The value of moments, when cast up, is immense, if well employed; if thrown away, their loss is irrevocable.
—Earl of Chesterfield (1694–1773) English Statesman, Man of Letters
You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.
—Unknown
‘Tis better to buy a small bouquet
And give to your friend this very day,
Than a bushel of roses white and red
To lay on his coffin after he’s dead.
—Unknown
Most of us spend our lives as if we had another one in the bank.
—Unknown
We die daily. Happy those who daily come to life as well.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
Men, for the sake of getting a living forget to live.
—Margaret Fuller (1810–50) American Feminist, Writer, Revolutionary
For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But here was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that this was my life. This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.
—Unknown
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
We are always getting ready to live, but never living.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What would be the use of immortality to a person who cannot use well a half an hour.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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
The future has a way of arriving unannounced.
—George Will (b.1941) American Columnist, Journalist, Writer
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
We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.
—Japanese Proverb
Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die tomorrow.
—James Dean (1931–55) American Film Actor
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
You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you’ve got plenty to watch.
—Unknown
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
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
To be always intending to live a new life, but never to find time to set about it; this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day and night to another, till he is starved and destroyed.
—John Tillotson
though love be a day and life be nothing, it shall not stop kissing.
—e. e. cummings (1894–1962) American Poet, Writer, Painter
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
Enjoy yourself—it’s later than you think.
—Chinese Proverb
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
The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.
—Annie Dillard (b.1945) Essayist, Novelist, Poet, Naturalist, Mystic
Stop waiting. Twenty years is the first bomb of the future.
—Unknown
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
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
Enjoy yourself. It’s later than you think.
—Chinese Proverb
We cannot waste time. We can only waste ourselves.
—George Madison Adams (1837–1920) American Politician, Military Leader
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
Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.
—Stephen Vincent Benet (1898–1943) American Poet
The word “now” is like a bomb thrown through the window, and it ticks.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. The dark background which death supplies brings out the tender colors of life in all their purity.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Fields can lie fallow, but we can’t; we have less time.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
So much of our time is spent in preparation, so much in routine, and so much in retrospect, that the amount of each person’s genius is confined to a very few hours.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Death twitches my ear. “Live,” he says, “I am coming.”
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
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
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around for a while you just might miss it.
—Movie: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.
—Larry McMurtry (b.1936) American Novelist, Screenwriter
Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.
—Wayne Dyer (b.1940) American Motivational Writer, Author, Motivational Speaker
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
Life, if well lived, is long enough.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
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