--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Most of us prefer to walk backward into…" description: "\"Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a posture that may be uncomfortable but which at least allows us to keep on looking at familiar thi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e01/charles-handy-14423_backward_most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into_2468909.jpg" --- # Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a… ![“Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a posture that may be uncomfortable but which at least allows us to keep on looking at familiar things as long as we can.” quote by Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e01/charles-handy-14423_backward_most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into_2468909.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e01/charles-handy-14423_backward_most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into_2468909.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e01/charles-handy-14423_backward_most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into_2468909.jpg) > “Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a posture that may be uncomfortable but which at least allows us to keep on looking at familiar things as long as we can.” [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often prefer to look backward for comfort while moving forward, staying within familiar ideas. **In simple terms:** We walk backward into the future for comfort. Key Takeaway Embrace uncertainty, not just familiarity. Themes comfort future uncertainty habit Mood thoughtful analytical inspirational Type philosophical motivational strategic When to use this quote - career planning - technological adoption - personal growth Key Concepts psychology change management Questions to Reflect On - What familiar comforts hold you back? - How can you balance comfort with progress? A Different Perspective Staying too familiar can hinder innovation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Familiar things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/familiar-things/) [Posture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/posture/) [Teaching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching/) [Teaching learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching-learning/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Uncomfortable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uncomfortable/) ## Related quotes > [“We prefer when you walk around instead of through us. We like to be left in peace while we're eating and performing our courtship…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-kelman/we-prefer-when-you-walk-around-instead-of-through-us-we-like-to-be/) [Stephen Kelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-kelman/) > [“We may wonder if there are any shortcuts. And there are some, but once you find out what they are—humiliation and suffering—you’ll probably prefer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rankin-wilbourne/we-may-wonder-if-there-are-any-shortcuts-and-there-are-some-but-once/) [Rankin Wilbourne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rankin-wilbourne/) > [“Whoever said that the past isn’t dead had it backward. It’s the future that’s already dead, already played out. This whole night has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-forman/whoever-said-that-the-past-isn-t-dead-had-it-backward-it-s-the-future/) [Gayle Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-forman/) > [It is not the present which unfluences the future, thou fool, but the future which forms the present. You have it all backward. Since…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-herbert/it-is-not-the-present-which-unfluences-the-future-thou-fool-but-the/) [Frank Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-herbert/) > [“You have to look backward to see the future,” he often said to his residents. --- stated by Dr Najjar. So true in many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susannah-cahalan/you-have-to-look-backward-to-see-the-future-he-often-said-to-his/) [Susannah Cahalan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susannah-cahalan/) > [“It is not the present which influences the future, thou fool, but the future which forms the present. You have it all backward. Since…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-is-not-the-present-which-influences-the-future-thou-fool-but-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Time was moving backward, it seemed, and the future was mostly forgotten.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-brashares/time-was-moving-backward-it-seemed-and-the-future-was-mostly-forgotten/) [Ann Brashares](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-brashares/) > [Whoever said that the past isn't dead had it backward. It's the future that's already dead, already played out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-forman/whoever-said-that-the-past-isn-t-dead-had-it-backward-it-s-the-future-2/) [Gayle Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-forman/) > [If I turned around every time somebody called me a faggot, I'd be walking backward - and I don't want to walk backward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harvey-milk/if-i-turned-around-every-time-somebody-called-me-a-faggot-i-d-be/) [Harvey Milk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harvey-milk/) > [If you are walking backward, away from something you think is a mistake, you may be right in supposing it is a mistake, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-i-packer/if-you-are-walking-backward-away-from-something-you-think-is-a/) [J. I. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-i-packer/) > [While you have a future do not live too much in contemplation of your past: unless you are content to walk backward the mirror…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/while-you-have-a-future-do-not-live-too-much-in-contemplation-of-your/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [They had their faces twisted toward their haunches and found it necessary to walk backward, because they could not see ahead of them. ...And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/they-had-their-faces-twisted-toward-their-haunches-and-found-it/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [“When people laughed at him because he walked backward beneath the portico, he said to them: "Aren't you ashamed, you who walk backward along…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diogenes/when-people-laughed-at-him-because-he-walked-backward-beneath-the/) [Diogenes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diogenes/) > [Trust your heart if the seas catch fire, and live by love though the starts walk backward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ee-cummings/trust-your-heart-if-the-seas-catch-fire-and-live-by-love-though-the/) [EE Cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ee-cummings/) > [“You will walk backward in your footsteps and go forward a new way?” “I--” He slid her hand upward so it rested on his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-anderson/you-will-walk-backward-in-your-footsteps-and-go-forward-a-new-way-i-2/) [Catherine Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-anderson/) ## More by Charles Handy > [The sobering thought is that individuals and societies are not, in the end, remembered for how they made their money, but for how they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/the-sobering-thought-is-that-individuals-and-societies-are-not-in-the/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [Passion is born of vague hopes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/passion-is-born-of-vague-hopes/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [To learn anything other than the stuff you find in books, you need to be able to experiment, to make mistakes, to accept feedback,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/to-learn-anything-other-than-the-stuff-you-find-in-books-you-need-to/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [Life can only be understood backwards but you have to live it forward. You can only do that by stepping into uncertainty and by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/life-can-only-be-understood-backwards-but-you-have-to-live-it-forward/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [Change is only another word for growth, another synonym for learning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/change-is-only-another-word-for-growth-another-synonym-for-learning/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [Purpose, pattern, and people, the three P's at the heart of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/purpose-pattern-and-people-the-three-p-s-at-the-heart-of-life/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [We need to have faith in the future to make sense of the present.