129 Thought-Provoking Time Flies Quotes About Life

These time flies quotes are sure to help you see life from a different perspective and appreciate every moment.

If any of these quotes inspired you, share them in the comments below.

There are some moments in life or certain days where time seems to creep by ever so slowly.

Sometimes it can feel like days at a time. But as time passes, it starts to become obvious that time is just moving so fast.

You’ve probably heard it said that “time flies when you’re having fun”, but the truth is that it flies by no matter what.

Just ask a parent of grown children or an elderly person.

They’re likely to tell you that it all seems to go by in the blink of an eye.

These time flies quotes tell the same story.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration.

Our inspirational quote category page has even more inspirational and educational quotes.

Time flies quotes to remind you life is short

1. “After all, life is too short to be anything but happy.” – Kayla Marx

You will also enjoy our article on cuddle quotes.

2. “Life is short, and it’s up to you to make it sweet.” – Sarah Louise Delan

3. “Life is too short, or too long, for me to allow myself the luxury of living it so badly.” – Paulo Coelho

You will also enjoy our article on time quotes.

4. “Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time.” – Victor Hugo

5. “I think life is far too short to concentrate on your past. I rather look into the future.” – Lou Reed

6. “Life is too short as we all know it to be. So why dare to spend it trying to live up to other people’s worldly expectations of you?” – Edmond Mbiaka

7. “Our time in this life is limited. And how we respect that time will create a greater possibility for fulfillment.” – Ruben Papian

8. “Live honestly to a higher note. Life is too short. So, do the best you can and live your life to a higher note.” – Kimora Lee Simmons

9. “Life is too short to cry for anything so smile and do what makes you happy with morals.” – Abdel Rahman Sabry

10. “Life is short and if you’re looking for an extension, you had best do well. Cause there’s good deeds and then there are good intentions. They are as far apart as Heaven and Hell.” – Ben Harper

Wise time flies quotes

11. “Time flies. Time flies faster every year. Time flies whether you’re having fun or not, whether you’re living your life big or small, whether you surround yourself with fear or laughter.” – Claire Cook

12. “Time flies when you are having fun.” – Albert Einstein

13. “Yes, time flies. And where did it leave you? Old too soon…smart too late.” – Mike Tyson

14. “Time flies. It’s up to you to be the navigator.” – Robert Orben

15. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs

16. “Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.” – Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux

17. “They say time flies, but you keep breaking its wings.” – Tablo

18. “Time flies when you’re running out of money.” – James Cook

19. “Time flies, and what is past is done.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

20. “When you’re engaged in what you love to do, it’s like driving in the fast lane. Time flies by and more roads open up to you, alternate routes you may not have even known existed.” – T. Harv Eker

Time flies quotes about how fast children grow up

21. “Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you’re in diapers; the next day you’re gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul.” – The Wonder Years

22. “Motherhood: The days are long but the years are short.” – Gretchen Rubin

23. “I would have given anything to keep her little. They outgrow us so much faster than we outgrow them.” – Brian Fitzgerald

24. “We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.” – Stacia Tauscher

25. “You know children are growing up when they start asking questions that have answers.” – John J. Plomp

26. “Our children are only ever lent to us. We never know just how long we will be able to keep them for. So kiss them, cuddle them, praise them, and hold them tightly. But most of all, tell them you love them every day.” – Carly Marie

27. “When we are children, we seldom think of the future. This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.” – Patrick Rothfuss

28. “I wish I could freeze time or go back in time and watch my kids grow up all over again because it is just going by too fast.” – Robert Rodriguez

29. “You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they’re going.” – P.J. O’Rourke

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to check out our collection of children quotes that will fill your heart with love and laughter.

30. “Katie is like my calendar, watching her grow and change. She is growing up so fast, learning to have opinions of her own, learning that I don’t have the answers to everything. And the moment a child begins to understand that, you know you’re in trouble.” – Cecelia Ahern

Time flies quotes about nostalgia

31. “There’s a certain nostalgia and romance in a place you left.” – David Guterson

32. “Nostalgia is a powerful feeling; it can drown out anything.” -Terrence Malick

33. “Nostalgia, the vice of the aged. We watch so many old movies our memories come in monochrome.” – Angela Carter

34. “I have a nostalgia for the years I was growing up and experiencing new things for the first time – so the late ’80s and early ’90s are always fascinating to me.” – Jeremy Scott

35. “Periods of nostalgia are impossible to predict or explain.” – Russell Smith

36. “I always find that nostalgia is sort of like memory without the pain. And that’s why it feels so good to kind of bask in that, and I think it can be deceptively comforting.” – Carrie Brownstein

37. “Nostalgia paints a smile on the stony face of the past.” – Mason Cooley

38. “Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.” – Doug Larson

39. “The mists of nostalgia color memory.” – Ken Tucker

40 “The nostalgia I have been cherishing all these years is a hypertrophied sense of lost childhood, not sorrow for lost banknotes.” – Vladimir Nabokov
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of Childhood quotes to connect with your inner child.

More time flies quotes

41. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altshuler

42. “Time flies over us, but it leaves its shadow behind.” – Nathaniel Hawthrone

43. “During the past five years, I’ve learned that time flies faster than you think, and because you only live once you have to learn from your mistakes, live your dreams and be accountable.” – Lindsay Lohan

44. “Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin

45. “They say I’m old-fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!” – Dr. Seuss

46. “Time flies when you’re being stupid.” – David Henry Hwang

47. “How time flies when one has fun!” – Samuel Beckett

48. “It’s funny how time flies by. We met, we dated, got engaged, and now we are married. It’s so fast.” – Tam Ross

49. “Time flies sometimes like a bird, sometimes crawls like a worm, but a man feels particularly well when he does not even notice that the time flies away.” – Ivan Turgenev

50. “Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.” – Groucho Marx

You might also like these helpful death quotes on the ways we grieve.

Time flies quotes to motivate you

51. “The most beautiful moments always seemed to accelerate and slip beyond one’s grasp just when you want to hold onto them for as long as possible.” – E.A. Bucchianeri

52. “Time flies, whether you’re wasting it or not.” – Crystal Woods

53. “Time flies so fast. day by day left us. with or without smiles, the new days will comes.” – Nunki Artura

54. “We are aboard inside time, as it flies and never wear out.” – Ronnie Cornelisz

55. “We have been conditioned to see the passing of time as an adversary.” — Menachem Mendel Schneerson

56. “Time limits, make each moment count.” – Martin Uzochukwu Ugwu

57. “Everything passes, but nothing entirely goes away.” – Jenny Diski

58. “You can not sit on the hands of time and stop it from ticking. It will keep tocking with or without you.” – Christine E. Szymanski

59. “Time always has a way of showing what is important to us. A smile, a hug, gentle words of I miss you, I love you. Do not let time pass by without expressing how you really feel. Moments do not stay here forever, They fly away like the wind.” – Mimi Novic

60. “It’s pretty scary to know how quickly time flies.” – James Wan

Other insightful time flies quotes

61. “When you get a groove going, time flies.” – Donald Fagen

62. “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”— Earl Nightingale

63. “Time flies when you are anxious!” – Maria Bamford

64. “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different.” — C. S. Lewis

65. “Enjoy the now. Time flies, enjoy it while you can.” – Eddie Jemison

66. “Doesn’t it scare you sometimes how time flies and nothing changes?” – Ika Natassa

67. “But meanwhile, time flies; it flies never to be regained.” – Virgil

68. “It is impossible for me to remember how many days or weeks went by in this way. Time is round, and it rolls quickly.” – Nikos Kazantzakis

69. “There is so little time for us all; I need to be able to say what I want quickly and to as many people as possible.”— Marc Bolan

70. “Time flies so fast because it does not have any guidance. Like the moon in its zenith or the horizon.” – Albert Camus

Time Flies Quotes To Help You Take Chances

71. “Life is flying by. You don’t have time to waste another minute being negative, offended or bitter. If someone did you wrong, get over it and move forward.” — Joel Osteen

72. “Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.” — Haruki Murakami

73. “Then suddenly one day he awakens to find that time had gone; the house completed, the immortal tree cut down, his mother dead.” — Earl Lovelace

74. “How time flies when you’re doin all the talking.” — Harvey Fierstein

75. “The velocity with which time flies is infinite, as is most apparent to those who look back.” — Seneca the Younger

76. “Time flies in space-we would faintly believe that everything flies forward with it.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

77. “Memory is a stopgap for humans, for whom time flies and what is passed is passed.” — Umberto Eco

78. “Time meanwhile is flying, flying beyond recall.” — Virgil

79. “Time and tide wait for no man.” — Geoffrey Chaucer

80. “While we are postponing, life speeds by.” — Seneca the Younger

Time Flies Quotes To Utilize Yours Well

81. “It’s crazy how fast time flies and how things progress.” ― Nathan Chen

82. “As the wave is driven by wave, and each, pursued, pursues the wave ahead, so time flies on and follows, flies, and follows, always, forever and new. What was before is left behind; what never was is now, and every passing moment is renewed.” ― Ovid

83. “The minutes rushed past, without compassion for my enthusiasm.” ― Nicola Lecca

