Quotes about time
page 48

“And then we’ll all go off to sweet life, ‘cause now is the time and we all know time!”

Source: On the Road

“This is what intimacy does to us over time. That's what a long marriage can do: It causes us to inherit and trade each other's stories. (p.237)”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Source: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Marriage

“The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

April 6, 1775
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. Vol 2

Books, Reading, Parting

“He spent six hours examining things, trying to find a difference from their appearance on the previous day in the hope of discovering in them some change that would reveal the passage of time.”

Gabriel García Márquez book One Hundred Years of Solitude

Source: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Hope, Appearance, Change

“All of us have darkness inside us, and at times it possesses and seduces us in ways we never thought possible.”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Infamous

Way

“All the times I have suddenly realized that my parents are dead, even now, it still surprises me, to exist in the world while that which made me has ceased to exist.”

Nicole Krauss The History of Love

Source: The History of Love

World, Parent, Dead

“Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to ruin among the great number who are not good.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

“… there are only some many times you can utter "It does not hurt" before it begins to hurt even more than the hurt.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Everything Is Illuminated

Source: Everything Is Illuminated

Hurt

“Suppose I lay down on the pavement and you run over me a few times with my own car… just for old times.”

Janet Evanovich book One for the Money

Source: One for the Money

Cars

“Everything, everything seemed once-upon-a-time.”

Haruki Murakami book Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Source: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

“It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.”

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) German late baroque era composer

Variant: There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.

Music

“I want to tell him that deep down each time Hannah looked at him she was grateful it was him because Jude did something that the others didn't. He came back for her.”

Melina Marchetta book On the Jellicoe Road

Source: On the Jellicoe Road

“The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet. His problem is to find that location.”

Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) American novelist, short story writer

Problem

“He hadn't wanted to leave Emma, but at the same time he'd thought it would help. Like an addict getting away from the source of his addiction.”

Cassandra Clare book Lady Midnight

Source: Lady Midnight

Help

“I don't know if great times make great men, but I know they can kill them.”

Max Brooks book World War Z

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Men

“Heroes rarely look the way we draw them in our minds: attractive, imposing figures with rippling muscles and strong chins. More times than not they are humble beings, small and flawed. It is only their spirits that are beautiful and strong.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Source: The Gift

Beauty, Way, Strong, Drawing

“He saw that I was shy, and at the time I was still scared of feeling with another person, so he put his arm around me and pulled me and put my head on his breast and gave me love actually.”

Allen Ginsberg book Howl and Other Poems

Source: Howl and Other Poems

Love, Feeling, Personality

“Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people.”

Garrison Keillor book We Are Still Married: Stories & Letters

Source: We Are Still Married: Stories & Letters

People

“Imagine a world in which there is no time. Only images.”

Alan Lightman book Einstein's Dreams

Source: Einstein's Dreams

World, Imagination

“She'd expected some backlash; it happened every time she shared her strength. But she hadn't anticipated so much raw anguish from Nico di Angelo… If this was only a portion of Nico’s pain… how could he bear it?”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Pain

“Time eventually positions most photographs, even the most amateurish, at the level of art.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

Art

“It was the in-between time, before day leaves and night comes, a time I’ve never been partial to because of the sadness that lingers in the space between going and coming.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

Sadness, Night

“The night was a time for bestial affinities, for drawing closer to oneself.”

Patricia Highsmith book Strangers on a Train

Source: Strangers on a Train

Drawing, Night

“And I know now that all the time I was trying to get
out of the dust,
the fact is,
what I am,
I am because of the dust.
And what I am is good enough.
Even for me.”

Karen Hesse book Out of the Dust

Source: Out of the Dust

“Music is a proud, temperamental mistress. Give her the time and attention she deserves, and she is yours. Slight her and there will come a day when you call and she will not answer. So I began sleeping less to give her the time she needed.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

Music, Sleep

“Every day is lost in which we do not learn something useful. Man has no nobler or more valuable possession than time.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

Learning

“There are some times… when the love for people is strong and warm like a sorrow.”

John Steinbeck book To a God Unknown

Source: To a God Unknown

Love, People, Strong

“Hi, Max," she said, pushing her shades up onto her curls.
"I hope your wearing sunscreen," i said, “your gonna have hella wrinkles by the time your ten.”
“Want some daiquiri?” she offered, pointing at a blender.
“Is it traitor flavored?” I asked.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: Fang

Hope

“You’re the one who unleashed him. (Savitar)
Yeah, well, let’s move on from the blame game. I was having suicidal thoughts and it seemed like a good idea at the time. In retrospect, not so much. (Stryker)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: One Silent Night

Game, Idea, Suicide

“The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.”

Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990) English journalist, author, media personality, and satirist

Reality

“Time may heal wounds, but it does not erase the scars.”

Jane Yolen book Briar Rose

Source: Briar Rose (1992), Chapter 12 (p. 72)

“They spent their time doing nothing… they let intimacy fuse them.”

