'every human being is tried this way in the active service of expectancy. now comes the fulfillment and relieves him, but soon he is again placed on reconnaissance for expectancy; then he is again relieved, but as long as there is any future for him, he has not yet finished his service. and while human life goes on this way in very diverse expectancy, expecting very different things according to different times and occasions and in different frames of mind, all life is again one nightwatch of expectancy.'

-- søren kierkegaard

'imagination is both aggressive and delicate, a mode of cognition unmatched in its ability to reveal the hidden meanings in reality now and the likely shape of tomorrow.'

-- andrea dworkin

'nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. quid enim est aetas hominis, nisi ea memoria rerum veterum cum superiorum aetate contexitur?'

-- cicero

'...history was like an old house at night. with all the lamps lit. and ancestors sleeping inside.'

-- arundhati roy

'why aren't people happy about how great they're feeling, relatively? why don't we hug each other all the time, saying, "how about this?"'

-- martin amis

'hence the reason why almost all men, and those that seem to be very miserable, love life: because they cannot bear to lose the sight of such a beautiful and lovely word-- the ideas, that every moment whilst we live have a beauty that we take not distinct notice of, but bring a pleasure that, when we come to the trial, we had rather live in much pain and misery than lose...'

-- jonathan edwards

'sometimes i see something so moving i know i'm not supposed to linger. see it and leave. if you stay too long, you wear out the wordless shock. love it and trust it and leave.'

-- don delillo

'and indeed there will be time'

-- t.s. eliot

'so for a moment i stand, my feet planted firm in the present,
eagerly scanning the future which is so soon to possess me.'

-- amy lowell

'then we’ll go dancing
won’t we go dancing?
yes, we’ll go dancing
until it all starts over again'

-- the decemberists


'can't bring back time. like holding water in your hand.'

-- james joyce

'in a night 200,000 years can pass, time moving only in our minds. the steady marking of the seasons, the land well-loved and always changing, continues outside, while inside light years revolve us under different skies.'

-- jeanette winterson

'in all my travels i never came to the abode of the present.'

-- henry david thoreau