If we disown history we are at its mercy. To have a reasonable knowledge of the past is to possess an anchor which is likely to prevent us from being swept towards false ideas about the present and future.

The eternal struggle in the law between constancy and change is largely a struggle between history and reason, between past reason and present needs.

I learned from that time period that, even though the past is always kind of right there, you can decide to start over with a loved one," Liz tells OWN. "I lost my mom, and we did not have enough connection at the time, and I was not going to let that happen again.

Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation.

There are those who regard this history of past strife and exile as better forgotten. But, to use the phrase of Yeats, let us not casually reduce "that great past to a trouble of fools." For we need not feel the bitterness of the past to discover its meaning for the present and the future.

I don't read poetry for pleasure. I read to be terrified in a way. And people who terrify me from their size and the grandeur of their imagination now are people like Pasternak and Neruda, a lot of Latin-American poets, Lowell - very few English poets - Ted Hughes a little...very few English poets now in fact (1968)

Past and to come seems best; things present, worst.

Being a man who loves to be in the midst of sporting activities, I am suddenly in a vacuum after all the hurly-burly of the past 10 days. It will take a few days to return to normal life.

I have full faith in my people that they will rise to every occasion worthy of our past Islamic history, glory and traditions.

Bucharest is a faded old gal in a raggedy coat. Once called the "Little Paris of the East," she has long lost her finery. A few parks and buildings dream of past grandeur, but the picture is spoiled by concrete and steel mementoes of Communism on every side.

Just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power, and reality of the eternal present. Their reality is “borrowed” from the Now.

It wasn't easy tolerating him talking this way to her, to bear his scorn, his ridicule, his insults, his walking past her like she was nothing but a house cat. But after four years of marriage, Mariam saw clearly how much a woman could tolerate when she was afraid. And Mariam was afraid.

Totti is the best player in the world. He has just been a little unlucky in the past.

For the past year, we have at least one suicide every day. After you open a casino, what will the suicide rate be? This is not a joke. It is a social problem. I am against opening the casino.", Goh Meng Seng, reported on 29 April 2006 [http://www.littlespeck.com/content/politics/CTrendsPolitics-060429.htm]

The outstanding work that he has done over the past 35 years on child labour and trafficking has helped change mindsets and influence communities to protect children’s rights and create a more just society.

At the confluence of East and West, Bucharest rose above its communist past into a city whose historical influences are reflected in the contrasting architectural fusion, a traditional-meets-modern outlook, and a stream of social happenings.