There’s a reason why it’s difficult to find many good quotes about the past from the ancient Stoics: because they believed that we shouldn’t think too much about what has already happened, except to let it teach us lessons to better ourselves and others.
The past can be a source of happy memories, and there’s nothing wrong with looking back on those and remembering them fondly. But all too often, human beings look back on the past and it gives them guilt, anxiety and worry. Ruminating on the past is unique to human beings, and it serves no purpose in Stoicism.
The past is in the past, as these Stoic quotes make clear. Remember happy things that have happened, but don’t worry about stuff that has already transpired. Instead, like the Stoics of old, focus only on the immediate present, and what’s right in front of you.
Stoic Quotes on The Past from Marcus Aurelius
“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future too.“
“No one can lose either the past or the future – how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess? … It is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived: and if this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.”
“Look at the past—empire succeeding empire—and from that, extrapolate the future: the same thing. No escape from the rhythm of events. Which is why observing life for forty years is as good as a thousand. Would you really see anything new?”
“All things fade into the storied past, and in a little while are shrouded in oblivion.”
Stoic Quotes on The Past from Epictetus
“Wisdom is a large and spacious thing. It needs plenty of free room. One must learn about things divine and human, the past and the future, the ephemeral and the eternal; and one must learn about Time.”
Stoic Quotes on The Past from Seneca
“Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see, and once they have escaped them worry no more. We however are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come. A number of our blessings do us harm, for memory brings back the agony of fear while foresight brings it on prematurely. No one confines his unhappiness to the present.”
“Life is divided into three parts: what was, what is and what shall be. Of these three periods, the present is short, the future is doubtful and the past alone is certain.”
“The past is ours, and there is nothing more secure for us than that which has been. We are ungrateful for past gains, because we hope for the future, as if the future – if so be that any future is ours – will not be quickly blended with the past.”