Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
—Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) American Biographer, Novelist, Socialist
I cannot afford to waste my time making money.
—Louis Agassiz (1807–73) Swiss-American Naturalist, Glaciologist
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
Success in the majority of circumstances depends on knowing how long it takes to succeed.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
Time has a wonderful way of weeding out the trivial.
—Richard Sapir (b.1936) American Novelist
Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1,000 percent return on energy.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the Present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future, without fear, and with a manly heart.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
—Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) French Sculptor
Time is money, especially when you are talking to a lawyer or buying a commercial.
—Frank Lane (1896–1981) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
Time spent with cats is never wasted.
—Colette (1873–1954) French Novelist, Performer
The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible—and achieve it, generation after generation.
—Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American Novelist, Human Rights Activist
My pipe is out, my glass is dry;
My fire is almost ashes too;
But once again, before you go,
And I prepare to meet the New;
Old Year! a parting word that’s true,
For we’ve been comrades, you and I–
I thank God for each day of you;
There! bless you now! Old Year, good-bye!
—Robert W. Service (1874–1958) Scottish Poet, Author
Ah! the clock is always slow; it is later than you think.
—Robert W. Service (1874–1958) Scottish Poet, Author
Your greatest asset is your earning ability. Your greatest resource is your time.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Wherever anything lives, there is, open somewhere, a register in which time is being inscribed.
—Henri Bergson (1859–1941) French Philosopher, Evolutionist
Through our great good fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935) American Jurist, Author
No one can be right all of the time, but it helps to be right most of the time.
—Robert Half
Act well at the moment, and you have performed a good action to all eternity.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
Lost time is never found again.
—Common Proverb
If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality, since lost time is never found again; and what we call time enough always proves little enough. Let us then up and be doing, and doing to the purpose; so by diligence shall we do more with less perplexity.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Time is a great healer, but a poor beautician.
—Lucille S. Harper American Freelance Writer
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
When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it’s longer than any hour. That’s relativity.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Time will discover everything to posterity; it is a babbler, and speaks even when no question is put.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Time is money says the proverb, but turn it around and you get a precious truth. Money is time.
—George Gissing (1857–1903) English Novelist
It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
I saw a bank that said “24-Hour Banking”, but I don’t have that much time.
—Steven Wright (b.1955) American Comedian, Actor, Writer
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
Enjoy the spring of love and youth, to some good angel leave the rest; For time will teach thee soon the truth, there are no birds in last year’s nest.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
The present contains nothing more than the past, and what is found in the effect was already in the cause.
—Henri Bergson (1859–1941) French Philosopher, Evolutionist
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
—Theophrastus (c.372–c.286 BCE) Greek Philosopher
The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
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
Wait for the wisest of all counselors, Time.
—Pericles (c.490–429 BCE) Athenian Statesman, General
In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.
—John Lubbock (1834–1913) English Politician, Biologist
Time is the king of all men, he is their parent and their grave, and gives them what he will and not what they crave.
—Pericles (c.490–429 BCE) Athenian Statesman, General
We are condemned to kill time, thus we die bit by bit.
—Octavio Paz (1914–98) Mexican Poet, Diplomat
Yesterday is a cancelled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have — so spend it wisely.
—Unknown
It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
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
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
If we listened to our intellect we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go in business because we’d be cynical: It’s gonna go wrong. Or She’s going to hurt me. Or, I’ve had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore … Well, that’s nonsense. You’re going to miss life. You’ve got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.
—Ray Bradbury (b.1920) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Time bears away all things, even the mind.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
If you want work well done, select a busy man; the other kind has no time.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships everyday. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.
—Barbara De Angelis (b.1951) American Lecturer, Author, TV Personality, Motivational Speaker
Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Lost time is never found again.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Don’t be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Time is so fleeting that if we do not remember God in our youth, age may find us incapable of thinking about him.
