"The past is a prologue, and the future can be looked forward to" means that once something happens, it has become the past. The extended meaning is to stop dwelling on the past, but to grasp the present and face the future. The "prologue" is the words written at the beginning of the article, not the main text, nor is it an important part of the article. Everything in the past is a prologue, which means to understate the past.

The original sentence is "Everything in the past is only a prologue." It comes from the beginning of Shakespeare's play "The Tempest" and is one of Shakespeare's famous quotes. This sentence has also been translated as "Everything in the past is just a prologue." "Introduction" or "The past is only a prologue." Everything that happened has become the past. Don’t be afraid of the future and don’t dwell on the past. "The Tempest" was written in 1611 and is Shakespeare's last "legendary play". "The Tempest" describes the story of Prospero, Duke of Milan, who was deprived of his title by his younger brother Antonio. He fled to a desert island with his daughter Miranda and a magic book, where he dispatched elves and called for wind and rain. The sentence "Everything that passes is prologue" appears in Act 2, Scene 1, and comes from the mouth of his brother Antonio.