--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Time can be an enemy or a friend." description: "\"Time can be an enemy or a friend.\" — Joseph Brodsky" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f37/joseph-brodsky-1225_clock_time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend-2969475_2969475.png" --- # Time can be an enemy or a friend. ![“Time can be an enemy or a friend.” quote by Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f37/joseph-brodsky-1225_clock_time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend-2969475_2969475.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f37/joseph-brodsky-1225_clock_time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend-2969475_2969475.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f37/joseph-brodsky-1225_clock_time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend-2969475_2969475.png) > “Time can be an enemy or a friend.” [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Time can act as a hostile force or a supportive ally, depending on perspective and usage. **In simple terms:** Time may be enemy or friend. Key Takeaway Use time wisely to become its ally. Themes time perspective control duality Mood contemplative inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - deadline pressure - long‑term projects - personal growth Key Concepts philosophy psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do you view time today? - What changes make it a friend? A Different Perspective Time’s impact varies with mindset. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Clock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clock/) [Enemy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enemy/) [Friend](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friend/) [Friendship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/friendship/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [While it is often true that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, it seems like Yahoo's almost obsessive focus on Google is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kara-swisher/while-it-is-often-true-that-the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend-it/) [Kara Swisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kara-swisher/) > [If you treat people with dignity, respect and friendliness, you can turn enemies into friends. An enemy is nothing but a friend in disguise.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-turner/if-you-treat-people-with-dignity-respect-and-friendliness-you-can/) [Ted Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-turner/) > [Thou can'st not joke an enemy into a friend, but thou may'st a friend into an enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/thou-can-st-not-joke-an-enemy-into-a-friend-but-thou-may-st-a-friend/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Time is your only enemy, it disappears very quickly and never gives you a second chance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-douglas/time-is-your-only-enemy-it-disappears-very-quickly-and-never-gives/) Steve Douglas > [Time is my enemy. Time will catch up with me vocally. And I dread that. I dread to think about life without singing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-jones/time-is-my-enemy-time-will-catch-up-with-me-vocally-and-i-dread-that/) [Tom Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-jones/) > [Too often, we do not know where the demarcation line is, that point where time morphs from being a friend to being a foe.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pacifiersucker/too-often-we-do-not-know-where-the-demarcation-line-is-that-point/) Pacifiersucker > [Time, which is your enemy in almost everything in this life, is your friend in writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tobias-wolff/time-which-is-your-enemy-in-almost-everything-in-this-life-is-your/) [Tobias Wolff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tobias-wolff/) > [Father Time is the enemy none of us can beat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-hardy/father-time-is-the-enemy-none-of-us-can-beat/) [Matt Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-hardy/) > [We're programmed to believe that time is the enemy, that it takes away from us or that it diminishes us. I have found that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/queen-rania-of-jordan/we-re-programmed-to-believe-that-time-is-the-enemy-that-it-takes-away/) [Queen Rania of Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/queen-rania-of-jordan/) > [“Time is the enemy of lovers. Worse even than the frank light of day.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/time-is-the-enemy-of-lovers-worse-even-than-the-frank-light-of-day/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) > [“Time is something of an enemy" she opined, "for us mortals. And yet I love it" - she fluttered her fingers in the air…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sena-jeter-naslund/time-is-something-of-an-enemy-she-opined-for-us-mortals-and-yet-i/) [Sena Jeter Naslund](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sena-jeter-naslund/) > [We somehow forget that we can choose whether to make time an enemy or an ally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/we-somehow-forget-that-we-can-choose-whether-to-make-time-an-enemy-or/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [Free time is the enemy of progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/casey-neistat/free-time-is-the-enemy-of-progress/) [Casey Neistat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/casey-neistat/) > [“The was of the sexes will never be solved because we spend too much time in the enemy's camp.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spiro-agnew/the-was-of-the-sexes-will-never-be-solved-because-we-spend-too-much/) Spiro Agnew > [That was the truly horrifying thing about it: the sense of time as an enemy, to be fought tooth and nail--but there was so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-j-parker/that-was-the-truly-horrifying-thing-about-it-the-sense-of-time-as-an/) [K.J. Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-j-parker/) ## More by Joseph Brodsky > [As long as the state permits itself to interfere in the affairs of literature, literature has the right to interfere with the affairs of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/as-long-as-the-state-permits-itself-to-interfere-in-the-affairs-of/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [For some odd reason, the expression 'death of a poet' always sounds somewhat more concrete than 'life of a poet.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/for-some-odd-reason-the-expression-death-of-a-poet-always-sounds/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [A poet is a combination of an instrument and a human being in one person, with the former gradually taking over the latter. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/a-poet-is-a-combination-of-an-instrument-and-a-human-being-in-one/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [On the whole, love comes with the speed of light; separation, with that of sound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/on-the-whole-love-comes-with-the-speed-of-light-separation-with-that/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“In the business of writing, what one accumulates is not experience but uncertainties.