Quotes on Mindfulness

Not Dwelling on the Past


Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. —Cherokee Indian Proverb


I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes. —American poet, Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), from "Prairie," Complete Poems

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. — British scientist and inventor, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

It's but little good you'll do a-watering the last year's crops. —British novelist, George Eliot, aka Mary Anne Evans (1819-1880), from Adam Bede

In the carriages of the past you can't go anywhere. —Russian and Soviet author, Maxim Gorky (1868-1936)


Living the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way. —American novelist and playwright, Edna Ferber (1885-1968)


Waste not fresh tears over old griefs. —Tragedian of ancient Greek, Euripides (circa 480-406 BCE), from Alexander


We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time. —American humorist, Art Buchwald (1925-2007)


Old times never come back and I suppose it's just as well. What comes back is a new morning every day in the year, and that's better. —American literary critic and poet, George E. Woodberry (1855-1930)




Not Anticipating the Future


If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you don't wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. —Senegalese Proverb

I never think of the future. It comes soon enough. —German and American physicist and pacifist, Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. —American President, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)



God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road. —Danish author, Isak Dinesen, aka Karen Blixen (1885-1962)


It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis. —American science fiction writer, Margaret Wander Bonnano (b. 1950)


Slight not what's near through aiming at what's far. —Euripides

I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It's amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor.—British novelist, poet, and playwright, D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930)





Living in the Present


With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now. —American essayist and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)


Seize from every moment its unique novelty, and do not prepare your joys. —French author, André Gide (1869-1951) from Nourritures Terrestres


Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee. —French essayist, Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)


Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts. —French novelist, poet, and playwright, Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) from Professional Secrets


Nothing is worth more than this day. —German writer and poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)


Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought into focus. —Alexander Graham Bell

The living moment is everything. —D.H. Lawrence


Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness. —American author, cartoonist, and humorist, James Thurber (1894-1961)


Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do. —French essayist, Jean de la Bruyere (1645-1696)


The past is a ghost, the future a dream. All we ever have is now. —American actor and humorist, Bill Cosby (b. 1937)


Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going. —American writer and playwright, Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)


Why not just live in the moment, especially if it has a good beat? —American actress and director, Goldie Hawn (b. 1945)

 
Forever is composed of nows. —American poet, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)



And there you have it: 30 quotations from 2,500 years ago…to the present moment!
© 2012 Toni Bernhard


You might also like, “6 Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness Outside of Meditation.”
I'm the author of the How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and their Caregivers, winner of the 2011 Gold Nautilus Book Award in Self-Help/Psychology.

Website: www.howtobesick.com


My new book, How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow, will be published in Fall 2013.






 Source:
 Euripides to Bill Cosby: 30 Quotes on Mindfulness | Psychology Today
 Link:
 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/turning-straw-gold/201210/euripides-bill-cosby-30-quotes-mindfulness