56 Time Management Quotes To Inspire Maximum Productivity

Ever made a silent wish for the Flash’s super speed, just so you could get more done in the space of one day?

You’ve read articles on time management, and you’ve made changes in your daily routine to minimize wasted time.

But then you hit a slump (as we all do) and end up kicking yourself for lost time.

Sometimes all you need are some hard-hitting and relatable time management quotes to inspire you and get you back on track.

54 Time Management Quotes

Take a moment to read and reflect on the following quotes.

It’s not lost time if it helps you reclaim and make better use of the precious minutes you have today.

“This is the key to time management – to see the value of every moment.” — Menachem Mendel Schneerson

“He who every morning plans the transactions of that day and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.” ― Victor Hugo

“Realize that if you have time to whine and complain about something, then you have the time to do something about it.” — Anthony J. D’Angelo

“There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.” — Brian Tracy

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” — Earl Nightingale

“You may delay, but time will not, and lost time is never found again.” — Benjamin Franklin

“A plan is what, a schedule is when. It takes both a plan and a schedule to get things done.” — Peter Turla

“Be mindful of how you approach time. Watching the clock is not the same as watching the sun rise.” — Sophia Bedford-Pierce

“Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.” — John C. Maxwell

“Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.” — Winston Churchill

“A man who dares to waste one hour of life has not discovered the value of life.”
— Charles Darwin

“I always say, don’t make plans, make options.” — Jennifer Aniston

“You get to decide where your time goes. You can either spend it moving forward, or you can spend it putting out fires. You decide. And if you don’t decide, others will decide for you.” ― Tony Morgan

“Boundary setting is really a huge part of time management.” — Jim Loehr

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

“Don’t make the same decision twice. Spend time and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you don’t revisit the issue unnecessarily.” — Bill Gates

“The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” — Stephen R. Covey

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” — Bruce Lee

“Rearranging your day around when you have the most energy is one simple way to work smarter instead of just harder.” — Chris Bailey

“The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words: ‘I did not have time.’” — Franklin Field

“The best time to start was last year. Failing that, today will do.” — Chris Guillebeau

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

“You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.” — Charles Buxton

“ “What may be done at any time will be done at no time.”
— Scottish Proverb

“Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” — St. Francis Of Assisi

“Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you.” ― Carl Sandburg

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

“In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.” — Sir John Lubbock

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” — Alan Lakein

“Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.” — Peter F. Drucker

“Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.” — Thomas Jefferson

“All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that.” — Baltasar Gracian

time management quotes

“I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.” — Golda Meir

“Stop and take your time to notice things and make those things you notice matter.” — Cecelia Ahern

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” — Zig Ziglar

“The more business a man has to do, the more he is able to accomplish, for he learns to economize his time.” — Sir Matthew Hale

“You’re writing the story of your life one moment at a time.” — Doc Childre and Howard Martin


“One worthwhile task carried to a successful conclusion is worth half-a-hundred half-finished tasks.” — Malcolm S. Forbes

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” — Benjamin Franklin

“I always live in the present. The future I can’t know. The past I no longer have.” — Fernando Pessoa

“I think time management as a label encourages people to view each 24-hour period as a slot in which they should pack as much as possible.” — Tim Ferriss

“Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves.”
— Lord Chesterfield

“No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as downtime. All you got is lifetime. Go.” — Henry Rollins

“It’s how we spend our time here and now, that really matters. If you are fed up with the way you have come to interact with time, change it.” — Marcia Wieder

“The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

“Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!” — Anthony Robbins

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

“Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” — Lord Chesterfield

“Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions.” — John Randolph

“If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.” — Lee Iacocca

“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“He lives long that lives well; and time misspent is not lived but lost.” — Thomas Fuller

“The most efficient way to live reasonably is every morning to make a plan of one’s day and every night to examine the results obtained.” — Alexis Carrel

“To do two things at once is to do neither.” — Publius Syrus

“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.” — Charles Richards

“We are time’s subjects, and time bids be gone.” — William Shakespeare

Did these time management quotes inspire you?

Which of these time management quotes resonated with you today?

And how will you remind yourself of these quotes when you need them most?

Here are a few ideas:

  • Have a mug created with a favorite time management quote.
  • Incorporate a favorite quote into your blog header or in a graphic for a blog post.
  • Write the quote on your whiteboard or create some inspiring wall art with it.

Whatever you do, don’t beat yourself up for what you or others think of as wasted time. Some things are more important than getting things done.

May your time management reflect your highest priorities and bring you blessings today.