--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The future may be an enemy. Time can turn…" description: "\"The future may be an enemy. Time can turn happy days and nights into nothing.\" — Elizabeth Hardwick" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/095/elizabeth-hardwick-10519_day-and-night_the-future-may-be-an-enemy-time-can-turn_1634458.png" --- # The future may be an enemy. Time can turn happy days and… ![“The future may be an enemy. Time can turn happy days and nights into nothing.” quote by Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/095/elizabeth-hardwick-10519_day-and-night_the-future-may-be-an-enemy-time-can-turn_1634458.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/095/elizabeth-hardwick-10519_day-and-night_the-future-may-be-an-enemy-time-can-turn_1634458.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/095/elizabeth-hardwick-10519_day-and-night_the-future-may-be-an-enemy-time-can-turn_1634458.png) > “The future may be an enemy. Time can turn happy days and nights into nothing.” [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The writer warns that time can erode happiness, turning joyful moments into emptiness, portraying the future as potentially hostile. **In simple terms:** Time can destroy happiness. Key Takeaway Guard against fleeting joy. Themes time future impermanence Mood reflective somber Type philosophical emotional When to use this quote - long‑term planning - mental resilience - mindfulness Key Concepts nostalgia existential risk Questions to Reflect On - How do you preserve joy? - What safeguards against time’s erosion? A Different Perspective Focusing on the future may cause anxiety. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Day and night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-and-night/) [Enemy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enemy/) [Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/) [Happy day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happy-day/) [Happy days](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happy-days/) [Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Whose school-hours are all the days and nights of our existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/whose-school-hours-are-all-the-days-and-nights-of-our-existence/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [Our days and nights have sorrows woven with delights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-malherbe/our-days-and-nights-have-sorrows-woven-with-delights/) Francois de Malherbe > [“Four Day’s Four Night’s My desire her eyes Her attention my life I claim she refuses..! In the passion of hope I was All…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rocky13/four-day-s-four-night-s-my-desire-her-eyes-her-attention-my-life-i/) Rocky13 > [You can only win the game when you understand that it is a game. Let a man play chess, and tell him that every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-lawrence/you-can-only-win-the-game-when-you-understand-that-it-is-a-game-let-a/) [Mark Lawrence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-lawrence/) > [Oh, Mirth and Innocence! Oh, Milk and Water! Ye happy mixture of more happy days!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/oh-mirth-and-innocence-oh-milk-and-water-ye-happy-mixture-of-more/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [Happy days are here again, The skies above are clear again: Let us sing a song of cheer again, Happy days are here again!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-yellen/happy-days-are-here-again-the-skies-above-are-clear-again-let-us-sing/) Jack Yellen > [Is it not enough that all the world is against us, but we must also be against one another? O happy days of persecution,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-baxter/is-it-not-enough-that-all-the-world-is-against-us-but-we-must-also-be/) [Richard Baxter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-baxter/) > [ It was the last generation of writers \[ the Cheers\] that had grown up reading books instead of watching TV. So you weren't getting… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ratzenberger/it-was-the-last-generation-of-writers-the-cheers-that-had-grown-up/) [John Ratzenberger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ratzenberger/) > [Happy Days, which we did for 11 years, we did with three cameras in front of a live audience. Very special. We had a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-ross/happy-days-which-we-did-for-11-years-we-did-with-three-cameras-in/) [Marion Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marion-ross/) > [If you're seeing a psychiatrist, you're wasting money because all you've got to do is get on a plane, get on a subway tomorrow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-black/if-you-re-seeing-a-psychiatrist-you-re-wasting-money-because-all-you/) [Lewis Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-black/) > [Life is glorious when it is happy; days are carefree when they are happy; the interplay of thought and imagination is far superior to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/life-is-glorious-when-it-is-happy-days-are-carefree-when-they-are/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [I am sure that the sad days and happenings were rare, and that I lived the joyous and careless life of other children; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-loti/i-am-sure-that-the-sad-days-and-happenings-were-rare-and-that-i-lived/) [Pierre Loti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-loti/) > [It is not merely the multiplicity of tints, the gladness of tone, or the balminess of the air which delight in the spring; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/novalis/it-is-not-merely-the-multiplicity-of-tints-the-gladness-of-tone-or/) [Novalis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/novalis/) > [Happy Days was a wonderful, wonderful experience and I would not have traded it for the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marion-ross/happy-days-was-a-wonderful-wonderful-experience-and-i-would-not-have/) [Marion Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marion-ross/) > [I grew up with two sisters, no brothers. There was Ronny who produced "Happy Days" for me and my sister Penny who acts, directs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-marshall/i-grew-up-with-two-sisters-no-brothers-there-was-ronny-who-produced/) [Garry Marshall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-marshall/) ## More by Elizabeth Hardwick > [“Leonard Woolf’s endurance of Virginia’s famous frigidity is, we must suppose after the fact, altogether to his credit. Their honeymoon did not bring the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/leonard-woolf-s-endurance-of-virginia-s-famous-frigidity-is-we-must/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“The Brontë sisters have a renewed hold upon our imagination. They were gifted, well-educated, especially self-educated, and desperate. Their seriousness and poverty separated them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-bront-sisters-have-a-renewed-hold-upon-our-imagination-they-were/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Biographers, the quick in pursuit of the dead, research, organize, fill in, contradict, and make in this way a sort of completed picture puzzle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/biographers-the-quick-in-pursuit-of-the-dead-research-organize-fill/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Adversity is a great teacher, but this teacher makes us pay dearly for its instruction; and often the profit we derive, is not worth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/adversity-is-a-great-teacher-but-this-teacher-makes-us-pay-dearly-for/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [I have come to the belief that there is not merely an accidental relationship between bad writing and routine sociological research, but a wonderfully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/i-have-come-to-the-belief-that-there-is-not-merely-an-accidental/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“The large, gaping flaws in the construction of the stories--mad wives in the attic, strange apparitions in Belgium--are a representation of the life she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-large-gaping-flaws-in-the-construction-of-the-stories-mad-wives/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [The greatest gift is a passion for reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-greatest-gift-is-a-passion-for-reading/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [History ... with its long, leisurely, gentlemanly labors, the books arriving by post, the cards to be kept and filed, the sections to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/history-with-its-long-leisurely-gentlemanly-labors-the-books-arriving/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Sex, without society as its landscape, has never been of much interest to fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/sex-without-society-as-its-landscape-has-never-been-of-much-interest/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Self-love is an idolatry. Self-hatred is a tragedy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/self-love-is-an-idolatry-self-hatred-is-a-tragedy/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-greatest-gift-is-a-passion-for-reading-it-is-cheap-it-consoles-it/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Houses of evil similarity appeared like rows of disciplined, humiliated orphans.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/houses-of-evil-similarity-appeared-like-rows-of-disciplined/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [Gertrude Stein, all courage and will, is a soldier of minimalism. Her work, unlike the resonating silences in the art of Samuel Beckett, embodies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/gertrude-stein-all-courage-and-will-is-a-soldier-of-minimalism-her/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [“In those years I did not care to enjoy sex, only to have it. That is what seeing Alex again on Fifth Avenue brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/in-those-years-i-did-not-care-to-enjoy-sex-only-to-have-it-that-is/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) > [The private and serious drama of guilt is not often a useful one for fiction today and its disappearance, following perhaps the disappearance from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hardwick/the-private-and-serious-drama-of-guilt-is-not-often-a-useful-one-for/) [Elizabeth Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) [Explore all 65 Elizabeth Hardwick quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hardwick/) ## More Day and night quotes > [“helping me. It’s a full-time job, and I am grateful for your concern for my reader friends. Of course, thanks to my daughter and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-kingsbury/helping-me-it-s-a-full-time-job-and-i-am-grateful-for-your-concern/) [Karen Kingsbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-kingsbury/) > [Whose school-hours are all the days and nights of our existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/whose-school-hours-are-all-the-days-and-nights-of-our-existence/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [“In the parking lot, she drove and parked in a dark area with no other cars around. She reclined her seat, and listened to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tao-lin/in-the-parking-lot-she-drove-and-parked-in-a-dark-area-with-no-other/) [Tao Lin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tao-lin/) > [I will work day and night to avoid failure, but if I can't, I'll pick myself up the next day. The most important thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-branson/i-will-work-day-and-night-to-avoid-failure-but-if-i-can-t-i-ll-pick/) [Richard Branson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-branson/) > [“The host is rushing 'twixt day and night, And where is there hope or deed as fair? Caoilte tossing his burning hair, And Niamh…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-b-yeats/the-host-is-rushing-twixt-day-and-night-and-where-is-there-hope-or/) [W.B. Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-b-yeats/) > [“The glue that holds the natural world together appears to be a harmonious balance of opposites: day and night, light and dark, winter and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/the-glue-that-holds-the-natural-world-together-appears-to-be-a/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Because when I have been busy at the United Nations during crises, it has meant working day and night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-frederick/because-when-i-have-been-busy-at-the-united-nations-during-crises-it/) Pauline Frederick > [I just want to stay by you day and night. The best feeling I get is when I see your face early morning and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-just-want-to-stay-by-you-day-and-night-the-best-feeling-i-get-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When I was young, I spent my days and nights trying to impress future generations. I spent them. They're gone. All because I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-syjuco/when-i-was-young-i-spent-my-days-and-nights-trying-to-impress-future/) [Miguel Syjuco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-syjuco/) > [A man received message from his neighbor... Sorry sir.., I am using your wife. I am using day and night. I am using when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritesh/a-man-received-message-from-his-neighbor-sorry-sir-i-am-using-your/) [Ritesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritesh/) > [“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings-2/to-be-nobody-but-yourself-in-a-world-which-is-doing-its-best-day-and/) [E.E. Cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings-2/) > [“He smiled at me, as innocent as an angel. "I will sit her all day and night. I'll camp out on your porch. and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-l-armentrout/he-smiled-at-me-as-innocent-as-an-angel-i-will-sit-her-all-day-and/) [Jennifer L. Armentrout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-l-armentrout/) > [“I always found in myself a dread of west and love of east. Where I ever got such an idea I cannot say, unless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/i-always-found-in-myself-a-dread-of-west-and-love-of-east-where-i/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [ Sweet discourse makes short daies and nights. \[Sweet discourse makes short days and nights.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/sweet-discourse-makes-short-daies-and-nights-sweet-discourse-makes/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) > [Day and night, meditate forever on the Lord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guru-gobind-singh/day-and-night-meditate-forever-on-the-lord/) [Guru Gobind Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guru-gobind-singh/) [Browse all 756 Day and night quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/day-and-night/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The future may be an enemy. 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