Time Wasting Quotes

If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be, as Poor Richard says, “the greatest prodigality'; since, as he elsewhere tells us, 'Lost time is never found again'; and 'What we call time enough always proves little enough'. Let us then up and be doing, and doing to the purpose; so by diligence shall we do more with less perplexity.

There is no doubt that the grail of efficiency leads to abuse. Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%. A good programmer will not be lulled into complacency by such reasoning, he will be wise to look carefully at the critical code; but only after that code has been identified. It is often a mistake to make a priori judgments about what parts of a program are really critical, since the universal experience of programmers who have been using measurement tools has been that their intuitive guesses fail.

People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do.

Corporate America is drowning in meetings. To make one thing clear, I am not against communication. Quick one-on-ones can be extremely effective. I am talking about those hour-long recurring meetings, devoid of a clear agenda, and attended by many. I dread them.

I am one of the great wasters of time. I have made it an art form. I can get up at 8 o'clock in the morning, be out of the house by 8:30 and back by 5 P.M., and I'll be going all day long and accomplish absolutely nothing. It's an amazing talent.

Waiting in line for something mundane is very boring. Waiting for my doctor to see me and waiting for my dentist to see me, yes, that is boring.

If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.

Procrastination is the thief of time; year after year it steals, till all are fled, and to the mercies of a moment leaves the vast concerns of an eternal state. At thirty, man suspects himself a fool; knows it at forty, and reforms his plan; at fifty chides his infamous delay, pushes his prudent purpose to resolve; in all the magnanimity of thought, resolves, and re-resolves, then dies the same.

I'm not wasting my time with any more non-straight-talking candidates.

There is no kind of idleness by which we are so easily seduced as that which dignifies itself by the appearance of business.

[Alexander] Hamilton estimated portrait painters as thieves of time.

Those who never have time do least

Procrastination is a deadly weapon of human progress.

Many people who pretend to be very busy have the least to do.

It is easier to waste time on bureaucratic reorganization than it is to accomplish anything concrete.

We spend our time bandying statistics about.

I really don't have time for nonsense.

Of all thieves, fools are the worst; they rob you of time and temper.

Always Postpone Meetings with Time-wasting Morons

Oh, how precious is time! And how guilty it makes me feel when I think I have trifled away and misimproved it, or neglected to fill up each part of it with duty to the utmost of my ability and capacity

A day can really slip by when you're deliberately avoiding what you're supposed to do.

Looking and not finding is certainly one of the most frustrating ways to spend time.

Is it really that important? It's just television, for God's sake. It's not medicine or something.

Idleness is the sepulchre of a living man.

Argh... I could be better with my time. I like to be punctual, but I could be better.