--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Grown-up people seem to be busy by…" description: "\"Grown-up people seem to be busy by clockwork... They run their unswerving course from object to object, directed by some mysterious inner needle that p..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8db/elizabeth-bowen-1197_busy_grown-up-people-seem-to-be-busy-by-clock_566298.png" --- # Grown-up people seem to be busy by clockwork... They run… ![“Grown-up people seem to be busy by clockwork... They run their unswerving course from object to object, directed by some mysterious inner needle that points all the time to what they must do next. You can only marvel at such misuse of time.” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8db/elizabeth-bowen-1197_busy_grown-up-people-seem-to-be-busy-by-clock_566298.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8db/elizabeth-bowen-1197_busy_grown-up-people-seem-to-be-busy-by-clock_566298.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8db/elizabeth-bowen-1197_busy_grown-up-people-seem-to-be-busy-by-clock_566298.png) > “Grown-up people seem to be busy by clockwork... They run their unswerving course from object to object, directed by some mysterious inner needle that points all the time to what they must do next. You can only marvel at such misuse of time.” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People often follow rigid schedules, letting unseen pressures dictate actions, leading to wasted time. **In simple terms:** Busy schedules waste time. Key Takeaway Question your routines. Themes time management routine mindfulness Mood reflective critical Type observational philosophical When to use this quote - workday - personal planning - creative projects - family time Key Concepts psychology social pressure Questions to Reflect On - What hidden pressures drive your daily tasks? - How can you reclaim time for meaningful activities? A Different Perspective Rigid schedules can stifle spontaneity and creativity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Clockwork](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clockwork/) [Mysterious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mysterious/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Running](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/running/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“Grown-up people seem to be busy by clockwork: even when someone is not ill, when there has been no telegram, they run their unswerving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/grown-up-people-seem-to-be-busy-by-clockwork-even-when-someone-is-not/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Also, perhaps children are sterner than grown-up people in their refusal to suffer, in their refusal, even, to feel at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/also-perhaps-children-are-sterner-than-grown-up-people-in-their/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“You know, even grown-up people cannot do what they want most" "Then why grow up?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/you-know-even-grown-up-people-cannot-do-what-they-want-most-then-why/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Children are like grown people; the experience of others is never of any use to them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alphonse-daudet/children-are-like-grown-people-the-experience-of-others-is-never-of/) [Alphonse Daudet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alphonse-daudet/) > [“The problem with growing up,” Quentin said, “is that once you’re grown up, people who aren’t grown up aren’t fun anymore.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-problem-with-growing-up-quentin-said-is-that-once-you-re-grown-up/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Most grown people are like icebergs, three-tenths showing, seven-tenths submerged - that is why a collision with one of them is unexpectedly hurtful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumer-godden/most-grown-people-are-like-icebergs-three-tenths-showing-seven-tenths/) [Rumer Godden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumer-godden/) > [“I don't like being with grown-up people. I've known that a long time. I don't like it because I don't know how to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/i-don-t-like-being-with-grown-up-people-i-ve-known-that-a-long-time-i/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [Grown people everywhere are always likely to cling to the religion they were brought up in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/grown-people-everywhere-are-always-likely-to-cling-to-the-religion/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Boys are capital fellows in their own way, among their mates; but they are unwholesome companions for grown people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/boys-are-capital-fellows-in-their-own-way-among-their-mates-but-they/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [Grown-up people can wait.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-landers/grown-up-people-can-wait/) [Ann Landers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-landers/) > [“When grown people speak of the innocence of children, they don’t really know what they mean.