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TIME

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[QUOTES FOLLOW LINKS]

see:

1920's, 1960's,1990's

AGE

APRIL

AUTUMN

BIRTHDAYS

BOOMERS

BREVITY

CHRISTMAS

DAWN, DAY

EVENING

FALL

FIFTIES (THE)

FUTURE

GOOD OLD DAYS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAPPY NEW YEAR

HIPPIES

HISTORY

HOLIDAYS

LIFE

MARCH

MEMORIAL DAY

MONTHS

MORNING

NEW YEAR

NOVEMBER

OCTOBER

PAST (THE)

PRESENT (THE)

PUNCTUALITY

SEASONS

SEPTEMBER

SIXTIES (THE)

SPRING

SUMMER

THANKSGIVING

TIMING (GOOD), TODAY

TOMORROW

TRANSIENCE

TWENTIETH CENTURY, TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

VALENTINES DAY

WASTING TIME

WINTER

YESTERDAY


Ask counsel of both times, of the ancient time what
is best; and of the latter time what is fittest.
--Francis Bacon (1561—1626)
English philosopher and essayist.
_Essays_ [1625] "Of Great Place"

It's the good girls who keep diaries;
the bad girls never have the time.
--Tallulah Bankhead (1903—1968)
American actress.

You never realize how short a month is until you pay alimony.
--John Barrymore (John Sidney Blythe)
(1882—1942) Shakespearean actor.

Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute,
day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring
ways.
--Stephen Vincent Benιt (1898—1943)
American poet and novelist.

I would willingly stand at street corners, hat
in hand, begging passersby to drop their unused
minutes into it.
--Bernard Berenson (1865—1959)
American art critic and writer.
Quoted on "A Renaissance Life"
PBS [12 Apr. 1971]

Le temp est un grand maitre, dit-on. Le malheur est quil tue ses eleves.
(Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.)
--Louis Hector Berlioz (1803—1869)
French composer.

At the eleventh hour.
--Bible
"Matthew" 20:9

You are not permitted to kill a woman who has
wronged you, but nothing forbids you to reflect
that she is growing older every minute. You are
avenged 1440 times a day.
--Ambrose Bierce (1842—1914)
American newspaperman, wit, and satirist.
_The Cynic's Word Book_ [1906]
{retitled in 1911 as _The Devil's Dictionary_}

Alas! There is no casting anchor in the stream of time!
--Marguerite Blessington
_Country Quarters_ [1850]

Every age has its pleasures, its style
of wit, and its own ways.
--Nicolas Boileau-Desprιaux (1636—1711)
French critic and poet.
_L'art poιtique_ [1674], canto III

Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them.
--Dion Boucicault (1820—1890)
Irish actor and playwright.
_London Assurance_ [1841]

-

I didn't know it, but I was literally writing a dime
novel. In the spring of 1950 it cost me nine
dollars and eighty cents in dimes to write and
finish the first draft of _The Fire Man_ which later
became _Fahrenheit 451_.

In all the years from 1941 to that time, I had done
most of my typing in the family garages, either in
Venice, California (where we lived because we were
poor, not because it was the "in" place to be) or
behind the tract house where my wife, Marguerite,
and I raised our family.

I was driven out of my garage by my loving children,
who insisted on coming around to the rear window and
singing and tapping on the panes. Father had to
choose between finishing a story or playing with the
girls. I chose to play, of course, which endangered
the family income. An office had to be found. We
couldn't afford one.

Finally, I located just the place, the typing room
in the basement of the library at the University of
California at Los Angeles. There, in neat rows,
were a score or more of old Remington or Underwood
typewriters which rented out at a dime a half hour.

You thrust your dime in, the clock ticked madly, and
you typed wildly, to finish before the half hour ran
out. Thus I was twice driven; by the children to
leave home, and by a typewriter timing device to be
a maniac at the keys.

Time was indeed money. I finished the first draft
in roughly nine days. At 25,000 words, it was half
the novel it eventually would become.
--Ray Bradbury (1920— )
American science fiction author.
_Fahrenheit 451_ [1953], "Afterward" [1982]

-

Whether it's the best of times or the worst
of times, it's the only time we've got.
--Art Buchwald (1925—2007)
American journalist and humorist who won the
1982 Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary.

Time does not become sacred to us until we have
lived it, until it has passed over us and taken with
it a part of ourselves.
--John Burroughs (1837—1921)
American naturalist and writer.
"The Spell of the Past" in
_Literary Values and Other Papers_ [1902]

At the end of your life, you will never regret not having
passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not
closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with
a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent.
--Barbara Bush (1925— )
Wife of American the 41st U.S.president, George H.W. Bush
and mother of the 43rd president, Geowge W. Bush.

You will never find time for anything. If
you want time you must make it.
--Charles Buxton (1823—1871)
English author.

-

Years steal Fire from the mind as vigor
from the limb; and Life's enchanted cup
but sparkles near the brim.
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.
_Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_
[1812-1818], st. 8


It is to be hoped that, with all the modern improvements,
a mode will be discovered of getting rid of bores; for it is
too bad that a poor wretch can punished for stealing your
pocket handkerchief or gloves, and that no punishment
can be inflicted on those who steal your time, and with
it your temper and patience.
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.

-

And what if you were told: One more hour?
--Elias Canetti (1905—1994)
Bulgarian-born writer and novelist.
_The Secret Heart of the Clock: Notes,
Aphorisms, Fragments: 1973—1985_

Take care of the minutes, for the hours
will take care of themselves.
--Lord Chesterfield [Philip Dormer Stanhope] (1694—1773)
British writer and politician.
Letter to his son [6 November 1747].

Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, dickory, dock.
--children's counting rhyme from 1744

An inch of time cannot be bought
with an inch of gold.
--Chinese Proverb

No man can promise himself even fifty years of life,
but any man may, if he please, live in the proportion
of fifty years in forty - let him rise early, that he may
have the day before him, and let him make the most
of the day, by determining to expend it on two sorts
of acquaintance only--those by whom something
may be got, and those from whom something maybe
learnt.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.

Time goes, you say? Ah, no!
Alas, Time stays, *we* go.
--Henry Austin Dobson (1840—1921)
English poet and essayist.
"The Paradox of Time" [1875] st. 1
[Dobsen admitted he was inspired by a nearly identical
couplet attributed to 16th French poet Pierre de Ronsard,
according to Paul J. Nahin, _Time Machines_.]

This time, like all times, is a very good one,
if we but know what to do with it.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
_The American Scholar_ [1837]

-

Dost thou love Life? Then do not squander Time,
for that is the Stuff Life is made of.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [June 1746]


What we call time enough, always
proves little enough.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.


Remember that time is money.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Advice to a Young Tradesman_ [1748]


After three days, men grow weary, of a
wench, a guest, and weather rainy.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard's Almanack_ [June 1733]


Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain
leisure; and since thou art not sure of a minute
throw not away an hour.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.


If we lose our Money, it gives us some Concern.
If we are cheated or robb'd of it, we are angry:
But Money lost may be found; what we are robb'd
of may be restored: The Treasure of Time once
lost, can never be recovered; yet we squander
it as tho' 'twere nothing worth, or we had no
Use for it.
--Benjamin Franklin (1706—1790)
American politician, inventor, and scientist.
_Poor Richard Improved_ [1751]

-

How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
--Theodor Seuss Geisel [Dr. Seuss] (1904—1991)
American writer and illustrator of children's books.

^^

A historian named Herodotus, tells of a thief who
was to be executed. As he was taken away he made
a bargain with the king: in one year he would teach
the king's favorite horse to sing hymns. The other
prisoners watched the thief singing to the horse and
laughed. "You will not succeed," they told him. "No
one can." To which the thief replied, "I have a year,
and who knows what might happen in that time. The
king might die. The horse might die. I might die.
And perhaps the horse will learn to sing.

^^

The years as they pass plunder us of
one thing after another.
--Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65—8 BC)
Roman poet.
_Epistles_, Book II, Epistle ii, Line 55

Don't take up a man's time talking about the smartness of
your children; he wants to talk to you about the smartness
of his children.
--Edgar Watson Howe (1854—1937)
American journalist and author.

