--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Exhaust the little moment / Soon it dies." description: "\"Exhaust the little moment / Soon it dies.\" — Gwendolyn Brooks" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/414/gwendolyn-brooks-5624_dies_exhaust-the-little-moment-soon-it-dies-1_1853999.png" --- # Exhaust the little moment / Soon it dies. ![“Exhaust the little moment / Soon it dies.” quote by Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/414/gwendolyn-brooks-5624_dies_exhaust-the-little-moment-soon-it-dies-1_1853999.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/414/gwendolyn-brooks-5624_dies_exhaust-the-little-moment-soon-it-dies-1_1853999.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/414/gwendolyn-brooks-5624_dies_exhaust-the-little-moment-soon-it-dies-1_1853999.png) > “Exhaust the little moment / Soon it dies.” [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Brief experiences are fleeting and can be wasted if not appreciated. **In simple terms:** Moments die quickly. Key Takeaway Cherish each small moment. Themes time impermanence mindfulness Mood thoughtful poetic Type inspirational reflective When to use this quote - daily routines - creative work - relationships - health habits Key Concepts poetry ephemerality Questions to Reflect On - Which small moments have you let slip? - How can you make fleeting times meaningful? A Different Perspective Not all moments are significant. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Exhaust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exhaust/) [Little moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/little-moments/) [Live in the moment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/live-in-the-moment/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come Again in this identical guise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/exhaust-the-little-moment-soon-it-dies-and-be-it-gash-or-gold-it-will-2/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [“Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come Again in this identical disguise.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/exhaust-the-little-moment-soon-it-dies-and-be-it-gash-or-gold-it-will/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [If you give yourself that short little moment of thinking, then you cannot miss it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-thomas/if-you-give-yourself-that-short-little-moment-of-thinking-then-you/) Michel Thomas > [One Sided Love is nothing but we can say its a one way hurt to yourself in any little moment while you see her](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amardeep-singh/one-sided-love-is-nothing-but-we-can-say-its-a-one-way-hurt-to/) [Amardeep Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amardeep-singh/) > [Gentlemen, in the little moment that remains to us between the crisis and the catastrophe, we may as well drink a glass of Champagne.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-claudel/gentlemen-in-the-little-moment-that-remains-to-us-between-the-crisis/) [Paul Claudel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-claudel/) > [What others think of us would be of little moment did it not, when known, so deeply tinge what we think of ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-others-think-of-us-would-be-of-little-moment-did-it-not-when/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The sadness, the silence, the darkness, the loneliness... all of it held in a simple little moment. It was just so... I don't know.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-brooks/the-sadness-the-silence-the-darkness-the-loneliness-all-of-it-held-in/) [Kevin Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-brooks/) > [If I get two lines in the script, I somehow turn it into 20. 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J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-j-o-rourke/) > [“WANG XI Opponents cannot exhaust you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/wang-xi-opponents-cannot-exhaust-you/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [A guided missile corrects its trajectory as it flies, homing in, say, on the heat of a jet plane's exhaust. A great improvement on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/a-guided-missile-corrects-its-trajectory-as-it-flies-homing-in-say-on/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“SUMMIT PLUMMET Celeb's conquest of a mountain, then jumping off, too exhausted to descend Kamil Ali”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kamil-ali/summit-plummet-celeb-s-conquest-of-a-mountain-then-jumping-off-too/) [Kamil Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kamil-ali/) ## More by Gwendolyn Brooks > [My last defense / Is the present tense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/my-last-defense-is-the-present-tense/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [Nothing could stop Mississippi.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/nothing-could-stop-mississippi/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/very-early-in-life-i-became-fascinated-with-the-wonders-language-can/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/we-real-cool-we-left-school-we-lurk-late-we-strike-straight-we-sing/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [I've always thought of myself as a reporter. When people ask why I don't stop writing, I say, 'Look at what's happening in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/i-ve-always-thought-of-myself-as-a-reporter-when-people-ask-why-i-don/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [She was afraid to suggest to him that to most people, nothing "happens." That most people merely live from day to day until they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/she-was-afraid-to-suggest-to-him-that-to-most-people-nothing-happens/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [A writer should get as much education as possible, but just going to school is not enough; if it were, all owners of doctorates…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/a-writer-should-get-as-much-education-as-possible-but-just-going-to/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [Reading is important - read between the lines. Don't swallow everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/reading-is-important-read-between-the-lines-don-t-swallow-everything/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [No man can give me any word but Wait.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/no-man-can-give-me-any-word-but-wait/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [The forties and fifties were years of high poet-incense; the language-flowers were thickly sweet. Those flowers whined and begged white folks to pick them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/the-forties-and-fifties-were-years-of-high-poet-incense-the-language/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [It frightens me to realize that, if I had died before the age of fifty, I would have died a 'Negro' fraction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/it-frightens-me-to-realize-that-if-i-had-died-before-the-age-of-fifty/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [One reason cats are happier than people is that they have no newspapers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/one-reason-cats-are-happier-than-people-is-that-they-have-no/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [We are each other's magnitude and bond.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/we-are-each-other-s-magnitude-and-bond/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [What I'm fighting for now in my work... for an expression relevant to all manner of blacks, poems I could take into a tavern,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/what-i-m-fighting-for-now-in-my-work-for-an-expression-relevant-to/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [And if sun comes / How shall we greet him? / Shall we not dread him, / Shall we not fear him / After…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/and-if-sun-comes-how-shall-we-greet-him-shall-we-not-dread-him-shall/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) [Explore all 100 Gwendolyn Brooks quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) ## More Dies quotes > [Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. 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Prize the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/set-not-your-hearts-on-the-flowers-of-this-world-they-shall-fade-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Violence is not necessary to destroy a civilization. Each civilization dies from indifference toward the unique values which created it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/violence-is-not-necessary-to-destroy-a-civilization-each-civilization/) [Nicolas Gomez Davila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [I wonder: when a Jehovah's Witness dies and goes to Heaven, does God hide behind the door and pretend He's not home?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-celio/i-wonder-when-a-jehovah-s-witness-dies-and-goes-to-heaven-does-god/) [Brian Celio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-celio/) > [Certainly, it is. Love is love, and loss is loss. We all love, and we all die, and everyone suffers the pain of grieving.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynsay-sands/certainly-it-is-love-is-love-and-loss-is-loss-we-all-love-and-we-all/) [Lynsay Sands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynsay-sands/) > [“When he stops giving you butterflies, Love dies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-blanchard/when-he-stops-giving-you-butterflies-love-dies/) Michelle Blanchard > [That old man dies prematurely whose memory records no benefits conferred. They only have lived long who have lived virtuously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-brinsley-sheridan/that-old-man-dies-prematurely-whose-memory-records-no-benefits/) [Richard Brinsley Sheridan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-brinsley-sheridan/) > [I don't want to just die a normal death, I wanna be killed twice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eminem/i-don-t-want-to-just-die-a-normal-death-i-wanna-be-killed-twice/) [Eminem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eminem/) > [My father thrives on fear. You know that prayer If I should die before I wake? I had sheets that said that!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-titus/my-father-thrives-on-fear-you-know-that-prayer-if-i-should-die-before/) [Christopher Titus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-titus/) > [For the glory born of Goodness Never dies, And its flag is not half-masted In the skies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-harte/for-the-glory-born-of-goodness-never-dies-and-its-flag-is-not-half/) [Bret Harte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-harte/) > [This mind is a prison. It cannot find any freedom anywhere. It must die before freedom comes to you. But we have taken the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/this-mind-is-a-prison-it-cannot-find-any-freedom-anywhere-it-must-die/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [An artist's creative energy is ephemeral as a flower. It blooms and soon dies. No artist is great forever. 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