Influence of the Past Quotes

The power of the past does not depend on our knowledge of it.

History is a very powerful force.

To say that you can't see echoes of the past in what I do would be absurd. Everything that has preceded me has affected me.

By conversing with the mighty dead, we imbibe sentiment with knowledge. We become strongly attached to those who can no longer either hurt or serve us, except through the influence which they exert over the mind. We feel the presence of that power which gives immortality to human thoughts and actions, and catch the flame of enthusiasm from all nations and ages.

Nearly all our originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon our sensibility.

Your past always leads to who you are.

History dies without the present. There is no future without the path made to it by the past.

The past did affect the present and the future, in ways you could see and a million ones you couldn't. Time wasn't a thing you could divide easily; there was no defined middle or beginning or end. I could pretend to leave the past behind, but it would not leave me.

We are who we are because of who we were

The past is as powerless to darken the present moment as is a shadow to reach up and drag down the form that casts it.

History was like some vast thing that was always over the tight horizon, invisible except in its effects. It was what happened when you weren't looking -- an unknowable infinity of events, which although out of control, controlled everything.