Who you are, versus who you may have been

"'Tis always better to be who you are, then to strive after who you may have been."

Which is to say, if you ever have the chance to go back and change certain events in your past (as in, time travel), do not take it. The you that you could now be is not the you that you have become. In fact, the you that you may have become may be worse off than the you that you are, no matter what you may now believe.

It is the same with the past. It's possible that by changing certain events you could make the world a better place, but just as possible that you could make the world a much worse place.

Of course, the first quote is not the same as "'Tis always better to be who you are, then to strive after who you may become." Striving after a better self is what one should do (perhaps ... but that's for a later discussion), so long as you do not erase, or forget, who you have been.