Time is what we want most, but what alas! we use worst.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
City people try to buy time as a rule, when they can, whereas country people are prepared to kill time, although both try to cherish in their mind’s eye the notion of a better life ahead.
—Edward Hoagland (b.1932) American Essayist, Novelist
Misspending a man’s time is a kind of self-homicide.
—E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (1881–1959) British Politician, Political leader
Time is the scarcest resource of the manager; If it is not managed, nothing else can be managed.
—Peter Drucker (1909–2005) Austrian-born Management Consultant
Time is an illusion—to orators.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Screenwriter, Political Activist
Time is the product of changing realities, beings, existences.
—Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948) Russian Christian Philosopher, Religious Leader
When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
Time is too slow for those who wait
too swift for those who fear
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love, time is eternity.
Hours fly, flowers die,
new days, new ways pass by,
Love stays.
—Henry van Dyke Jr. (1852–1933) American Author, Educator, Clergyman
Be intent on the perfection of the present day.
—William Law (1686–1761) English Clergyman
Time is a fluid condition which has no existence except in the momentary avatars of individual people.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist
Simple truths are a relief from grand speculations.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
He lives long that lives well; and time misspent is not lived, but lost. God is better than his promise if he takes from him a long lease, and gives him a free hold of a better value.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Everything passes, everything perishes, everything palls.
—French Proverb
Let the day have a blessed baptism by giving your first waking thoughts into the bosom of God.—The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
Simplicity is the glory of expression.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Reality is a staircase going neither up nor down, we don’t move; today is today, always is today.
—Octavio Paz (1914–98) Mexican Poet, Diplomat
Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late. Today, this hour, this minute is the day, the hour, the minute for each of us to sense the fact that life is good, with all of its trials and troubles, and perhaps more interesting because of them.
—Robert R. Updegraff
The happiest people spend much time in a state of flow – the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.
—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (b.1934) Hungarian-American Psychologist
Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine Writer, Essayist, Poet
One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Time is not a line, but a series of now-points.
—Taisen Deshimaru (1914–82) Japanese Buddhist Teacher
The geometry of landscape and situation seems to create its own systems of time, the sense of a dynamic element which is cinematizing the events of the canvas, translating a posture or ceremony into dynamic terms. The greatest movie of the 20th century is the Mona Lisa, just as the greatest novel is Gray’s Anatomy.
—J. G. Ballard (1930–2009) English Novelist, Short Story Writer
If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
What is human life? The first third a good time; the rest remembering about it.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The timeless moment.—The ‘moment’ has no yesterday or tomorrow. It is not the result of thought and therefore has no time.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
Time has a wonderful way of weeding out the trivial.
—Richard Sapir (b.1936) American Novelist
People who never have any time on their hands are those who do the least.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
The laboring man and the artificer knows what every hour of his time is worth, and parts not with it but for the full value: they are only noblemen and gentlemen, who should know best how to use it, that think it only fit to be cast away; and their not knowing how to set a true value upon this, is the true cause of the wrong estimate they make of all other things.
—Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1609–74) English Statesman, Historian
You are not born for fame if you don’t know the value of time.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
He who every morning plans the transactions of the day and follows out that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life. The orderly arrangement of his time is a like a ray of life which darts itself through all his occupations. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incident, chaos will soon reign.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
They say that time is a great teacher but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
—Lama Surya Das (b.1950) American Buddhist Scholar, Teacher
Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Time is the author of authors.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Time, whose tooth gnaws away at everything else, is powerless against truth.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A day may sink or save a realm.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
Time is that which man is always trying to kill, but which ends in killing him.
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) English Polymath, Philosopher, Sociologist, Political Theorist
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
We are always acting on what has just finished happening. It happened at least 1/30th of a second ago. We think we’re in the present, but we aren’t. The present we know is only a movie of the past.
—Thomas Wolfe (1900–38) American Novelist
The clock has decided to take time into its own hands.
—Anonymous
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own;
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
He that rises late must trot all day.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
We create our fate every day … most of the ills we suffer from are directly traceable to our own behavior.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
What may be done at any time will be done at no time.
—Scottish Proverb