Quotes about timing
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“Every time I think you’ve reached the limits of arrogance, you show me new heights. Truly, your egotism is like the Universe—ever expanding.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Strikes

Thinking, Universe, Time

“and here I felt a strange leaping of my heart-God did! My job was to simply follow His leading one step at a time, holding every decision up to him in prayer.”

Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch resistance hero and writer

Source: The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom

God, Decision, Time, Heart

“Humor is tragedy plus time.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Time

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery,
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.”

Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician

Redemption Song; the song was inspired by a speech by Marcus Garvey in Nova Scotia in October 1937, published in his Black Man magazine, Vol. 3, no. 10 (July 1938), pp. 7-11:
We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind.
Uprising (1979)

Fear, Time

“I worried so much about how I looked and whether I was doing things right, I felt half the time I was impersonating a girl instead of really being one.”

Sue Monk Kidd book The Secret Life of Bees

Source: The Secret Life of Bees

Girl, Time

“Each time I fail to think about death, I have the impression of cheating, of deceiving someone in me.”

Emil M. Cioran book The Trouble With Being Born

The Trouble With Being Born (1973)
Source: The Trouble with Being Born

Death, Thinking, Time, Cheating

“In the future I'm going to devote less time to sentimentality and more time to reality.”

Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary

Source: The Diary of a Young Girl

Reality, Time, Future

“All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Truth, Time

“Sometimes you gwyne to git hurt, en sometimes you gwyne to git sick; but every time you's gwyne to git well agin.”

Mark Twain book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Source: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Time, Hurt

“It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Time

“Not for the first time she reflected that there were many drawbacks to being a swordswoman, not least of which was that men didn't take you seriously until you'd actually killed them, by which time it didn't really matter anyway.”

Terry Pratchett book The Light Fantastic

Source: The Light Fantastic

Men, Time

“What will happen will happen and I won't waste my time worrying.”

Christopher Paolini book Brisingr

Source: Brisingr

Time

“One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. By the time the mind is able to comprehend what has happened, the wounds of the heart are already too deep.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

Feeling, Understanding, Time, Heart

“But memories are time beings, too, like cherry blossoms or ginkgo leaves; for a while they are beautiful, and then they fade and die.”

Ruth Ozeki book A Tale for the Time Being

Source: A Tale for the Time Being

Beauty, Memory, Time

“Night had come—night that she loved of all times, night in which the reflections in the dark pool of the mind shine more clearly than by day.”

Virginia Woolf book Orlando: A Biography

Source: Orlando

Love, Time, Night

“Time has taught me not to lose hope, yet not to trust too much in hope either.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Variant: Time has taught me not to loose hope, yet not to trust too much in hope either
Source: The Shadow of the Wind

Hope, Time

“If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions?”

Scott Adams (1957) cartoonist, writer

People, Stupidity, Question, Time

“Ordinary people merely think how they shall 'spend' their time; a man of talent tries to 'use' it.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

People, Thinking, Time

“My father had taught me to be nice first, because you can always be mean later, but once you've been mean to someone, they won't believe the nice anymore. So be nice, be nice, until it's time to stop being nice, then destroy them.”

Laurell K. Hamilton A Stroke of Midnight

Source: A Stroke of Midnight

Time

“Wait until next time," he warned. "I'll do things that'll make you lose control within seconds.”

Richelle Mead book Last Sacrifice

Variant: Next time I will do things to you that will make you lose controll in seconds"
-Dimitri.
Source: Last Sacrifice

Time, Waiting

“Girls you've gotta know when it's time to turn the page.”

Tori Amos (1963) American singer

Source: Tori Amos: From the Choirgirl Hotel

Girl, Time, Moving On

“We never believe we're beautiful, no matter how many times we hear it. We never believe it until someone says it in the right way.”

Francine Prose (1947) American writer

Beauty, Way, Time

“Yours

(now I'm even losing my name - it was getting shorter and shorter all the time and is now: Yours)”

Franz Kafka book Letters to Milena

Source: Letters to Milena

Time

“Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón (1964) Spanish writer

Books, Change, Time

“Time is rhythm: the insect rhythm of a warm humid night, brain ripple, breathing, the drum in my temple—these are our faithful timekeepers; and reason corrects the feverish beat.”

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor

Source: Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle

Faith, Time, Night

“I felt dumb and subdued. Every time I tried to concentrate, my mind glided off, like a skater, into a large empty space, and pirouetted there, absently.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Source: CliffsNotes on Plath's The Bell Jar

Time

“Once upon a time there was a lady. She had no children, and no happiness either. And at first she cried for a long time, but then she became wicked...”

