--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My father built a time machine and then…" description: "\"“My father built a time machine and then he spent his whole life trying to figure out how to use it to get more time. He spent all the time he had with..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/charles-yu-3807_computers_my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then_2374269.png" --- # My father built a time machine and then he spent his whole… ![“My father built a time machine and then he spent his whole life trying to figure out how to use it to get more time. He spent all the time he had with us thinking about how he wished he had more time, if he could only have more time.” quote by Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/charles-yu-3807_computers_my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then_2374269.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/charles-yu-3807_computers_my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then_2374269.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/charles-yu-3807_computers_my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then_2374269.png) > ““My father built a time machine and then he spent his whole life trying to figure out how to use it to get more time. He spent all the time he had with us thinking about how he wished he had more time, if he could only have more time.”” [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A father obsessively tries to extend his life, reflecting on the futility of chasing more time. **In simple terms:** Chasing more time can be endless. Key Takeaway Focus on present moments rather than endless future. Themes time family obsession mortality Mood reflective melancholic Type fictional philosophical When to use this quote - career planning - personal relationships - health decisions Key Concepts philosophical existential family dynamics Questions to Reflect On - What does “more time” truly mean to you? - How can we balance ambition with present living? A Different Perspective Time cannot be manufactured; acceptance is key. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) [Father Built](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/father-built-2734932/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Time machine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-machine/) [Time spent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-spent/) [Time Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-thinking/) [Whole life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole-life/) [Wished Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wished-time-1465885/) ## Related quotes > [“her father had built from ax-hewn planks thatched with bamboo and grass. The floor was dirt, but it was clean. Her mother, Foua, sprinkled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-fadiman/her-father-had-built-from-ax-hewn-planks-thatched-with-bamboo-and/) [Anne Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-fadiman/) > [Herbert, my father, was born in Britain but went out to Africa in his teens to join his father and built up an 18,000-acre…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilbur-smith/herbert-my-father-was-born-in-britain-but-went-out-to-africa-in-his/) [Wilbur Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilbur-smith/) > [Until I was six years old we lived in the projects, then my two brothers and three sisters and I moved to a three-bed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-johansen/until-i-was-six-years-old-we-lived-in-the-projects-then-my-two/) [David Johansen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-johansen/) > [My father built low- and moderate-income housing in Queens and Brooklyn. I learned a lot from him. But I went in a different direction.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/my-father-built-low-and-moderate-income-housing-in-queens-and/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [“wished, not for the first time, that I had my e-reader with me”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bella-forrest/wished-not-for-the-first-time-that-i-had-my-e-reader-with-me/) [Bella Forrest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bella-forrest/) > [“He wished he’d had time to drink dinner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/he-wished-he-d-had-time-to-drink-dinner/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Sometimes you wished you could back in time, change the things you did wrong. But dont look back in time, it won't help your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/sometimes-you-wished-you-could-back-in-time-change-the-things-you-did/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It seemed, however, that I had. I didn’t want any more, so I got them. And now I am glad, for if, as I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-von-arnim/it-seemed-however-that-i-had-i-didn-t-want-any-more-so-i-got-them-and/) [Elizabeth von Arnim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-von-arnim/) > [“You could lose the ones you loved in the blink of an eye—and he was willing to bet, when it happened, you weren’t thinking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/you-could-lose-the-ones-you-loved-in-the-blink-of-an-eye-and-he-was/) [J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [“We are all hostages of time. We each have the same number of minutes and hours to live within a day, yet to me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elisabeth-tova-bailey/we-are-all-hostages-of-time-we-each-have-the-same-number-of-minutes/) [Elisabeth Tova Bailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elisabeth-tova-bailey/) > [When I heard that there were artists, I wished I could some time be one. If I could only make a rose bloom on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucy-larcom/when-i-heard-that-there-were-artists-i-wished-i-could-some-time-be/) [Lucy Larcom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucy-larcom/) > [I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty... but I am too busy thinking about myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-sitwell/i-have-often-wished-i-had-time-to-cultivate-modesty-but-i-am-too-busy/) [Edith Sitwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-sitwell/) > [“He stared right back at Blaylock and let everything he had in his heart show in his face. He just let that shit fly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/he-stared-right-back-at-blaylock-and-let-everything-he-had-in-his/) [J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/) > [“You wished for time,” Aldrik explained. “I heard each utterance when you beseeched time to stop, for mornings not to come. I want you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elise-kova/you-wished-for-time-aldrik-explained-i-heard-each-utterance-when-you/) [Elise Kova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elise-kova/) > [I wished to have the time to put together a world view, but there was never enough time, and also, those who had it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-heti/i-wished-to-have-the-time-to-put-together-a-world-view-but-there-was/) [Sheila Heti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-heti/) ## More by Charles Yu > [“Probably it goes without saying, but time machine guys don't get a lot of action. Had a one night stand with something cute a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/probably-it-goes-without-saying-but-time-machine-guys-don-t-get-a-lot/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“Maybe I'd absorbed the capacity to hurt someone by listening to my parents every night, who were under the impression that turning the volume…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/maybe-i-d-absorbed-the-capacity-to-hurt-someone-by-listening-to-my/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“A life is about twenty-five thousand days, and a finding occurs about once every twenty-five thousand days. In other news, once in a lifetime.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/a-life-is-about-twenty-five-thousand-days-and-a-finding-occurs-about/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“We don't need the Good Life. The Pretty Good Life would be just fine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/we-don-t-need-the-good-life-the-pretty-good-life-would-be-just-fine/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [For the past several years, I have gone to sleep every night in this same little pocket, the most uneventful piece of time I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/for-the-past-several-years-i-have-gone-to-sleep-every-night-in-this/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [Whatever the reason, first place was always Solo, always, always, always, and second place was usually Chewbacca, because if you weren't the one saving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/whatever-the-reason-first-place-was-always-solo-always-always-always/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“I hate everything about her except for the fact that I love everything about her.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/i-hate-everything-about-her-except-for-the-fact-that-i-love/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“My thoughts, normally bunched together, wrapped in gauze, insistent, urgent, impatient, one moment to the next, living in what I now realize is, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/my-thoughts-normally-bunched-together-wrapped-in-gauze-insistent/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“How many times before I finally convince myself, how many private, erasable deaths will I need to die, how many self-murders is it going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/how-many-times-before-i-finally-convince-myself-how-many-private/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“I know none of this seems very believable. It probably doesn't even make sense. But for once in your life, please, I am asking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/i-know-none-of-this-seems-very-believable-it-probably-doesn-t-even/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“My father makes to-do lists, makes plans, makes business plans. This is how he starts, always with a blank sheet of graph paper.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/my-father-makes-to-do-lists-makes-plans-makes-business-plans-this-is/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“It’s hard to have a relationship in this world. Other people are not the same from day to day. I might wake up next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/it-s-hard-to-have-a-relationship-in-this-world-other-people-are-not/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [Everyone has a time machine. Everyone \*is\* a time machine. It's just that most people's time machines are broken. The strangest and hardest kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/everyone-has-a-time-machine-everyone-is-a-time-machine-it-s-just-that/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“There are objects you may desire but cannot explain. There are objects that are not nouns, there are actions that are not verbs. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/there-are-objects-you-may-desire-but-cannot-explain-there-are-objects/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“The sneaky heftiness of the book being the aggregate cumulative effect of hundreds of thousands of individually insubstantial little markings, letters and numbers, commas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/the-sneaky-heftiness-of-the-book-being-the-aggregate-cumulative/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) [Explore all 121 Charles Yu quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) ## More Computers quotes > [I don't understand why we're all connected wirelessly via a little machine that goes in our pocket, to everybody in the world, and you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-m-chu/i-don-t-understand-why-we-re-all-connected-wirelessly-via-a-little/) [Jon M. Chu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-m-chu/) > [“Probably