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Time is to clock as mind is to brain. The clock or watch…

“Time is to clock as mind is to brain. The clock or watch somehow contains the time. And yet time refuses to be bottled up like a genie stuffed in a lamp. Whether it flows as sand or turns on wheels within wheels, time escapes irretrievably, while we watch. Even when the bulbs of the hourglass…” quote by Dava Sobel
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““Time is to clock as mind is to brain. The clock or watch somehow contains the time. And yet time refuses to be bottled up like a genie stuffed in a lamp. Whether it flows as sand or turns on wheels within wheels, time escapes irretrievably, while we watch. Even when the bulbs of the hourglass shatter, when darkness withholds the shadow from the sundial, when the mainspring winds down so far that the clock hands hold still as death, time itself keeps on.””

Dava Sobel

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Time is an elusive force that cannot be captured, unlike a clock that merely measures it.

In simple terms: Time cannot be contained.

Key Takeaway

Accept time’s flow, don’t try to trap it.

Themes

philosophy science impermanence

Mood

contemplative melancholic

Type

aphilosophical poetic

When to use this quote

  • writing
  • scientific research
  • personal reflection

Key Concepts

entropy subjectivity perception

Questions to Reflect On

  • How do you experience time’s passage?
  • Can you ever truly control time?
A Different Perspective

Time’s abstract nature resists precise definition.

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