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/in-the-business-of-writing-what-one-accumulates-is-not-experience-but/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [I haven't shifted language. I'm writing in English because I like it. I'm a sucker for the language, but the good old poems I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/i-haven-t-shifted-language-i-m-writing-in-english-because-i-like-it-i/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [Perhaps the best proof of the Almighty's existence is that we never know when we are to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/perhaps-the-best-proof-of-the-almighty-s-existence-is-that-we-never/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [I grew up in the sort of cultural milieu that always regarded conversations about the political discourse as tremendously low-brow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/i-grew-up-in-the-sort-of-cultural-milieu-that-always-regarded/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“What gets left of a man amounts to a part. To his spoken part. To a part of speech”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/what-gets-left-of-a-man-amounts-to-a-part-to-his-spoken-part-to-a/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“secrecy is a hotbed of vanity”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/secrecy-is-a-hotbed-of-vanity/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“The instinctive preference was to read rather than to act. No wonder our actual lives were more or less a shambles”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/the-instinctive-preference-was-to-read-rather-than-to-act-no-wonder/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [Americans have been tremendously fortunate in poetry, regarding both the quantity and quality of poetry produced. Unfortunately, it remains in schools and universities; it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/americans-have-been-tremendously-fortunate-in-poetry-regarding-both/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/life-the-way-it-really-is-is-a-battle-not-between-good-and-bad-but/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [Poems, novels - these things belong to the nation, to the culture, and the people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/poems-novels-these-things-belong-to-the-nation-to-the-culture-and-the/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) > [“If there is any substitute for love, it is memory.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/if-there-is-any-substitute-for-love-it-is-memory/) [Joseph Brodsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) [Explore all 264 Joseph Brodsky quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/) ## More Clock quotes > [Even Einstein had to rely for his time on his clock.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-jerzy-lec/even-einstein-had-to-rely-for-his-time-on-his-clock/) [Stanislaw Jerzy Lec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-jerzy-lec/) > [“Time was never neutral and often felt dangerous. We either think we have all the time in the world or time moves too fast…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-reay/time-was-never-neutral-and-often-felt-dangerous-we-either-think-we/) [Katherine Reay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-reay/) > [Before a clock was in the tower, Or e'er a watch was worn; I knew of night the passing hour, And prophesied the morn;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/before-a-clock-was-in-the-tower-or-e-er-a-watch-was-worn-i-knew-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A clock struck out the hour of twelve, and the bird in the hedgerow was still singing as we marched out to the roadway,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-macgill/a-clock-struck-out-the-hour-of-twelve-and-the-bird-in-the-hedgerow/) [Patrick MacGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-macgill/) > [“Time is, to put it in its most impressive and some might say poncy-sounding form, my domain. I can see things that once happened,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-rayner/time-is-to-put-it-in-its-most-impressive-and-some-might-say-poncy/) [Jacqueline Rayner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-rayner/) > [Time travel offends our sense of cause and effect - but maybe the universe doesn't insist on cause and effect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-m-lerner/time-travel-offends-our-sense-of-cause-and-effect-but-maybe-the/) [Edward M. Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-m-lerner/) > [My only aim is to clock a time that everyone remembers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hima-das/my-only-aim-is-to-clock-a-time-that-everyone-remembers/) [Hima Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hima-das/) > [Time.The greatest creator, and the worst destroyer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/levi-keely/time-the-greatest-creator-and-the-worst-destroyer/) Levi Keely > [Steven Spielberg seems to have wanted to be a director from 13. He put his dog in a certain position and made him eat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-brooks/steven-spielberg-seems-to-have-wanted-to-be-a-director-from-13-he-put/) [Albert Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-brooks/) > [No life goes past so swiftly as an eventless one, no clock spins like a clock whose days are all alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/no-life-goes-past-so-swiftly-as-an-eventless-one-no-clock-spins-like/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Those who stop marketing to save money are like those who stop a clock to save time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ford/those-who-stop-marketing-to-save-money-are-like-those-who-stop-a/) [Henry Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ford/) > [Time is the nervous system of narration, whether factual or fictive. If it gets confused some of the minutiae of human nature are certain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenway-wescott/time-is-the-nervous-system-of-narration-whether-factual-or-fictive-if/) [Glenway Wescott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenway-wescott/) > [I don't know if it's just me or everyone, but the whole vibe with skiing is not so much thriving on competition against others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/picabo-street/i-don-t-know-if-it-s-just-me-or-everyone-but-the-whole-vibe-with/) [Picabo Street](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/picabo-street/) > [Time goes on, even when yer not looking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-ness/time-goes-on-even-when-yer-not-looking/) [Patrick Ness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-ness/) > [CLOCK, n. A machine of great moral value to man, allaying his concern for the future by reminding him what a lot of time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/clock-n-a-machine-of-great-moral-value-to-man-allaying-his-concern/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) [Browse all 2,738 Clock quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clock/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Time can be an enemy or a friend.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joseph Brodsky" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Clock" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f37/joseph-brodsky-1225_clock_time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend-2969475_2969475.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f37/joseph-brodsky-1225_clock_time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend-2969475_2969475.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f37/joseph-brodsky-1225_clock_time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend-2969475_2969475.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Time can be an enemy or a friend.” — Joseph Brodsky", "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": "Joseph Brodsky", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-brodsky/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Time can be an enemy or...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-brodsky/time-can-be-an-enemy-or-a-friend/#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 } } ] } ```