Topics · Life & Self
Wisdom about time.
What people have learned about time the hard way, and what the classics said about it first.
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From the library
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
The busy bee has no time for sorrow.
To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.
She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Wherever a host is stationed, briars and thorns spring up. In the sequence of great armies there are sure to be bad years.
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.
He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks) from day to day to diminish (his doing).
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day.
The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord.
Shall we then dispense with correction? The (method of) correction shall by a turn become distortion, and the good in it shall by a turn become evil. The delusion of the people (on this point) has indeed subsisted for a long time.
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.
Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
Music and dainties will make the passing guest stop (for a time). But though the Tao as it comes from the mouth, seems insipid and has no flavour, though it seems not worth being looked at or listened to, the use of it is inexhaustible.
Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
We meet it and do not see its Front; we follow it, and do not see its Back. When we can lay hold of the Tao of old to direct the things of the present day, and are able to know it as it was of old in the beginning, this is called (unwinding) the clue of Tao.
He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not.
(The infant's) bones are weak and its sinews soft, but yet its grasp is firm. It knows not yet the union of male and female, and yet its virile member may be excited;—showing the perfection of its physical essence. All day long it will cry without its throat becoming hoarse;—showing the harmony (in its constitution).
The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Abstaining from speech marks him who is obeying the spontaneity of his nature. A violent wind does not last for a whole morning; a sudden rain does not last for the whole day. To whom is it that these (two) things are owing? To Heaven and Earth. If Heaven and Earth cannot make such (spasmodic) actings last long, how much less can man!
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.
With that gentleness I can be bold; with that economy I can be liberal; shrinking from taking precedence of others, I can become a vessel of the highest honour. Now-a-days they give up gentleness and are all for being bold; economy, and are all for being liberal; the hindmost place, and seek only to be foremost;—(of all which the end is) death.
For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
Therefore when the sovereign occupies his place as the Son of Heaven, and he has appointed his three ducal ministers, though (a prince) were to send in a round symbol-of-rank large enough to fill both the hands, and that as the precursor of the team of horses (in the court-yard), such an offering would not be equal to (a lesson of) this Tao, which one might present on his knees.
The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
But I have heard that he who is skilful in managing the life entrusted to him for a time travels on the land without having to shun rhinoceros or tiger, and enters a host without having to avoid buff coat or sharp weapon. The rhinoceros finds no place in him into which to thrust its horn, nor the tiger a place in which to fix its claws, nor the weapon a place to admit its point. And for what…
All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.
Therefore a wise prince, marching the whole day, does not go far from his baggage waggons. Although he may have brilliant prospects to look at, he quietly remains (in his proper place), indifferent to them. How should the lord of a myriad chariots carry himself lightly before the kingdom? If he do act lightly, he has lost his root (of gravity); if he proceed to active movement, he will lose his…
Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.
The superior man ordinarily considers the left hand the most honourable place, but in time of war the right hand. Those sharp weapons are instruments of evil omen, and not the instruments of the superior man;—he uses them only on the compulsion of necessity. Calm and repose are what he prizes; victory (by force of arms) is to him undesirable. To consider this desirable would be to delight in the…
The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.
As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.