--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: All my life I've lived with a future…" description: "\"All my life I've lived with a future which constantly diminishes but never vanishes.\" — Mark Doty" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/mark-doty-11557_life_all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-whi_1096204.jpg" --- # All my life I've lived with a future which constantly… ![“All my life I've lived with a future which constantly diminishes but never vanishes.” quote by Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/mark-doty-11557_life_all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-whi_1096204.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/mark-doty-11557_life_all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-whi_1096204.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/mark-doty-11557_life_all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-whi_1096204.jpg) > “All my life I've lived with a future which constantly diminishes but never vanishes.” [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A persistent sense of an uncertain future that keeps shrinking but never fully disappears. **In simple terms:** Future feels smaller yet remains present. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty and focus on present actions. Themes uncertainty future resilience Mood reflective somber Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career planning - mental health coping - long‑term projects Key Concepts existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do you stay grounded when future prospects seem bleak? - What small actions can restore hope? A Different Perspective The feeling may lead to chronic anxiety if not addressed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Constantly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constantly/) [Constantly Diminishes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constantly-diminishes-2859314/) [Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/) [Future Constantly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future-constantly-2291837/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Lived Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lived-future-959931/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Ve Lived](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ve-lived/) ## Related quotes > [You can never see your future,When you are constantly looking back at your past.Your future is what you make it, So make it worth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-can-never-see-your-future-when-you-are-constantly-looking-back-at/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Nothing is certain,” he murmured. “The future is constantly changing, and no one can predict what happens next. We have the power to change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-kagawa/nothing-is-certain-he-murmured-the-future-is-constantly-changing-and/) [Julie Kagawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-kagawa/) > [“Up to this time I had always lived in the future and felt that I was simply getting ready for something. Now I began…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/up-to-this-time-i-had-always-lived-in-the-future-and-felt-that-i-was/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Europe, I have lived in your future, and I did not like it...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-bukovsky/europe-i-have-lived-in-your-future-and-i-did-not-like-it/) [Vladimir Bukovsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-bukovsky/) > [I think we acquire habits of mind when we're little, and I lived in the future because I was always imagining being a grown-up,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-steinem/i-think-we-acquire-habits-of-mind-when-we-re-little-and-i-lived-in/) [Gloria Steinem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-steinem/) > [“Every moment of your life is lived for the future--you go to high school so you can go to college so you can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/every-moment-of-your-life-is-lived-for-the-future-you-go-to-high/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [I was always someone who lived in the future all the time, it was always the next thing - dreams of escape.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julie-walters/i-was-always-someone-who-lived-in-the-future-all-the-time-it-was/) [Julie Walters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julie-walters/) > [And now life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future-you go to high school so you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-hopkins/and-now-life-has-become-the-future-every-moment-of-your-life-is-lived-2/) [Ellen Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-hopkins/) > [“There was no planning. No time for planning. No time for a future. But then the life spans started getting longer,and people started having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/there-was-no-planning-no-time-for-planning-no-time-for-a-future-but/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [For me, this world of questions and the provisional, this chase after an answer that was always put off to the next day, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-jacob/for-me-this-world-of-questions-and-the-provisional-this-chase-after/) [Francois Jacob](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-jacob/) > [And now life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future—you go to high school so you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/and-now-life-has-become-the-future-every-moment-of-your-life-is-lived/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/life-has-become-the-future-every-moment-of-your-life-is-lived-for-the/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [Although I'm not from London originally: I moved down here when I was 16, so it's played a part in my life. It's where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-craig/although-i-m-not-from-london-originally-i-moved-down-here-when-i-was/) [Daniel Craig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-craig/) > [I've already lived the lives of ten people. My father's 87 and still going strong. I think there's a lovely angel watching over me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hasselhoff/i-ve-already-lived-the-lives-of-ten-people-my-father-s-87-and-still/) [David Hasselhoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hasselhoff/) > [I feel like I've lived four or five lifetimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-pellegrino/i-feel-like-i-ve-lived-four-or-five-lifetimes/) [Mark Pellegrino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-pellegrino/) ## More by Mark Doty > [One ambition of poetry, certainly, is to create a reverberant silence in its wake, one that means more or differently than the silence that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/one-ambition-of-poetry-certainly-is-to-create-a-reverberant-silence/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [... the attempt to render visual intricacy makes words feel unwieldy, like sacks of meaning that must be lugged into place, dragged here and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/the-attempt-to-render-visual-intricacy-makes-words-feel-unwieldy-like/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“And now, a heap of roses beside the sea, white rugosa beside the foaming hem of shore: brave, waxen candles… And we talk as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/and-now-a-heap-of-roses-beside-the-sea-white-rugosa-beside-the/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“Doesn’t rain make a memory more intimate?