Jean Genet book Our Lady of the Flowers

Source: Our Lady of the Flowers

“There are five people you meet in heaven," the Blue Man suddenly said. "Each of us was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth.”

Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003)

Life, People, Understanding

“It all counts,' Adam said again. 'And the bottom line is, what defines you isn't how many times you crash, but the number of times you get back on the bike. As long as it's one more, you're all good.-pg 325 Along for the Ride”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

“Time obliterates the fictions of opinion and confirms the decisions of nature.”
Opinionis enim commenta delet dies, naturae iudicia confirmat.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

De Natura Deorum – On the Nature of the Gods (45 BC)
Variant: For time destroys the fictions of error and opinion, while it confirms the determinations of nature and of truth.
Book II, section 2; translation by Francis Brooks
Variant: Time destroys the figments of the imagination, while confirming the judgments of nature.

Nature, Decision

“All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, it will not change you.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Change

“Where's Amy?" Ian put in. "Will you please get her to call that Evan character? He rings here twenty times a day. He's either the most mule-headed person who ever lived, or he really likes your sister. She has to have mercy on him–on all of us!”

Gordon Korman book The Medusa Plot

Source: The Medusa Plot

Sister, Personality

“So why are we practicing this, anyway?" Percy asked. "Do you guys spend a lot of time laying siege to fortified cities?”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Guy

“And as to you life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths, / No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.”

Walt Whitman Song of Myself

Source: Song of Myself

Life, Death

“So which is the lie? Hard or soft? Silence or time?”

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist

Lie, Silence

“But Abraham, you mean I'm supposed to make stuff up!?!?
- You are creators, you make stuff up all the time!”

Esther Hicks (1948) American writer

“Religion has what is EASILY the greatest bullshit story of all time.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

You Are All Diseased (1999)
Context: In the bullshit department, a businessman can't hold a candle to a clergyman. 'Cause I got to tell you the truth, folks: when it comes to bullshit - big-time, major-league bullshit - you have to stand in awe, in AWE of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest! Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it: religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time... But He loves you! He loves you, and He needs MONEY! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise - somehow, just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story... Holy Shit!

Religion

“There's a time for reciting poems and a time for fists. As far as I was concerned, this was the latter.”

Roberto Bolaño book The Savage Detectives

Variant: There is a time for reciting poems and a time for fists.
Source: The Savage Detectives

“Many times in life I've regretted the things I've said without thinking. But I've never regretted the things I said nearly as much as the words I left unspoken.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Sugar Daddy

Life, Thinking

“Sometimes I think children are the worst people alive. And even if they're not—even if some smiling toddler is as pure as Evian—it's only a matter of time.”

Chuck Klosterman (1972) Author, Columnist

Children, People, Smile, Thinking

“I suppose [my life] has most resembled a blue chip stock: fairly stable, more ups than downs, and gradually trending upward over time. A good buy, a lucky buy, and I've learned that not everyone can say that about his life.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Life, Learning

“I think a good book is a good book forever.
I don't think they get less good because times change.”

Megan Whalen Turner (1965) American children's writer

Books, Thinking, Change

“New friends can often have a better time together than old friends.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Source: Tender is the Night

“Anger is not bitterness. Bitterness can go on eating at a man's heart and mind forever. Anger spends itself in its own time.”

Madeleine L'Engle A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Source: A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Heart, Anger

“If you're doing your best, you won't have time to worry about failure.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (1940) American writer

Failure

“Take time to see the quiet miracles that
seek no attention”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

“Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom.”

Sandra Day O'Connor (1930) Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Problem, Learning, Personality

“People are wonderful one at a time. Each one of them has an entire hologram of the universe somewhere within them.”

George Carlin book Last Words

Source: Last Words

People, Universe

“I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time been ashamed.”

Ralph Ellison book Invisible Man

Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 1.

“Listen you have to read a book three times before you know it.”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Books, Reading

“Here's a tip, Alyconeus. Next time you choose the biggest state for your home, don't set up base in the part that's only 10 miles wide.
Welcome to Canada, idiot.”

Rick Riordan book The Son of Neptune

Source: The Son of Neptune

Home, Parting

“A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness.”

Jean Genet (1910–1986) French novelist, playwright, poet and political activist

Dreams

“It's like when someone dies, the initial stages of grief seem to be the worst. But in some ways, it's sadder as time goes by and you consider how much they've missed in your life. In the world.”

Emily Giffin Something Borrowed

Variant: Someday being with Dex will be a distant memory. This fact makes me sad too. Its the initial stages of grief that seem to be worst but in some ways, Its sadder as time goes by and you consider how much they're missed in your life.
Source: Something Borrowed

Life, World, Way

“She looked up at him with a smile. The smile broke what was left of his resistance--shattered it. He had let the walls down when he'd thought she was gone, and there was no time to build them back up.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Angel

Source: Clockwork Angel

Smile