Mikhail Bulgakov book The Master and Margarita

Book Two in 'Flight', B/O, Margarita talking about herself to a young girl
Source: The Master and Margarita (1967)

Happiness, Children, Time

“But let me tell you this: sometimes at night, when I look up at the stars, an see the whole sky jus laid out there, don't you think I ain't rememberin it all. I still got dreams like anybody else, an ever so often, I am thinkin about how things might of been. An then, all of a sudden, I'm forty, fifty, sixty years ole, you know?
Well, so what? I may be a idiot, but most of the time, anyway, I tried to do the right thing-- an dreams is jus dreams, ain't they? So whatever else has happened, I am figgerin this: I can always look back an say, at least I ain't led no hum-drum life.
You know what I mean?”

Winston Groom Forrest Gump

Source: Forrest Gump

Life, Dreams, Star, Thinking

“The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

Men, Time, Animals

“If you can develop this ability to see what you look at, to understand its meaning, to readjust your knowledge to this new information, you can continue to learn and to grow as long as you live and you’ll have a wonderful time doing it.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Source: You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life

Understanding, Knowledge, Learning, Time

“Don't try to make me grow up before my time…”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

Time

“If we would learn what the human race really is at bottom, we need only observe it in election times.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Learning, Time

“Five minutes are enough to dream a whole life, that is how relative time is.”

Mario Benedetti (1920–2009) Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet

Life, Dreams, Time

“War doesn't negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.”

Khaled Hosseini book The Kite Runner

Baba (115)
Source: The Kite Runner (2003)

War, Peace, Time

“Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Source: The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Learning, Time

“Let every man be master of his time.”

William Shakespeare Macbeth

Source: Macbeth

Time

“The seasons do not push one another; neither do clouds race the wind across the sky. All things happen in their own good time.”

Dan Millman (1946) American self help writer

Time, Season

“Philosophy, from the earliest times, has made greater claims, and achieved fewer results, than any other branch of learning.”

Bertrand Russell book Our Knowledge of the External World

Source: Our Knowledge of the External World

Learning, Time

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

Edith Sitwell (1887–1964) British poet

Food, Home, Winter, Time

“Desmond, don't poke the baby!'…
'I'll get you next time-'
Don't threaten the baby either!'…”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Time, Baby

“Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is.”

Thomas Szasz (1920–2012) Hungarian psychiatrist

"Emotions", p. 36.
The Second Sin (1973)

Feeling, Time, Happy

“I live in a crazy time.”

Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary

Time

“Nothing, they say is more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the time of dying”

Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist

Death, Time

“There is only one true wealth in all the universe--living time.”

Frank Herbert book The Green Brain

The Green Brain (1966)
Context: There is only one true wealth in all the universe. I have given you some of it. I have given your father and your mate some of it. And your friends. This wealth is living time. Time.
Context: "A slave is one who must produce wealth for another," the Brain said. "There is only one true wealth in all the universe. I have given you some of it. I have given your father and your mate some of it. And your friends. This wealth is living time. Time. Are we slaves because we have given you more time to live?"

Universe, Time, Wealth

“Sometimes, when you catch someone unaware at just the right time and in just the right light, you can catch sight of what they will be.”

Jennifer Donnelly A Northern Light

Source: A Northern Light

Light, Time

“I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.”

Oscar Wilde The Importance of Being Earnest

Cecily, Act II
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)

Life, Hope, Time

“I feel certain that I'm going mad again, I feel we can't go thru another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices”

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English writer

Feeling, Time, Madness

“The main problem with this great obsession for saving time is very simple: you can't save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly.”

Benjamin Hoff book The Tao of Pooh

Source: The Tao of Pooh

Problem, Time

“It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”

Hugh Laurie (1959) British actor, comedian, writer, musician and director

Context: (Answering "What made you step up to making your own record?") I felt like I may not get opportunities to do this ever again, so it’s about time—it’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There’s almost no such thing as ready. There’s only now. And you may as well do it now. I mean, I say that confidently as if I’m about to go bungee jumping or something—I’m not. I’m not a crazed risk taker. But I do think that, generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.

Life, Feeling, Thinking, Time

“Yes, very sensible… People die of common sense, Dorian, one lost moment at a time. Life is a moment. There is no hereafter. So make it burn always with the hardest flame.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Life, People, Sense, Time

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Variant: Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs one step at a time.

Time

“Even if you rise up a thousand times, your side will never achieve victory.
~Ulquiorra”

Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist

Time, Victory

“you can’t fool all the people all the time,” but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.”

Will Durant (1885–1981) American historian, philosopher and writer

Source: The Lessons of History

People, Fools, Time, Country

“The product of paper and printed ink, that we commonly call the book, is one of the great visible mediators between spirit and time, and, reflecting zeitgeist, lasts as long as ore and stone.”

