140 Best Quotes about Time & 4 Poems

Jacqueline Eisenbraun (Senior Editor)

Are you looking for quotes about time? Then you’ve come to the right place. Alongside short quotes and wisdom about time, you will also find sayings about taking your time, and lovely quotes about how precious time is. We have even chosen some poems about time for you.

You can measure it or stop it, you can kill time or enjoy your time. Sometimes it runs away from us, and other times it just doesn’t want to pass.

In philosophy, time describes the form of change or sequence of events as perceived by human consciousness. In physics, time means a measurable unit, a physical quantity that has a clear direction and describes the sequence of events.

Quotes about Time, Life And Change

Quotes about Time, Life And Change

We have collected 140 quotes about time in this article. Choose a suitable quote from the 15 different categories.

Whether you are looking for a beautiful quote that describes the passing of time, or are thinking about how time influences our lives, we have the right quote for you.

Here you’ll find famous quotes.

Quotes about Spending Time with the Family

Quotes about Spending Time with the Family

We will start with some quotes about family and spending time with them. Some of the quotes are about the importance of family, while others are about the joy of spending time with your loved ones.

Use them to tell your family how much they mean to you and that you enjoy spending time in their company.

1. Love your family. Spend time, be kind & serve one another. Make no room for regrets. Tomorrow is not promised & today is short.
   (Unknown)
2. Spend time with those you love. One of these days, you will say either, ‘I wish I had,’ or ‘I’m glad I did’.
   (Unknown)
3. A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
   (George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, 1856-1950)
4. Family: where life begins and love never ends.
   (Unknown)
5. In time of test, family is best.
   (Burmese proverb)
6. Having somewhere to go is home. Having someone to love is family. And having both is a blessing.
   (Unknown)
7. I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.
   (Walt Whitman, American poet, 1819-1892)
8. The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have past at home in the bosom of my family.
   (Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father of the United States, 1743-1826)
9. For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, to fetch one if one goes astray, to lift one if one totters down, to strengthen whilst one stands.
   (Christina Rosetti, British poet, 1830-1894)
10. In family life, be completely present.
    (Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher, 365 B.C.-290 B.C.)

Encouraging Quotes about Getting Through Hard Times

Encouraging Quotes about Getting Through Hard Times

When things feel tough, it can be hard to keep going. It can feel like everything is going wrong, and you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The key to getting through hard times is to remember that they won’t last forever, as these quotes illustrate. With time, things will get easier, and you will be stronger for having gone through tough times.

1. The present is the child, and the necessary child, of all the past, and the mother of all the future.
   (Robert Green Ingersoll, American lawyer and writer, 1833-1899)
2. There is meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler.
   (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran theologian, 1906-1645)
3. The water you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed, and the first of that which is coming. Thus it is with time present.
   (Leonardo da Vinci, Italian polymath and artist, 1452-1519)
4. Time is the nurse and breeder of all good.
   (William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616)
5. Time eases all things.
   (Sophocles, Greek poet, 496-406 B.C.)
6. That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
   (Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, 1844-1900)
7. The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
   (Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist, 1828-1910)
8. The difference between a strong man and a weak one is that the former does not give up after a defeat.
   (Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United Stated, 1856-1924)
9. You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
   (Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, 121-180)
10. Fall seven times, stand up eight.
    (Japanese proverb)

Here you’ll find more encouraging quotes.

“Time Flies” Quotes

“Time Flies” Quotes

Sometimes it’s easy to feel like time passes too quickly, and you just can’t keep up. Maybe you feel that there is not enough time in the day to do all the things you need to do, or like you don’t have enough time to spend with your loved ones.

These quotes are about the feeling that time flies, and how important it is to make the most of your time.

1. As we speak cruel time is fleeing. Seize the day, believing as little as possible in the morrow.
   (Horace, Roman poet, 65-8 B.C.)
2. Time, in its stealthy gliding, cheats us all
   Without our notice; nothing goes more swiftly
   Than do the years.
   (Publius Ovidius Naso, Ancient Roman poet, 43 B.C-17 A.D.)
3. But meanwhile time flies; it flies never to be regained.
   (Virgil, Roman poet, 70-19 B.C.)
4. Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.
   (Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, French author, 1636-1711)
5. Time, as he passes us, has a dove’s wing,
   Unsoil’d, and swift, and of a silken sound.
   (William Cowper, English poet, 1731-1800)
6. Time glides by, and we grow old with the silent years; and the days flee away with no restraining curb.
   (Publius Ovidius Naso, Ancient Roman poet, 43 B.C-17 A.D.)
7. Time flies on restless pinions—constant never.
   Be constant—and thou chainest time forever.
   (Friedrich Schiller, German dramatist, 1759-1805)
8. The swift hour flies on double wings.
   (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman philosopher, c. 4 B.C.-65 A.D.)
9. Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.
   (Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer, 1804-1864)
10. Time flies, and what is past is done.
    (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, 1749-1832)

Time Management Quotes

Time Management Quotes

Managing your time carefully can help you achieve everything you need to. But if you waste time, tasks can pile up and start to cause problems, which will make you more stressed.

If you are busy at work, in the middle of your studies, or juggling many responsibilities, use these quotes about the importance of time management to help you focus and plan.

1. I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.
   (Philip Dormer Stanhope, British poet, 1694-1773)
2. I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
   (William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616)
3. Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.
   (Philip Stanhope)
4. Whilst we deliberate how to begin a thing, it grows too late to begin it.
   (Quintiliian, Roman educator, c. 34-96)
5. Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time.
   (Victor Hugo, French author, 1802-1885)
6. You may delay, but time will not.
   (Benjamin Franklin, American politician, 1706-1790)
7. Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.
   (William Penn, English theologian, 1644-1718)
8. Make use of time, let not advantage slip.
   (William Shakespeare)
9. The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it.
   (Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher, 1788-1860)
10. Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.
    (Unknown)
11. It’s not that we have little time, but more that we waste a good deal of it.
    (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman philosopher, c. 4 B.C.-65 A.D.)

Stop Wasting Time: Quotes about the Transience of Time

Stop Wasting Time: Quotes about the Transience of Time

These quotes should put you in a contemplative mood and are about the transience of time. They discuss how fast time can go by, and also address the theme of change and the feeling of not having enough time.

1. Time brings roses then takes them back again.
   (German proverb)
2. A thousand years, measured with the infinite stem, is but a piece of hay.
   (Wilhelm Busch, German poet, 1832-1908)
3. People are more rarely offended by the loss of their wealth, than by the loss of their time.
   (From the Talmud)
4. Everything is healing that reminds us that time has an end.
   (Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, German theologian, 1831-1910)
5. Time never stands still, the moments float away,
   And the moments you have not used, you have not lived.
   (Friedrich Rückert, German poet, 1788-1866)
6. Each hour is unique in itself and in relation to us; once it is gone, it is gone forever.
   (Jean de La Bruyère, French philosopher, 1645-1696)
7. We notice time only from its losses.
   (Edward Young, English poet, 1683-1765)
8. Time is of your own making; Its clock ticks in your head.
   The moment you stop thought, time too stops dead.
   Silesius
9. Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that is the stuff life is made of.
   (Benjamin Franklin, American politician, 1706-1790)

Bible Verse about Time

Bible Verse about Time

In this section you will find Bible verses about time. Some of them illustrate that because time is fleeting, it is precious and we should make the most of it. Others are about the rewards promised in time if you have faith in God.

Whether or not you are a Christian, these verses will make you think about time and how you spend it.

1. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
   (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
2. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
   (Psalm 90:12)
3. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
   (Ephesians 5:15-16)
4. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle.
   (Job 7:6)
5. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
   (2 Peter 3:8)
6. A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
   (Psalms 90:4)
7. Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
   (Proverbs 27:1)
8. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
   (1 Peter 5:6)
9. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
   (James 4:14)
10. As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
    (Ephesians 1:10)

Smart Sayings about Time and Life

Smart Sayings about Time and Life

In this section you will find smart sayings about time. There are proverbs and idioms in this category, as well as wisdom from around the world. These words of wisdom define where time becomes measurable and what possibilities or consequences it holds for you if you use it.

1. With time comes advice.
   (German proverb)
2. Time used is time gained.
   (German proverb)
3. Everyone fears time, but time fears the pyramids.
   (From Egypt)
4. If you should have done it the day before yesterday, then it can wait til the day after tomorrow.
   (From Spain)
5. Everything is happening faster so that we have more time. There is less time so that everything can happen faster.
   (Unknown)
6. When the time isn’t right, nothing can make it so. But when the time is right, nothing can stop it.
   (From China)
7. Love conquers everything, money achieves everything, death ends everything, time consumes everything.
   (From Spain)
8. Time is life, and life is time.
   (German proverb)
9. Ten years of good deeds is not enough. One day of bad deeds is too many.
   (From China)
10. Time heals all wounds.
    (Voltaire, French writer, 1694-1778)

Here you will find more smart quotes.

Beautiful Sayings about Spending Time Together

Beautiful Sayings about Spending Time Together

Here you will find especially beautiful quotes about spending time together with loved ones, and the importance of being there for each other. Let yourself be inspired by these quotes and in future, you can spend your time in valuable ways.

1. Thus Arm in Arm with thee I dare defy my century.
   (Friedrich Schiller, German dramatist, 1759-1805)
2. True generosity consists less of giving much, and more of giving at the right time.
   (Jean de La Bruyère, French philosopher, 1645-1696)
3. Man’s noblest occupation is man.
   (Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German poet, 1729-1781)
4. Don’t spend your time with people who don’t want to spend it with you.
   (Unknown)
5. When we spend our lives loving, we have less time for complaining or being unhappy.
   (Joseph Joubert, French moralist, 1754-1824)
6. I sit with good friends and we talk about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And we share our good and bad memories with each other.
   (Unknown)
7. Moons and years pass, but a beautiful moment shines throughout life.
   (Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer, 1791-1872)
8. Those of us who are alive at the same time have some mysterious meaning for each other.
   (Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian writer, 1874-1929)

Here you’ll get more inspirational quotes.

Short Quotes about Time

Short Quotes about Time

In the following section we have selected some short quotes about time. You will find statements about the power of time formulated in just one or two sentences.

1. Time reveals the villains.
   (Euripides, Greek poet, 480-406 B.C.)
2. Having time means having purpose. The purposeless never have time.
   (Otto Leixner von Grünberg, Austrian-German writer, 1847-1907)
3. Demand anything from me, just not my time.
   (Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich, Former Chancellor of State of the Austrian Empire, 1773-1859)
4. We only recognize the good times when they are over.
   (Wilhelm Vogel, German writer, 1772-1843)
5. Great eras are always when everything goes wrong.
   (Theodor Fontane, German writer, 1819-1898)
6. O, what cannot an hour do!
   (Friedrich Schiller, German dramatist, 1759-1805)
7. This is the time of a mild God.
   (Sophocles, Greek poet, 496-406 B.C.)
8. Everyone is a child of time.
   (Leopold Schefer, German poet, 1784-1862)
9. Postponed is not cancelled.
   (Publius Ovidius Naso, Ancient Roman poet, 43 B.C-17 A.D.)
10. Time is movement in space.
    (Joseph Joubert, French moralist, 1754-1824)

Beautiful Sayings on Time and Life

Beautiful Sayings on Time and Life

In this category you will find quotes about time and life. These quotes are about having trust in time, and the connections between time and the different facets of life.

1. All things have their time – the good things, too.
   (Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher, 1533-1593)
2. Day turns into the thickest night, and with
   Time, even the latest fruits will ripen.
   (Friedrich Schiller, German dramatist, 1759-1805)
3. Time moves on, and with it attitudes, opinions, prejudices and hobbies.
   (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, 1749-1832)
4. Die Zeit ist die wichtigste Zutat im Rezept des Lebens.
   (Charles Darwin, British scientist, 1809-1882)
5. Every time, like every human being, has a certain field of thought beyond which nothing is perceived.
   (Bertha von Suttner, Austrian writer and pacifist, 1843-1914)
6. Time is the fabric that life is made from, and in no store will we find a new one.
   (Karl Julius Weber, German writer, 1767-1832)
7. Time is life, and life is responsibility, and responsibility rules your time.
   (Aurelius Augustinus, Roman bishop, 354-430 A.D.)

Lovely Quotes about Time

Lovely Quotes about Time

These quotes on the theme of time are full of love and emotion. The quotes presented here are about appreciating time and the things that time determines.

1. If it weren’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.
   (Mark Twain, American writer, 1835-1910)
2. Time is the medicine of the soul.
   (Unknown)
3. What strengthens the soul and makes it young?
   From good times – memory!
   (Heinrich Martin, German writer, 1818-1872)
4. Time is the most valuable thing one can waste.
   (Theophrastos of Eresos, philosopher, 371-287 B.C.)
5. Time dies in itself and also creates itself.
   (Paul Fleming, German poet, 1609-1640)
6. Learn to appreciate every day more every day.
   (Johann Caspar Lavater, Swiss pastor, 1741-1801)
7. The sea of time is but the swell on the sea of ??eternity.
   (Jean Paul, German writer, 1763-1825)
8. I enjoy my time today, because tomorrow lies in secret.
   (Palladas, Greek poet)

"Take Your Time" Quotes

"Take Your Time" Quotes

These “take your time” quotes are about self-love and the freedom to decide how you spend your time. They appeal to you to take time for yourself.

1. Take time for feelings, they determine your life.
   (Unknown)
2. You have to waste half your time to be able to do something with the other half.
   (Charles de Secondat, French writer, 1689-1755)
3. Those who know how to make better use of their hours still have time left over.
   (Jean de La Bruyère, French philosopher, 1645-1696)
4. If you take your time, you have time.
   (Peter Rosegger, Austrian writer, 1843-1918)
5. People who use their time poorly are the first to complain that it is too short.
   (Jean de La Bruyère)
6. Time your time and be friendly: that is the key to happiness.
   (From Iceland)
7. Man needs time before he becomes grateful for himself.
   (Friedrich Naumann, German theologian, 1860-1919)
8. Time goes by so fast, and I gave up trying to race against it long ago.
   (Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian storyteller and lyricist,1875-1926)
9. We have nothing of our own but time.
   (Margarete Ebner, Mystic of the Middle Ages, 1291-1351)
10. Take your time: a field that has been able to rest yields a bountiful harvest.
    (Publius Ovidius Naso, Ancient Roman poet, 43 B.C-17 A.D.)
11. Take some time every day to sit still and listen to things. Pay attention to the melody of life that vibrates within you.
    (Buddha, founder of Buddhism, 560 B.C.-483 B.C.)
12. My time is my life. When I give someone an hour of my time I am giving them a part of my life.
    (Minna Cauer, German educator, 1841-1922)

Quotes about Time and Age

Quotes about Time and Age

The following quotes are about time and age. They are concerned with family, children growing up and parents aging.

