--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: All eternity is in the moment." description: "\"All eternity is in the moment.\" — Mary Oliver" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca0/mary-oliver-570_eternity_all-eternity-is-in-the-moment-1213300_1213300.jpg" --- # All eternity is in the moment. ![“All eternity is in the moment.” quote by Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca0/mary-oliver-570_eternity_all-eternity-is-in-the-moment-1213300_1213300.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca0/mary-oliver-570_eternity_all-eternity-is-in-the-moment-1213300_1213300.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca0/mary-oliver-570_eternity_all-eternity-is-in-the-moment-1213300_1213300.jpg) > “All eternity is in the moment.” [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The present moment contains eternity; time is fully lived only now. **In simple terms:** Eternity resides in the now. Key Takeaway Live fully in each moment. Themes mindfulness presence timelessness Mood calm reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - Meditation - creative work - daily chores - stressful events Key Concepts Existentialism flow consciousness Questions to Reflect On - How does focusing on now affect your future goals? - What practices help you stay present? A Different Perspective Momentary focus can miss long‑term planning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity/) [Eternity Moment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity-moment-258912/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Moment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moment/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/you-must-live-in-the-present-launch-yourself-on-every-wave-find-your/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Today is the most wonderful day of your life. This moment represents eternity. It is the moment when you return to love by deciding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-angel-ruiz/today-is-the-most-wonderful-day-of-your-life-this-moment-represents/) [Miguel Angel Ruiz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-angel-ruiz/) > [Eternity: a moment standing still for ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-montgomery/eternity-a-moment-standing-still-for-ever/) [James Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-montgomery/) > [In tragedy every moment is eternity; in comedy, eternity is a moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-fry/in-tragedy-every-moment-is-eternity-in-comedy-eternity-is-a-moment/) [Christopher Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-fry/) > [Let us be men with men, and always children before God; for in His eyes we are but children. Old age itself, in presence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-joubert/let-us-be-men-with-men-and-always-children-before-god-for-in-his-eyes/) [Joseph Joubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-joubert/) > [Heaven has not learned of my arrival, and my departure will not in the least diminish it beauty and grandeur. I will sleep underground,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/omar-khayy-m/heaven-has-not-learned-of-my-arrival-and-my-departure-will-not-in-the/) [Omar Khayyam](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/omar-khayy-m/) > [Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/begin-doing-what-you-want-to-do-now-we-are-not-living-in-eternity-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You and I are both life. There's just the experience of every moment. We like to call them moments. There isn't really such a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/you-and-i-are-both-life-there-s-just-the-experience-of-every-moment/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“An eternity is any moment opened with patience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noah-benshea/an-eternity-is-any-moment-opened-with-patience/) [Noah Benshea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noah-benshea/) > [You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/you-must-live-in-the-present-launch-yourself-on-every-wave-find-your-2/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [Love stories seek to demonstrate the great truth of love: that we discover eternity in a moment that dies immediately after.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-flanagan/love-stories-seek-to-demonstrate-the-great-truth-of-love-that-we/) [Richard Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-flanagan/) > [Launch yourself on wave of wisdom & vision & enjoy eternity in every moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dranil-kr-sinha/launch-yourself-on-wave-of-wisdom-vision-enjoy-eternity-in-every/) [DrAnil Kr Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dranil-kr-sinha/) > [“I had waited an eternity for this moment. My childhood fantasy was now coming true— I would be a dark angel of the night.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-schreiber/i-had-waited-an-eternity-for-this-moment-my-childhood-fantasy-was-now/) [Ellen Schreiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-schreiber/) > [Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/begin-doing-what-you-want-to-do-now-we-are-not-living-in-eternity-we-2/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [He made me suddenly realize that photographs could reach eternity through the moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-cartier-bresson/he-made-me-suddenly-realize-that-photographs-could-reach-eternity/) [Henri Cartier-Bresson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-cartier-bresson/) ## More by Mary Oliver > [Belief isn't always easy. But this much I have learned--- if not enough else--- to live with my eyes open.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/belief-isn-t-always-easy-but-this-much-i-have-learned-if-not-enough/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [In this universe we are given two gifts: the ability to love and the ability to question. Which are, at the same time, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/in-this-universe-we-are-given-two-gifts-the-ability-to-love-and-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [Poetry is one of the original arts, and it began, as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/poetry-is-one-of-the-original-arts-and-it-began-as-did-all-the-fine/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [The dream of my life is to lie down by a slow river and stare at the light in the trees - to learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/the-dream-of-my-life-is-to-lie-down-by-a-slow-river-and-stare-at-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/tell-me-what-is-it-you-plan-to-do-with-your-one-wild-and-precious-life/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“All important ideas must include the trees, the mountains, and the rivers. • To understand many things you must reach out of your own condition.