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Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.
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“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”

Benjamin Franklin

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Source
Poor Richard’s Almanack
Date
1746
Meaning

Meaning of “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander…”

Time is treated as the substance from which life is built, so wasting it means spending something that cannot be recovered.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Poor Richard’s Almanack; the maxim connects the value of life directly with the use of time.

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Inspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityLifeLife AdviceLife Is ShortLife LessonsMotivation For LifeMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistencePresent MomentProductivityShortTimeWisdom Quotes About Judgment & Living WellWisdom About LifeWords of Wisdom: Practical & Philosophical Counsel
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For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
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“For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”

Kahlil Gibran · The Prophet · 1923
Meaning & context

Life continues forward despite attachment to what has already happened, so care for the past cannot make the present remain there.

Source details

The Prophet, “On Children”; Gibran contrasts parents’ memory of yesterday with children belonging to a life that moves forward.

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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
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“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

Ecclesiastes · King James Bible — Ecclesiastes 3:1 · 1611
Meaning & context

The verse places change inside a larger rhythm of seasons and purposes, making it useful for thinking about acceptance when one phase of life gives way to another.

Source details

Ecclesiastes 3:1 in the King James Version, opening the sequence of contrasting times and seasons.

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No one is so old as to think that he may not live a year.
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“No one is so old as to think that he may not live a year.”

Cicero · Cato on Old Age · 44 BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Marcus Cato (Cato the Elder)
Meaning & context

Even late in life people naturally continue to imagine a future, which helps explain why worthwhile work and planning do not simply stop with age.

Source details

Cato on Old Age, Shuckburgh translation, in a passage about older people planting for those who come after them.

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Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone for ever.
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“Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone for ever.”

Samuel Smiles · Self-Help · 1859
Meaning & context

Many losses can be repaired through later effort, but spent time cannot be recovered, giving attention and method unusual importance.

Source details

Self-Help, Chapter IX, “Men of Business,” Project Gutenberg #935. The sentence appears in Smiles’s discussion of method, punctuality and the economical use of time, contrasting losses that may be repaired with time once spent, which cannot be recovered.

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