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Who really said it

I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day

Written by Harvey Spencer Lewis 1883–1939 · American Rosicrucian writer
Disputed Free to reuse

Lewis wrote these sentences in “The Doctrine of Reincarnation,” Part Three, The Mystic Triangle, June 1927, page 115. The inspected magazine supplies his byline on page 114; the circulating form modernizes punctuation.

Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day” Harvey Spencer Lewis, “The Doctrine of Reincarnation,” Part Three, The Mystic Triangle (June 1927), p. 115; punctuation lightly modernized. Not James Joyce.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to James Joyce. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

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In context

Evoking the world of Harvey Spencer Lewis — American Rosicrucian writer. Theme: "I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source

Article
The Doctrine of Reincarnation, Part Three
Publication
The Mystic Triangle, June 1927
Pages
Byline on 114; quotation on 115

I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.

The 1927 magazine

How we verified this

Public domain

The English prose appeared in a U.S. magazine in 1927 and is public domain in the United States. This is not a modern translation.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Lewis’s magazine prose, not Joyce

The primary source is signed and dated.

James Joyce

Wikiquote ↗ identifies this attribution as mistaken; the original magazine names Lewis.

Credit Harvey Spencer Lewis and the June 1927 article.

Context

Why it mattered

Lewis is arguing that present circumstances can result from actions in an earlier incarnation. He places these sentences between a defense of reincarnation as an explanation for unequal conditions and examples of people overlooking the karmic causes of their health or advantages.

Detached from that setting, the passage sounds like a secular maxim about building one’s future. The documentary source, however, concerns the particular religious teachings Lewis was presenting to Rosicrucian readers.

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Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Time Purpose Character

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Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

The 1927 magazineb45e1c3778bbf3ebb96c-637cca54df3fd347e9c3d5d35c2f839a.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com

The article bears H. Spencer Lewis’s byline on page 114 and contains both sentences on page 115.
The Joyce miscrediten.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote identifies Lewis’s 1927 reincarnation article as the source.
Lewis’s life and organizationen.wikipedia.org

Biographical reference identifies his dates and founding leadership of AMORC.
Lewis’s other writingsen.wikiquote.org

The sourced quotations page identifies Lewis as a Rosicrucian writer and documents his related writings about the soul.

The author

About Harvey Spencer Lewis

Harvey Spencer Lewis

1883–1939 · American Rosicrucian writer

Harvey Spencer Lewis founded the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, or AMORC, in 1915 and led it until his death. His magazine writing presented the organization’s esoteric teachings, including its account of reincarnation and karma.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

Lewis, H. Spencer. “The Doctrine of Reincarnation,” Part Three. The Mystic Triangle, June 1927, 114–115, quotation 115.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/i-am-tomorrow-or-some-future-day-what-i-establish-today-i/

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