-

He that hopes to look back hereafter with
satisfaction upon past years must learn to
know the present value of single minutes,
and endeavor to let no particle of time
fall useless to the ground.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
_The Rambler_ #108


Surely life, if it be not long, is tedious, since
we are forced to call in the assistance of so many
trifles to rid us of our time, of that time which
never can return.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
Letter to Baretti [10 June 1761].

-

"What do you live on?" [the ant asked.]

"On air, light and sun," said the may-fly.

"That's frivolity," said the ant. "You could live on that one
day, no longer."

"I do only live one day," said the may-fly, "a morning, a
noon, and a night. It's endless, inconceivable, isn't it?"

"A decent person lives for years," said the ant. "Spring,
summer, autumn and winter."

"I don't know what that is," said the may-fly; "perhaps you
only use different expressions. All life is only a morning,
noon and night. I can't imagine anything different."

--Manfred Kyber (1880—1933)
Latvian-born German writer and poet.
_Among Animals_ [1967] "The One-Day Fly"

-

Time's chariot-wheels make their carriage-road in the fairest face.
--Franηois de La Rochefoucauld (1613—1680)
French classical author.

-

I went to bed last night it was Wedn Sept. 2, and the first thing
I cast my eye upon this morning at the top of yr paper was
Thursday Sept. 14 ... have I slept away 11 days in 7 hours, or
how is it? For my part I don't find I am more refreshed than
after a common night's sleep.
--Letter in the Gentleman's Magazine [September 1752]
in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.}
_History in Quotations_ [2004]
Cohan & Major explain:
The Julian calendar (ascribed to Julius Caesar in 46 BC
and in general use in western Europe) was modified by
Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 in keeping with greater
astronomical accuracy. Also known as the New Style,
the revised calendar suppressed ten days. Gradually
adopted by the rest of western Europe, it was not
adopted by England and Scotland until 1752.

& see:

Give us back our eleven days!
--Election campaign slogan [1754]

-

-

Look not mournfully into the Past. It comes not
back again. Wisely improve the Present. It is
thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy Future,
without fear, and with a manly heart.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_Hyperion_ [1839]


It is not till time, with reckless hand, has torn
out half the leaves from the Book of Human Life,
to light the fires of passion with, from day to day,
that man begins to see that the leaves which
remain are few in number.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
_Hyperion_ [1839]


Somewhat back from the village street
Stands the old fashioned country-seat.
Across its antique portico
Tall poplars their shadows throw;
And from its ancient station in the hall
An ancient timepiece says to all, -
Forever-- never!
Never-- forever!
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807—1882)
American poet.
"The Old Clock on the Stairs" [1845]

-

Lost, yesterday, between sunrise and sunset,
two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond
minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone
forever.
--Horace Mann (1796—1859)
American educator.

Hold fast the time! Guard it, watch over it, every
hour, every minute! Unregarded it slips away, like
a lizard, smooth, slippery, faithless, a pixy wife.
Hold every moment sacred. Give each clarity and
meaning, each the weight of thine awareness, each
its true and due fulfillment.
--Thomas Mann (1875—1955)
German novelist.
_The Beloved Returns_ [1939]

-

Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong
is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight
than it is swept by and another takes its place, and
this too will be swept away.
--Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121—180)
Roman emperor [161—180] and Stoic philosopher.

-

In youth, the years stretch before one so long that
it is hard to realize that they will ever pass, and
even in middle age, with the ordinary expectation of
life in these days, it is easy to find excuses for
delaying what one would like to do but does not want
to; but at last a time comes when death must be
considered.

Here and there one's contemporaries drop off. We
know that all men are mortal but it remains for us
little more than a logical premise till we are
forced to recognize that in the ordinary course of
things our end can no longer be remote.

An occasional glance at the obituary column of _The
Times_ has suggested to me that the sixties are very
unhealthy; I have long thought that it would
exasperate me to die before I had written this book,
and so it seemed to me that I had better set about
it at once. When I have finished it I can face the
future with serenity, for I shall have rounded off
my life's work.

