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You, yesterday, did the usual things, just as any day, You don't know if it's worth remembering. You would prefer to remember, there lying in the half-darkness of the bedroom, not what has happened already but what is going to happen. In your half-darkness your eyes would prefer to look ahead, not behind, and they do not know how to foresee the past.
Carlos Fuentes
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on the tendency of individuals to focus on the future rather than the past, highlighting the uncertainty of memories.

Carlos Fuentes suggests that people often engage in their daily routines without recognizing their significance. He emphasizes that in moments of contemplation, individuals are more inclined to consider future possibilities rather than reflecting on past experiences, which they may perceive as less important or less certain.

Themes

FuturePastMemoriesReflectionUncertainty

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech about embracing change and looking forward to new opportunities.

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The possibility of being as free with the camera as we are with the pen is a fantastic prospect for the creative life of the 21st century.
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Literature overtakes history, for literature gives you more than one life. It expands experience and opens new opportunities to readers.
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One wants to tell a story, like Scheherezade, in order not to die. It's one of the oldest urges in mankind. It's a way of stalling death.
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No, it's not that they're bad. It's that they're obliged to pretend they're good. They've been brought up to deceive and be cunning, to protect themselves from our society. I don't want to be like that.
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You have an absolute freedom in Mexican writing today in which you don't necessarily have to deal with the Mexican identity. You know why? Because we have an identity... We know who we are. We know what it means to be a Mexican.
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