# Quotes about time - Quotes: 40 - Authors: 11 - Narrower topics: [the future](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md), [the past](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-past.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time ## Quotes > The stars are far from eternal, but for man they might as well be. [Larry Niven](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven.md) · [Protector](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/protector.md) · p. 7 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/protector/the-stars-are.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > Time passed, which, basically, is its job. [Terry Pratchett](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett.md) · [Equal Rites](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/equal-rites.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/terry-pratchett/equal-rites/time-passed-which.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > Seldon found himself raging at the passage of time. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Forward the Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/forward-the-foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/forward-the-foundation/seldon-found-himself.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time, and in space as well, lends focus. It is not recorded, incidentally, that the lesson has ever been permanently learned. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Foundation and Empire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation-and-empire.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/foundation-and-empire/it-is-the.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > “Fifty years,” I hackneyed, “is a long time.” > > “Not when you’re looking back at them,” she said. “You wonder how they vanished so quickly.” [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [I, Robot](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-robot.md) · p. 8 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/i-robot/fifty-years-i-hackneyed.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > He says that even a god cannot conquer time, but nine hundred years should be enough for anybody. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [Time's Eye](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/times-eye.md) · p. 336 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/times-eye/he-says-that.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > When I was a boy, Brayldon, my old master once said that time could never destroy the truth—it could only hide it among legends. He was right. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 114 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/when-i-was.md) Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > There were some things that only time could cure. Evil men could be destroyed but nothing could be done about good men who were deluded. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 220 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/there-were-some.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [illusions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/illusions.md) > Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law. Godel, Escher, Bach Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > We are always getting away from the present moment. Our mental existences, which are immaterial and have no dimensions, are passing along the Time Dimension with a uniform velocity from the cradle to the grave. Just as we should travel down if we began our existence fifty miles above the earth's surface. [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/we-are-always.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > Well, I do not mind telling you I have been at work upon this geometry of Four Dimensions for some time. Some of my results are curious. For instance, here is a portrait of a man at eight years old, another at fifteen, another at seventeen, another at twenty-three, and so on. All these are evidently sections, as it were, Three-Dimensional representations of his Four-Dimensioned being, which is a fixed and unalterable thing. [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/well-i-do-not.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > Long ago I had a vague inkling of a machine... That shall travel indifferently in any direction of Space and Time, as the driver determines. [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/long-ago-i-had.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future. [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/looking-at-these.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives. ...Really this is what is meant by the Fourth Dimension, though some people who talk about the Fourth Dimension do not know they mean it. It is only another way of looking at Time. [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/there-are-really.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > If I am recalling an incident very vividly I go back to the instant of its occurrence; I become absent minded, as you say. I jump back for a moment. Of course we have no means of staying back for any length of time any more than a savage or an animal has of staying six feet above the ground. But a civilized man is better off than the savage in this respect. He can go up against gravitation in a balloon, and why should we not hope that ultimately he may be able to stop or accelerate his drift along the Time Dimension; or even to turn about and travel the other way? [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/if-i-am-recalling.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > The thing the Time Traveler held in his hand was a glittering metallic framework, scarcely larger than a small clock, and very delicately made. There was ivory in it, and some transparent crystalline substance. ...This little affair... is only a model. It is my plan for a machine to travel through Time. You will notice that it looks singularly askew, and that there is an odd twinkling appearance about this bar, as though it was in some way unreal. [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/the-thing-the.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it. [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/there-is-no-difference.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > Now I want you clearly to understand that this lever, being pressed over, sends the machine gliding into the future, and this other reverses the motion. This saddle represents the seat of a time traveler. Presently I am going to press the lever, and off the machine will go. It will vanish, pass into future time, and disappear. Have a good look at the thing. Look at the table too, and satisfy yourselves there is no trickery. I don't want to waste this model, and then be told I'm a quack. [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/now-i-want.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [the future](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future.md) > Query: How to contrive not to waste one's time? Answer: By being fully aware of it all the while. Ways in which this can be done: By spending one's days on an uneasy chair in a dentist's waiting room; by remaining on one's balcony all a Sunday afternoon; by travelling by the longest and least-convenient train routes, and of course standing all the way; by queueing at the box-office of theatres and then not booking a seat. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Plague](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-plague/query-how-to-contrive.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > To have time was at once the most magnificent and the most dangerous of experiments. Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [A Happy Death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/a-happy-death.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/a-happy-death/to-have-time.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > Behold... the only... [rule] we can follow: when a phenomenon appears... as the cause of another, we regard it as anterior. ...[T]herefore by cause... we define time; but...how do we recognize which is the cause and which the effect? We assume... the anterior fact, the antecedent, is the cause of the... consequent. It is then by time that we define cause. ...[S]hall we escape from this vicious circle? [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/behold-the-only.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > If... it be supposed that another way of measuring time is adopted... enunciation of the law would be... translated into another language... much less simple. So that the definition implicitly adopted by the astronomers may be summed up..: Time should be so defined that the equations of mechanics may be as simple as possible... [i.e.,] there is not one way of measuring time more true... only more convenient. [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/if-it-be-supposed.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > Is not my present nearer my past of yesterday than the present of Sirius? [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/is-not-my-present.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > [Y]et when we speak of time... do we not unconsciously adopt this hypothesis... [and] put ourselves in the place of this imperfect god... [D]o not even the atheists put themselves in the place where god would be..? [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/y-et-when-we-speak.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > We have not a direct intuition of simultaneity, nor of the equality of two durations. If we think we have this intuition, this is an illusion. We replace it by the aid of certain rules which we apply almost always without taking count of them. > > ...We ...choose these rules, not because they are true, but because they are the most convenient, and we may recapitulate them as follows: "The simultaneity of two events, or the order of their succession, the equality of two durations, are to be so defined that the enunciation of the natural laws may be as simple as possible. In other words, all these rules, all these definitions, are only the fruit of an unconscious opportunism." [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/we-have-not-a.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > We should like to represent... the... universe, and... feel... we understood it. We... never can attain this representation: our weakness is too great. But... we desire... to conceive an infinite intelligence... which should see all, and... classify all in its time, as we classify, in our time, the little we see. ...[T]his supreme intelligence would be only a ; infinite in one sense... limited in another, since it would have... imperfect recollection of the past... otherwise all recollections would be equally present... and for it there would be no time. [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/we-should-like.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > When navigators... determine a ... they must... calculate Paris time...[with] a chronometer set for Paris. The qualitative problem of simultaneity is made to depend upon the quantitative problem of the measurement of time. [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/when-navigators-determine.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > We have not a direct intuition of the equality of two intervals of time''. [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/we-have-not.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > (1) The rules applied are exceedingly various. (2) It is difficult to separate the qualitative problem of simultaneity from the quantitative problem of the measurement of time; no matter whether a chronometer is used, or whether account must be taken of a velocity of transmission, as... of light, because such a velocity could not be measured without measuring a time. [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/1-the-rules.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > [I]t is the sidereal day, that is, the duration of the rotation of the earth, which is the constant unit of time. ...However ...[many] astronomers ...think that the tides act as a check on our globe, and that the rotation of the earth is becoming slower and slower. Thus would be explained the apparent acceleration of the motion of the moon... [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/i-t-is-the.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > [A]stronomers... define duration in the following way: time... so defined that Newton's law and that of vis viva [or of the ] may be verified. Newton's law is an experimental truth... only approximate... [W]e still have only a definition by approximation. [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/a-stronomers-define-duration.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > But these labels can only be finite in number. On that score, psychologic time should be discontinuous. [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/but-these-labels.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > [W]hat postulate do we implicitly admit? It is that the duration of two identical phenomena is the same; or... that the same causes take the same time to produce the same effects. ...Is it impossible that experiment may some day contradict our postulate? [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/w-hat-postulate-do-we-implicitly.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > [T]wo difficulties: (1) Can we transform psychologic time, which is qualitative, into a quantitative time? (2) Can we reduce to one and the same measure facts which transpire in different worlds [of conscious beings]! [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/t-wo-difficulties-1-can.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > Huck was always willing to take a hand in any enterprise that offered entertainment and required no capital, for he had a troublesome superabundance of that sort of time which is not money. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/huck-was-always.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > Let great authors have their due, as time, which is the author of authors, be not deprived of his due, which is, further and further to discover truth. [Francis Bacon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon.md) · [The Advancement of Learning](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/let-great-authors.md) Topics: [truth](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/truth.md), [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > Time, which is the author of authors. [Francis Bacon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon.md) · [The Advancement of Learning](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/francis-bacon/the-advancement-of-learning/time-which-is-the.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > And time began seriously to pass. [Douglas Adams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams.md) · [Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/dirk-gentlys-holistic-detective-agency.md) · p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/dirk-gentlys-holistic-detective-agency/and-time-began.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > He instituted this, er, Chair of Chronology to see if there was any particular reason why one thing happened after another and if there was any way of stopping it. Since the answers to the three questions were, I knew immediately, yes, no, and maybe, I realised I could then take the rest of my career off. [Douglas Adams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams.md) · [Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/dirk-gentlys-holistic-detective-agency.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/dirk-gentlys-holistic-detective-agency/he-instituted-this.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md) > If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, it would never have got beyond the first picosecond. And many of course don’t. It’s like a human body, you see. A few cuts and bruises here and there don’t hurt it. Not even major surgery if it’s done properly. Paradoxes are just the scar tissue. Time and space heal themselves up around them and people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make. [Douglas Adams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams.md) · [Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/dirk-gentlys-holistic-detective-agency.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/dirk-gentlys-holistic-detective-agency/if-the-universe.md) Topics: [time](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/time.md)