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The quotation in the title seems to appear everywhere on the Internet, but it is never attributed to anyone. Is there somebody who knows its origin?

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Hello, and welcome to ELU. Unfortunately, sourcing quotes is not something that we do on this site, so I'm voting to close this. – JSBձոգչ Jul 24 '12 at 13:12

closed as off topic by JSBձոգչ, cornbread ninja 麵包忍者, Matt Эллен, Robusto, Mitch Jul 30 '12 at 19:28

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1 Answer

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After some digging, it appears to have been written by John Galsworthy. The full context is thus:

The future isn't what it used to be. We can predict everything, except the future. The future's uncertain and the end is always near. There is very little future in being right when your boss is wrong. If you do not think about the future, you cannot have one.

I found this on a mailing list and someone had posted it. The source was not listed, but wikiquote seems to suggests his work Swan Song (1928) Pt. II, Ch. 6 for the last line.

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