6 minutes
The passage of time is a disconcerting phenomenon because it means progress, but also leaving behind loved situations and moving towards the decline that occurs over the years. Several thinkers have given us reflections on this matter.
The passage of time is a phenomenon on which philosophy, science, religion and, in fact, almost everyone has spoken. It is complex and fascinating at the same time. It is a subject full of mysteries, which fits both in the world of physics and in that of poetry.
Physics has shown us that, in theory at least, the passage of years does not always occur forward, but can also go backwards. Likewise, philosophy has found that the temporary is not always temporary, nor is the established eternal.
It is an unfinished subject that always awakens the imagination. For this reason, we have brought you a selection of the best phrases about the passage of time and the years. These are statements that invite us to reflect.
The best phrases about the passage of time and the years
The phrases of great thinkers are an excellent starting point to meditate on what moments, eternity and life itself mean. The following are 20 of those affirmations that have a halo of immortality.
1. “Five minutes are enough to dream a lifetime, that’s how relative time is.” Mario Benedetti
This sentence says it all. Time is not something that can be measured by its length, but because of its intensity. Most of the time, it is specific moments that define a lifetime. The rest are echoes of those moments.
2. “The distinction between past, present, and future is just a stubbornly persistent illusion.” Albert Einstein
Nobody better than Albert Einstein to refer to this topic. As evidenced by physics, but also by life, that separation between past, present and future is only a mental construction. These three times are always intertwined.
3. “Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” Nathaniel Hawthorne
Another of the phrases about the passing of the years that shows us the way in which moments intertwine. Everything happens and happened, but at the same time it continues to happen. The traces of yesterday are in today and shape tomorrow.
4. “Whoever controls the past controls the future: whoever controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell
A brilliant phrase that synthesizes one of the essential premises of power. Who has the power now elaborates the narrative of the past. In doing so, it also defines the course to be followed into the future. It is not gratuitous that totalitarianisms always seek to erase historical traces.
5. “Human time does not rotate in a circular fashion. Run forward in a straight line. This is why people cannot be happy: happiness seeks repetition ”. Milan kundera
In this sentence about the passage of time, Milan kundera reminds us that the events are unrepeatable. At the same time, within the framework of desire, you always want them to happen again to avoid the inexorable journey to nowhere.
6. “When we say that all past times were better, we are condemning the future without knowing it.” Francisco de Quevedo
This lucid phrase goes against a widespread popular maxim, according to which everything yesterday was better than today. There is no evidence of thisRather, it is a subjective perception. In any case, if you think like this, it ends up conditioning the future.
7. “Only he who builds the future has the right to judge the past.” Friedrich Nietzsche
In this phrase by Nietzsche we find a challenging statement. It is a questioning of passivity in the face of action. It can not judge others for doing what they did, if no action is taken to correct it. You cannot be a comfortable, and at the same time critical, spectator of history.
8. “There is no memory that time does not erase or sorrow that death does not end.” Miguel de Cervantes
In this case, we find a phrase that highlights the ephemeral nature of everything. Although the home of time is memory, it is also its grave. As the years go by, everything tends to get left behind and fade into the future.
9. “The strongest of all warriors are time and patience.” Leo Tolstoy
This phrase from Tolstoy shows us that the ability to know how to wait is a powerful weapon to win in battle. When you are right and you fight for it, many times it only takes time and patience to win.
10. “Let’s give time to time: for the glass to overflow it must be filled first.” Antonio Machado
This phrase talks about the wisdom that is implicit in time. Suggests that everything has its moment and that great events are the result of an accumulation of situations that, at some point, reach their maximum expression.
11. “With age comes the understanding and appreciation of your most important asset, your health.” Oprah Winfrey
A very realistic phrase that warns about the way perception changes over the years. Unfortunately, health is something that is perceived as eternal when a person is young and he has his whole life ahead of him. Later, it is understood that it was not like that.
12. “Time to time and each footprint will find its sand.” Jorge Drexler
A very beautiful statement that also refers to the idea of giving time to time. That each footprint finds its sand means that that work or that step will find a fertile ground to be concretized sometime.
13. “There is always a time to march, even if there is no place to go.” Tennessee Williams
Another of the phrases that speak about one of the great truths of life. Sooner or later we are all forced to leaveEither from a place, a situation or life itself. We are always passing through.
14. “Time matures everything; nobody is born wise ”. Miguel de Cervantes
Just as the passage of time takes away many things, it also contributes others. Among them, one of the most important is maturity. This does not only apply to a person as such, but also for construction sites and projects.
15. “Choosing your own time is ganar time ”. Sir Francis Bacon
A wise phrase that talks about the importance of becoming owners of our time. As we dedicate ourselves to our dreams and projects, we are buying time for them and for ourselves.
16. “At three it’s always too late or too early for anything you want to do.” Jean-Paul Sartre
In this case, Sartre also refers to the relativity of time. It shows that the important thing is not time itself, but that internal motor that sometimes leads us to act and sometimes to leave it for later.
17. “It is never too late to be who you want to be. There is no time limit”. Eric roth
The concepts of very early or too late they are also relative. The truth is that as long as there is life, it is always possible to continue fighting to be what you want or achieve what you dream of.
18. “If time could be killed without hurting eternity.” Henry David Thoreau
The poet talks about that It is by investing time in something that you make this transcendent. If instead time is killed, it will be impossible to achieve something that really lasts.
19. “I don’t have time to be in a hurry.” John wesley
In this paradox, John Wesley suggests that the important thing is not the amount of time, but its quality. Haste is an attitude that reduces well-being, to the point that what is done quickly ends up taking time away.
20. “If when you waste it you enjoy your time, you are not wasting it.” John Lennon
A very wise phrase that goes in the opposite direction of what many think about this concept. Moments spent enjoying or being well are never wasted, but a way to have greater well-being.
Looking for eternity
The passage of the years is inexorable, at least for now. Time is the stuff that life is made of and it is a limited good. There is a point at which it runs out and that is why it is important to value it.
However, do not forget that making good use of moments is not synonymous with producing more or carrying out more activities. It means, above all, dedicating them to what really matters to you and the people and situations that are relevant to you. This is the way to make time eternal.
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