# Quotes about the past - Quotes: 9 - Authors: 7 - Broader topic: [Quotes about time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past ## Quotes > People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors. Reflections on the Revolution in France · p. 274 Topics: [the future](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > The birds that came to it through the air > > At broken windows flew out and in, > > Their murmur more like the sigh we sigh > > From too much dwelling on what has been. [Robert Frost](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost.md) · [New Hampshire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost/new-hampshire.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost/new-hampshire/the-birds-that.md) Topics: [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > All history shows that we do not learn from the lessons of the past. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Prelude to Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation.md) · p. 17 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/all-history-shows.md) Topics: [history](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > "First, you refused to admit that there was a menace at all! Then you reposed an absolutely blind faith in the Emperor! Now you've shifted it to Hari Seldon. Throughout you have invariably relied on authority or on the past – never on yourselves. It amounts to a diseased attitude – a conditioned reflex that shunts aside the independence of your minds whenever it is a question of opposing authority. There seems no doubt ever in your minds that the Emperor is more powerful than you are, or Hari Seldon wiser. And that's wrong, don't you see? It isn't just you. It's the whole Galaxy. Pirenne heard Lord Dorwin's idea of scientific research. Lord Dorwin thought the way to be a good archaeologist was to read all the books on the subject – written by men who were dead for centuries. He thought that the way to solve archaeological puzzles was to weigh the opposing authorities. And Pirenne listened and made no objections. Don't you see that there's something wrong with that? And you men and half of Terminus as well are just as bad. We sit here,considering the Encyclopedia the all-in-all. We consider the greatest end of science is the classification of past data. It is important, but is there no further work to be done? We're receding and forgetting, don't you see? Here in the Periphery they've lost nuclear power. In Gamma Andromeda, a power plant has undergone meltdown because of poor repairs, and the Chancellor of the Empire complains that nuclear technicians are scarce. And the solution? To train new ones? Never! Instead they're to restrict nuclear power. Don't you see? It's Galaxy wide. It's a worship of the past. It's a deterioration – a stagnation!" [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation/first-you-refused.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > I tell you I know the type of people that become Medievalists. They’re soft, dreamy people who find life too hard for them here and get lost in an ideal world of the past that never really existed. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Caves of Steel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-caves-of-steel.md) · p. 141 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-caves-of-steel/i-tell-you.md) Topics: [illusions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > The future is built on the rubble of the past; wisdom lies in facing that fact, not in fighting against it. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 265 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/the-future-is-built.md) Topics: [the future](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future.md), [wisdom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/wisdom.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > I was assailed by memories of a life that wasn't mine anymore, but one in which I'd found the simplest and most lasting joys. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Stranger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-stranger.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-stranger/i-was-assailed.md) Topics: [memory](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/memory.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > There was a time when the human race did not have technology. This time was called "the 1950s." I was a child then, and it was horrible. There were only three TV channels, and at any given moment at least two of them were showing men playing the accordion in black and white. There was no remote control, so if you wanted to change the channel, you had to yell at your little brother, "Phil! Change the channel!" (In those days people named their children "Phil.") Your household had one telephone, which weighed eleven pounds and could be used as a murder weapon. It was permanently tethered to the living-room wall, and you had to dial it by manually turning a little wheel, and if you got a long-distance call, you'd yell, "It's long distance!" in the same urgent tone you would use to yell "Fire!" Everybody would come sprinting into the living room, because in the 1950s long distance was more exciting than sex. In fact there was no sex in the 1950s, that I know of. [Dave Barry](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry.md) · [I'll Mature When I'm Dead](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/ill-mature-when-im-dead.md) · p. 51 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dave-barry/ill-mature-when-im-dead/there-was-a-time.md) Topics: [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) > How can I tell," said the man, "that the past isn't a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy between my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind? [Douglas Adams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams.md) · [The Salmon of Doubt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-salmon-of-doubt.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-salmon-of-doubt/how-can-i-tell.md) Topics: [doubt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md)