'The future is sh*t' ... and other things famous folks say about the future

It's the ultimate mystery, so it's no wonder the idea of the future has occupied writers and artists forever

27 August 2017 - 00:00 By Staff Reporter

"The future is inevitable and precise, but it may not occur. God lurks in the gaps." - Jorge Luis Borges
"The past is always tense, the future perfect." - Zadie Smith
"The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities." - Stephen Hawking
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." - George Orwell
"The future of artificial intelligence - our AI future - is bright. But the brighter it becomes, the more shadows it will cast." - Margaret Boden"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." - Søren Kierkegaard"In the end, we all become stories." - Margaret Atwood
"The future is there ... looking back at us. Trying to make sense of the fiction we will have become." - William Gibson
"When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?" - Chuck Palahniuk
"The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on." - Barack Obama
"I don't think we are ready to die, any of us, not without being escorted." - JM Coetzee"Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present." - Albert Camus
"The best way to predict your future is to create it." - Abraham Lincoln
"Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever. You might want to think about that. You forget some things, don't you? Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget." - Cormac McCarthy
"The future is uncertain and the end is always near." - Jim Morrison"What we need to do is always lean into the future; when the world changes around you and when it changes against you - what used to be a tailwind is now a headwind - you have to lean into that and figure out what to do because complaining isn't a strategy." - Jeff Bezos
"It's being here now that's important. There's no past and there's no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is, ever, is the now." - George Harrison
"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." - Alvin Toffler"We took such care of tomorrow, but died on the way there." - Warsan Shire
"I am an optimist. Anyone interested in the future has to be, otherwise he would simply shoot himself." - Arthur C Clarke
"The future is shit." - Tyrion Lannister..

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.