---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You exist in time: future, present, and…"
description: "\"You exist in time: future, present, and past. This is manifest in life, liberty, and the product of your life and liberty. The exercise of choices over..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/14e/ken-schoolland-42061_choices_you-exist-in-time-future-present-and-pas_2040155.png"
---

#  You exist in time: future, present, and past. This is…

![“You exist in time: future, present, and past. This is manifest in life, liberty, and the product of your life and liberty. The exercise of choices over life and liberty is your prosperity. To lose your life is to lose your future. To lose your liberty is to lose your present. And to lose the…” quote by Ken Schoolland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/14e/ken-schoolland-42061_choices_you-exist-in-time-future-present-and-pas_2040155.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/14e/ken-schoolland-42061_choices_you-exist-in-time-future-present-and-pas_2040155.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/14e/ken-schoolland-42061_choices_you-exist-in-time-future-present-and-pas_2040155.png)

> “You exist in time: future, present, and past. This is manifest in life, liberty, and the product of your life and liberty. The exercise of choices over life and liberty is your prosperity. To lose your life is to lose your future. To lose your liberty is to lose your present. And to lose the product of your life and liberty is to lose the portion of your past that produced it.”

[Ken Schoolland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-schoolland/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The quote links personal freedom and future outcomes, suggesting that losing life, liberty, or their results erodes past, present, and future respectively.

**In simple terms:** Life, liberty, and their results shape past, present, and future.

Key Takeaway

Protect your freedoms to secure all time dimensions.

Themes

freedom responsibility consequence prosperity

Mood

reflective serious

Type

philosophical motivational

When to use this quote

- personal decision making
- political activism
- financial planning
- health choices

Key Concepts

temporal philosophy ethical causality

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you balance personal liberty with societal constraints?
- What actions protect your future most effectively?

A Different Perspective

If external forces limit liberty, the model may not hold.

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[Choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices/) [Exercise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exercise/) [Freedom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/freedom/) [Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/) [Liberty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/liberty/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Our future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/our-future/) [Our past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/our-past/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Prosperity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prosperity/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Your future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/your-future/) [Your past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/your-past/)

## Related quotes

> [To lose one's life is but to lose the present; and, clearly, to lose a defiled, worthless present is not to lose much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/to-lose-one-s-life-is-but-to-lose-the-present-and-clearly-to-lose-a/)

[Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/)

> [Death does not simply end life. It steals away the sunsets you’ll never see, the children you’ll ever hold, the wife you’ll never love.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-liparulo/death-does-not-simply-end-life-it-steals-away-the-sunsets-you-ll/)

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> [There is nothing in your phone that is possibly more interesting than the person you are facing. Happiness is being in the present, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/there-is-nothing-in-your-phone-that-is-possibly-more-interesting-than/)

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> [“We lose, again and again, the present moment — which is not a poetic concept but the literal location of everything that has ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayisha-bhatti/we-lose-again-and-again-the-present-moment-which-is-not-a-poetic/)

Ayisha Bhatti

> [He who will lose a present good for one in expectation hath some wit, but a small store of wisdom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bias-of-priene/he-who-will-lose-a-present-good-for-one-in-expectation-hath-some-wit/)

[Bias of Priene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bias-of-priene/)

> [“If there is a single lesson I have learned, it is this: in life, we are destined to lose many things. That is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-ury/if-there-is-a-single-lesson-i-have-learned-it-is-this-in-life-we-are/)

[William Ury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-ury/)

> [Life can only take place in the present moment. If we lose the present moment, we lose life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/life-can-only-take-place-in-the-present-moment-if-we-lose-the-present/)

[Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/)

> [If the present tries to sit in judgment of the past, it will lose the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/if-the-present-tries-to-sit-in-judgment-of-the-past-it-will-lose-the/)

[Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/)

> [If we do not honor our past, we lose our future. If we destroy our roots, we cannot grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedensreich-hundertwasser/if-we-do-not-honor-our-past-we-lose-our-future-if-we-destroy-our/)

[Friedensreich Hundertwasser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedensreich-hundertwasser/)

> [Do not pursue the past. Do not lose yourself in the future. The past no longer is. The future has not yet come. Looking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/do-not-pursue-the-past-do-not-lose-yourself-in-the-future-the-past-no/)

[Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/)

> [We lose the future,..because we are dancing with the past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-lose-the-future-because-we-are-dancing-with-the-past/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“To you, death does not simply end life. It steals away the sunsets you'll never see, the children you'll never hold, the wife you'll…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-liparulo/to-you-death-does-not-simply-end-life-it-steals-away-the-sunsets-you/)

