Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew.
—Francis de Sales (1567–1622) French Catholic Saint
A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
An Italian philosopher said that “time was his estate” an estate indeed which will produce nothing without cultivation, but will always abundantly repay the labors of industry, and generally satisfy the most extensive desires, if no part of it be suffered to lie in waste by negligence, to be overrun with noxious plants, or laid out for show rather than for use.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
The ability to concentrate and to use time well is everything.
—Lee Iacocca (1924–2019) American Businessperson
What you are afraid to do is a clear indicator of the next thing you need to do.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
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
And each man stands with his face in the light of his own drawn sword. Ready to do what a hero can.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
If you are not happy here and now, you never will be.
—Taisen Deshimaru (1914–82) Japanese Buddhist Teacher
Make use of time, let not advantage slip.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Lost time is like a run in a stocking. It always gets worse.
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) American Aviator, Author
Ah! the clock is always slow; it is later than you think.
—Robert W. Service (1874–1958) Scottish Poet, Author
We shall never have more time. We have, and have always had, all the time there is. No object is served in waiting until next week or even until to-morrow. Keep going day in and out. Concentrate on something useful. Having decided to achieve a task, achieve it at all costs.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist, Playwright, Critic
The best way to secure future happiness is to be as happy as is rightfully possible today.
—Charles William Eliot (1834–1926) American Educationalist
Time! suspend your flight. Propitious hours, suspend your course! Let us savour the swift delights of the most beautiful of our days.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Each day can be one of triumph if you keep up your interests.
—George Matthew Adams (1878–1962) American Columnist, Journalist
Live in day-tight compartments.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
Follow your bliss. Find where it is and don’t be afraid to follow it.
—Joseph Campbell (1904–87) American Mythologist, Writer, Lecturer
Fulfill your works, your daily tasks … .
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
It is nonsense to say there is not enough time to be fully informed … Time given to thought is the greatest timesaver of all.
—Norman Cousins (1915–90) American Journalist, Author, Academic, Activist
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
—John Wesley (1703–91) British Methodist Religious Leader, Preacher, Theologian
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
Without duty, life is soft and boneless.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
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
All that time is lost which might be better employed.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
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
The clock upbraids me with the waste of time.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
Time wasted is a theft from God.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
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
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
Make the most of today. Translate your good intentions into actual deeds. Know that you can do what ought to be done. Improve your plans. Keep a definite goal of achievement constantly in view. Realize that work well and worthily done makes life truly worth living.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
They are the guiding oracles which man has found out for himself in that great business of ours, of learning how to be, to do, to do without, and to depart.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Political Leader, Writer, Editor, Journalist
I have resolved that from this day on, I will do all the business I can honestly, have all the fun I can reasonably, do all the good I can willingly, and save my digestion by thinking pleasantly.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Curse ruthless time! Curse our mortality. How cruelly short is the allotted span for all we must cram into it.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
If you want to kill time, try working it to death.
—Sam Levenson (1911–80) American Humorist, Writer, TV Personality, Journalist
Life is growth-a challenge of environment. If we cannot meet our everyday surroundings with equanimity and pleasure and grow each day in some useful direction, then this splendid balance of cosmic forces which we call life is on the road toward misfortune, misery and destruction. Therefore, health is the most precious of all things.
—Luther Burbank (1849–1926) American Botanist, Scientist
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
Do you know that disease and death must needs overtake us, no matter what we are doing? … What do you wish to be doing when it overtakes you? If you have anything better to be doing when you are so overtaken, get to work on that.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
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
When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
Love, and do what you like.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
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
There is time enough for every thing in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once ; but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist