Quotes about time
page 39
Frankfurt Book Fair speech (2003)
Context: To have access to literature, world literature, was to escape the prison of national vanity, of philistinism, of compulsory provincialism, of inane schooling, of imperfect destinies and bad luck. Literature was the passport to enter a larger life; that is, the zone of freedom.
Literature was freedom. Especially in a time in which the values of reading and inwardness are so strenuously challenged, literature is freedom.
Intro (2012 edition)
1990s, The Innovator's Dilemma (1997)
Source: How Will You Measure Your Life?
1960s, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (1967)
Context: We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late."
“It's a fine world, though rich in hardships at times.”
Source: Lonesome Dove
“The willingness to show up changes us, It makes us a little braver each time.”
Source: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
Source: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Teens: Simple Ways to Keep Your Cool in Stressful Times
“I just don't want you to worry about me, or think you've met me, or waste your time anymore.”
Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Song lyrics, Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Positively 4th Street
Source: Lyrics, 1962-1985
“You can't save time. You can only spend it, but you can spend it wisely or foolishly.”
Source: The Tao of Pooh
“Truth is the daughter of time, and I feel no shame in being her midwife.”
Temporis filia veritas; cui me obstetricari non pudet.
As quoted in The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, A search for Salvation (2007) by Shafique N. Virani, p. 28
Source: Only the Good Spy Young
“Staying alive was what we did to pass the time.”
Source: How I Live Now
Source: Prep
Source: Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
“Rituals are a good signal to your unconscious that it is time to kick in.”
Source: Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
Source: Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?
Source: Broken Wings
As quoted in The Life and Work of Martha Graham (1991) by Agnes de Mille, p. 264, <!-- de Mille precedes the Graham quotation with: "The greatest thing she ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma!, when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly, ... " -->
Context: There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
Source: The Marriage of Opposites
“There is a time for many words and there is a time also for sleep.”
XI. 379 (tr. A. T. Murray).
Odyssey (c. 725 BC)
Source: The Odyssey
“If a man makes me keep my distance, the comfort is, he keeps his at the same time.”
Source: The Tao of Pooh
Jace Herondale and Simon Lewis, pg. 509
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Heavenly Fire (2014)
Context: "Why didn't you say something?"
"Because, it's not like there's animals I can feed on here."
"There's us."
"I don't want to feed on my friends' blood."
"Why not? We've been here before, haven't we? Last time you were starving, I gave you my blood. It was a little homoerotic, maybe, but I'm secure in my sexuality."
“Time spent reading, like time spent loving, increases our lifetime.”
Source: Better than Life
“Every time I've built character, I've regretted it.”
Source: The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes
“If they cannot love and resist at the same time, they probably will not survive.”
“Times will change for the better when you change.”
“Time spent arguing with the faithful is, oddly enough, almost never wasted.”
Source: 2000s, 2001, Letters to a Young Contrarian (2001)
“There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”
The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes
“It was a lesson that I would learn in time though it wasn't Hegbert who taught me.”
Source: A Walk to Remember