--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Like the trains, she's never on time and…" description: "\"Like the trains, she's never on time and always departing.\" — Margaret Atwood" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48d/margaret-atwood-40_departing_like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and_3166649.jpg" --- # Like the trains, she's never on time and always departing. ![“Like the trains, she's never on time and always departing.” quote by Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48d/margaret-atwood-40_departing_like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and_3166649.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48d/margaret-atwood-40_departing_like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and_3166649.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48d/margaret-atwood-40_departing_like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and_3166649.jpg) > “Like the trains, she's never on time and always departing.” [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) ## 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 miss opportunities because they are late and leave before you can catch up. **In simple terms:** Being late makes you miss chances. Key Takeaway Value punctuality and stay present. Themes time punctuality opportunity relationships Mood reflective critical Type advice observation When to use this quote - work meetings - social gatherings - travel plans Key Concepts social dynamics personal responsibility Questions to Reflect On - How does your punctuality affect your relationships? - What steps can you take to be more timely? A Different Perspective Being late can be a symptom of deeper disorganization. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Fitness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fitness/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Train](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/train/) [Trains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trains/) ## Related quotes > [I love trains. I always take them when I have time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-moorehead/i-love-trains-i-always-take-them-when-i-have-time/) [Agnes Moorehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-moorehead/) > [My highest value is not that the trains are on time. I want to be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherry-turkle/my-highest-value-is-not-that-the-trains-are-on-time-i-want-to-be-free/) [Sherry Turkle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherry-turkle/) > [Investments are like trains, and if you miss one, don’t worry because another one will come down the line.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerry-schwartz/investments-are-like-trains-and-if-you-miss-one-don-t-worry-because/) [Gerry Schwartz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerry-schwartz/) > [I write most of my stuff when I'm on a train or a plane, any mode of transport. I like trains because you hear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eliot-sumner/i-write-most-of-my-stuff-when-i-m-on-a-train-or-a-plane-any-mode-of/) [Eliot Sumner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eliot-sumner/) > [I am a sporting man. I always like to give trains and aeroplanes a fair chance of getting away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-am-a-sporting-man-i-always-like-to-give-trains-and-aeroplanes-a/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [I like trains. I like their rhythm, and I like the freedom of being suspended between two places, all anxieties of purpose taken care…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-funder/i-like-trains-i-like-their-rhythm-and-i-like-the-freedom-of-being/) [Anna Funder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-funder/) > [Days are like trains, they will just zoom by. You can be zapped seeing them pass or you can jump on to one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rvm/days-are-like-trains-they-will-just-zoom-by-you-can-be-zapped-seeing/) RVM > [I've travelled around the UK a lot recently and have discovered that I really like trains. If you're in the quiet carriage, nobody can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-blackman/i-ve-travelled-around-the-uk-a-lot-recently-and-have-discovered-that/) [Honor Blackman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-blackman/) > [Yeah it's mostly driving and taking airplanes but I like the trains - they're probably my favorite mode of transportation. They're smooth, steady, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrianne-lenker/yeah-it-s-mostly-driving-and-taking-airplanes-but-i-like-the-trains/) [Adrianne Lenker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrianne-lenker/) > [“Like the trains, she's never on time and always departing. Sympathy from strangers can be ruinous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and-always-departing-sympathy/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Time goes faster the more hollow it is. Lives with no meaning go straight past you, like trains that don’t stop at your station.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-ruiz-zafon/time-goes-faster-the-more-hollow-it-is-lives-with-no-meaning-go/) [Carlos Ruiz Zafon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-ruiz-zafon/) > [I am rather saddened at the end of a book. I think most writers find this. It's like a friend departing on a voyage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/i-am-rather-saddened-at-the-end-of-a-book-i-think-most-writers-find/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“RVM's Thought for the Day - "Days are like trains, they will zoom by. you can be zapped seeing them pass or you can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rvm/rvm-s-thought-for-the-day-days-are-like-trains-they-will-zoom-by-you/) RVM > [Women Are Like Trains, No Matter What Entrance You Go In You Gonna Smash It!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kia-hulin/women-are-like-trains-no-matter-what-entrance-you-go-in-you-gonna/) Kia Hulin > [Troubles are like the trains in subway surfers ,they never stop coming.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-buabeng/troubles-are-like-the-trains-in-subway-surfers-they-never-stop-coming/) [Isaac Buabeng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-buabeng/) ## More by Margaret Atwood > [“I'm fine," said Pilar, "for the moment. And the moment is the only time we can be fine in.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/i-m-fine-said-pilar-for-the-moment-and-the-moment-is-the-only-time-we/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [And yet it disturbs me to learn I have hurt someone unintentionally. I want all my hurts to be intentional.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/and-yet-it-disturbs-me-to-learn-i-have-hurt-someone-unintentionally-i/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Mary: Some call this "Eve's curse," but I think that is stupid because the real curse of Eve was having to put up with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/mary-some-call-this-eve-s-curse-but-i-think-that-is-stupid-because/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“The birds were singing around me, but I reflected that the very birds were strangers to me, for I did not even know their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-birds-were-singing-around-me-but-i-reflected-that-the-very-birds/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Strange how we decorate pain. These ribbons, for instance, and the small hard teardrops of blood. Who are they for? Do we think the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/strange-how-we-decorate-pain-these-ribbons-for-instance-and-the-small/) [margaret atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [I wanted to forget the past, but it refused to forget me; it waited for sleep, then cornered me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/i-wanted-to-forget-the-past-but-it-refused-to-forget-me-it-waited-for/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Back at home they drew the curtains and read, with disapproval, with relish, with avidity and glee - even the ones who'd never thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/back-at-home-they-drew-the-curtains-and-read-with-disapproval-with/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“It's my fault. I am forgetting too much.