“(about finding evidence of the past)And when you get that confirmation, it would instantlybecome the past itself. So in effect, you would be using thepast, which does not exist, to confirm something else fromthe past. And if you repeat the process a thousand times,with a thousand different pieces of evidence, together theywould still be nothing but impressions of the past supportingother impressions of the past.”

“Time is so fast that all times are past times! When you look at a photo of the past, you must know that you are already in the album, someone else is looking at your photo! All times are past times!”

“I must have dreamed a thousand dreams about you these past two weeks.”

“This is what happiness is, past the rubbish of its overuse as a word, past the cracked gloss of the letters that mean nothing when strung together. They mean something now, and I know what it's like when you and someone else are right together. How simple is is, and how amazing.”

“To dwell in the here and now does not mean you never think about the past or responsibly plan for the future. The idea is simply not to allow yourself to get lost in regrets about the past or worries about the future. If you are firmly grounded in the present moment, the past can be an object of inquiry, the object of your mindfulness and concentration. You can attain many insights by looking into the past. But you are still grounded in the present moment.”

“...the past: It drifts, it gathers. If you are not careful, it will bury you. This is half the reason for the cure: It clean-sweeps; it makes the past, and all its pain, distant, like the barest impression on sparkling glass.”