“Looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who they are so that they can more wisely build the future.”

“anyone can create the future but only a wise man can create the past”

“However much history may be invoked in support of these policies (affirmative action), no policy can apply to history but can only apply to the present or the future. The past may be many things, but it is clearly irrevocable. Its sins can no more be purged than its achievements can be expunged. Those who suffered in centuries past are as much beyond our help as those who sinned are beyond our retribution.”

“But it seemed like the more we advanced, the more the future looked impossible, making us return to the more radical times in the past.”

“The opposite of memory--hope. SO things that are gone can still matter. So we can build off our pasts and make futures.”

“For what more terrifying revelation can there be than that it is the present moment? That we survive the shock at all is only possible because the past shelters us on one side and the future on another.”