Henry Van Dyke Quotes

It is a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up.

I wanted to wake you straightaway, but I knew I had to wait several hours to ensure you were safely recovered." "What! How long has it been?" "Five minutes. I got bored.

When someone is impatient and says, 'I haven't got all day,' I always wonder, How can that be? How can you not have all day?

Ten minutes can be a long time when you're waiting with a beating heart for something you don't understand, something you don't really want to know.

The slowness of time, for a man who knows nothing will happen, is brutal.

Waiting is far more difficult than doing.

Waiting makes me restless. When I'm ready, I'm ready.

The man for whom time stretches out painfully is one waiting in vain, disappointed at not finding tomorrow already continuing yesterday.

I spent a lot of time staring at the clock in school, so I have that kind of personality.

This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.

What's the use of watching? A watched pot never boils.

I hate having to wait. I've got the thing done. I just want to see what happens.

After two minutes after this time, and I am already there.

Why is life speeded up so? Why are things so terribly, unbearably precious that you can't enjoy them but can only wait breathless in dread of their going?

The trouble is that I'm in a hurry, but God isn't.

I'd be smiling if I wasn't so desperate. I'd be patient if I had the time.

People are content to wait a long time for salvation, but prefer dinner to turn up inside an hour.

The swiftest despatch seems slow to desire.

Ah! the clock is always slow; it is later than you think.

The clock ticked with empty urgency, as though trying to catch up with the time. In the street a siren howled.

What's the hurry? Are you afraid I won't come back?

Even speed, when we are anxious, seems like delay.

Delay is a bitter tonic, but it increases appetite.

I can't stand it to think my life is going so fast and I'm not really living it.

The West has made people too time-conscious, not knowing where they are going but speeding to get there because time is short.