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/doesn-t-rain-make-a-memory-more-intimate/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“I used to walk out, at night, to the breakwater which divides the end of the harbor form the broad moor of the salt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/i-used-to-walk-out-at-night-to-the-breakwater-which-divides-the-end/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“And, I think, this greening does thaw at the edges, at least, of my own cold season. Joy sneaks in: listening to music, riding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/and-i-think-this-greening-does-thaw-at-the-edges-at-least-of-my-own/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [In Judith Barrington's striking collection, Horses and the Human Soul, human emotions come ushered and accompanied by animal companions, especially the horses this speaker…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/in-judith-barrington-s-striking-collection-horses-and-the-human-soul/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [Poetry is ... the physical enactment of a process of knowing by means of language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/poetry-is-the-physical-enactment-of-a-process-of-knowing-by-means-of/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [We love disasters that have nothing to do with us](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/we-love-disasters-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-us/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“Does the poem reside in experience or in self-consciousness about experience?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/does-the-poem-reside-in-experience-or-in-self-consciousness-about/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > ['Everything beautiful occurs when the body / is suspended,' Helena Mesa quotes a performance artist who hangs his own pierced body in the air.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/everything-beautiful-occurs-when-the-body-is-suspended-helena-mesa/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [Intimacy, says the phenomenologist Gaston Bachelard, is the highest value. I resist this statement at first. What about artistic achievement, or moral courage, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/intimacy-says-the-phenomenologist-gaston-bachelard-is-the-highest/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [It's unsettling, to lose the safety of the familiar, even when what's disrupted is an ordinary routine. When I began this poem, I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/it-s-unsettling-to-lose-the-safety-of-the-familiar-even-when-what-s/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [Desire can make anything into a god.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/desire-can-make-anything-into-a-god/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [“In the museums we used to visit on family vacations when I was a kid, I used to love those rooms which displayed collections…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/in-the-museums-we-used-to-visit-on-family-vacations-when-i-was-a-kid/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) [Explore all 59 Mark Doty quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) ## More Constantly quotes > [My weight fluctuates constantly—I don't really take good care of myself. I just sort of exist and survive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-fox/my-weight-fluctuates-constantly-i-don-t-really-take-good-care-of/) [Megan Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-fox/) > [I am constantly nice to people. Sometimes they don't deserve it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rylan-clark-neal/i-am-constantly-nice-to-people-sometimes-they-don-t-deserve-it/) [Rylan Clark-Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rylan-clark-neal/) > [For I am fresh of spirit, and resolved To meet all perils very constantly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/for-i-am-fresh-of-spirit-and-resolved-to-meet-all-perils-very/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [I'm not an artist, and I want to take risks, and when the possibility of failure occurs, it's because the idea is all exciting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-morgan/i-m-not-an-artist-and-i-want-to-take-risks-and-when-the-possibility/) [Peter Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-morgan/) > [Every two or three years I knock off for a while. That way I'm constantly the new girl in the whorehouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-mitchum/every-two-or-three-years-i-knock-off-for-a-while-that-way-i-m/) [Robert Mitchum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-mitchum/) > [What's David's role? David looks good, that's what David does. David looks good, and I'm the funny one, that's what I hear constantly. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-beckham/what-s-david-s-role-david-looks-good-that-s-what-david-does-david/) [Victoria Beckham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-beckham/) > [I always see people tweeting about these crazy amazing things their boyfriend or girlfriend did for them. You shouldn't have to constantly be trying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-prokop/i-always-see-people-tweeting-about-these-crazy-amazing-things-their/) [Matt Prokop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-prokop/) > [“Being constantly hungry is no life at all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emma-woolf/being-constantly-hungry-is-no-life-at-all/) [Emma Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emma-woolf/) > [One thing that is constantly on my iPod is India Arie - I like her a lot; I listen to her a lot. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audra-mcdonald/one-thing-that-is-constantly-on-my-ipod-is-india-arie-i-like-her-a/) [Audra McDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audra-mcdonald/) > [You have to constantly redefine who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-i-a/you-have-to-constantly-redefine-who-you-are/) [M.I.A](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-i-a/) > [One needs to constantly read up, practice and work, irrespective of your profession. If I feel as an actor that I know everything, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonam-kapoor/one-needs-to-constantly-read-up-practice-and-work-irrespective-of/) [Sonam Kapoor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonam-kapoor/) > [“She constantly felt as if she were physically wading through air the consistency of thick, wet cement. The”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-may/she-constantly-felt-as-if-she-were-physically-wading-through-air-the/) [Susan May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-may/) > [I like Kelela. I like Twigs. I love the more old school; I hate to say old school, but I love Peaches; I love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neneh-cherry/i-like-kelela-i-like-twigs-i-love-the-more-old-school-i-hate-to-say/) [Neneh Cherry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neneh-cherry/) > [I feel like every time I train, I'm moving so far forward. I'm constantly evolving.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-browne/i-feel-like-every-time-i-train-i-m-moving-so-far-forward-i-m/) [Travis Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/travis-browne/) > [I'm an inveterate bookstore wanderer. I read constantly, so I love a good bookstore. I can't help it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-crosby/i-m-an-inveterate-bookstore-wanderer-i-read-constantly-so-i-love-a/) [David Crosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-crosby/) [Browse all 1,130 Constantly quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/constantly/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "All my life I've lived with a future which constantly diminishes but never vanishes.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Doty" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-which-constantly-diminishes-but/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Constantly" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-which-constantly-diminishes-but/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/mark-doty-11557_life_all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-whi_1096204.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/mark-doty-11557_life_all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-whi_1096204.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a50/mark-doty-11557_life_all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-whi_1096204.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“All my life I've lived with a future which constantly diminishes but never vanishes.” — Mark Doty", "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": "Mark Doty", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "All my life I've lived with...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-which-constantly-diminishes-but/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/all-my-life-i-ve-lived-with-a-future-which-constantly-diminishes-but/#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 } } ] } ```