[Robert Liparulo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-liparulo/)

> [“Do not think that time simply flies away. Do not understand “flying” as the only function of time. If time simply flew away, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/do-not-think-that-time-simply-flies-away-do-not-understand-flying-as-2/)

[Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/)

> [Whether if soul did not exist time would exist or not, is a question that may fairly be asked; for if there cannot be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/whether-if-soul-did-not-exist-time-would-exist-or-not-is-a-question/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [“Do not think that time simply flies away. Do not understand “flying” as the only function of time. If time simply flew away, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/do-not-think-that-time-simply-flies-away-do-not-understand-flying-as/)

[Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/)

## More by Ken Schoolland

> [In some cities they tear down buildings to save taxes. They might try tearing down some taxes to save buildings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-schoolland/in-some-cities-they-tear-down-buildings-to-save-taxes-they-might-try/)

[Ken Schoolland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-schoolland/)

> [Using governmental force to impose a vision on others is intellectual sloth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-schoolland/using-governmental-force-to-impose-a-vision-on-others-is-intellectual/)

[Ken Schoolland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-schoolland/)

> [At times some people use force or fraud to take from others without willful, voluntary consent. Normally, the initiation of force to take life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-schoolland/at-times-some-people-use-force-or-fraud-to-take-from-others-without/)

[Ken Schoolland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-schoolland/)

> [Having confidence in a free society is to focus on the process of discovery in the marketplace of values rather than to focus on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-schoolland/having-confidence-in-a-free-society-is-to-focus-on-the-process-of/)

[Ken Schoolland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-schoolland/)

> [My philosophy is based on the principle of self-ownership. You own your life. To deny this is to imply that another person has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-schoolland/my-philosophy-is-based-on-the-principle-of-self-ownership-you-own/)

[Ken Schoolland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-schoolland/)

> [Since you own your life, you are responsible for your life. You do not rent your life from others who demand your obedience. Nor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-schoolland/since-you-own-your-life-you-are-responsible-for-your-life-you-do-not/)

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> [A product of your life and liberty is your property. Property is the fruit of your labor, the product of your time, energy, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-schoolland/a-product-of-your-life-and-liberty-is-your-property-property-is-the/)

[Ken Schoolland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-schoolland/)

[Explore all 8 Ken Schoolland quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-schoolland/)

## More Choices quotes

> [Of all the people who have affected my life and influenced the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-atlas/of-all-the-people-who-have-affected-my-life-and-influenced-the/)

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> [“Don’t allow anyone to pressure you into taking a job in a field that doesn’t feel right in your gut. You are the one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-james/don-t-allow-anyone-to-pressure-you-into-taking-a-job-in-a-field-that/)

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> [When you have a choice, choose happy!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pancho-barnes/when-you-have-a-choice-choose-happy/)

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> [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/)

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[Donnie Yen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donnie-yen/)

> [Clarissa," he said, "here with the vampire, I see. When things have settled a bit, we really must discuss you choice in pets..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/clarissa-he-said-here-with-the-vampire-i-see-when-things-have-settled/)

[Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/)

> [Change is inevitable but personal growth is a choice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/change-is-inevitable-but-personal-growth-is-a-choice/)

[Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/)

> [Time hath not yet so dried this blood of mine, Nor age so eat up my invention, Nor fortune made such havoc of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/time-hath-not-yet-so-dried-this-blood-of-mine-nor-age-so-eat-up-my/)

[William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/)

> [If you choose to draw from the inner well of free will, then you can make choices that are outside your current karmic patterns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/if-you-choose-to-draw-from-the-inner-well-of-free-will-then-you-can/)

[Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/)

> [Act always so as to increase the number of choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-von-foerster/act-always-so-as-to-increase-the-number-of-choices/)

[Heinz von Foerster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-von-foerster/)

> [Give me a platter of choice finnan haddie, freshly cooked in its bath of water and milk, add melted butter, a slice or two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-claiborne/give-me-a-platter-of-choice-finnan-haddie-freshly-cooked-in-its-bath/)

[Craig Claiborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-claiborne/)

> [I don't know that any woman could ever not think about that at some point - even making the choice not to do it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-watts/i-don-t-know-that-any-woman-could-ever-not-think-about-that-at-some/)

[Naomi Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-watts/)

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[Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/)

[Browse all 11,466 Choices quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices/)

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