Question by Sean K.: Who Said “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. and Today is a gift”?
I know its a song, but Ive heard it a couple years ago, and i just watched Kung Fu Panda and the Turtle said the same line, anyone know if it is one of those old philosophy sayings?
Best answer:
Answer by Tina J
you for got the part that says…”today is a gift thats why it is called..the ‘present’ ” =)
Add your own answer in the comments!
Eleanor Roosevelt
This is an original quote by Humorist/Actress Joan Rivers.
‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God’s gift, that’s why we call it the present.’
The full quote often reads: “The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present.”
In the 1902 book, “Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday: Garden Delights…” by Alice Morse Earle, it is noted that the words “Time Waits for No Man” is a play on words or punning device of “gnomon” that has been used on sun dials. A gnomon is a pointer on a sun dial. Somewhere along the way came the full quote which has been truncated by some to your version.
http://books.google.com/books?id=puICAAA…
Many believe the phrase has its root in “Time and Tide wait for No Man,” meaning no one is so powerful that he can stop the march of time.
According to “The Phrase Finder”:
The origin is uncertain, although it’s clear that the phrase is ancient and that it predates modern English. The earliest known record is from St. Marher, 1225:
“And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet.”
A version in modern English — “the tide abides for, tarrieth for no man, stays no man, tide nor time tarrieth no man” evolved into the present day version.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/38400…
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Nowhere is this sentiment more artfully expressed than in Emily Dickinson’s poem #1292, “Yesterday is History.”
Yesterday is History,
’tis so far away —
yesterday is Poetry,
’tis Philosophy —
Yesterday is Mystery —
Where it is today —
While we shrewdly speculate
Flutter both away
Sune is completely wrong. If you check the book she mentioned, there’s nothing about any of that phrase. The Eleanor Roosevelt quote seems more likely. Rivers probably was quoting her.