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
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
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
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
When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man’s own unless each day he maintains it and works it out in his life.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
If you are not happy here and now, you never will be.
—Taisen Deshimaru (1914–82) Japanese Buddhist Teacher
Without duty, life is soft and boneless.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
People who postpone happiness are like children who try chasing rainbows in an effort to find the pot of gold at the rainbow’s end… Your life will never be fulfilled until you are happy here and now.
—Ken Keyes Jr. (1921–95) American Personal Growth Author
Time cannot be expanded, accumulated, mortgaged, hastened, or retarded.
—Unknown
All that time is lost which might be better employed.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
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
Act well at the moment, and you have performed a good action to all eternity.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
—Charles Darwin (1809–82) English Naturalist
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
Today is the day in which to express your noblest qualities of mind and heart, to do at least one worthy thing which you have long postponed.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
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
Live in day-tight compartments.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
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
If time be of all things most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality, since lost time is never found again.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The forty-four-hour week has no charm for me. I’m looking for a forty-hour day.
—Nicholas Murray Butler (1862–1947) American Philosopher, Diplomat, Educator
The best way to secure future happiness is to be as happy as is rightfully possible today.
—Charles William Eliot (1834–1926) American Educationalist
If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
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
We all find time to do what we really want to do.
—William Feather (1889–1981) American Publisher, Author
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
The clock upbraids me with the waste of time.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;
We have hard work to do and loads to lift;
Shun not the struggle—face it; ’tis God’s gift.
—Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858–1901) American Presbyterian Minister, Writer
The chief duty I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
Make use of time, let not advantage slip.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
He has not learned the first lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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
Add each day something to fortify you against poverty and death.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
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
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
To fill the hour, that is happiness; to fill the hour, and leave no crevice for a repentance or an approval.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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
Regret for time wasted can become a power for good in the time that remains. And the time that remains is time enough, if we will only stop the waste and the idle, useless regretting.
—Arthur Brisbane (1864–1936) American Newspaper Editor, Investor
What we love to do we find time to do.
—John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) American Catholic Clergyman, Educator, Essayist, Biographer
To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
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
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
Ah! the clock is always slow; it is later than you think.
—Robert W. Service (1874–1958) Scottish Poet, Author
The greatest danger is not to take the risk.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Each day can be one of triumph if you keep up your interests.
—George Matthew Adams (1878–1962) American Columnist, Journalist
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer