Context

This quote comes from volume IV of the journals of the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, written around 1843. 

Søren Kierkegaard says a whole lot of complicated stuff in his journals, but this quote is probably one of the clearest points he makes. When musing about life and the way we tend to think about it, Kierkegaard reminds us of what we already know. We can only really understand our lives by looking back on things we've already done. But we can't spend all our time living in the past, so we need to take what we've learned from our experiences and use it to make new decisions in the future. That's about as straightforward a claim as you'll ever get from ol' Kierky.

Where you've heard it

For the past couple of decades, this quote from Kierkegaard has become a favorite for motivational posters that people might hang next to their desks to keep themselves on task. The funny thing about all this is that Kierkegaard is one of the major figures of existentialism and nihilism, which are considered two of the most depressing trends ever in philosophical history. Now people at desks all around the world are looking at this man's words and saying, "Yes, I'm gonna go out and grab the world by the tail!" Um, good luck with that.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Of all the philosophical quotes you can drop in a conversation, this one will probably get a decent response. It's the kind of thing you might want to pull out when you feel like someone's stuck in the past and you wanna make everyone nod and go, "Ah, indeed."