—Hans Christian Andersen (1805–75) Danish Author, Poet, Short Story Writer
The ages of seven to eleven is a huge chunk of life, full of dulling and forgetting. It is fabled that we slowly lose the gift of speech with animals, that birds no longer visit our windowsills to converse. As our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armour themselves against wonder.
—Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) Canadian Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Novelist
The purpose of life is not to win. The purpose of life is to grow and to share. When you come to look back on all that you have done in life, you will get more satisfaction from the pleasure you have brought into other people’s lives that you will from the times that you outdid and defeated them.
—Harold Kushner (b.1935) American Jewish Religious Leader, Priest
It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Pick my left pocket of its silver dime, but spare the right, — it holds my golden time!
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
Each moment, as it passes, is the meeting place of two eternities.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
There’s time enough, but none to spare.
—Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932) American Novelist, Essayist, Political Activist, Short Story Write
What comes first, the compass or the clock? Before one can truly manage time (the clock), it is important to know where you are going, what your priorities and goals are, in which direction you are headed (the compass). Where you are headed is more important than how fast you are going. Rather than always focusing on what’s urgent, learn to focus on what is really important.
—Unknown
And only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live in every experience, painful or joyous; to live in gratitude for every moment, to live abundantly.
—Dorothy Thompson (1893–1961) American Journalist, Radio Personality
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
—Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
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
Management manages by making decisions and by seeing that those decisions are implemented.
—Harold S. Geneen (1910–1997) British-American Businessman
There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
You’ll find as you grow older that you weren’t born such a very great while ago after all. The time shortens up.
—William Dean Howells (1837–1920) American Novelist, Critic.
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
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
Patience and time do more than strength or passion.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
We are weighed down, every moment, by the conception and the sensation of Time. And there are but two means of escaping and forgetting this nightmare: pleasure and work. Pleasure consumes us. Work strengthens us. Let us choose.
—Charles Baudelaire (1821–67) French Poet, Art Critic, Essayist, Translator
It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
It’s a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up.
—J. K. Rowling (b.1965) English Novelist
Time turns the old days to derision, our loves into corpses or wives; and marriage and death and division make barren our lives.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) English Poet, Novelist
Just as you would not permit a fellow employee to steal a piece of office equipment, you shouldn’t let anyone walk away with the time of his fellow managers.
—Andrew Grove (1936–2016) Hungarian-born American Businessperson
I have lots of things to teach you now, in case we ever meet, concerning the message that was transmitted to me under a pine tree in North Carolina on a cold winter moonlit night. It said that Nothing Ever Happened, so don’t worry. It’s all like a dream. Everything is ecstasy, inside. We just don’t know it because of our thinking-minds. But in our true blissful essence of mind is known that everything is alright forever and forever and forever. Close your eyes, let your hands and nerve-ends drop, stop breathing for 3 seconds, listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world, and you will remember the lesson you forgot, which was taught in immense milky way soft cloud innumerable worlds long ago and not even at all. It is all one vast awakened thing. I call it the golden eternity. It is perfect. We were never really born, we will never really die. It has nothing to do with the imaginary idea of a personal self, other selves, many selves everywhere: Self is only an idea, a mortal idea. That which passes into everything is one thing. It’s a dream already ended. There’s nothing to be afraid of and nothing to be glad about. I know this from staring at mountains months on end. They never show any expression, they are like empty space. Do you think the emptiness of space will ever crumble away? Mountains will crumble, but the emptiness of space, which is the one universal essence of The Mind vast awakenerhood, empty and awake, will never crumble away because it was never born.
—Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American Novelist, Poet
People who never have any time on their hands are those who do the least.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Time is like the wind, it lifts the light and leaves the heavy.
—Domenico Cieri (b.1954) Mexican Author, Aphorist
Life is half spent before we know what it is.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
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
Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.
—Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French Theologian, Musician, Philosopher, Physician
It is reported that more than 90% of what we worry about never happens. That means that our negative worries have less than a 10% chance of being correct. If this is so, isn’t being positive more realistic than being negative? Think about your own life. I’ll wager that most of what you worry about never happens. So are you being realistic when you worry all the time? No!
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.
—Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–89) English Poet, Writer
I saw that we’re all doing the best we can. This is how a lifetime of humility begins.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one’s faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one’s memories.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
The best way to fill time is to waste it.
—Marguerite Duras (1914–96) French Novelist, Playwright
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
Start thinking about yourself as a lifetime student at a large university. Your curriculum is your total relationship with the world you live in, from the moment you’re born to the moment you die.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
Time and tide wait for no man. A pompous and self-satisfied proverb, and was true for a billion years; but in our day of electric wires and water-ballast we turn it around: Man waits not for time nor tide.
—Common Proverb
Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. Let them be your only diet, drink, and botanical medicines.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Nothing is to come, and nothing past: But an eternal now, does always last.
—Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet, Essayist
A man’s time, when well husbanded, is like a cultivated field, of which a few acres produces more of what is useful to life, than extensive provinces, even of the richest soil, when overrun with weeds and brambles.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
A good holiday is one spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours.
—J. B. Priestley (1894–1984) English Novelist, Playwright, Critic
When grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
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
Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.
—Sam Levenson (1911–80) American Humorist, Writer, TV Personality, Journalist
Time is the one thing we possess. Our success depends upon the use of our time, and its by-product, the odd moment.
—Arthur Brisbane (1864–1936) American Newspaper Editor, Investor
Study the past, if you would define the future.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
What a folly to dread the thought of throwing away life at once, and yet have no regard to throwing it away by parcels and piecemeal.
—John Howe (b.1957) Canadian Artist
Take a risk a day—one small or bold stroke that will make you feel great once you’ve done it. Even if it doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to, at least you’ve tried. You didn’t sit back…powerless. Watch what starts to happen when you expand your comfort zone…with each risk you take, each time you move out of what feels comfortable, you become more powerful… As your power builds, so does your confidence, so that stretching your comfort zone becomes easier and easier, despite any fear you may experiencing. The magnitude of the risks you take also expands.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
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
I am ready any time. Do not keep me waiting.
—John Mason Brown (1900–69) American Columnist, Journalist, Author
Time is the wisest counsellor of all.
—Pericles (c.490–429 BCE) Athenian Statesman, General
Believe me when I tell you that thrift of time will repay you in after life, with a usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams; and that waste of it will make you dwindle, alike in intellectual and moral stature, beyond your darkest reckoning.
—William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98) English Liberal Statesman, Prime Minister
Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
Sometimes I feel that life is passing me by, not slowly either, but with ropes of steam and spark-spattered wheels and a hoarse roar of power or terror. It’s passing, yet I’m the one who’s doing all the moving.
—Martin Amis (b.1949) British Novelist, Journalist
There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.
—James Baldwin (1924–87) American Novelist, Social Critic
Life is hardly more than a fraction of a second. Such a little time to prepare oneself for eternity!
—Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) French Post-Impressionist Painter
The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow.
—H. G. Wells (1866–1946) English Novelist, Historian, Social Thinker
Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.
—Frank Zappa (1940–93) American Rock Guitarist, Singer, Composer
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
A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he has lost no time.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Man… cannot learn to forget, but hangs on the past: however far or fast he runs, that chain runs with him.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. Leisure is time for doing something useful, and this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never, for a life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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 hurries on with a resistless, unremitting stream, yet treads more soft than e’er did midnight thief that slides his hand under the miser’s pillow, and carries off his prize.
—Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Scottish Preacher, Scholar, Critic
A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
—Charles Darwin (1809–82) English Naturalist
Eternity — waste of time.
—Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972) American Playwright, Poet, Novelist
What do you want to get done? In what order of importance? Over what period of time? What is the time available? What is the best strategy for application of time to projects for the most effective results?
