“The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
This quote has no known author and is recorded as an anonymous proverb.
About this quote
Blanche says it while trying to explain to Mitch why the life she has left behind cannot simply be left behind. The line is the sharpest short statement of what it means to be exposed by your own history, and it is why the phrase still gets used by people talking about a divorce, a dismissal or a public mistake.
Source: A Streetcar Named Desire