Quote Lady's Quotes by Subject, The Present

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
Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.--Omar Khayyam
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
Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.--Jack Kornfield (The Buddha’s Little Instruction Book)
Effective managers live in the present - but concentrate on the future.--James L. Hayes
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
God is to be found not by stepping aside from the flow of daily life into religious moments and environments, or by looking away from creation to a spiritual realm beyond, but rather by entering attentively the depths of the present moment. There we will find God…--J. Philip Newell (The Book of Creation: An Introduction to Celtic Spirituality)
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 have learned to live each day as it comes and not to borrow trouble by dreading tomorrow.--Dorothy Dix
I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.--Alan Watts
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
If I write about the past as I simultaneously dwell in the present, am I still in real time? Perhaps there is no past or future, only the perpetual present that contains this trinity of memory.--Patti Smith (M Train)
If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.--Winston Churchill (speech, House of Commons, June 18. 1940)
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?)
It's the hardest place for us to live, the place where we're most afraid to live, because it feels so empty and boring. Now-here almost always feels like nowhere, and that's precisely where we must go.--Richard Rohr (Jesus' Plan for a New World)
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 always comes out of death. The present rises from the ashes of the past. The future is always possible for those who are willing to re-create it.--Joan Chittister (The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully)
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
Live today. Not yesterday. Not tomorrow. Just today. Inhabit your moments. Don’t rent them out to tomorrow.--Jerry Spinelli (Love, Stargirl)
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 splendor of action, the glory of power..
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,-- Kalidasa
Love yourself and watch -
Today, tomorrow, always.
To straighten the crooked
You must first do a harder thing -
Straighten yourself.--Buddha
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 each day your masterpiece.--John Wooden
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
Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.-—Eckhart Tolle
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 do is to face it. ... Whether we like it or not, we cannot escape the present. The only reality is now.
Most of us live in the past, carrying our hurts, guilts and fears. We have to face the pain we carry, lest we spend the rest of our lives running away from it or letting it run us. But the only place you'll ever meet the real is now-here.--Richard Rohr (Jesus' Plan for a New World)
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 Irion
Nothing is worth more than this day.--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Now is the only time. How we relate to it creates the future.--Pema Chödrön
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)
Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.—-Albert Camus
Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.--Eckhart Tolle
Realize that now, in this moment of time, you are creating. You are creating your next moment based on what you are feeling and thinking. That is what's real.--Doc Childre
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")
Right now, and in every now-moment, you are either closing or opening. You are either stressfully waiting for something - more money, security, affection - or you are living from your deep heart, opening as the entire moment, and giving what you most deeply desire to give, without waiting.--David Deida
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
There's no future in spending our present worrying about our past.--Tom Wilson (in Ziggy)
There’s nothing special about the present moment except that it is all we have.--Charles Genoud
This world is yours, planned in eternity
created in a moment of sheer exuberance
permeated with love
well made,
This day is yours, pure generosity
given for moments of gentle reflection
in the bustle of a day
well made.--John Birch, FaithAndWorship.com
Time is passing. Each day is a glorious opportunity to live and enjoy. Today I will let the past die - all the undone things, all the misjudged things... Today, there are new pleasures, new challenges, new magic.--Ruth Carter Stapleton
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
We fear the past, present and future. We fear the unknown, we fear not having enough, losing what we have, not having what we want. We fear what will become of us and those that we care for. We fear what others think of us and what they don't think of us. We fear, fear, fear and therefore we are controllable through the manipulation of all that we fear.--David Icke
We know nothing of tomorrow, our business is to be good and happy today.--Sydney Smith
What you believe about the future shapes, informs, and determines how you live now.--Rob Bell (Love Wins)
Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got.--Art Buchwald
Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have. Spend it wisely.--Anonymous
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.--Mother Teresa
Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.--Bil Keane