You wake up in the morning, and your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of un-manufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. No one can take it from you. And no one receives either more or less than you receive.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist, Playwright, Critic
The organized person … makes the most of his time and goes to his bed for the night perfectly relaxed for rest and renewal.
—George Matthew Adams (1878–1962) American Columnist, Journalist
Simplicity of character is no hindrance to subtlety of intellect.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Political Leader, Writer, Editor, Journalist
Time is the wisest counsellor of all.
—Pericles (c.490–429 BCE) Athenian Statesman, General
An earnest purpose finds time, or makes it. It seizes on spare moments, and turns fragments to golden account.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Time is the dressing room for eternity.
—Unknown
Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
I get up every morning determined both to change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
Live while you live, the epicure would say, and seize the pleasures of the passing day.—Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries, and give to God each moment as it flies.—Lord, in my views, let both united be. I live in pleasure while I live to thee.
—Philip Doddridge (1702–51) English Nonconformist Religious Leader, Educator, Hymn writer
The morning hour has gold in its mouth.
—German Proverb
No one can be right all of the time, but it helps to be right most of the time.
—Robert Half
Nothing is swifter than our years.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
The infinite is in the finite of every instant.
—Unknown
There is a time and place for everything.
—Common Proverb
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
When we are doing what we love, we don’t care about time. For at least at that moment, time doesn’t exist and we are truly free.
—Marcia Wieder
The modest want of every day, the toil of every day supplied.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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
It is familiarity with life that makes time speed quickly. When every day is a step in the unknown, as for children, the days are long with gathering of experience.
—George Gissing (1857–1903) English Novelist
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
Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness; no laziness; no procrastination; never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
The greatest loss of time is delay and expectation, which depend upon the future. We let go the present, which we have in our power, and look forward to that which depends upon chance, and so relinquish a certainty for an uncertainty.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Time is what keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater obstacle to God than time: and not only time but temporalities, not only temporal things but temporal affections, not only temporal affections but the very taint and smell of time.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
Now is the watchword of the wise.
—Common Proverb
Time is the devourer of all things.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
I am coming to feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of goodwill. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
This time, like all times, is a very good one if we but know what to do with it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Make it a point to do something every day that you don’t want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
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