{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
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  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-crowley/four-freedoms/there-is-a-philosophical",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-crowley/four-freedoms/there-is-a-philosophical.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-crowley/four-freedoms/there-is-a-philosophical.md",
  "id": "fb8eb1dc-f48e-45d9-8cdd-98bac97e1ae0",
  "slug": "there-is-a-philosophical",
  "text": "There is a philosophical, or metaphysical position that can be taken–maybe its a scientific hypothesis–that the past cannot in fact exist. Everything that can possibly exist exists now. Things now may be expressive of some conceivable or describable past state of affairs, yes:but that's different from saying this this former state actually somehow exists in the form of \"the past\". Even in our memory[...]there is no past:no scenes preserved with all their sights and sounds. Merely fleeting states of mind, myriad points assembled for a moment to make a new picture (but \"picture\" is wrong too, too full, too fixed) of what we think are former states of things: things that once were, or may have been the case.",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "John Crowley",
    "slug": "john-crowley",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-crowley"
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  "book": {
    "title": "Four Freedoms",
    "slug": "four-freedoms",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-crowley/four-freedoms"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": null,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "memory",
      "slug": "memory",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory"
    },
    {
      "name": "the past",
      "slug": "the-past",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past"
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  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Crowley#Four_Freedoms_(2009)",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
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  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:38",
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}