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/we-need-to-have-faith-in-the-future-to-make-sense-of-the-present/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [In a knowledge economy, a good business is a community with a purpose, not a piece of property.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/in-a-knowledge-economy-a-good-business-is-a-community-with-a-purpose/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [We should see schools as safe arenas for experimenting with life, for discovering our talents... for taking responsibity for tasks and others people, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/we-should-see-schools-as-safe-arenas-for-experimenting-with-life-for/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [Competition is healthy ... but there is more to life than winning or we should nearly all be losers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/competition-is-healthy-but-there-is-more-to-life-than-winning-or-we/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [We cannot wait for great visions from great people, for they are in short supply. It is up to us to light our own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/we-cannot-wait-for-great-visions-from-great-people-for-they-are-in/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [Home is the first school for us all, a school with no fixed curriculum, no quality control, no examinations, no teacher training](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/home-is-the-first-school-for-us-all-a-school-with-no-fixed-curriculum/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [The companies that survive longest are the one's that work out what they uniquely can give to the world-not just growth or money but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/the-companies-that-survive-longest-are-the-one-s-that-work-out-what/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [The best learning happens in real life with real problems and real people and not in classrooms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/the-best-learning-happens-in-real-life-with-real-problems-and-real/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) > [A leader shapes and shares a vision, which gives point to the work of others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/a-leader-shapes-and-shares-a-vision-which-gives-point-to-the-work-of/) [Charles Handy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) [Explore all 46 Charles Handy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/) ## More Backward quotes > [I hate looking backward, but every once in a while it sneaks up on you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/burt-lancaster/i-hate-looking-backward-but-every-once-in-a-while-it-sneaks-up-on-you/) [Burt Lancaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/burt-lancaster/) > [“Thus the thoughtless drift backward toward slavery.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-g-woodson/thus-the-thoughtless-drift-backward-toward-slavery/) [Carter G. Woodson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-g-woodson/) > [“Whoever said that the past isn’t dead had it backward. It’s the future that’s already dead, already played out. This whole night has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-forman/whoever-said-that-the-past-isn-t-dead-had-it-backward-it-s-the-future/) [Gayle Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-forman/) > [Honestly, if you were any slower, you’d be going backward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/honestly-if-you-were-any-slower-you-d-be-going-backward/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I learn things in a backward way. I learn all those limitations, and slowly my brain soaks them up, and if things go right,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-odenkirk/i-learn-things-in-a-backward-way-i-learn-all-those-limitations-and/) [Bob Odenkirk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-odenkirk/) > [“It took us a while to discover that we do effectively think, but that we more readily narrate backward in order to give ourselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nassim-nicholas-taleb/it-took-us-a-while-to-discover-that-we-do-effectively-think-but-that/) [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nassim-nicholas-taleb/) > [“Our habit of wishing backward from what is to what might have been is the soft but persistent tapping that cracks the crystal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/our-habit-of-wishing-backward-from-what-is-to-what-might-have-been-is/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [The thing I love most about my job is watching people age backward, becoming more lively and energetic as they free themselves from situations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-beck/the-thing-i-love-most-about-my-job-is-watching-people-age-backward/) [Martha Beck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-beck/) > [“Dreaming her way backward in time, resurrecting images, the young girl realized, with wonder, that the absent are always present, that you don't make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-shields/dreaming-her-way-backward-in-time-resurrecting-images-the-young-girl/) [Carol Shields](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-shields/) > [“Us ballplayers do things backward. First we play, then we retire and go to work. —CHARLIE GEHRINGER”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lori-wilde/us-ballplayers-do-things-backward-first-we-play-then-we-retire-and-go-2/) [Lori Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lori-wilde/) > [This was the Darker Life, where every truth was written backward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/this-was-the-darker-life-where-every-truth-was-written-backward/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!I am so weary of toil and of tears,-Toil without recompense, tears all in vain!Take them, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-chase-allen/backward-flow-backward-o-tide-of-the-years-i-am-so-weary-of-toil-and/) [Elizabeth Chase Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-chase-allen/) > [I loved you backward and forward in time. I loved you beyond boundaries of time and space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-simmons/i-loved-you-backward-and-forward-in-time-i-loved-you-beyond/) [Dan Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-simmons/) > [Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead; that is where your future lies. Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-landers/nobody-gets-to-live-life-backward-look-ahead-that-is-where-your/) [Ann Landers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-landers/) > [“Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward." from CUTTING FOR STONE”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/life-too-is-like-that-you-live-it-forward-but-understand-it-backward/) [Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/) Browse all 340 Backward quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a posture that may be uncomfortable but which at least allows us to keep on looking at familiar things as long as we can.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Handy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into-the-future-a-posture-that-may/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Backward" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into-the-future-a-posture-that-may/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e01/charles-handy-14423_backward_most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into_2468909.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e01/charles-handy-14423_backward_most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into_2468909.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e01/charles-handy-14423_backward_most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into_2468909.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Most of us prefer to walk backward into the future, a posture that may be uncomfortable but which at least…” — Charles Handy", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "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": "Charles Handy", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-handy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Most of us prefer to walk...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into-the-future-a-posture-that-may/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-handy/most-of-us-prefer-to-walk-backward-into-the-future-a-posture-that-may/#breadcrumb" }, { "@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 } } ] } ```