89 Time Quotes (Profound, Important, Inspiring)

By Maxime Lagacé

Maxime is the founder and chief editor of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm, powerful, and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.

Time is ticking.

1440 minutes in your day.

168 hours in your week.

8760 hours in your year.

701 280 hours in your LIFE.

The question is, how will you spend them?

I’ve spent 10+ hours curating 89 of the best time quotes I could find.

The goal?

To inspire you and remind you that time is all you have.

After having lost my girlfriend in a car accident back in 2004, I’ve realized a few things:

Life is short
Life is precious
Fools take things for granted (and we are the easiest person to fool)

So guard your time.

Cherish it.

Enjoy it.

It’s now. Or never.

You’ll discover quotes by Albert Einstein, Leo Tolstoy, Steve Jobs, Seneca.

And many more.

Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing. Miles Davis

You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it. Charles Buxto

Enjoy yourself. It’s later than you think. Chinese proverb

Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind. Nathaniel Hawthorne

Every second is of infinite value. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The future has a way of arriving unannounced. George F. Will

Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got. Art Buchwald

Life, if well lived, is long enough. Seneca

time quotes who most powerful warriors patience leo tolstoy wisdom

The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. Leo Tolstoy

The present time has one advantage over every other – it is our own. Charles Caleb Colton

How we spend our days, is, of course, how we spend our lives. Annie Dillard

The more you know yourself, the more you understand life, the more you value your time. Maxime Lagacé

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. Charles Darwin

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Steve Jobs

Do we need more time? Or do we need to be more disciplined with the time we have? Kerry Johnson

People often complain about lack of time when lack of direction is the real problem. Zig Ziglar

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. Marthe Troly-Curtin

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. Thomas Paine

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. Emily Dickinson

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Seneca (On The Shortness Of Life)

We should always allow some time to elapse, for time discloses the truth. Seneca

I recommend you take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves. Earl of Chesterfield

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. William Penn

Ordinary people think merely of spending time, great people think of using it. Arthur Schopenhauer

Related

time quotes guard have naval ravikant wisdom

Guard your time. It’s all you have. Naval Ravikant

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. Benjamin Franklin

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you. Carl Sandburg

Time is a gift that most of us take for granted. Cheryl Richardson

Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time. Rich Warren

Time is more important than your money. It’s more important than your friends. It is more important than anything. Your time is all you have. Do not waste your time. Naval Ravikant

Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever. Samuel Smiles

The best use of time is stepping back to identify the best use of time. Aaron Aalto

Time is the devourer of everything. Ovid

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once. Albert Einstein

Don’t wait. The time will never be just right. Napoleon Hill

You can have it all. Just not all at once. Oprah Winfrey

Time is the ultimate currency. Elon Musk (Source)

You may delay, but time will not. Benjamin Franklin

The time is always right to do what is right. Martin Luther King Jr

Never leave ’till tomorrow which you can do today. Benjamin Franklin

Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek)

It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning. Vincent Van Gogh

There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time. Coco Chanel

We feast on time as time feasts on us. Maria Popova

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. Chinese proverb

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity. Henry David Thoreau

We must use time as a tool, not as a couch. John F. Kennedy

Better three hours too soon than a minute too late. William Shakespeare

Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time. Mahatma Gandhi

Time is really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t afford to lose. Thomas A. Edison

The years teach much which the days never know. Ralph Waldo Emerson

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. Rabindranath Tagore

Time is money. Benjamin Franklin

Time is long but life is short. Stevie Wonder

Lack of time is actually lack of priorities. Tim Ferriss

Time is the wisest counselor of all. Pericles

Time is a construction of our consciousness. Maria Popova

If one has no time, one has also lost oneself. Marc Wittmann

Who knows where the time goes? Nina Simone

Time is not a measure, but a quality. Paulo Coelho

Too often too late comes too soon. Dr. SunWolf

Time brings all things to pass. Aeschylus

Time is the fire in which we burn. Gene Roddenberry

Things change, and time is how we keep track. James Gleick

time quotes loan grateful recipient repay seneca wisdom

Time is the one loan which even a grateful recipient cannot repay. Seneca

Own time, or time will own you. Brian Norgard

Time is a drug; too much of it kills you. Terry Pratchett

Only time can heal what reason cannot. Seneca

Time stays long enough for those who use it. Leonardo da Vinci

The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot. Michael Altshuler

Time is an illusion. Albert Einstein

In such seconds of decision entire futures are made. Dan Simmons

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing. Thomas Jefferson

Related: 8 Ways To Help You Manage Your Time Wisely (apersonalorganizer.com)

Lost time is never found again. Benjamin Franklin

The wisest are the most annoyed at the loss of time. Dante Alighieri

If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. Bruce Lee

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

If time and reason are functions of each other, if we are creatures of time, then we had better know it, and try to make the best of it. To act responsibly. Ursula K. Le Guin

The time for action is now. It’s never too late to do something. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I don’t think it is possible to contribute to the present moment in any meaningful way while being wholly engulfed by it. It is only by stepping out of it, by taking a telescopic perspective, that we can then dip back in and do the work which our time asks of us. Maria Popova

You must match time’s swiftness with your speed in using it, and you must drink quickly as though from a rapid stream that will not always flow. Seneca

The perfect time to do what you love is now. Neil Strauss

time quotes waste nonsense marcus aurelius wisdom

Not to waste time on nonsense. Marcus Aurelius

The key is in not spending time, but in investing it. Stephen R. Covey

If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got. Lee Iacocca

Time is a better measure of success than money. Shane Parrish (Source)

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away. Charles Caleb Colton

Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has yet to come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering. Ida Scott Taylor

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. Warren Buffett

Key Takeaways

Time is all you have. Spend it wisely.
Did you have fun today? Did you work hard? Did you enjoy yourself? Did you help someone? Did you love? Then you did not waste your time.
Time is a doctor and a counselor. If you’re patient enough, you’ll get help.
The present moment has everything you need.
Want to achieve something? Create the time for it.

Key Takeaways

Further Readings