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
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
Enjoy yourself—it’s later than you think.
—Chinese Proverb
Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear.
—Unknown
The word “now” is like a bomb thrown through the window, and it ticks.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
The follies which a man regrets most in his life, are those which he didn’t commit when he had the opportunity.
—Helen Rowland (1875–1950) American Journalist, Humorist
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
—Annie Dillard (b.1945) Essayist, Novelist, Poet, Naturalist, Mystic
Later never exists.
—Unknown
Most of us spend our lives as if we had another one in the bank.
—Unknown
Enjoy yourself. It’s later than you think.
—Chinese Proverb
Fields can lie fallow, but we can’t; we have less time.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Stop waiting. Twenty years is the first bomb of the future.
—Unknown
Life happens too fast for you ever to think about it. If you could just persuade people of this, but they insist on amassing information.
—Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
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
You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.
—Unknown
Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Lost time is never found again.
—Common Proverb
Expect an early death – it will keep you busier.
—Martin H. Fischer
We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.
—Japanese Proverb
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
Time is a great teacher but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
—Hector Berlioz (1803–69) French Composer, Conductor
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
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
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
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
Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Life, if well lived, is long enough.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Every second is of infinite value.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
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