complain of being able to glimpse no more than the shadow of the past, I may be insensitive to reality as it is taking shape at this very moment, since I have not reached the stage of development at which I would be capable of perceiving it. A few hundred years hence, in this same place, another traveller, as despairing as myself, will mourn the disappearance of what I might have seen, but failed to see.” YearsMayMomentsRealityMightWould BeAblePastStageDevelopmentShapesCapableHundredShadowComplainingGlimpseMournTravellerDisappearanceInsensitiveStages Of Development Book:Tristes Tropiques Source: Tristes Tropiques
“The only important property of evils of the past is that they not be repeated in the future, in any way, shape, or form.” WayImportantPastFormEvilShapesProperty Author:Erik Naggum
“Never erase your past. It shapes who you are today and will help you to be the person you'll be tomorrow.” PersonsHelpingTodayPastTomorrowShapesWho You AreOur PastYour PastErasePast Present FutureLearn From The PastFinanciers Author:Ziad K. Abdelnour
“The difference between writing a story and simply relating past events is that a story, in order to be acceptable, must have shape and meaning. It is the old idea that art is the bringing of order out of chaos.” WritingArtIdeasStoriesPastOrderDifferencesEventsShapesArt IsChaosAcceptableOld IdeasPast Events Author:Katherine Paterson
“I am dead already. Physical death will make no difference in my case. I am timeless being. I am free of desire or fear, because I do not remember the past or imagine the future. Where there are no names and shapes, how can there be desire and fear? With desirelessness comes timelessness. I am safe, because what is not, cannot touch what is. You feel unsafe, because you imagine danger. Of course, your body as such is complex and vulnerable and needs protection. But not you. Once you realize your own unassailable being, you will be at peace.” NeedsFeelsBodyPastRememberDeathDesireCoursesNamesFearPeaceRealizingDifferencesCasesImagineDangerFutureShapesSafeComplexesProtectionYour BodyVulnerableTimelessTimelessnessUnsafeRemembering The Past Author:Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
“Truth: We are the present. We are now. We are the razor's edge of history. The future flies at us and from that dark blur we shape the past. And the past is forever.” PastDarkForeverShapesEdgesRazorsBlur Book:Death by Living: Life Is Meant to Be Spent Source: Death by Living: Life Is Meant to Be Spent
“History does influence our lives - every moment. We never sort of live our lives in a linear fashion. We always have these memories and these images from our past that sometimes were not even aware of, and they sort of shape who we are.” DoeSometimesMomentsPastMemoriesOur LivesInfluenceFashionShapesWho We AreOur PastLinearLive Every Moment Author:Dinaw Mengestu
“In most, if not quite all, parts of the world, the size, shape and longevity of the human body have changed more substantially, and much more rapidly, during the past three centuries than over many previous millennia.” IfsWorldHumansBodyPastThreeCenturyChangedShapesSizeLongevityHuman Body Author:Robert Fogel
“So briefly do we raise our heads, so quick sink back. For a moment we are lifted by a wave of time, are tossed up into the sunlight of consciousness We cannot see so far as where this wave began, but maybe we have waited some thousand years for it to come, and now it is on us. This is our moment, the wave is breaking. The crest which passes through us now in tumult was shaped by the past, and we in this moment are able to shape the crest which is to come.” YearsMomentsAblePastConsciousnessThousandShapesRaisesWaveSunlightThousand YearsTumult Author:Allen Wheelis