When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough.
—Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) Belgian Poet, Playwright, Essayist
There are many To-morrows, my Love, my Love, –
There is only one To-day.
—Joaquin Miller (1837–1913) American Poet, Journalist
We cannot waste time. We can only waste ourselves.
—George Madison Adams (1837–1920) American Politician, Military Leader
To-morrow – oh, ’twill never be,
If we should live a thousand years!
Our time is all to-day, to-day,
The same, though changed; and while it flies
With still small voice the moments say:
“To-day, to-day, be wise, be wise”.
—James Montgomery (1771–1854) English Hymn writer, Poet, Editor, Humanitarian
Men, for the sake of getting a living forget to live.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
I think I don’t regret a single ‘excess’ of my responsive youth – I only regret, in my chilled age, certain occasions and possibilities I didn’t embrace.
—Henry James (1843–1916) American-born British Novelist, Writer
Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear.
—Unknown
When one has a great deal to put into it a day has a hundred pockets.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
—Annie Dillard (b.1945) Essayist, Novelist, Poet, Naturalist, Mystic
Death twitches my ear. “Live,” he says, “I am coming.”
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
Expect an early death – it will keep you busier.
—Martin H. Fischer
I wish I could stand on a busy corner, hat in hand, and beg people to throw me all their wasted hours.
—Bernard Berenson (1865–1959) Russian-born American Art Historian
You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you’ve got plenty to watch.
—Unknown
Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
We do not do what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are – that is the fact.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Screenwriter, Political Activist
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Life is always walking up to us and saying, “Come on in, the living’s fine,” and what do we do? Back off and take its picture.
—Russell Baker (1925–2019) American Journalist, Humorist, Television Host
We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.
—Japanese Proverb
Catch, then, oh catch the transient hour;
Improve each moment as it flies!
Life’s a short summer, man a flower;
He dies – alas! how soon he dies.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.
—John Henry Newman (1801–90) British Theologian, Poet
Every day is an opportunity to make a new happy ending.
—Unknown
Let us therefore set out whole-heartedly, leaving aside our many distractions and exert ourselves in this single purpose, before we realize too late the swift and unstoppable flight of time and are left behind. As each day arises, welcome it as the very best day of all, and make it your own possession. We must seize what flees.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Stop waiting. Twenty years is the first bomb of the future.
—Unknown
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
—Jack London (1876–1916) American Novelist
Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Life is short, God’s way of encouraging a bit of focus.
—Robert Brault
Most of us spend our lives as if we had another one in the bank.
—Unknown
I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.
—John Burroughs (1837–1921) American Naturalist, Writer
The future has a way of arriving unannounced.
—George Will (b.1941) American Columnist, Journalist, Writer
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
Now is the time to get drunk! To stop being the martyred slaves of time, to get absolutely drunk—on wine, poetry, or on virtue, as you please.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
Do not take life too seriously—you will never get out of it alive.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
Life, if well lived, is long enough.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
The word “now” is like a bomb thrown through the window, and it ticks.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
There are but three events in a man’s life: birth, life, and death. He is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Later never exists.
—Unknown
Present your family and friends with their eulogies now – they won’t be able to hear how much you love them and appreciate them from inside the coffin.
—Anonymous
Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is the special occasion.
—Unknown
We are always getting ready to live, but never living.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Every second is of infinite value.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
If we would only give, just once, the same amount of reflection to what we want to get out of life that we give to the question of what to do with a two weeks’ vacation, we would be startled at our false standards and the aimless procession of our busy days.
—Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879–1958) American Novelist
In theory one is aware that the earth revolves, but in practice one does not perceive it, the ground upon which one treads seems not to move, and one can live undisturbed. So it is with Time in one’s life.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist