Through every rift of discovery some seeming anomaly drops out of the darkness, and falls, as a golden link into the great chain of order.
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
Tomorrow may never come to us. We do not live in tomorrow. We cannot find it in any of our title-deeds. The man who owns whole blocks of real estate, and great ships on the sea, does not own a single minute of tomorrow. Tomorrow! It is a mysterious possibility, not yet born. It lies under the seal of midnight-behind the veil of glittering constellations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Tomorrow is uncertain and cannot be owned or controlled, emphasizing the importance of the present moment.
This quote highlights the ephemeral nature of time and the futility of trying to possess future moments. It asserts that no matter one's material wealth or accomplishments, tomorrow remains an unknown entity that is unattainable, urging us to focus on the present instead of anxiously anticipating what the future may hold.
Themes
TimeFuturePresentUncertaintyPhilosophyLife
In practice
Example use cases
Use this quote in a motivational speech about embracing the present.
More from Edwin Hubbel Chapin
All quotes →Revolution does not insure progress. You may overturn thrones, but what proof that anything better will grow upon the soil?
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
Do not ask if a man has been through college; ask if a college has been through him; if he is a walking university.
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
Goodness consists not in the outward things we do, but in the inward thing we are.
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
A true man never frets about his place in the world, but just slides into it by the gravitation of his nature, and swings there as easily as a star.
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
Neutral men are the devil's allies.
Edwin Hubbel ChapinRead
Similar quotes
Lastly, he must remember that he himself hath no exemption from the common lot, but that he is bound by the same laws of mortality, and liable to the same ailments and afflictions with his fellows.
Thomas SydenhamRead
Life rises out of death, death rises out of life; in being opposite they yearn to each other, they give birth to each other and are forever reborn. And with them, all is reborn, the flower of the apple tree, the light of the stars. In life is death. In death is rebirth. What then is life without death? Life unchanging, everlasting, eternal?-What is it but death-death without rebirth?
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
When the labourer co-operates systematically with others, he strips off the fetters of his individuality, and develops the capabilities of his species.
Karl MarxRead
Zen, in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one's own being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom. By making us drink right from the fountain of life it liberates us from all the yokes under which we finite beings are usually suffering in this world.
D.T. SuzukiRead
Privilege exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do. Access to privilege doesn’t determine one’s outcomes, but it is definitely an asset that makes it more likely that whatever talent, ability, and aspirations a person with privilege has will result in something positive for them.
Peggy McintoshRead
Forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.
Lawrence M. KraussRead