P. D. James Quotes about Past

All P. D. James Quotes Childhood Children Guilt Immortality Memories Past quotes Regret Tragedy War Writing Youth

to look back on one's life is to experience the capriciousness of memory. ... the past is not static. It can be relived only in memory, and memory is a device for forgetting as well as remembering. It, too, is not

to look back on one's life is to experience the capriciousness of memory. ... the past is not static. It can be relived only in memory, and memory is a device for forgetting as well as remembering. It, too, is not immutable. It rediscovers, reinvents, reorganizes. Like a passage of prose it can be revised and repunctuated. To that extent, every autobiography is a work of fiction and every work of fiction an autobiography.

P. D. James

Memories, Past, Looks

P. D. James (2011). “Time to Be in Earnest”, p.15, Faber & Faber

Man is diminished if he lives without knowledge of his past; without hope of a future he becomes a beast.

P. D. James

Past, Men, Beast

FaceBook post by P.D. James from Jan 01, 2017

History, which interprets the past to understand the present and confront the future is the least rewarding discipline for a dying species.

P. D. James

Past, Discipline, Dying

P. D. James (2008). “The Children of Men”, p.13, Faber & Faber

There is no point in regretting any part of the past. The past can't now be altered, the future has yet to be lived, and consciously to experience every moment of the present is the only way to gain at least the illusion of immortality.

P. D. James

Regret, Past, Way

P. D. James (2011). “Time to Be in Earnest”, p.56, Faber & Faber