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/it-s-my-fault-i-am-forgetting-too-much/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [All fiction is about people, unless it's about rabbits pretending to be people. It's all essentially characters in action, which means characters moving through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/all-fiction-is-about-people-unless-it-s-about-rabbits-pretending-to/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Simon walks back to the house alone. The night is clear and warm, with a moon, almost full, enclosed in a nimbus of mist;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/simon-walks-back-to-the-house-alone-the-night-is-clear-and-warm-with/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“There is indeed something delightful about being able to combine obedience and disobedience in the same act.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/there-is-indeed-something-delightful-about-being-able-to-combine/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“Every time the women appear, Snowman is astonished all over again. They're every known colour from the deepest black to whitest white, they're various…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/every-time-the-women-appear-snowman-is-astonished-all-over-again-they/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [Once you publish a book, it is out of your control. You cannot dictate how people read it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/once-you-publish-a-book-it-is-out-of-your-control-you-cannot-dictate/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“The more difficult it was to love the particular man beside us, the more we believed in Love, abstract and total. We were waiting,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/the-more-difficult-it-was-to-love-the-particular-man-beside-us-the/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [“She knows she's deceiving herself about that, but she prefers to deceive herself. She desperately needs to believe such pure joy is still possible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/she-knows-she-s-deceiving-herself-about-that-but-she-prefers-to/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) [Explore all 2,072 Margaret Atwood quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) ## More Departing quotes > [Elevated locations imply elevated purposes, even in American cities departing as radically as Los Angeles does from the traditional planning patterns of the Eastern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-filler/elevated-locations-imply-elevated-purposes-even-in-american-cities/) [Martin Filler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-filler/) > [Consider the core of the mind to be a wagon, with will-power to be carried about in it. Push it to a place where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/takuan-soho/consider-the-core-of-the-mind-to-be-a-wagon-with-will-power-to-be/) [Takuan Soho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/takuan-soho/) > [When we struggle for human rights, for freedom, for dignity, when we feel that it is a ministry of the church to concern itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-we-struggle-for-human-rights-for-freedom-for-dignity-when-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Being consistent meant not departing from convictions already formulated; being a leader meant making other persons accept these convictions. It was a narrow track,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessamyn-west/being-consistent-meant-not-departing-from-convictions-already/) [Jessamyn West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessamyn-west/) > [“Sometimes in life, we reach a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/sometimes-in-life-we-reach-a-right-place-by-departing-from-a-wrong/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [The Death of the contemporary forms of social order ought to gladden rather than trouble the soul. Yet what is frightening is that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-herzen/the-death-of-the-contemporary-forms-of-social-order-ought-to-gladden/) [Alexander Herzen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-herzen/) > [ \[Books\] will visit you at your convenience, whether you are lonesome or not, on rainy days or fair. They propose themselves as either transient… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifton-fadiman/books-will-visit-you-at-your-convenience-whether-you-are-lonesome-or/) [Clifton Fadiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifton-fadiman/) > [My fellow critics and I may occasionally fault a movie for departing, in detail or in spirit, from its literary source, but the grousing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-o-scott/my-fellow-critics-and-i-may-occasionally-fault-a-movie-for-departing/) [A. O. Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-o-scott/) > [Both Iraq and Syria are a fissile mixture of ethnicities and religions thrown together after Versailles by departing French and British imperialists and only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/both-iraq-and-syria-are-a-fissile-mixture-of-ethnicities-and/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [Director and producers have to take all the risks they can. We developed this film with the possibility to create departing from a blank…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-abreu/director-and-producers-have-to-take-all-the-risks-they-can-we/) [Alex Abreu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-abreu/) > [I am rather saddened at the end of a book. I think most writers find this. It's like a friend departing on a voyage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/i-am-rather-saddened-at-the-end-of-a-book-i-think-most-writers-find/) [Margaret Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/) > [I am spending delightful afternoons in my garden, watching everything living around me. As I grow older, I feel everything departing, and I love…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/i-am-spending-delightful-afternoons-in-my-garden-watching-everything/) [Emile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [Korea's first Zen Master-poet wrote simple yet elegant poetry of the world he inhabited, both physically and spiritually, and of daily insights-a pause along…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-hamill/korea-s-first-zen-master-poet-wrote-simple-yet-elegant-poetry-of-the/) [Sam Hamill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-hamill/) > [It's so painful to depart from a place where you'd grown with full of reminiscence. But nothing is more agony when you depart from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rain3031/it-s-so-painful-to-depart-from-a-place-where-you-d-grown-with-full-of/) Rain3031 > [The departing year: my grey hair I needn't hide from parents now gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seifu/the-departing-year-my-grey-hair-i-needn-t-hide-from-parents-now-gone/) Seifu Browse all 60 Departing quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Like the trains, she's never on time and always departing.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Margaret Atwood" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and-always-departing/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Departing" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and-always-departing/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48d/margaret-atwood-40_departing_like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and_3166649.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48d/margaret-atwood-40_departing_like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and_3166649.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/48d/margaret-atwood-40_departing_like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and_3166649.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Like the trains, she's never on time and always departing.” — Margaret Atwood", "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": "Margaret Atwood", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-atwood/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Like the trains, she's never on...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and-always-departing/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-atwood/like-the-trains-she-s-never-on-time-and-always-departing/#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 } } ] } ```