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Alan Lightman Quotes about Time

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One cannot walk down an avenue, converse with a friend, enter a building, browse beneath the sandstone arches of an old arcade without meeting an instrument of time. Time is visible in all places. Clock towers,

One cannot walk down an avenue, converse with a friend, enter a building, browse beneath the sandstone arches of an old arcade without meeting an instrument of time. Time is visible in all places. Clock towers, wristwatches, church bells divide years into months, months into days, days into hours, hours into seconds, each increment of time marching after the other in perfect succession. And beyond any particular clock, a vast scaffold of time, stretching across the universe, lays down the law of time equally for all.

Alan Lightman
Time, Church Bells, Years
Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.25, Vintage

In this world, there are two times. There is mechanical time and there is body time. The first is as rigid and metallic as a massive pendulum of iron that swings back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The second squirms and wriggles like a bluefish in a bay. The first is unyielding, predetermined. The second makes up its mind as it goes along.

Alan Lightman
Time, Swings, Two
Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.19, Vintage

Time is a rigid, bonelike structure, extending infinitely ahead and behind, fossilizing the future as well as the past.

Alan Lightman
Time, Past, Structure

In a world in which time is a circle, every handshake, every kiss, every birth, every word, will be repeated precisely.

Alan Lightman
Time, Kissing, Circles
Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.11, Vintage

A world in which time is absolute is a world of consolation. For while the movements of people are unpredictable, the movement of time is predictable. While people can be doubted, time cannot be doubted. While people brood, time skips ahead without looking back.

Alan Lightman
Time, People, Movement
Alan Lightman (2011). “Einstein's Dreams”, p.27, Vintage

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