Laziness acknowledges the relation of the present to the past but ignores its relation to the future; impatience acknowledge its relation to the future but ignores its relation to the past; neither the lazy nor the impatient man, that is, accepts the present instant in its full reality and so cannot love his neighbour completely.

W.H. Auden

W.H. Auden

future-and-present impatience laziness past

Related Quotes

Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, because of impatience we cannot return.

— W. H. Auden

Ideas define us, our past, our present, and most importantly, our future.

futureideaspast

Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, because of impatience we cannot return.

— W. H. Auden

BecauseCannotCardinal

I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.

— Alan W. Watts

futureillusionpast

"The past is always subject to the change that the present brings to the future.

— Jaime Contreras

And FutureChangePast