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-faulkner/when-grown-people-speak-of-the-innocence-of-children-they-don-t/) [William Faulkner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-faulkner/) > [God knows it's a sign of a really sick mind to see grown people, adults with responsibilities, wearing class rings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikki-giovanni/god-knows-it-s-a-sign-of-a-really-sick-mind-to-see-grown-people/) [Nikki Giovanni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikki-giovanni/) > [Christmas, in its final essence, is for grown people who have forgotten what children know. Christmas is for whoever is old enough to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cousins/christmas-in-its-final-essence-is-for-grown-people-who-have-forgotten/) [Margaret Cousins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-cousins/) > [As citizens we have to be more thoughtful and more educated and more informed. I turn on the TV and I see these grown…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmylou-harris/as-citizens-we-have-to-be-more-thoughtful-and-more-educated-and-more/) [Emmylou Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmylou-harris/) > [“The entrepreneurs are only about my age, probably younger, but they don't seem so. Their tailored clothes and unbending hairdos, their clipboards and laser…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-baume/the-entrepreneurs-are-only-about-my-age-probably-younger-but-they-don/) [Sara Baume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-baume/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## More Busy quotes > [Success doesn't have a downside for me. I'm busy, but I've always been busy whatever job I've had. My very first job working in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-derbyshire/success-doesn-t-have-a-downside-for-me-i-m-busy-but-i-ve-always-been/) Victoria Derbyshire > [I remember till 997th film, but after that I got so busy with multiple projects; I'm not sure which one released as my 1,000th…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brahmanandam/i-remember-till-997th-film-but-after-that-i-got-so-busy-with-multiple/) [Brahmanandam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brahmanandam/) > [I love to work in football, so for me it's not work. I'm not here first in the morning and last in the evening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-farke/i-love-to-work-in-football-so-for-me-it-s-not-work-i-m-not-here-first/) [Daniel Farke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-farke/) > [We all have time away from football to get our head down. At the same time it is a very busy schedule.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reece-james/we-all-have-time-away-from-football-to-get-our-head-down-at-the-same/) [Reece James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reece-james/) > [I am on sabbatical as of right now, been too busy to think of about my OWN needs as of late.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-diamond/i-am-on-sabbatical-as-of-right-now-been-too-busy-to-think-of-about-my/) [Jim Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-diamond/) > [“I don't envy "busy." Busy means having a schedule, not living life. What I really covet is leisure and peace of mind. Those who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-lynn-hope/i-don-t-envy-busy-busy-means-having-a-schedule-not-living-life-what-i/) [Donna Lynn Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-lynn-hope/) > [Focus on being productive instead of busy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-ferriss/focus-on-being-productive-instead-of-busy/) [Tim Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-ferriss/) > [I do spend a lot of weekends on the road. I have to pace myself. It can be pretty busy, but I'm not out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-sinise/i-do-spend-a-lot-of-weekends-on-the-road-i-have-to-pace-myself-it-can/) [Gary Sinise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-sinise/) > [Our civilization, bequeathed to us by fierce adventurers, eaters of meat and hunters, is so full of hurry and combat, so busy about many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/our-civilization-bequeathed-to-us-by-fierce-adventurers-eaters-of/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [I have no social life. There is no time for one. Once in a while I may go to dinner with a friend but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liz-halliday/i-have-no-social-life-there-is-no-time-for-one-once-in-a-while-i-may/) [Liz Halliday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liz-halliday/) > [I like acting too much and it's too, I'm just too busy doing that and I'm too hungry for it, to get behind the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-weisz/i-like-acting-too-much-and-it-s-too-i-m-just-too-busy-doing-that-and/) [Rachel Weisz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-weisz/) > [The hollow horn plays wasted words, proves to warn that he not busy being born is busy dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/the-hollow-horn-plays-wasted-words-proves-to-warn-that-he-not-busy/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Films are tricky because for years you're getting told you're about to make it and you're about to be busy for four or six…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-mills/films-are-tricky-because-for-years-you-re-getting-told-you-re-about/) [Mike Mills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-mills/) > [Never be too busy for the people you love. Never allow pursuits or possessions to become bigger priorities than your relationships. Love is what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-willis/never-be-too-busy-for-the-people-you-love-never-allow-pursuits-or/) [Dave Willis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-willis/) > [“Get busy live'n, or get busy die'n”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-shawshank-redemption/get-busy-live-n-or-get-busy-die-n/) The Shawshank Redemption Browse all 3,372 Busy quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Grown-up people seem to be busy by clockwork... They run their unswerving course from object to object, directed by some mysterious inner needle that points all the time to what they must do next. 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