If people knew the story of their lives how many would then elect to live them?
Cormac McCarthy (1933-2023) American novelist, playwright, screenwriter
The Crossing [Quijada] (1994)
(Source)
Often mis-cited to All the Pretty Horses (1992), the first part of the Border Trilogy (this is the second).
Quotations about:
foresight
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
We should not be surprised that the Founding Fathers didn’t foresee everything, when we see that the current Fathers hardly ever foresee anything.
Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Interview (1970-02) by John A. Garraty, “American Nationalism,” Interpreting American History: Conversations with Historians, Part 1, ch. 4 (1970)
(Source)
Excerpted in "Conversations with Historians," American Heritage magazine (1970-02).
The past, which as always did not know the future, acted in ways that ask to be imagined before they are condemned. Or even simplified.
Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the crimes, follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother’s wombs, and there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women.
Lemony Snicket (b. 1970) American author, screenwriter, musician (pseud. for Daniel Handler)
The End (2006)
If you learn one thing from having lived through decades of changing views, it is that all predictions are necessarily false.
M. H. Abrams (1912-2015) American literary critic [Meyer (Mike) Howard Abrams]
In “Honored literary scholar M. H. Abrams continues his labors (of love),” interview, The Cornell Chronicle (10 Jun 1999)
BRUTUS: O, that a man might know
The end of this day’s business ere it come!
But it sufficeth that the day will end,
And then the end is known.William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
Julius Caesar, Act 5, sc. 1, l. 133ff (5.1.133-136) (1599)
(Source)
REGAN: Jesters do oft prove prophets.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet
King Lear, Act 5, sc. 3, l. 83 (5.3.83) (1606)
(Source)
Frequently misattributed (with "often" for "oft") to Joseph Addison.