Johann Georg Hamann (1730–1788) German philosopher

Books, Time

“We should not forget that it will be just as important to our descendants to be prosperous in their time as it is to us to be prosperous in our time.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Time, Forgetting

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Time, Future, Funny

“We all strive for safety, prosperity, comfort, long life, and dullness. The deer strives with his supple legs, the cowman with trap and poison, the statesman with pen, the most of us with machines, votes, and dollars, but it all comes to the same thing: peace in our time. A measure of success in this is all well enough, and perhaps is a requisite to objective thinking, but too much safety seems to yield only danger in the long run. Perhaps this is behind Thoreau’s dictum: In wildness is the salvation of the world. Perhaps this is the hidden meaning in the howl of the wolf, long known among mountains, but seldom perceived among men.”

Aldo Leopold book A Sand County Almanac

“Arizona and New Mexico: Thinking Like a Mountain”, p. 133. <br class="br">This is a paraphrase of Thoreau: see explanation by the Walden Woods project http://www.walden.org/Library/Quotations/The_Henry_D._Thoreau_Mis-Quotation_Page). <br class="br">Source: A Sand County Almanac, 1949, "Arizona and New Mexico: On Top," & "Arizona and New Mexico: Thinking Like a Mountain"

Life, Men, World, Peace

“I want to think and at the same time that's the last thing in the world I want to do.”

Erich Maria Remarque book The Black Obelisk

Source: The Black Obelisk

World, Thinking, Time

“The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings”

Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer

Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

Shoe, Time

“A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.”

John Burroughs (1837–1921) American naturalist and essayist

Variant: You can get discouraged many times, but you are not a failure until you begin to blame somebody else and stop trying.

Failure, Time

“Time wounds all heels.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Time

“It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.”

Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Time

“I believe in using words, not fists… I believe in my outrage knowing people are living in boxes on the street. I believe in honesty. I believe in a good time. I believe in good food. I believe in sex.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

No known source; also attributed to Susan Sarandon.[citation needed]
Disputed

People, Food, Sex, Time

“To place man properly at the present time, he stands somewhere between the angels and the French.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Angels, Time

“There was a beautiful time…”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

Beauty, Time

“We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Appearance, Time, Courageous, Powerful

“We must hurry!’ said Mr. Wonka. ‘We have so much time and so little to do! No! Wait! Strike that! Reverse it!”

Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Variant: We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it.
Source: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Time, Waiting

“That is the corrosive paradox of gender feminism's misandrist stance: no group of women can wage war on men without at the same time denigrating the women who respect those men.”

Christina Hoff Sommers (1950) American author and philosopher

Source: Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women

Women, Men, War, Time

“I'm open to everything. When you start to criticize the times you live in, your time is over.”

Karl Lagerfeld (1933–2019) German fashion designer

Time

“Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.”

Jhumpa Lahiri book Interpreter of Maladies

Source: Interpreter of Maladies

Travel, Imagination, Appearance, Time

“The only true test of friendship is the time your friend spends on you.”

John Marsden (1950) author

Source: Circle of Flight

Friendship, Time

“The time you quit learning is the time to quit playing.”

Louis Sachar (1954) American writer of children's books

Source: The Cardturner: A Novel about a King, a Queen, and a Joker

Learning, Time

“Time stays long enough for those who use it.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

Time

“There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.”

Patrick Rothfuss book The Name of the Wind

Source: The Name of the Wind

Pain, Reality, Time

“Work is not an end in itself; there must always be time enough for love.”

Robert A. Heinlein Time Enough for Love

Source: Time Enough for Love

Love, Time

“Today I know this: when it comes time to take stock, the most painful wound is that of broken friendships; and there is nothing more foolish than to sacrifice a friendship to politics.”

Milan Kundera book Encounter

Source: Encounter

Pain, Friendship, Time

“But in his experience it was only a matter of time before the normal balance of the universe restored itself and started doing the usual terrible things to him.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

Source: The Color of Magic

Universe, Time

“I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then”

Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer

Variant: I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.
Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

Thinking, Change, Time

“Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.”

Daniel Defoe La vie et les aventures de Robinson Crusoe

Variant: Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.
Source: Robinson Crusoe (1719), Ch. 11, Finds Print of Man's Foot on the Sand.

Fear, Time

“Studies have shown that an ant can carry one hundred times its own weight, but there is no known limit to the lifting power of the average tiny eighty-year-old Spanish peasant grandmother.”

Terry Pratchett book Reaper Man

Source: Reaper Man

Study, Time

“When they finally did dare it, at first with stolen glances and then candid ones, they had to smile. They were uncommonly proud. For the first time they had done something out of Love.”

Patrick Süskind (1949) German writer and screenwriter

Source: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Love, Smile, Time