Nora Ephron Quotes

For many of us, we set out thinking there will be time in the future, and then suddenly we find ourselves at a moment when we have to acknowledge that the future isn't infinite.

I'm not one of these people who likes to do as little as possible. I really do feel the hot breath of time on the back of my neck these days. And there are certain things I want to do before my time is up.

If you told me I was going to live to 240, I would take 10 years off and try and act. I don't have that kind of time, so I'd much rather stick to playing guitar.

I feel like you only have so much time to make stuff. I'm definitely aware of that. I'm also excited about it.

I just don't want to watch TV, and I know that life is short. I feel like I couldn't do all the things I wanted to do if I had several lifetimes to do them in.

I really have this sense that time is passing, and it's important to do what you have wanted to do.

This whole thing about, 'Take it easy, you had a heart attack, you might die,' I don't have time to take it easy. I might go at any point now. So, I want to get as much done as I can!

You can't put off being young until you retire.

You can tell by looking at me that I've got more miles behind me than I've got in front of me. When you reach that point, if you've got some good years left, you want to make sure that you use them wisely.

You know, you get to a certain age, 45, 50, I don't know when it happens, I said, 'Jesus, all I got is a certain amount of time. Maybe I should think about using it a little better.'

I wish I could have known earlier that you have all the time you'll need right up to the day you die.

I don't look ahead to the future as a vast, endless one. I've begun to feel the calendar pages turning.

Really, ambition has gone. I look for things that tickle my fancy. You begin to see the end of life on the horizon. You think, 'It's not going on forever, this.' Let's make the most of what time I have left.

I'm going to be 50 in 2018 and I figure that I should try to get as much in before then. After 50, you never know what might happen.

The world is going to end for each of us in a prescribed time, and you sort of understand that your time is limited at a certain point, and you want to get done the things you want to get done. You don't want to leave things undone, because you only have a limited amount of time.

What we know for sure from our work and from others' is that mice have a life span of 1,000 days, dogs have 5,000 days, and we humans have 29,000 days. Recognizing that the duration is limited, and aging is inevitable, focus the attention on enhancing the quality of the days you have.

I've been a long time coming, and I'll be a long time gone. You've got your whole life to do something, and that's not very long.

As you get older, the questions come down to about two or three. How long? And what do I do with the time I've got left?

What I try to get physically healthy people to understand is that they're going to die someday. There is no way out. And dying isn't failure, but not living is, so make use of your time. Don't keeping waiting.

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.

Things change when you get to 40. I'm embarrassed even that I'm going through it. In a very morbid way, at 40 you become aware of how long you've been on Earth and you start to question what you're going to use the remaining time doing.

What's really important in life? Sitting on a beach? Looking at television eight hours a day? I think we have to appreciate that we're alive for only a limited period of time, and we'll spend most of our lives working.

I do not really think about age. I am just sort of trying to get as much done before I get old and can't.

I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.

I think so much in time. I always have. Even at 20, I thought in terms of time, that I don't have a lot of time left. And I want to do so many things.