“Life's short span forbids us to enter on far reaching hopes.”

“Life is short and truth works far and lives long: let us speak the truth.”

“America was entering the age not just of the automobile but of the retarded attention span.”

“Nothing should be out of the reach of hope. Life is a hope.”

“As far as culture and politics are concerned, the important theme is long-attention-span vs. short-attention-span thinking. I'm sure that your readers can think of any number of ways in which having a longer attention span can be useful. But I'll name one. Bankers with long attention spans don't lend money to people who can't pay it back. If we had more bankers who adopted a long-term view of their responsibilities, we might not be in the middle of a financial crisis that is blowing away 150-year-old investment banks.”

“Our span of life is brief, but is long enough for us to live well and honestly.”

“Fond archer, Hope! who tak'st thy aim so far,
That still or short, or wide thine arrows are!”

“Men, whose span is cruelly short, rush nonetheless to death in their youth as to a maiden’s arms.”

“When you reach for the stars, you are reaching for the farthest thing out there. When you reach deep into yourself, it is the same thing, but in the opposite direction. If you reach in both directions, you will have spanned the universe.”

“A man walks down the street
He says why am I short of attention
Got a short little span of attention
And woe my nights are so long”