Lost time is never found again.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was one of the founders of the United States, and also a printer, inventor and scientist. Alongside political work he experimented with electricity, founded the first public library in America, and for years published Poor Richard's Almanack, a collection of practical advice and sayings that passed into everyday speech.
About this theme: Time
Time is the one theme here where every author writes from the same position — none of them had more of it than they had. Seneca devoted an essay to it, and his central claim is uncomfortable: we are not given a short life, we spend it in a way that makes it seem short.
More by Benjamin Franklin
More on Time
- The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.— Chinese Proverb
- It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.— Seneca
- The life given us by nature is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.— Cicero
- The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.— Nikola Tesla
- Begin at once to live, and count each separate day as a separate life.— Seneca