—Ted Engstrom (1916–2006) American Christian Religious Leader
One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
There are whole years for which I hope I’ll never be cross-examined, for I could not give an alibi.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
A truer image of the world, I think, is obtained by picturing things as entering into the stream of time from an eternal world outside, than from a view which regards time as the devouring tyrant of all that is.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
At times it is folly to hasten at other times, to delay. The wise do everything in its proper time.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
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
Everything passes, everything perishes, everything palls.
—French Proverb
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
This required abandoning the idea that there is a universal quantity called time that all clocks measure. Instead, everyone would have his own personal time. The clocks of two people would agree if they were at rest with respect to each other but not if they were moving. This has been confirmed by a number of experiments, including one in which an extremely accurate timepiece was flown around the world and then compared with one that had stayed in place. If you wanted to live longer, you could keep flying to the east so the speed of the plane added to the earth.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic
Remember that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad or sits idle one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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
Tomorrow do thy worst, I have lived today.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Don’t say you don’t have enough time.
You have exactly the same number of hours per day
that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur,
Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci,
Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (b.1940) American Self-Help Author
Time destroys the speculation of men, but it confirms nature.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
While one finds company in himself and his pursuits, he cannot feel old, no matter what his years may be.
—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
Time is the greatest of all tyrants. As we go on toward age, he taxes our health, limbs, faculties, strength, and features.
—John Foster Dulles (1888–1959) American Lawyer, Diplomat, Politician
The lifeless boughs of time.
—Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950) American Poet, Novelist
It is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the future, and impossible to live in the past. Nothing is as far away as one minute ago.
—Jim Bishop (1907–87) American Journalist, Author
We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
No man goes before his time — unless the boss leaves early.
—Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American Actor, Comedian, Singer
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
There is no past that we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternally new now that builds and creates itself out of the Best as the past withdraws.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Old Time, in whose banks we deposit our notes,
Is a miser who always wants guineas for groats;
He keeps all his customers still in arrears
By lending them minutes and charging them years.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
But at my back I always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near.
—Andrew Marvell (1621–78) English Metaphysical Poet
Learn the past, watch the present, and create the future.
—Jesse Conrad
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 secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.
—Mike Murdock
There is no saying shocks me so much as that which I hear very often, “that a man does not know how to pass his time.” It would have been but ill-spoken by Methusaleh in the nine hun-dred and sixty-ninth year of his life.
—Abraham Cowley (1618–67) English Poet, Essayist
Time heals what reason cannot.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Time is making fools of us again.
—J. K. Rowling (b.1965) English Novelist
Anything that is wasted effort represents wasted time. The best management of our time thus becomes linked inseparably with the best utilization of our efforts.
—Ted Engstrom (1916–2006) American Christian Religious Leader
In politics a week is a very long time.
—Harold Wilson British Political Leader
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Author
What I most value next to eternity, is time.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
Time is the wisest of all counselors.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
Diligence is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to industry. Work while it is called today, for you know not how much you may be hindered tomorrow. One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Friend is sometimes a word devoid of meaning; enemy, never.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
If an army of monkeys were strumming on typewriters, they might write all the books in the British Museum.
—Arthur Eddington (1882-1944) English Astronomer
Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of to-day. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism; it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy godmother in its own soul; it is to live in a nutshell and to count yourself the king of infinite space; it is To see a world in a grain of sand, And a Heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour; it is to know not as yet that you are under sentence of life, nor petition that it be commuted into death.
—Francis Thompson (1859–1907) English Poet, Ascetic
Shoulds bring on guilt and upset—totally draining emotions. Your power is taken every time you utter the words “I should”.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Some of us are returning to sanity, because we’re tired of the pain. We’re in a hurry. No time to mess around.
—Byron Katie (b.1942) American Speaker, Author
There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Measure, time and number are nothing but modes of thought or rather of imagination.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
The time is always right to do what’s right.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman