Top Ten Best Quotes About Time
These quotes have literally stood the test of time. They’re the most famous lines that get shared, repeated, and quoted whenever someone wants to say something meaningful about how the hours pass.
1. “Time is money.” - Benjamin Franklin
The most universally known time quote. Short and sharp, Franklin originally said the words to convey the monetary cost of being lazy or pursuing other interests.
For businesses, this phrase has never been truer. That’s why capturing every billable minute is so important.
2. “Time waits for no man.” - Proverb (attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer in spirit)
The classic reminder that time does not care about your schedule, your tasks, or your excuses. It marches on regardless.
3. “Lost time is never found again.” - Benjamin Franklin
Another hard hitter from Franklin, this quote serves as a poignant reminder that time is our most precious resource.
4. “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” - Albert Einstein
Einstein’s witty, philosophical take on the passage of time. Imagine the chaos of everything happening simultaneously!
5. “Time heals all wounds.” - Ancient Proverb
One of the most universal human sentiments, spanning cultures and centuries.
6. “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” - William Shakespeare (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
Shakespeare basically invented punctuality shame, stating that being early is infinitely better than being late.
7. “Time is the wisest counselor of all.” - Pericles
The Ancient Greek statesman used this quote to affirm that time teaches us patience, brings perspective, and reveals the truth.
8. “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” - Mother Teresa
Mother Theresa shows us the importance of living in the moment. There’s no point dwelling on the past or stressing about what hasn’t yet happened. Just focus on the now.
9. “The future depends on what you do today.” - Mahatma Gandhi
Ghandi’s motivational quote inspires us to consider our present actions carefully, because they will have a direct impact on how they shape our futures.
10. “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” - Leo Tolstoy
Success is rarely instant. Patience allows you to overcome or endure challenges, and time leads to accomplishment.
10 Time Quotes from Movies
Time has always been one of cinema’s most powerful narrative tools. Across genres, filmmakers use reflections on time to reveal human vulnerability, resilience, and meaning.
These ten memorable movie quotes offer thoughtful perspectives on how time moves through our lives and how we move through it:
1. "Time is the fire in which we burn." - Star Trek Generations
Soran grabs Picard by the arm and says, “You know they say time is the fire in which we burn. Right now, my time is running out. We leave so many things unfinished in our lives. I know you understand.”
The line fit the scene perfectly. However, it originally appeared in the poem "Calmly We Walk through This April’s Day," by Delmore Schwartz.
2. “If we never take time, how can we have time?” - Matrix Reloaded
In the Merovingian’s statement to Neo, he tells us that we always say we don’t have time, but time isn’t something we possess. Time is something we make by choosing what matters.
3. “We're all traveling through time together, every day of our lives. All we can do is do our best to relish this remarkable ride.” - About Time
A beautiful quote reminding us to enjoy our lives to the fullest.
4. “Mysterious thing, time. Powerful, and when meddled with, dangerous.” - Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Spoken by Dumbledore to Harry. And while we muggles can’t meddle with time, we can certainly appreciate that it’s mysterious and powerful.
5. “All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain.” - Bladerunner (1982)
Roy Batty’s famous monologue and a deep reflection on our mortality.
Just like tears dissolve instantly into rain, leaving no trace, his life will disappear into the vastness of time. No matter how vivid or meaningful a life feels, death erases it unless someone remembers it.
6. “Time is all that counts. The money doesn't matter at all.” - When Worlds Collide
This line comes from a story where humanity is facing total annihilation. In a situation like that, all the normal rules of society break instantly. Wealth, status, privilege, possessions…none of it can buy a single extra second of life. You can’t bribe death.
7. “But what good is saved time if nobody uses it, if it just turns into more busy work?” - Before Sunrise
A brilliant line that fits perfectly into our modern life.
The follow-up line spoken by the character Jesse is: You never hear somebody say, 'With the time I've saved by using my word processor, I'm gonna go to a Zen monastery and hang out.' You don't hear that.
In other words, he’s wondering what the point of being efficient is if all the time you save just gets filled with meaningless junk.
8. “It is a happy occasion and a solemn one, too, for the passing of time is awe-inspiring. It's the one certain thing in all the universe.” - Rudolph’s Shiny New Year
This reminds us that time brings gain and loss simultaneously.
A happy occasion (like a milestone, ceremony, or reunion) carries joy because it marks progress. However, it’s also “solemn” because life is also moving forward, and moments are slipping behind us.
9. “Time is strange. A moment can be as short as a breath or as long as eternity. Don't linger.” - The Leopard Man
This line recognizes that how we experience time is different from how clocks measure it. Moments can feel long or short, depending on their meaning.
“Don’t linger,” tells us not to get stuck in a moment that’s already over.
10. “So much to do and so little time.” - Batman (1989)
When the Joker says this quote, he’s mocking a normal human worry and twisting it into a threat.
It reflects the universal feeling that life is full of demands, and time always feels too short. But unlike the Joker, we often let the feeling overwhelm us or push us into rushing instead of choosing what really matters.
16 Time Quotes from Literature
Writers use time to shape memory, identity, love, and the human condition. Like movies, books allow us to reflect on time’s passage and its impact on our lives.
These 16 quotes capture how authors of celebrated books have explored time:
- “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
- “Time moves slowly but passes quickly.” - Alice Walker, The Color Purple
- “Time expands, then contracts, all in tune with the stirrings of the heart.” - Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
- “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
- “Time doesn’t heal emotional pain; you need to learn how to let go.” - Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
- “Time is the longest distance between two places.” - Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie
- “Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart.” - Momo, Michael Ende
- “Clocks slay time… time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life.” - The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
- “We are always getting away from the present moment.” - The Time Machine, H. G. Wells
- “Time passes, and yet little changes.” - To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
- “Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.” - The Road, Cormac McCarthy
- “When you’ve been told over and over you’re not going to have a long life, it gives you a different perspective on time.” - Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
- “Time is a strange thing. When we don't need it, it is nothing. Then, suddenly, there is nothing else. It is everywhere around us. Also within us. It seeps into our faces.”- L'ordine del tempo, Carlo Rovelli
- “Time is the most merciless thing in the world.” - The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
- “Some moments last forever in the memory, even if they last only a second in time.” - The Light We Lost, Jill Santopolo
- "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” - 1984, George Orwell
Time Quotes from Modern Icons
Whether their world is shaped by innovation, creativity, or cultural change, modern icons offer their words of wisdom on time.
These thoughts reveal how today’s most influential voices consider the passage of time.
8 Time Quotes from Musicians
- “Life is like walking, you take one step at a time.” - Taylor Swift
- “If the beat is time, flow is what we do with that time, how we live through it.” - Jay-Z
- “Time is my biggest obstacle. It’s impossible not to realize how fast it’s going when you are looking through the eyes of your children.” - Beyoncé
- “Time you enjoy wasted was not time wasted.” - John Lennon
- “Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing.” - Miles Davis
- “Nothing heals like love and time.” - Suzi Quatro
- “I don’t need time, I need a deadline.” - Duke Ellington
- “The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” - Mike Murdock
4 Time Quotes from Actors and TV Personalities
- “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” - Bruce Lee
- “Style, I think, is panache. Who are you? What did you do today? And what are you worth to me? What do you have to offer the world? How did you spend your time today on this planet? How are you spending your time every second? What are you doing now? Are you alive, or are you somnambulant?” - Tom Hardy
- “No man goes before his time. Unless the boss leaves early.” - Groucho Marx
- “You can have it all. Just not all at once.” - Oprah Winfrey
2 Time Quotes from Fashion Icons
- “Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. ” - Coco Chanel
- It's always about timing. If it's too soon, no one understands. If it's too late, everyone's forgotten. - Anna Wintour
4 Time Quotes from Political and Social Leaders
- “But you don’t choose the time. Time chooses you. Either you seize what may turn out to be the only chance you have, or you decide you’re willing to live with the knowledge that the chance has passed you by.” - Barack Obama
- “Time, as far as my father was concerned, was a gift you gave to other people.” - Michelle Obama
- “We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” - Nelson Mandela
- “There’s never enough time to do it right, but there’s always enough time to do it over.” - Jack Bergman
2 Time Quote from Business Leaders
- “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” - Steve Jobs
- “Own time, or time will own you.” - Brian Norgard
4 Time Quotes by Modern Thinkers & Motivational Speakers
- “Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year - and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!” - Tony Robbins
- “Your greatest asset is your earning ability. Your greatest resource is your time.” - Brian Tracy
- “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.” - Zig Ziglar
- “Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day.” - Denis Waitley
8 Time Quotes from Sports Personalities
- “We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.” - Vince Lombardi
- “You can’t turn back the clock. But you can wind it up again.” - Bonnie Prudden
- “Don’t count the days; make the days count.” - Muhammad Ali
- “I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don’t wait for things to happen - I make them happen.” - Michael Jordan
- “I trained for 4 years to run 9 seconds. People give up after 2 months and say it’s not working.” - Usain Bolt
- “It gets late early out here.” - Yogi Berra
- “The most important thing is that sometimes you have to go through hard times to get to the good stuff.” - Abby Wambach
- “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” - Earl Nightingale
13 Time Quotes from Ancient Philosophers
In ancient times, it was not all about beautiful architecture and historical events. It was also about questioning the human experience, exploring profound thoughts, and thinking about the passage of time.
To prove it, here are some of the most enticing quotes about time etched within this truly fascinating era in human history.
- “Time is a game played beautifully by children.” - Heraclitus
- “Time is a physician that heals every grief.” - Diphilus
- “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
- “Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” - Theophrastus
- “Time is the wisest counselor of all.” - Pericles
- “Time is a sort of river of passing events, which, as it flows, carries us along with it.” - Seneca
- “Time is not a thing, thus nothing can be destroyed.” - Anaximander
- “To do two things at once is to do neither.” - Publius Syrus
- “Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time,' is like saying, 'I don't want to.” - Lao Tzu
- “Men are tight-fisted in keeping control of their fortunes, but when it comes to the matter of wasting time, they are positively extravagant in the one area where there is honour in being miserly.” - Seneca
- “Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” - Ancient Chinese proverb
- “An inch of time is an inch of gold, but you can’t buy that inch of time with an inch of gold.” - Ancient Chinese proverb
- “Time is a file that wears and makes no noise.” - English proverb of medieval origin
Time Quotes from Famous Writers and Authors
Beyond exploring time within their novels and poems, writers possess a gift for spoken wisdom that cuts straight to the heart of human experience. Their insights reveal how time shapes our stories, our choices, and the world we shape around ourselves.
11 Time Quotes for Change and Impermanence
- “Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” - Nathaniel Hawthorne
- “How did it get so late so soon?” - Dr. Seuss
- “Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.” - Thomas Hardy
- “The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” - C.S. Lewis
- “Time is the longest distance between two places." - Tennessee Williams
- “Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have of them.” - Marcel Proust
- “Time is a thief, stealing moments we can never regain.” - J.R. Ward
- “Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away.” - Ben Hecht
- “Time is a great storyteller.” - Margaret Atwood
- ”Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.” - Faith Baldwin
- “Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires.” - Charles Caleb Colton
10 Quotes for Valuing Time
- “Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.” - Roy T. Bennett
- “The wisest are the most annoyed at the loss of time.” - Dante Alighieri
- “All great achievements require time.” - Maya Angelou
- “We shouldn't waste time on things that might happen someday, or maybe even never.” - Colleen Hoover
“Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” - M. Scott Peck - “There’s only one thing more precious than our time, and that’s who we spend it on.” - Leo Christopher
- “Time is a created thing. To live in the past is as stubborn as living in the future.” - Dale Carnegie
- “I am not particularly interested in saving time; I prefer to enjoy it.” - Eduardo Galeano
- “Regret for wasted time is more wasted time.” - Mason Cooley
- “Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn.” - Delmore Schwartz
- “Time and tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of 30.” - Robert Frost
10 Quotes for Spending Time Meaningfully
- “To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else.” - Emily Dickinson
- “Enjoy life. There’s plenty of time to be dead.” - Hans Christian Andersen
- “It’s not a man’s working hours that are important; it is how he spends his leisure time.” - Marilynne Robinson
- “Certainly, work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.” - George MacDonald
- “Work is only justified by leisure time. To admit the emptiness of leisure time is to admit the impossibility of life.” - Guy Debord
- “If you are losing your leisure, look out! - It may be you are losing your soul.” - Virginia Woolf
- “To resist the social pressure now put even on one's leisure time, requires a tougher upbringing and a more obstinate willfulness about going one's own way, than ever before.” - Robert Graves
- “What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.” - W.H. Davies
- “Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let’s not forget this.” - Dave Eggers
- “As work weeks get longer and leisure time shrinks, people are becoming sicker, more distracted, absent, unproductive, and less innovative.” - Brigid Schulte
3 Quotes for Time and Love
- “Love and time, those are the only two things in all the world and all of life that cannot be bought, but only spent.” - Gary Jennings
- “Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.” - Jules Renard
- “If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.” - A.A. Milne
6 Quotes for Time Management
Time management is something many of us should improve. We have limited hours, so we should spend them wisely.
- “I am always late on principle, my principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.” - Oscar Wilde
- “He who every morning plans the transactions of that day and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.” - Victor Hugo
- “It's not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” - Henry David Thoreau
- “Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week's value out of a year while another man gets a full year's value out of a week.” - Charles Richards
- “Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” - William Penn
- “Time is the least thing we have of.” - Ernest Hemingway
12 Time Quotes from Scientists, Scholars, and Brilliant Minds
Those who study and ponder often bring a profound perspective to time. Scientists and scholars understand time as both a measurable force and a philosophical puzzle. Political figures know the value of time and how to spend it wisely.
- “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” - Charles Darwin
- “Time is an illusion.” - Albert Einstein
- “It’s so miraculous that we have any time at all that I’d consider every second of it well spent.” - Professor Brian Cox
- “Time is a dimension, like the dimensions of space.” - Stephen Hawking
- “If one has no time, one has also lost oneself.” - Marc Wittmann
- “The shorter way to do many things is to only do one thing at a time.” - Mozart
- “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” - Abraham Lincoln
- “Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can't afford to lose.” - Thomas Edison
- “Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.” - Leonardo da Vinci
- “Time itself comes in drops.” - William James
- “We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.” - John F. Kennedy
- “Time is a teacher, but it kills all its pupils.” - Hector Berlioz
10 Time Quotes Created by Artificial Intelligence
We couldn’t resist including AI time quotes just for fun! We wanted to see what philosophical musings ChatGPT might generate when asked to reflect on the subject of time.
The results turned out better than expected. Here are our favorites:
1. “Time isn’t the thief - it’s the spotlight. It reveals what we chose to ignore.”
Time doesn’t take things from us; it simply exposes truths we avoided or postponed. What feels like loss is often delayed honesty.
2. “You can’t outrun time, but you can make it chase you for a good reason.”
You can’t beat time, but you can live with enough purpose and momentum that time feels like it's trying to keep up with you.
3. “Time doesn’t heal everything. It just rearranges the pieces until you can hold them without bleeding.”
Time softens pain, not by erasing it, but by helping you adapt so the hurt becomes manageable.
4. “Most people wait for the right time. Time waits for no one. Guess who wins that race?”
Hesitation costs opportunities. If you wait too long, time will move forward without you, and so will your chances.
5. “Moments aren’t measured by length but by how loudly they echo when they’re gone.”
The emotional impact of a moment matters more than how long it lasts. Some brief moments stay with us forever.
6. “Time is generous to the brave and merciless to the hesitant.”
Bold action creates momentum and opportunities, while indecision leads to missed chances and regrets as time keeps moving.
7. “You don’t lose time - you trade it. Some trades are worth it. Some bankrupt you.”
Every use of time is an exchange. Some are investments; others are costly losses we realize too late.
8. “Time whispers truth long before we’re ready to hear it.”
The lessons we eventually accept were often obvious earlier. Time’s role is to make the truth unavoidable.
9. “Every second is a seed. What grows depends on where you plant your attention.”
Time alone doesn’t create results. What you focus on during those seconds determines what your future looks like.
10. “Time doesn’t pass - we do. Time just watches and keeps the score.”
The clock ticks at the same rate for everyone. It’s we who change, age, evolve, or stagnate. Time simply records the consequences.
Final Thoughts
Time inevitably changes us all, but often, the most profound shifts happen within.
True progress in how we handle time begins with internal reflection and intentional habits. So, if you're ready to make a positive change and regain control over your days, consider using time management software like My Hours.
