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There are those who regard this history of past strife and exile as better forgotten. But, to use the phrase of Yeats, let us not casually reduce "that great past to a trouble of fools." For we need not feel the bitterness of the past to discover its meaning for the present and the future.

— John F. Kennedy

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More quotes by John F. Kennedy

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.

While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace.

This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow it.

A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed — and no republic can survive.

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A generation which ignores history has no past —and no future.

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love (1973)

From now on, everything in life will appear blurry to me. What’s the point of wiping my glasses when my vision has already left me?"

Sanu Sharma

You can never plan the future by the past.

Edmund Burke A Letter to a Member of the National Assembly (1791)

Nothing is there to come, and nothing past,
But an eternal now does always last.

Abraham Cowley Poems (1656)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John F. Kennedy (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.