--W. Somerset Maugham (1874—1965)
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.
_The Summing Up_ [1938], Chapter III


Time, because it is so fleeting, time, because it is beyond recall,
is the most precious of human goods and to squander it is the
most delicate form of dissipation in which man can indulge.
--W. Somerset Maugham (1874—1965)
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer.
In _Cosmopolitans: Very Short Stories_ [1936] "The Bum".

-

Time is a great legalizer, even in the
field of morals.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.
_A Book of Prefaces_ [1917]

Time, the subtle thief of youth.
--John Milton (1608—1674)
English poet.
_On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three_ [1631]

A day spent without the sight or sound of beauty,
the contemplation of mystery, or the search for
truth or perfection, is a poverty stricken day;
and a succession of such days is fatal to human
life
--Lewis Mumford (1895—1990)
American architectural critic, urban planner, and historian.

There is one kind of robber whom the law
does not strike at, and who steals what is
most precious to men: time.
--Napoleon I (1769—1821)
Emperor of France [1804—1815].
_Maxims_ [1804—1815]

Tempus edax rerum.
Time the devourer of everything.
--Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso] (43 B.C.—18 A.D.)
Roman poet.
"Metamorphoses"

Time is what we want most, but alas,
we use worst.
--William Penn (1644—1718)
Quaker leader and advocate of religious
freedom who oversaw the founding of
the American Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers
and other religious minorities of Europe {E.B.}.

Is that a birthday? 'tis, alas! too clear;
'Tis but the funeral of the former year.
--Alexander Pope (1688—1744)
English poet.
_To Mrs. M.B._ l. 9

Even such is Time, which takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, and all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust,
Which in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our day;
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up, I trust.
--Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1552—1618)
English explorer and courtier.
(Lines said to have been written on the eve of his
execution; found in the Gate-house at Westminster.)

So little done, so much to do.
--Cecil Rhodes (1853—1902)
South African statesman.
(Said on the day of his death.)

Half of our life is spent trying to find something
to do with the time we have rushed through life
trying to save.
--Will Rogers [William Penn Adair Rogers] (1879—1935)
American humorist and actor.
Letter to the "New York Times" [29 April 1930].

The time you enjoy wasting is not
wasted time.
--Bertrand Russell (1872—1970)
British philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel laureate.

Misspending a man's time is
a kind of self-homicide.
--George Savile [Lord Halifax] (1633—1695)
English politicial and essayist.
_Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections_ [1750]

-

The years pass more quickly as we become older.
--Arthur Schopenhauer (1788—1860)
German philosopher.
"Counsels and Maxims" (2.9),
_Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer_,
tr. T. Bailey Saunders [1851].


Every day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth,
every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and
sleep a little death.
--Arthur Schopenhauer (1788—1860)
German philosopher.
_Parerga and Paralipomena_ (Minor Works and Remnants) [1851]

-

Ah! the clock is always slow;
It is later than you think;
Sadly later than you think;
Far, far later than you think.
--Robert William Service (1874—1958)
British poet.
"It Is Later Than You Think" [1921]

-

King Richard: I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Richard II_, 5.5.49, [1595]


To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this pretty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Macbeth_ [1606]

-

Time: That which man is always trying to kill,
but which ends in killing him.
--Herbert Spencer (1820—1903)
English philosopher.
"Definitions"

No preacher is listened to but time, which gives us
the same train and turn of thought that elder people
have in vain tried to put into our heads before.
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.
_Thoughts on Various Subjects_ [1711]

Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.
--Theophrastus (c.370—c.287 BC)
Greek philosopher of the Peripatetic school.
In Diogenes Laertius _Lives of Eminent Philosophers_, bk. V, sec. 40.

My poor fellow, why not carry a watch?
--Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852—1917)
English actor-manager.
(To a man in the street, carrying a grandfather clock.)

