W. H. Auden Quotes

Ideas are the easy part. I spend a lot of time batting them away, trying to keep them from distracting me from what I actually have to focus on and finish. A lot of times, they are a siren temptress beckoning me with the promise of a much shorter, simpler, more slender novel over the horizon, but of course that's very dangerous.

I love the fact that tomorrow never comes. You can never wake up and say, 'It's tomorrow.' It's always today.

I'm always 20 minutes ahead of myself in my head. But being present - it's beautiful when it happens.

Don't ever postpone things - that was very clear in our family.

I am quite a dreamer, and usually when someone tells a story, I tend to get distracted easily.

He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.

What is an idea made of? Of future, past and also meanwhile.

My rule always was to do the business of the day in the day.

If only I could master that demon of procrastination that goes about like a roaring lion and devours all my good intentions, I should become the most punctual man in the world.

[M]emory is time folding back on itself. To remember is to disengage from the present.

I recall a friend telling me that for all the years his mother worked, every clock in her home was set 30 minutes ahead. She was never late. And she was beloved by all. Punctuality matters. Shows respect for others. And excellence within yourself. Be great today. Please.

Thinking about time is to acknowledge two contradictory certainties: that our outward lives are governed by the seasons and the clock; that our inward lives are governed by something much less regular-an imaginative impulse cutting through the dictates of daily time, and leaving us free to ignore the boundaries of here and now and pass like lightning along the coil of pure time, that is, the circle of the universe and whatever it does or does not contain.

Men spend their lives in anticipations,—in determining to be vastly happy at some period when they have time. But the present time has one advantage over every other—it is our own. Past opportunities are gone, future have not come. We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock of wine; but if we defer the tasting of them too long, we shall find that both are soured by age.

Unpunctuality is a vile habit.

Being on time to appointments and meetings is a phase of self-discipline and an evidence of self-respect. Punctuality is a courteous compliment the intelligent person pays to his associates.

Perfect moments don't turn into half-hours.

Punctuality is an essential trait of the teacher. It is a foundation, not an embellishment.

Woman is certainly the daughter of Delay personified!

I explain to everyone I deal with-co-workers, children, friends-that I'm transitionally challenged and they should call me on my cell phone if I'm even a few minutes late. Such calls often come in when I'm happily writing or rearranging the furniture. The monochrones in my life are so organized, they have no trouble remembering to remind me to show up.

Oh if life were made of moments Even now and then a bad one--! But if life were only moments, Then you'd never know you had one.

Each morning, before Jackie started her studies, she wrote on a clean piece of paper: Tarde venientibus ossa. To the latecomers are left the bones.

Punctuality is a quality the need of which is bound up with social co-operation.

NOW is the only reality. All else is either memory or imagination.

Earth tries to work sorcery on us, saying Tomorrow, Tomorrow, but we outwit that spell by enjoying this now.

No mind is much employed upon the present; recollection and anticipation fill up almost all our moments.