"We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future."

Time

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Insight & Reflection

This reflection on time by Frederick Douglass resonates across generations. It highlights a fundamental truth about human nature: our continuous search for meaning in time is what ultimately defines our character and our path forward.

About Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was "the most important leader of the movement for African-American civil rights in the 19th century".

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Editorial Note: This quote is curated and fact-checked by the Quotes Archive Editorial Team. Verified Literature Specialist.

More by Frederick Douglass

"I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence."

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More about Time

"In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead ; in the twentieth century the problem is that man is dead . In the nineteenth century inhumanity meant cruelty; in the twentieth century it means schizoid self-alienation. The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots."

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"Leadership can not be measured in a poll or even in the result of an election. It can only be truly seen with the benefit of time. From the perspective of 20 years, not 20 days."

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"The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on."

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