They say time flies (others say that time stops and that it heals all wounds), but what exactly is time? Consider the past, the future, and the ever elusive present moment with these 20 of the best literary quotes about time.

1. “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”―Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married

2. “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. 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

3. “There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you’d better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you’ll never understand what it’s saying.”―Sarah Dessen, Just Listen

4. “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.”―Anthony G. Oettinger

5. “Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.”―Roy T. Bennett, author of The Light in the Heart: Inspirational Thoughts for Living Your Best Life

6. “Time is an illusion.”―Albert Einstein, author of The World As I See It

7. “It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”―Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

8. “Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let’s not forget this.”―Dave Eggers, author of The Circle

9. “It’s being here now that’s important. There’s no past and there’s no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can’t relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don’t know if there is one.”―George Harrison, author of George Harrison Anthology

10. “Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.”―Lao Tzu, author of Tao Te Ching

11. “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”―Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

12. “Time is a game played beautifully by children.”―Heraclitus, Fragments

13. “The timeless in you is aware of life’s timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today’s memory and tomorrow is today’s dream.”―Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

14. “How did it get so late so soon?”―Dr. Seuss, author of Green Eggs and Ham

15. “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”―Mother Theresa, author of Mother Teresa: In My Own Words

16. “Time is the longest distance between two places.”―Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie

17. “They say time heals all wounds, but that presumes the source of the grief is finite.”―Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

18. “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”―Charles Darwin, The Life & Letters of Charles Darwin

19. “You may delay, but time will not.”―Benjamin Franklin, author of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

20. “Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.”―Kurt Vonnegut, author of Breakfast of Champions

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