“If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.” (Macbeth act 1, sc. 3)
Comments. You are requested for a forecast and after delivering it you are asked questions of the type “How do you know this?” Answer nonchalantly, “I can look into the seeds of time and say which grain will grow and which will not.” It should work especially if you are not sure about your predictions. With a minor modification the line will work even in a job interview, e.g. “Who can look into the seeds of time?” or similar.
He who writes worked for a few years for a large corporation that had a rather complex forecasting system. It occupied the time of managers for some weeks of every year. I can confidently state that the accuracy of a forecast is inversely proportional to its complexity. We have only to look at the giant corporation (not to speak of Wall Street, the realm of complex and arcane terminology and ultra-sophisticated systems. The examples speak by themselves.
Of course we are interested in the future. After all, that is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives. On the other hand, the best (and most accurate) thing that can be said about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.
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In the play. Banquo prompts the witches to make a forecast of future events as they affect Banquo and Macbeth.
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