“It will hurt." said Petra. "But let's make the most of what we have, and not let future pain ruin present happiness.”

“you cannot let the pain of the past destroy the happiness of the future.”

“Let the past be what it was, the present what it is, the future the best it can be.”

“Can one make the future a substitute for the present? And what guarantee have we that the future will be any better if we neglect the present?”

“But can we, should we, let apprehensions about the future immobilize us in the present?”

“Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light is throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are always planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.”