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/all-important-ideas-must-include-the-trees-the-mountains-and-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“Sometimes I think, were I just a little rougher made, I would go altogether to the woods—to my work entirely, and solitude, a few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/sometimes-i-think-were-i-just-a-little-rougher-made-i-would-go/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“First Snow The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/first-snow-the-snow-began-here-this-morning-and-all-day-continued-its/) [mary oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“What can I say that I have not said before? So I’ll say it again. The leaf has a song in it. Stone is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/what-can-i-say-that-i-have-not-said-before-so-i-ll-say-it-again-the/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [The sea is the most beautiful face in our universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/the-sea-is-the-most-beautiful-face-in-our-universe/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [There is nothing better than work. Work is also play; children know that. Children play earnestly as if it were work. But people grow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/there-is-nothing-better-than-work-work-is-also-play-children-know/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“What will you do with your one precious, wild life?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/what-will-you-do-with-your-one-precious-wild-life/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“Poetry is a life-cherishing force. For poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/poetry-is-a-life-cherishing-force-for-poems-are-not-words-after-all/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [“I stood like Adam in his lonely garden On that first morning, shaken out of sleep, Rubbing his eyes, listening, parting the leaves, Like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/i-stood-like-adam-in-his-lonely-garden-on-that-first-morning-shaken/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) > [We all have a hungry heart, and one of the things we hunger for is happiness. So as much as I possibly could, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/we-all-have-a-hungry-heart-and-one-of-the-things-we-hunger-for-is/) [Mary Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) [Explore all 470 Mary Oliver quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/) ## More Eternity quotes > [“I believe in forever, and that’s what you and I are. We define eternity. This may sound cheesy, but you make me go there.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-mchugh/i-believe-in-forever-and-that-s-what-you-and-i-are-we-define-eternity/) [Gail McHugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-mchugh/) > [“Please not yet. Those are the three eternal words. Please not yet.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-d-macdonald/please-not-yet-those-are-the-three-eternal-words-please-not-yet/) [John D. MacDonald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-d-macdonald/) > [Peace is the first thing the angels sang. Peace is the mark of the children of God. Peace is the nurse of love. Peace…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-i/peace-is-the-first-thing-the-angels-sang-peace-is-the-mark-of-the/) [Pope Leo I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-i/) > [There are two kinds of beauty; there is a beauty which God gives at birth, and which withers as a flower. And there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-kuyper/there-are-two-kinds-of-beauty-there-is-a-beauty-which-god-gives-at/) [Abraham Kuyper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-kuyper/) > [If I have a system it is limited to a recognition of what Kierkegaard called 'the infinite qualitative distinction' between time and eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-barth/if-i-have-a-system-it-is-limited-to-a-recognition-of-what-kierkegaard/) [Karl Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-barth/) > [Only alone can you go into eternity. Only alone can you feel the transcendental light. It is not a shared experience because if it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/only-alone-can-you-go-into-eternity-only-alone-can-you-feel-the/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [The religion of art, like the religion of politics, was born from the ruins of Christianity. Art inherited from the old religion the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/the-religion-of-art-like-the-religion-of-politics-was-born-from-the/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [I think we all have a core that's ecstatic, that knows and that looks up in wonder. We all know that there are marvelous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coleman-barks/i-think-we-all-have-a-core-that-s-ecstatic-that-knows-and-that-looks/) [Coleman Barks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coleman-barks/) > [One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/one-of-our-great-allies-at-present-is-the-church-itself-do-not/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Heaven? Floating about with everyone you ever knew for eternity? Me family does me 'ed in after one day at xmas, I'd rather be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-pilkington/heaven-floating-about-with-everyone-you-ever-knew-for-eternity-me/) [Karl Pilkington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-pilkington/) > [What does the future, that half of time, matter to the man who is infatuated with eternity?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emile-m-cioran/what-does-the-future-that-half-of-time-matter-to-the-man-who-is/) [Emile M. Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emile-m-cioran/) > [You and I are both life. There's just the experience of every moment. We like to call them moments. There isn't really such a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/you-and-i-are-both-life-there-s-just-the-experience-of-every-moment/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [You've decided to love me for eternity, I'm still deciding who I want to be today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ani-difranco/you-ve-decided-to-love-me-for-eternity-i-m-still-deciding-who-i-want/) [Ani DiFranco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ani-difranco/) > [You may have some friends that come and go, but having a friend like God will last forever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyssa-tillmon/you-may-have-some-friends-that-come-and-go-but-having-a-friend-like/) [Alyssa Tillmon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyssa-tillmon/) > [There, in the center of that silence was not eternity but the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-in-the-center-of-that-silence-was-not-eternity-but-the-death-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) [Browse all 3,482 Eternity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "All eternity is in the moment.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Oliver" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/all-eternity-is-in-the-moment/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Eternity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/all-eternity-is-in-the-moment/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca0/mary-oliver-570_eternity_all-eternity-is-in-the-moment-1213300_1213300.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca0/mary-oliver-570_eternity_all-eternity-is-in-the-moment-1213300_1213300.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca0/mary-oliver-570_eternity_all-eternity-is-in-the-moment-1213300_1213300.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“All eternity is in the moment.” — Mary Oliver", "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": "Mary Oliver", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "All eternity is in the moment.", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/all-eternity-is-in-the-moment/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/all-eternity-is-in-the-moment/#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 } } ] } ```