--- title: "1 Future Change Quotes By Ted Chiang" description: "1 Future Change quotes by Ted Chiang. Plus more from Ted Chiang and more Future Change sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f97/ted-chiang-11432_arabian-nights_past-and-future-are-the-same-and-we-cann_2790717.jpg" --- > [“Past and future are the same, and we cannot change either, only know them more fully. My journey to the past had changed nothing, but what I had learned had changed everything, and I understood that it could not have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/past-and-future-are-the-same-and-we-cannot-change-either-only-know/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f97/ted-chiang-11432_arabian-nights_past-and-future-are-the-same-and-we-cann_2790717.jpg) ## More by Ted Chiang > [“The physical universe was a language with a perfectly ambiguous grammar. Every physical event was an utterance that could be parsed in two entirely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/the-physical-universe-was-a-language-with-a-perfectly-ambiguous/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [Women who work with animals hear this all the time: that their love for animals must arise out of a sublimated child-rearing urge. Ana's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/women-who-work-with-animals-hear-this-all-the-time-that-their-love/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [Contemplate the marvel that is existence, and rejoice that you are able to do so.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/contemplate-the-marvel-that-is-existence-and-rejoice-that-you-are/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [“Perhaps men were not meant to live in such a place. If their own natures restrained them from approaching heaven too closely, then men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/perhaps-men-were-not-meant-to-live-in-such-a-place-if-their-own/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [It is a misconception to think that during evolution humans sacrificed physical skill in exchange for intelligence: wielding one's body is a mental activity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/it-is-a-misconception-to-think-that-during-evolution-humans/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [“And then there will be the times when I see you laughing. Like the time you’ll be playing with the neighbor’s puppy, poking your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/and-then-there-will-be-the-times-when-i-see-you-laughing-like-the/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [“When Arecibo is not listening to anything else, it hears the voice of creation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/when-arecibo-is-not-listening-to-anything-else-it-hears-the-voice-of/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [Similarly, knowledge of the future was incompatible with free will. What made it possible for me to exercise freedom of choice also made it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/similarly-knowledge-of-the-future-was-incompatible-with-free-will/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [“the ray of light has to know where it will ultimately end up before it can choose the direction to begin moving”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/the-ray-of-light-has-to-know-where-it-will-ultimately-end-up-before/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [“Yet through their endeavor, men would glimpse the unimaginable artistry of Yahweh's work, in seeing how ingeniously the world had been constructed. By this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/yet-through-their-endeavor-men-would-glimpse-the-unimaginable/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [Brain damage is never a good idea, no matter what your friends say.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/brain-damage-is-never-a-good-idea-no-matter-what-your-friends-say/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [“I would have liked to experience more of the heptapods' worldview, to feel the way they feel. Then, perhaps I could immerse myself fully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/i-would-have-liked-to-experience-more-of-the-heptapods-worldview-to/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [“Branches are generated by any quantum event, right? Even before we had prisms, branches were still splitting off constantly; we just didn’t have access…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/branches-are-generated-by-any-quantum-event-right-even-before-we-had/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [“Ease of learning isn’t the primary force in language evolution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/ease-of-learning-isn-t-the-primary-force-in-language-evolution/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) > [“The hush of the night sky is the silence of a graveyard.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/the-hush-of-the-night-sky-is-the-silence-of-a-graveyard/) [Ted Chiang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-chiang/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-change/ted-chiang/#itemlist", "name": "1 Future Change Quotes By Ted Chiang", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Past and future are the same, and we cannot change either, only know them more fully. My journey to the past had changed nothing, but what I had learned had changed everything, and I understood that it could not have been otherwise. If our lives are tales that Allah tells, then we are the audience as well as the players, and it is by living these tales that we receive their lessons.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ted Chiang" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-chiang/past-and-future-are-the-same-and-we-cannot-change-either-only-know/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f97/ted-chiang-11432_arabian-nights_past-and-future-are-the-same-and-we-cann_2790717.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f97/ted-chiang-11432_arabian-nights_past-and-future-are-the-same-and-we-cann_2790717.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f97/ted-chiang-11432_arabian-nights_past-and-future-are-the-same-and-we-cann_2790717.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Past and future are the same, and we cannot change either, only know them more fully. My journey to the past…” — Ted Chiang", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-change/ted-chiang/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-change/ted-chiang/", "name": "Future Change Quotes by Ted Chiang", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-change/ted-chiang/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f97/ted-chiang-11432_arabian-nights_past-and-future-are-the-same-and-we-cann_2790717.jpg" }, "description": "1 Future Change quotes by Ted Chiang. Plus more from Ted Chiang and more Future Change sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-change/ted-chiang/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-change/ted-chiang/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Future Change", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-change/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Ted Chiang", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-change/ted-chiang/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```