1. Time hangs deceptively over people and the flood of life rolls along with it.
   (Pindar, Greek poet, c. 522-466 B.C.)
2. Time moves in different steps with different people.
   (William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616)
3. Age: We spend the first thirty years figuring out who we are and what we’re supposed to do here. Then it gets fun for a little while, before we spend the last thirty years preparing to leave again.
   (Unknown)
4. Youth is the time to learn wisdom, old age is the time to use it.
   (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss writer, 1712-1778)
5. Old age is the time when memories take the place of hope.
   (Wilhelm Raabe, German narrator and representative of poetic surrealism, 1831-1910)
6. Children should become better than their parents were, and so each growing generation should surpass its peers in its day.
   (Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologist, 1768-1834)
7. Growing older is mandatory. Becoming an adult is optional.
   (From the USA)
8. To raise children, you must understand that you have to lose time to gain time.
   (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss writer, 1712-1778)
9. The best thing you can give your child is time.
   (Gorch Fock, German author, 1880-1916)
10. As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish.
    (François de La Rochefoucauld, French author, 1613-1680)

Moving Quotes about Time

Moving Quotes about Time

In this category you will find moving quotes about time. Some of them will make you sad, others are about pain. In any case, the quotes listed will make you think.

1. In pain the new age is born.
   (Adelbert von Chamisso, French poet, 1781-1838)
2. Time helps us bear all. It soothes, and makes all pains and torment easier.
   (Johann Gottfried von Herder, German philosopher, 1744-1803)
3. People flee from time, time from people.
   (Edward Young, English poet, 1683-1765)
4. It is hard to believe how careless people are with their time.
   (Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German naturalist, 1742-1799)
5. You will see that every era has the epidemic it deserves. Every time its plague.
   (Ödön von Horváth, Hungarian writer, 1901-1938)
6. Who understands the value of time? Only those who have lost it know it.
   (Laurentius Justiniani, Bishop of venice, 1381-1455)
7. Nothing is more valuable than time; but alas, nothing is less treasured by man.
   (Bernardus Silvestris)

Quotes on Influencing Time

Quotes on Influencing Time

These sayings are about how timeless time itself is and how we are unable to control it. Use one of these quotes to remind yourself of the limitations of this resource, so you can decide who you’re giving your time to.

1. Three things never return:
   The arrow shot,
   The word spoken,
   The days that have passed.
   (Georg Friedrich Daumer, German philosopher, 1800-1875)
2. It would be a vain and futile venture
   To fall into the moving wheel of time.
   (Friedrich von Schiller, German playwright, 1759-1805)
3. The bad news: time flies.
   The good news: you’re the pilot.
   (Unknown)
4. Nothing can be done except little by little.
   (Charles Baudelaire, French poet and aesthetician, 1821-1867)
5. However much your heart resists,
   Obey the time and the law of the hour!
   (Friedrich Schiller)
6. You can only theoretically fight against your century.
   (Paul Richard Luck, German writer, 1880-1940)
7. Let’s withdraw; And meet the time as it seeks us.
   (William Shakespeare)
8. Nae man can tether time or tide.
   (Robert Burns, Scottish poet, 1759-1796)

Poems about Time

Poems about Time

If you want to talk about time in a few more words, you will find four poems about time below. They deal with impermanence and time’s power to change things. They are also about eternity and wisdom.

1)

 For Katrina’s Sun Dial

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
Eternity.

(Henry van Dyke, American poet, 1852-1933)

2)

Look Back on Time with Kindly Eyes

Look back on time with kindly eyes,
He doubtless did his best;
How softly sinks his trembling sun
In human nature’s west!

(Emily Dickinson, American poet, 1830-1886)

3)

Today

Poem: Today

So here hath been dawning
Another blue day;
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?

(Thomas Carlyle, Scottish essayist, 1795-1881)

4)

Time Long Past

Like the ghost of a dear friend dead
Is Time long past.
A tone which is now forever fled,
A hope which is now forever past,
A love so sweet it could not last,
Was Time long past.

There were sweet dreams in the night
Of Time long past:
And, was it sadness or delight,
Each day a shadow onward cast
Which made us wish it yet might last–
That Time long past.

There is regret, almost remorse,
For Time long past.
'Tis like a child’s belovèd corse
A father watches, till at last
Beauty is like remembrance, cast
From Time long past.

(Percy Bysshe Shelley, British writer, 1792-1822)

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