Time is
Too Slow for those who Wait,
Too Swift for those who Fear,
Too Long for those who Grieve,
Too Short for those who Rejoice;
But for those who Love,
Time is not.
--Henry Van Dyke (1852—1933)
American clergyman, educator, and author.
_Music and Other Poems_ [1905]

-

Age steals away all things, even the mind.
--Virgil (70—19 B.C.)
Roman poet.
_Eclogues_ [43—37 BC], IX, 51


Sed fugit interea, fugit inreparabile tempus.
But meanwhile it is flying,
irretrievable time is flying.
--Virgil (70—19 B.C.)
Roman poet.
_Georgics_

-

TIME: Nothing is longer, since it is the measure of eternity.
Nothing is shorter, since it is insufficient for the accomplishment
of our projects. Nothing is more slow to him that expects; Nothing
more rapid to him that enjoys. In greatness it extends to infinity,
In smallness it is infinitely divisible. All men neglect it; All
regret the loss of it; Nothing can be done without it. It consigns
to oblivion whatever is unworthy of being transmitted to posterity,
And it immortalizes such actions as are truly great. Time is a man's
most precious asset.
--Voltaire (Franηois Marie Arouet) (1694—1778)
French writer and philosopher.

One of the most time-consuming
things is to have an enemy.
--E.B. [Elwyn Brooks] White (1899—1985)
American essayist and literary stylist.

Procrastination is the thief of time.
--Edward Young (1683—1765)
English poet.
"Night Thoughts" [1742—1745], l. 393

-

I went to bed last night it was Wedn Sept. 2, and
the first thing I cast my eye upon this morning at the
top of yr paper was Thursday Sept. 14 ... have I slept
away 11 days in 7 hours, or how is it? For my part
I don't find I am more refreshed than after a
common night's sleep.
--Letter in _Gentleman's Magazine_ [September 1752]
{regarding the modification of the Julian calendar by England
and Scotland in 1752}.

& see

Give us back our eleven days!
--election campaign slogan [1754]

-

The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed
in five words: "I did not have time." Yet, time is the one thing we
are not short-changed on. Our supply of time is the same as the
people who we think of as the Great Achievers (Ford, Lincoln,
Edison, etc.). When we say we haven't got time, what we really mean
is that we lack drive, ambition, initiative and stick-to-it-iveness.
Time does not fail us; it is we who fail time.
--anon.

All my possessions for a moment of time.
--reputed last words of Queen Elizabeth.

To everything there is a season, a time for every pupose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace.
--Ecclesiastes 3:1-9

Strangely enough, the aged have a lot
in common with youth; they are largely
unemployed, introspective and often
depressed; their bodies and psyches
are in the process of change, and they
are heavy users of drugs. If they want
to marry, their families tend to disapprove.
Both groups are obsessed with time.
Youth, however, figures its passage
from birth; the aged calculate
backward from their death day.
--_Time_, [3 Aug. 1970]

This is the nineteen -- what, eighties?
--dialogue _Cheers_ TV show,
"Coach" {Nicholas Colasanto 1923—1985}

-

Mary had a little watch
She swallowed it one day
The doctor gave her castor oil
To pass the time away.

Mary took the castor oil,
But the time, it would not pass,
So if you want to know the time,
You can look up Mary's aunt, who has a watch too.

--anon.

-

--

TIMELINES

-----

circadian (adj.)
[sκr-'keyd-(i-)yκn]
Pertaining to a 24-hour day,
especially, occurring every
24 hours.

equinox (noun) ['e-kwκ-nahks]
(1) One of the two days in the year when day and
night are of equal length—12 hours each;
(2) the two points at which the sun's path, as seen
from earth, crosses the equator.

extempore ik-STEM-puh-ree, adverb:
Without premeditation or preparation;
on the spur of the moment.

Ides (noun):
In the ancient Roman calendar the fifteenth day of March, May,
July, and October, and the thirteenth day of the other months.

interstice in-TUR-stuhs, noun;
plural interstices in-TUR-stuh-seez; -suhz:
1. A space between things or parts, especially a space
between things closely set; a narrow chink; a crack; a
crevice; an interval.
2. An interval of time.
Ex.: He signed up for the summer session but in the interstice
between terms he drove north to see his daughter, Ellen.
--William F. Buckley Jr., "Witness and Friend",
_National Review_ [6 August 2001]

sempiternal sem-pih-TUR-nuhl, adjective:
Of never ending duration; having beginning
but no end; everlasting; endless.

trice TRYS, noun:
A very short time; an instant; a moment.


end page




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