It’s sometimes so tempting to keep your eyes on the past.
Reliving good old memories. Replaying mistakes and failures while beating yourself up.
And yes, reliving those memories can be uplifting from time to time. And learning from the past can help you in the present day.
But too much looking back into the past can drag you down and hold you back.
So in this post I’d like to share 67 of the most powerful don’t look back quotes. To help you to move on. To let go. And to move your attention fully to the present and your future that you can still shape in the way you want it.
And if you want even more help with moving forward then check out this post with quotes on better days ahead and this one filled with I deserve better quotes.
Inspirational Don’t Look Back Quotes
“Never run back to what broke you. Once you make the decision to move on, don’t look back. Your destiny will never be found in the rear view mirror.”
Mandy Hale
“When the past calls, let it go to voicemail. It has nothing new to say and you don’t have to listen. Would you really dig into yesterday’s garbage to make tonight’s meal? Do you dig into yesterday’s mental garbage to create today’s experiences?”
Louise Hay
“If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away.”
Steve Jobs
“I turn and I slowly walk away and I don’t look back. It has always been a fault of mine, but it is the way I am. I never look back. Never.”
James Frey
“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”
Henry David Thoreau
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
C.S. Lewis
“Don’t look back. You’ll miss what’s in front of you. I don’t look back. I’m like a shark – I only look forward.”
Rita Rudner
“You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.”
Suzy Kassem
“Sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is to never look back.”
Sushil Jain
“Don’t look back and ask, why? Look ahead and ask, Why not?”
Neil Patel
“Dear Past, thanks for all the lessons. Dear Future, I’m ready now.”
Unknown
“I don’t ever look back. I look forward.”
Steffi Graf
“Every day that we wake up is a good day. Every breath that we take is filled with hope for a better day. Every word that we speak is a chance to change what is bad into something good.”
Walter Mosley
“Look at life through the windshield, not the rear-view mirror.”
Byrd Baggett
“Start wide, expand further, and never look back.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
“The good old days were never that good, believe me. The good new days are today, and better days are coming tomorrow. Our greatest songs are still unsung.”
Hubert H. Humphrey
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
Dr. Seuss
“Looking back we see with great clarity, and what once appeared as difficulties now reveal themselves as blessings.”
Dan Millman
“Stop looking back when your future is ahead of you.”
Ricky Maye
”Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.”
Brian Tracy
“I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now.”
Walt Disney
“Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future.”
Robin Sharma
“If it doesn’t do you any good, dump it. Take some action, push that lever, flush it away, and don’t look back. Take small steps everyday of your life, and start taking control of what you say when you talk to yourself.”
Dave Pelzer
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
C.S. Lewis
Wise Don’t Look Back Quotes
“We ought not to look back, unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors and for the purpose of profiting by dear bought experience.”
George Washington
“I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.”
Abraham Lincoln
“When a thing is done, it’s done. Don’t look back. Look forward to your next objective.”
George C. Marshall
“Do not look backwards if your goal is to move forward.”
Germany Kent
“Don’t look back and wonder why things went wrong. Don’t regret not doing more. It happened for a reason. Your better days are ahead of you.”
Unknown
“Let your hope, not your hurts, shape your future.”
Robert H. Schuller
“Life is simple: Make choices and don’t look back.”
Sung Kang
“I don’t want to look back-I want to keep looking ahead. I’d hate for my defining moment to be my past.”
Scott Hamilton
“In looking back, I see nothing to regret, and little to correct.”
John C. Calhoun
“Don’t look back anymore. Move your attention and thoughts from that rear view mirror and to your bright future filled with new possibilities.”
Unknown
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
Robert Breault
“Don’t look back unless it’s a good view.”
Tupac Shakur
“Be mindful with the present you are creating. Does it look like the future you are hoping for?”
Unknown
“One thing I feel clear about is that it’s important not to let your life live you. Otherwise, you end up at forty feeling you haven’t really lived. What have I learned? Perhaps to live now, so that at fifty I won’t look back upon my forties with regret.”
Irvin D. Yalom
“Never look back reminiscing on yesterday, smile for the future, tomorrow’s a new day.
Zayn Malik
“I tend not to look back. It’s confusing.”
Walter Hill
“They say not to look back, but if you’re not sure what lies ahead, what else is there but looking back?”
Laurell K. Hamilton
“Never look back at your past, everything happens for a reason, keep your head up and look forward. The more you look back the more beautiful things you will miss in life.”
Brandon Smith
“Don’t spend too much time looking back into the past. It will not teach you anything new. It will just keep you stuck.”
Unknown
“You live life looking forward, you understand life looking backward.”
Soren Kierkegaard
“When the most important times are occurring, we don’t even recognize them or notice. We are just busy living our lives. Only looking back do we know what was a great moment in our lives.”
Federico Fellini
“Wisdom is looking back at your life and realizing that every single event, person, place and idea was part of the perfected experience you needed to build your dream. Not one was a mistake.”
John Federick Demartini
You may also find these you are enough quotes helpful and uplifting.
Motivational Don’t Look Back Quotes
“Don’t turn around. Don’t look back. Keep moving forward. Keep pushing. The pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow, not the beginning.”
Ziad K. Abdelnour
“The only times you should ever look back is to see how far you’ve come.”
Mick Kremling
“Just because the past taps you at the shoulder, doesn’t mean you have to look back.”
Unknown
“Don’t look back with tears, look forward with joy; and grab every bit of happiness you can. Don’t waste your life being afraid to try new things, and don’t be afraid of rejection, be afraid of rejecting what you know is right, in your heart.”
Pippa Franks
“Let hope inspire you, but let not idealism blind you. Don’t look back, you can never look back.”
Don Henley
“Too much looking backwards is bad for progress.”
Henry Ward Beecher
“You can’t get a good view of the future if you always keep one eye on the past.”
Unknown
“Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.”
James Thurber
Walk ahead, because if you look back, you will go back.”
Dragos Bratasanu
“Look not mournfully into the past, it comes not back again. Wisely improve the present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Always look ahead, but never look back.”
Miles Davis
“Don’t look into the past; because you’ve already been there. Focus on the future since that’s where you’re going.”
Unknown
“You can’t look back, you have to keep looking forward.”
Lucy Liu.
“The future is full of endless possibilities. Stop looking back and forge your dreams. The only person you should strive to be better than, is the person you were yesterday.”
Mattu Mullins
“Look up, always. Look back, never.”
Karen Quan
“Doors are opening. There’s no reason to turn back. Every moment wasted looking back, keeps us from moving forward.”
Hilary Clinton
“Don’t look back! For a bright future is ahead of you.”
Joel Brown
“Never look back unless you can learn something from it.”
Unknown
“When faced with a challenge, happy families, like happy people, just add a new chapter to their life story that shows them overcoming the hardship.”
C. JoyBell C.
“Don’t fear tomorrow or regret the past, live for what’s now and never look back.”
Unknown
“Don’t look back unless you can smile; don’t look ahead unless you can dream.”
Irish saying
“You know, I try not to look back, because looking forward is so much better than looking backward.”
Jim Bakker
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Want even more motivation to move forward? Check out this post with inspiring quotes about taking it one day at a time and this one with love yourself quotes.