The Present
- The art of life is to live in the present moment, and to make that moment as perfect as we can by the realization that we are the instruments and expression of God Himself.--Emmet Fox
- Banish the future. Live only for the hour and its allotted work. Think not of the amount to be accomplished, the difficulties to be overcome, or the end to be attained, but set earnestly at the little task at your elbow, letting that be sufficient for the day.--William Osler
- Don't look back on happiness, or dream of it in the future. You are only sure of today; do not let yourself be cheated out of it.--Henry Ward Beecher
- Every morning is a fresh beginning. Every day is the world made new. Today is a new day. Today is my world made new. I have lived all my life up to this moment, to come to this day. This moment--this day--is as good as any moment in all eternity. I shall make of this day--each moment of this day--a heaven on earth. This is my day of opportunity.--Dan Custer
- The future is made of the same stuff as the present.--Simone Weil
- God exists in eternity. The only point where eternity meets time is in the present. The present is the only time there is.--Marianne Williamson
- I always feel sorry for people who think more about a rainy day ahead than sunshine today.--Rae Foley (Suffer a Witch)
- I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.--J. B. Priestly
- I live a day at a time. Each day I look for a kernel of excitement. In the morning I say: "What is my exciting thing for today?" Then, I do the day. Don't ask me about tomorrow.--Barbara Jordan (Educom Review 2/17/98)
- I live now and only now, and I will do what I want to do this moment and not what I decided was best for me yesterday.--Hugh Prather
- It is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the future, and impossible to live in the past. Nothing is as far away as one minute ago.--Jim Bishop
- It's been said that there are two days over which we have no control: yesterday, because it's a cancelled check, and tomorrow, because it's a promissory note.--Diane Conway (What Would You Do If You Had No Fear?)
- Know the true value of time! Snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no procrastination. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.--Philip Chesterfield
- Life is a great and wondrous mystery, and the only thing we know that we have for sure is what is right here right now. Don't miss it.--Leo Buscaglia
- Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.--Coreta Kent
- Light tomorrow with today!--Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- Living in the moment means letting go of the past and not waiting for the future. It means living your life consciously, aware that each moment you breathe is a gift.--Oprah Winfrey
- Look not mournfully into the past, it comes not back again. Wisely improve the present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart.--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Look to this day,
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence;
the bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty.
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived makes
every yesterday a dream of happiness
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day,
such is the salutation of the dawn.--The Sufi, 1200 BC
- Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy, you can't build on it it's only good for wallowing in.--Katherine Mansfield
- Make the best of today, for there is no tomorrow until after today.--Liz Strehlow
- The more anger towards the past you carry in your heart, the less capable you are of loving in the present.--Barbara De Angelis
- The more I give myself permission to live in the moment and enjoy it without feeling guilty or judgmental about any other time, the better I feel about the quality of my work.--Wayne Dyer
- The most important revelation about the past stems from the realization that it is not important to try and get rid of it, but to realize that we are already, by definition, rid of it. We need not be convinced of the importance of living in the present, but instead realize that we inevitably live in the present, and the only thing to id is to face it. ... Whether we like it or not, we cannot escape the present. The only reality is now.--George Lawrence-Ell (The Invisible Clock)
- Most of us think having a list of priorities is a sign of a motivated, serious person. But there is one essential flaw in this perspective. We are not guaranteed a future; and even if we were we could not live in it. All we have is now.--George Lawrence-Ell (The Invisible Clock)
- Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. You may enjoy doing it so much that you want to do it again.--Ross Perot
- No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy today, mix good cheer with friends today enjoy it and bless God for it.--Henry Ward Beecher
- Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.--Mary Jean Iorn
- Nothing is worth more than this day.--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Now is the time to be doing, now is the time to be stirring, now is the time to amend myself.--Thomas a Kempis
- One cannot change the past, but one can ruin the present by worrying over the future.--Anonymous
- One day at a time--this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.--Ida Scott Taylor
- One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.--Dale Carnegie
- The present time has one advantage over every other--it is our own.--Charles Caleb Colton (Lacon)
- Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.--Charles Dickens
- Remember then: there is only one time that is important--Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.--Leo Tolstoy ("Three Questions")
- The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.--Buddha
- She seems to have had the ability to stand firmly on the rock of her past while living completely and unregretfully in the present.--Madeleine L'Engle (The Summer of the Great-Grandmother)
- Some people are making such thorough preparation for rainy days that they aren't enjoying today's sunshine.--William Feather
- Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it...--Anne de Lencios
- Tomorrow's life is too late. Live today.--Martial
- True happiness is…to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.--Seneca
- Very strange is this quality of our human nature which decrees that unless we feel a future before us we do not live completely in the present.--Phillips Brooks
- We are here and it is now. Further than that, all human knowledge is moonshine.--H. L. Mencken
- Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have. Spend it wisely.--Anonymous
- Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.--Bil Keane
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This page last updated March 27, 2009.