English Vocabulary: Lesson 5- Wise Quotes and Proverbs about Time

WISE QUOTES AND PROVERBS ABOUT TIME

“Hard times require furious dancing. Each of us is proof.”

Alice Walker, American Novelist

Time has become such an elastic concept since the coronavirus pandemic knocked at our doors.

We either have too much of it or we are racing against it.

Our carefully arranged plans for the future are being tested by the day for what will happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next week or next month?

What will become of our jobs or career prospects? What about the exams we carefully prepared for? Will school or work life be the same after the virus has run its course?

In times of uncertainty, words of wisdom are cherished because they enable us to develop a broader perspective in life.

Wisdom comes from experience and many a man and woman before us have thought about life’s troubles and come up with soothing quotes to help us deal with hardship.

What wise quotes or proverbs can be of use to us whether we are under lockdown or we are fighting on the frontline?

English Vocabulary_Learn English With Africa, April 2020

Sometimes, waiting until the right moment to act can lift the weight of time off our shoulders.

“The impatient idealist says: ‘Give me a place to stand and I shall move the earth.’ But such a place does not exist. We all have to stand on the earth itself and go with her at her pace.”

~Chinua Achebe, Nigerian Author

“Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is ‘timing’, it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.”

~Fulton J. Sheen, American Archbishop

“Patience means knowing it will happen… and giving it time to happen.”

~Susan Jeffers, American Psychologist

“Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves.”

~Lord Chesterfield, Bristish Politician and Diplomat

“Patience is key. Beautiful flowers take time to bloom.”

~Anonymous

“Time sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a snail; but a man is happiest when he does not even notice whether it passes swiftly or slowly.”

~Ivan Turgenev, Russian Novelist

Even though we do not know what the future holds, if we hold our breaths and wait for the storm to pass, surely we will overcome this coronavirus crisis.

It serves no purpose to worry because for ‘every beginning there is an end.’

Wise Quotes and Proverbs about Time, Part 2, Learn English with Africa, April 2020

Times may be uncertain but that does not give us a licence to unhappiness!

“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if only we remember to to turn on the light.”

~J.K. Rowling, British Writer

“However long the night, the dawn will break.”

African Proverb

“The future is uncertain but the end is always near.”

~Jim Morrison, American Singer

“Time brings all things to pass.”

Aeschylus, Ancient Greek Poet and Writer

“Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”

~Dale Carnegie, American Writer and Lecturer

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

~Mother Theresa, Roman Catholic Nun

We are currently blessed with so much time that we can make good use of it. It does not matter whether we know what will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

What matters is the present.

After all ‘time is a currency you can only spend once.’

It is good to have consistent and fruitful habits that will enrich our days.

Wise Quotes about Time, Part 3, Learn English With Africa, April 2020

We must have a sense of purpose and deal with each day as if it was unique.

“We must use time creatively, and forever realise that the time is always right to do right.”

~Nelson Mandela, South African Politician and Activist

“People say that if you find water rising up to your ankle, that’s the time to do something about it, not when it’s around your neck.”

~Chinua Achebe, Nigerian Author

“No one is rich enough to buy yesterday but if you hustle hard tomorrow could be yours.”

Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Playwright, Poet and Essayist

“Look closely at the present you are constructing; it should look like the future you are dreaming.”

~Alice Walker, American Novelist

“For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”

~African Proverb

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

~Christopher McDougall, American Author and Journalist