Self-righteous people can talk themselves into forgetting they are part of a civilization. They can then feed on that culture, bringing it down. It's happened many times in the past. It could happen to us.
I don't look at my old work. I mean, they made nice books; the books were made without me, the one from last year and the one from this year. I - personally, I'm not interested in my own past. I'm only interested in today - perhaps tomorrow.
In the past, if I didn't work, I didn't eat but now I feel I can not work and I won't starve.
But my point is these Civil War songs were gruesome. The hatred that's so bad in this country today, and for the past 10 or 15 years, bad as it is, is nothing compared to the kind of things people would write down and sing back in the Civil War.
Obviously the facts are never just coming at you but are incorporated by an imagination that is formed by your previous experience. Memories of the past are not memories of facts but memories of your imaginings of the facts.
Again I entered my smithy to work and forge something from the noble material of time past.
My writing process is such that a story will be in my head for awhile, and I'll start making notes on my computer. I create character sheets that include a character's past, fears, goals and ambitions.
Every event that a man would master must be mounted on the run, and no man ever caught the reins of a thought except as it galloped past him.
In the past week it has become clear that the vote on the final healthcare bill will be very close. I take this vote with the utmost seriousness. I am quite aware of the historic fight that has lasted the better part of the last century to bring America in line with other modern democracies in providing single payer health care.
For the past ten years I have had no financial problems.
Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
We did a 'Vanity Fair' spread for 'The Hunger Games,' and we were on set, and I saw a little head pop up from the tree. There were three teenage girls who snuck past security and made it into the forest.
We have peace with God as soon as we believe, but not always with ourselves. The pardon may be past the prince's hand and seal, and yet not put into the prisoner's hand.
Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories.
The current global landscape is quite different from the not-too-distant past. The process of globalization has intensified, and the world is moving towards new forms of governance.
Post-modernism has cut off the present from all futures. The daily media add to this by cutting off the past. Which means that critical opinion is often orphaned in the present.
The past is malleable and flexible, changing as our recollection interprets and re-explains what has happened.
Mitt Romney would move the Court even further right, putting landmark decisions like Roe v. Wade at risk. Some say Romney would repeat the past. I disagree - he'd be worse.
Leaders have to see past problems to solutions, and my mother excelled at just that.
I mentioned that one of the tripartite formulas in American worldview involves time: past, present, and future.
And so there is no God but has been in the loins of past gods.
The stories from Iran's present and past are reminders that freedom, democracy and human rights, or fundamentalism, fascism and terrorism are not geographically and culturally determined, but universal.
I've heard that many fine artists have to turn their 'finished' paintings to face the wall - otherwise, every time they walk past, they are tempted to pick up a brush and make small adjustments here and there.
We are anxious in the face of our unchangeable past; we long to recreate segments of our private histories, but we are stuck with them.
In the past, it was easier to believe in my own effectiveness. If I worked hard, with good colleagues and good ideas, we could make a difference. But now, I sincerely doubt that.
I never stopped studying Buddhism. In the past few years, in between movies, I do a retreat.
Over the past two decades, we have clearly seen an erosion of ethical values.
In one sense, every character you create will be yourself. You've never murdered, but your murderer's rage will be drawn from memories of your own extreme anger. Your love scenes will contain hints of your own past kisses and sweet moments.
It is past time for Republican leadership to answer for record deficits and reckless spending, both in Iraq and in the U.S. It's time for a plan to bring our troops home.
We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment.
Historical fiction is simply fiction set in the past, and should be judged as such.
Something theoretical in the past may become evident and established in the present or in the future. It is a self-evident fact that creation has an innate tendency towards perfection, and it is through this that creation is bound to the law of development or gradual perfection.
The way you remember the past depends upon your hope for the future. And if what you see in your future has no hope, it has no potential, then you view the past that brought you to here as not very good.
Assuredly, Loving Souls, you should go to God with all humility and respect, humbling yourselves in His presence, especially when you remember your past ingratitude and sins.
I've always said if a woman is looking for a good husband, she should go for a Jewish man past 60. Jewish men are essentially brought up to love women. Then you rebel against that and become a bit of a bastard. Then at 60, you revert.
Cinema has only been around for about 100 years. Has all of the world's violence towards women taken place only within the past 100 years?