84. “Time flies so fast for those who can’t fly.” ― Tamerlan Kuzgov

85. And time flies just like melting ice!” ― Nikhil Bhatia

86. “People always talk about how time flies; it’s become a sort of a colloquialism now. You don’t really understand it until you reach your late 30s and early 40s—and I’m sure time will move even faster as I get older.” ― Ben Gibbard

87. “Time flies when you are on an emotional roller coaster.” ― Kaitlyn Bristowe

88. “Time flies, but not memories.” ― Ika Natassa

89. “Time flies, it’s true. But what kind of wings does it have, butterfly wings, bat wings, or eagle wings? None. It has the wings of a duck, which is why I’m surprised nobody in history has noticed that time also swims.” ― Jarod Kintz

90. “We have had a good time while we were young, but it is in the nature of time to fly.” ― T.H. White

Time Fllies Quotes on the Fleeting Nature of Life

91. “Time flies. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” ― Alice Morse Earle

92. “Time flies and never returns.” ― Benjamin Franklin

93. “Time flies, but it’s up to us to make the most of it.” ― Mark Twain

94. “Time flies when you’re busy, but it moves slowly when you’re bored.” ― Richard Branson

95. “Time flies, but it never goes backwards. Make the most of every moment.” ― Steve Jobs

96. “Time flies, but it can also be a reminder of how much we’ve grown and changed.” ― Ellen DeGeneres

97. “Time flies, but it leaves its mark.” ― Oprah Winfrey

98. Time flies when you’re having fun, but it drags on when you’re not.” ― Jim Carrey

99. Time flies, but memories last forever.” ― Helen Mirren

100. “Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” ― Nathaniel Hawthorne

Greatest How Time Flies Quotes

101. “There is never enough time to enjoy what you love.” ― Joyce Rachelle

102. “I blinked my eyes and in an instant, decades had passed.” ― John Mark Green

103. “Enjoy the moment. You won’t have it again.” ― Frank Sonnenberg

104. “I think the worst sort of time travel is how the clock speeds up when I’m on my break.” ― Joyce Rachelle

105. “Before you know it it’s 3 am and you’re 80 years old and you can’t remember what it was like to have 20-year-old thoughts or a 10-year-old heart.” — Anita Pallenberg

106. “Time flies really quickly. It feels like only a few months ago that I was traded over here and started my career as a Cub in 2013.” ― Jake Arrieta

107. “Life is not just the passing of time. Life is the collection of experiences and their intensity.”  — Jim Rohn

108. “Time goes, you say? Ah, no! Alas, time stays, we go.” — Henry Austin Dobson

109. “One day, you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the thing you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” — Paulo Coelho

110. “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” — Bruce Lee

Time Flies Quotes to Help You Utilise Every Second

111. “Don’t use time and words carelessly neither can be retrieved.” — Lecrae

112. “Time whizzes by when you have children. They make you aware of the passing of time, but also help keep you young.” — Jaclyn Smith

113. “Make use of time, let not advantage slip.” — William Shakespeare

114. “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” — Harvey Mackay

115. “Time flies when you’re changing the world.” — Craig Kielburger

116. “Time is a brisk wind, for each hour it brings something new.” — Paracelsus

117. “Hurry up your dreams are waiting for you, but they will not wait forever.” — Paulo Coelho

118. “If you don’t value your time, no one else will.” — Donna Brazile

119. “Every second is of infinite value.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

120. “Every passing moment is the passing of life; every moment of life is life itself.” — Lisa See

121. “No matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away.” — Haruki Murakami

122. “How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December before it’s June. My goodness, how time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” — Dr. Seuss

123. “Everything will eventually come to an end. So try to savor the moment, cause time flies, don’t it? The beauty of life, you gotta make it last for the better, cause nothin’ lasts forever.” — Nas

124. “Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.” — Will Rogers

125. “One day, you’re 17 and you’re planning for someday. And then quietly, without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life.” — Brooke Davies

126. “The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.” — Niccolo Machiavelli

127. “There are no refunds on misspent time.” — Jack Butcher.

128. “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” — Jim Rohn

129. “Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.” — Art Buchwald

Which of these time flies quotes resonated with you best?

It’s easy to let the day to day distractions get in the way of doing the meaningful things that you want to do in life.

And it’s easy to get stuck in feeling like the rough times are going to last forever.

But they won’t and in the blink of an eye, you’ll realize just how much time has passed.

Make the most of the time that you have.

Use these quotes as a reminder to be intentional about the way that you spend your time.

While you might not have control over how much time you actually get, you have control over how you spend that time.

Choose wisely.

What’s your biggest takeaway from these time flies quotes and sayings?

Do you have any other favorite quotes to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.