Source identified
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
The verse places change inside a larger rhythm of seasons and purposes, making it useful for thinking about acceptance when one phase of life gives way to another.
Source note: Ecclesiastes 3:1 in the King James Version, opening the sequence of contrasting times and seasons.
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“What’s past is prologue.”
Voice: Fictional character · Antonio
The past is framed as context rather than the whole story, leaving the future open to further action.
Source note: The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1; Antonio says this while urging Sebastian toward a conspiracy against Alonso. The phrase is therefore embedded in morally compromised dramatic persuasion rather than neutral advice.
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“Let the dead Past bury its dead!”
The poem rejects living backward and immediately redirects attention toward action available in the present.
Source note: A Psalm of Life, in the stanza beginning “Trust no Future.”
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“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
Error is treated as ordinary human limitation, while forgiveness requires an additional act of generosity.
Source note: An Essay on Criticism, Part II; Pope warns that shallow learning can produce premature confidence before deeper study tempers judgment.
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“The past is never more than an experiment.”
Past conduct provides information rather than an unchangeable verdict; Bennett uses that distinction to argue that present habits can still be revised.
Source note: Mental Efficiency, “Breaking with the Past.” The sentence frames prior experience as material for correction rather than a permanent identity.
Source identified
“In a world where all is fleeting, change alone endures.”
Stability is temporary, so practical judgment requires expecting change rather than treating present arrangements as permanent.
Source note: Counsels and Maxims, T. Bailey Saunders translation, in a discussion of fortune and apparent stability.