--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The present is our own; but while we…" description: "\"The present is our own; but while we speak, We cease from its possession, and resign The stage we tread on, to another race, As vain, and gay, and mort..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce3/thomas-love-peacock-12564_cease_the-present-is-our-own-but-while-we-spea_2357751.png" --- # The present is our own; but while we speak, We cease from… ![“The present is our own; but while we speak, We cease from its possession, and resign The stage we tread on, to another race, As vain, and gay, and mortal as ourselves.” quote by Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce3/thomas-love-peacock-12564_cease_the-present-is-our-own-but-while-we-spea_2357751.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce3/thomas-love-peacock-12564_cease_the-present-is-our-own-but-while-we-spea_2357751.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce3/thomas-love-peacock-12564_cease_the-present-is-our-own-but-while-we-spea_2357751.png) > “The present is our own; but while we speak, We cease from its possession, and resign The stage we tread on, to another race, As vain, and gay, and mortal as ourselves.” [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote reflects on the fleeting nature of the present moment, how speaking about it causes us to lose it, and how we hand over our life to the inevitable flow of time, emphasizing mortality and vanity. **In simple terms:** The present slips away as we talk about it, leaving us to surrender to time. Key Takeaway Live fully in the now. Themes mortality time vanity mindfulness Mood reflective philosophical Type poetic existential When to use this quote - daily conversations - public speaking - mindful meditation - life planning Key Concepts ephemerality existentialism self-awareness Questions to Reflect On - How often do you let words steal your present? - What can you do to stay grounded while speaking? A Different Perspective It may overlook the value of reflection and planning for future goals. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cease/) [Cease Possession](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cease-possession-5762857/) [Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gay/) [Mortals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mortals/) [Possession](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possession/) [Possession Resign](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possession-resign-5762858/) [Present Speak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/present-speak-2916496/) [Race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race/) [Race Vain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race-vain-5762859/) [Speak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speak/) [Speak Cease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/speak-cease-5762860/) [Stage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stage/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Vain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vain/) ## Related quotes > [“What right does my present have to speak of my past? 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The cat often leaves the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-repplier/the-dog-is-guided-by-kindly-instinct-to-the-man-or-woman-whose-heart/) [Agnes Repplier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-repplier/) > [May God bless each of us in our calls to serve. May our faith strengthen as we serve in righteousness, faithfully keeping the commandments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-tom-perry/may-god-bless-each-of-us-in-our-calls-to-serve-may-our-faith/) [L. Tom Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-tom-perry/) > [Mortals are such fragile things. Just tender feelings walking around exposed in their delicate shells...Easy to crush.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melissa-marr/mortals-are-such-fragile-things-just-tender-feelings-walking-around/) [Melissa Marr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melissa-marr/) > [The writings of latter-day prophets clearly teach that the sorrows and sufferings endured by Adam and Eve upon their leaving the Garden of Eden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-k-judd/the-writings-of-latter-day-prophets-clearly-teach-that-the-sorrows/) [Daniel K Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-k-judd/) > [Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/those-whose-life-is-long-still-strive-for-gain-and-for-all-mortals/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) ## More by Thomas Love Peacock > [But though first love's impassioned blindness Has passed away in colder light, I still have thought of you with kindness, And shall do, till…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/but-though-first-love-s-impassioned-blindness-has-passed-away-in/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [A book that furnishes no quotations is no book - it is a plaything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/a-book-that-furnishes-no-quotations-is-no-book-it-is-a-plaything/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [Names are changed more readily than doctrines, and doctrines more readily than ceremonies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/names-are-changed-more-readily-than-doctrines-and-doctrines-more/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [“She discovered, when it was too late, that she had mistaken the means for the end—that riches, rightly used, are instruments of happiness, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/she-discovered-when-it-was-too-late-that-she-had-mistaken-the-means/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [Man yields to death; and man's sublimest works Must yield at length to Time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/man-yields-to-death-and-man-s-sublimest-works-must-yield-at-length-to/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [When Scythrop grew up, he was sent, as usual, to a public school, where a little learning was painfully beaten into him, and from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/when-scythrop-grew-up-he-was-sent-as-usual-to-a-public-school-where-a/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [“He had some taste for romance reading before he went to the university, where, we must confess, in justice to his college, he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/he-had-some-taste-for-romance-reading-before-he-went-to-the/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [I like the immaterial world. I like to live among thoughts and images of the past and the possible, and even of the impossible,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/i-like-the-immaterial-world-i-like-to-live-among-thoughts-and-images/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horse pond.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/marriage-may-often-be-a-stormy-lake-but-celibacy-is-almost-always-a/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [“On the top of Cadair Idris, I felt how happy a man might be with a little money and a sane intellect, and reflected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/on-the-top-of-cadair-idris-i-felt-how-happy-a-man-might-be-with-a/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [There are two reasons for drinking wine...when you are thirsty, to cure it; the other, when you are not thirsty, to prevent it... prevention…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/there-are-two-reasons-for-drinking-wine-when-you-are-thirsty-to-cure/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [In a bowl to sea went wise men three, On a brilliant night of June: They carried a net, and their hearts were set…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/in-a-bowl-to-sea-went-wise-men-three-on-a-brilliant-night-of-june/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [How troublesome is day! It calls us from our sleep away; It bids us from our pleasant dreams awake, And sends us forth to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/how-troublesome-is-day-it-calls-us-from-our-sleep-away-it-bids-us/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [The truth, I am convinced, is that there is no longer a poetical audience among the higher class of minds, that moral, political, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/the-truth-i-am-convinced-is-that-there-is-no-longer-a-poetical/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) > [The highest wisdom and the highest genius have been invariably accompanied with cheerfulness. We have sufficient proofs on record that Shakespeare and Socrates were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-love-peacock/the-highest-wisdom-and-the-highest-genius-have-been-invariably/) [Thomas Love Peacock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) [Explore all 54 Thomas Love Peacock quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-love-peacock/) ## More Cease quotes > [So long as we fear the outside world, we must cease to think of Swaraj.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/so-long-as-we-fear-the-outside-world-we-must-cease-to-think-of-swaraj/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [In the name of Jerusalem. If I forget the extermination of the Jews, may my right hand wither, may my tongue stick to my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/menachem-begin/in-the-name-of-jerusalem-if-i-forget-the-extermination-of-the-jews/) [Menachem Begin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/menachem-begin/) > [But if you will recall the history of our civil troubles, you will see half the nation bathe itself, out of piety, in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/but-if-you-will-recall-the-history-of-our-civil-troubles-you-will-see/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [Metallica's the only band i've ever been in. I'm not sure that when it ends in five, ten years, I'm going to put an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lars-ulrich/metallica-s-the-only-band-i-ve-ever-been-in-i-m-not-sure-that-when-it/) [Lars Ulrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lars-ulrich/) > [Cease speaking of enemies when an achievement can kindle a great light. Solitude will transmit the message better than the murmurs of crowds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-roerich/cease-speaking-of-enemies-when-an-achievement-can-kindle-a-great/) [Nicholas Roerich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-roerich/) > [Without a function, we cease to be. So, I will write till I die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/farley-mowat/without-a-function-we-cease-to-be-so-i-will-write-till-i-die/) [Farley Mowat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/farley-mowat/) > [We have won an armistice on a single battlefield, not peace in our world. We may not now relax our guard nor cease our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwight-d-eisenhower/we-have-won-an-armistice-on-a-single-battlefield-not-peace-in-our/) [Dwight D. Eisenhower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwight-d-eisenhower/) > [My child, seek those things which make for peace. 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