it goes without saying, but time machine guys don't get a lot of action. Had a one night stand with something cute a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/probably-it-goes-without-saying-but-time-machine-guys-don-t-get-a-lot/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [The time that one gains cannot be accumulated in a storehouse; it is contradictory to want to save up existence, which, the fact is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/the-time-that-one-gains-cannot-be-accumulated-in-a-storehouse-it-is/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Issac:"I dislike living in a world without Augustus Waters." Computer: "I don't understand-" Issac: "Me neither. Pause](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/issac-i-dislike-living-in-a-world-without-augustus-waters-computer-i/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Note found in the patron suggestion box: "You have SIGNS up near the computers that say BE QUIET, but people don't be quiet. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-sheridan/note-found-in-the-patron-suggestion-box-you-have-signs-up-near-the/) [Gina Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-sheridan/) > [“You weren't born to be a cog in the giant industrial machine. You were trained to become a cog. There's an alternative available to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/you-weren-t-born-to-be-a-cog-in-the-giant-industrial-machine-you-were/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [If you stood me in a costume next to a computer graphic of the same-looking character, I think there would be a difference. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warwick-davis/if-you-stood-me-in-a-costume-next-to-a-computer-graphic-of-the-same/) [Warwick Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warwick-davis/) > [The corporate state is an immensely powerful machine, ordered, legalistic, rational, yet utterly out of human control, wholly and perfectly indifferent to any human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-a-reich/the-corporate-state-is-an-immensely-powerful-machine-ordered/) [Charles A. Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-reich/) > [The display is the computer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-hsun-huang/the-display-is-the-computer/) [Jen-Hsun Huang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-hsun-huang/) > [The popular mind often pictures gigantic flying machines speeding across the Atlantic carrying innumerable passengers in a way analogous to our modern steam ships.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-henry-pickering/the-popular-mind-often-pictures-gigantic-flying-machines-speeding/) [William Henry Pickering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-henry-pickering/) > [“Alan Turing proposed the Turing Test: a computer is intelligent if you can't tell it from a human when you talk with it. No…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cjs-hayward/alan-turing-proposed-the-turing-test-a-computer-is-intelligent-if-you/) [CJS Hayward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cjs-hayward/) > [Computers can be taught that certain tune or certain chords changes will sound pleasant together, but I don't think it's going to reach a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bonobo/computers-can-be-taught-that-certain-tune-or-certain-chords-changes/) [Bonobo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bonobo/) > [Can you imagine any better example of divine creative accomplishment that the consummate flying machine that is a bird? The skeleton, very flexible and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guy-murchie/can-you-imagine-any-better-example-of-divine-creative-accomplishment/) [Guy Murchie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guy-murchie/) > [“According to this model, human beings are, at least in one aspect, sensation-receiving machines; and although our receptory apparatus is competent to select and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cruce-stark/according-to-this-model-human-beings-are-at-least-in-one-aspect/) [Cruce Stark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cruce-stark/) > [As in any machine, all the wires must be connected to the mains through one main wire. In the same way, you all must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/as-in-any-machine-all-the-wires-must-be-connected-to-the-mains/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) [Browse all 9,389 Computers quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“My father built a time machine and then he spent his whole life trying to figure out how to use it to get more time. He spent all the time he had with us thinking about how he wished he had more time, if he could only have more time.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Yu" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then-he-spent-his-whole-life/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Computers" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then-he-spent-his-whole-life/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/charles-yu-3807_computers_my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then_2374269.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/charles-yu-3807_computers_my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then_2374269.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc2/charles-yu-3807_computers_my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then_2374269.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“My father built a time machine and then he spent his whole life trying to figure out how to use it to get…” — Charles Yu", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Charles Yu", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“My father built a time machine...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then-he-spent-his-whole-life/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/my-father-built-a-time-machine-and-then-he-spent-his-whole-life/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```