Help from the hive mind?

[jennythereader]

I want to put this sentence as the subtitle to my LJ, but it's longer than they allow.

You can't change the past, you can't change now, you can only try to change the future.

Any suggestions for how I could rephrase it to be shorter? I need to squeeze 20 characters out of it.

9:47 Edit: My new idea: The past and present are frozen, but the future is still fixable.

Comments

[curlyeric.livejournal.com]

You can't change the past or present, you can only try to change the future.

Your actions can't change the past or present, but can change the future.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

I think the second one is closer to what I'm trying to say.

[arathreel.livejournal.com]

You can't change the past or present, but you can try to change the future.

The future is yours to change, not the present or the past.

You can't change anything now or before, but you can try and change soon.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

The third one definitely captures the concept of "the future" starting one millisecond from now, which is a key aspect of this part of my philosophy

[curlyeric.livejournal.com]

Even a perfect action can not change the past or the present.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

While it's a good sentiment, it's getting further from what I'm trying to say.

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Yesterday's Done, I'm Designing Tomorrow

Designing Tomorrow Instead

?

I shall ponder further

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Good ideas, but they don't really capture the un-changeability of what was and what is, which is sort of key to the idea.

Obligatory Filk Reference

[tetsujinnooni.livejournal.com]

"Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse."

Re: Obligatory Filk Reference

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

*groan*

[belmikey.livejournal.com]

Well, my own philosophy in life is basically this: "The only way to move is forward."

Or perhaps, if you're feeling musical, "Time keeps on slipping into the future" :-D

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

It's a good philosophy.

[11th-letter.livejournal.com]

But the future is not "fixable" because by definition it isn't broken...it hasn't happened yet, so nothing can have gone "wrong" that needs fixing. It literally does not exist until we make it so, which is the point of what you are trying to say.
What the future is is affectable, if that's a word.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

True... maybe I'll change it to "malleable," if that fits.

[stefka.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest "malleable." :)

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Great minds?

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Although... I tend to think of deliberate changes as attempts to fix something that's wrong. And the entire idea started as saying that you can't fix something that's wrong right now, you can only try to change things so that they won't continue to be wrong.

[11th-letter.livejournal.com]

Yes, agreed. I just think that "change things" goes against what you are trying to say. Really, neither the past, present, nor the future can be changed...the first two because they have already happened and are set, and the future because it does not exist yet. Nothing can be "wrong" with something that doesn't exist.
What *can* be changed are patterns of behavior. So, if past or current (set) conditions are not to one's liking, one can attempt to change themselves, (or other people, good luck with that) such that when the future becomes the present, those now set conditions will be more favorable.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Unfortunately, it's hard to keep nuances like that when I'm trying to squeeze a concept down into a shortish sentence.

[siderea]

"Choose again." -- Bujold

[nounsandverbs]

Having read all the comments, and having Sondheim on the brain thanks to that book, I'm now singing: "Yesterday is done/See the pretty countryside/Merrily we roll along, roll along ..."

Yes I am a geek.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes you are. Unfortunately, I'm a bad music geek because I don't think I've ever actually heard any of the songs from that show.

[siderea]

"Past, present, future: only the last you can change."

"Past, present, future: the fossil, the rock, and the potter's clay."

ETA:
"Past, present, future: the shard, the kiln, and the potter's clay."

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

Your second one is great, but I think the poetic language would keep people from understanding it.

I really like the first one, and might actually use it.