--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A man doesn't have time in his life to…" description: "\"“A man doesn't have time in his life to have time for everything. He doesn't have seasons enough to have a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes Was w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b20/yehuda-amichai-15231_bare-branches_a-man-doesn-t-have-time-in-his-life-to-h_1314520.jpg" --- # A man doesn't have time in his life to have time for… ![“A man doesn't have time in his life to have time for everything. He doesn't have seasons enough to have a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes Was wrong about that. A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment, to laugh and cry with the same eyes, with the same hands to throw stones and to…” quote by Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b20/yehuda-amichai-15231_bare-branches_a-man-doesn-t-have-time-in-his-life-to-h_1314520.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b20/yehuda-amichai-15231_bare-branches_a-man-doesn-t-have-time-in-his-life-to-h_1314520.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b20/yehuda-amichai-15231_bare-branches_a-man-doesn-t-have-time-in-his-life-to-h_1314520.jpg) > ““A man doesn't have time in his life to have time for everything. He doesn't have seasons enough to have a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes Was wrong about that. A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment, to laugh and cry with the same eyes, with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them, to make love in war and war in love. And to hate and forgive and remember and forget, to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest what history takes years and years to do. A man doesn't have time. When he loses he seeks, when he finds he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves he begins to forget. And his soul is seasoned, his soul is very professional. Only his body remains forever an amateur. It tries and it misses, gets muddled, doesn't learn a thing, drunk and blind in its pleasures and its pains. He will die as figs die in autumn, Shriveled and full of himself and sweet, the leaves growing dry on the ground, the bare branches pointing to the place where there's time for everything. ”” [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life is overloaded with conflicting emotions and duties, making balance impossible. **In simple terms:** We juggle love, hate, joy, and sorrow all at once. Key Takeaway Accept paradoxes; seek balance. Themes existence contradiction time emotion Mood reflective melancholic Type philosophical poetic When to use this quote - daily decisions - relationships - career choices - creative work - grieving Key Concepts philosophical psychology poetry Questions to Reflect On - What contradictions dominate your life? - How do you prioritize when everything feels urgent? A Different Perspective Balancing opposites can cause mental strain. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bare branches](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bare-branches/) [Ecclesiastes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ecclesiastes/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ## Related quotes > [Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/determine-never-to-be-idle-no-person-will-have-occasion-to-complain-2/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [“Physical pain was easy. It would always pass. All it needed was time—a ticking clock—and all you had to do was wait. Time always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-knight/physical-pain-was-easy-it-would-always-pass-all-it-needed-was-time-a/) [Sidney Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-knight/) > [Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/determine-never-to-be-idle-no-person-will-have-occasion-to-complain/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [How many years must a man do nothing, before he can at all know what is to be done and how to do it!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/how-many-years-must-a-man-do-nothing-before-he-can-at-all-know-what/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [It has been 20,000 years since man and dog formed their partnership.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-mccaig/it-has-been-20-000-years-since-man-and-dog-formed-their-partnership/) [Donald McCaig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-mccaig/) > [“New landscapes, new customs. The accumulation of memories. A long life is not a question of years. A man without memories might reach the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/new-landscapes-new-customs-the-accumulation-of-memories-a-long-life/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [“...your twenties are the years when a man wends and wanders, searching for who knows what - we say money or love or adventure,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-doyle/your-twenties-are-the-years-when-a-man-wends-and-wanders-searching/) [Brian Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-doyle/) > [“A man doesn’t grow old because he has lived a certain number of years. A man grows old when he deserts his ideal.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brennan-manning/a-man-doesn-t-grow-old-because-he-has-lived-a-certain-number-of-years-2/) [Brennan Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brennan-manning/) > [I spent thirty-three years in another man's shadow. I went everywhere he went, I helped him with everything he did. I was in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/i-spent-thirty-three-years-in-another-man-s-shadow-i-went-everywhere/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [There are parts of Texas where a fly lives ten thousand years and a man can't die soon enough. Time gets strange there from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-dunn/there-are-parts-of-texas-where-a-fly-lives-ten-thousand-years-and-a/) [Katherine Dunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-dunn/) > [If entertainment years were dog years, man, Id be like Gandhi. Id be like 250 years old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-timberlake/if-entertainment-years-were-dog-years-man-id-be-like-gandhi-id-be/) [Justin Timberlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-timberlake/) > [A man doesn't grow old because he has lived a certain number of years. A man grows old when he deserts his ideal. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brennan-manning/a-man-doesn-t-grow-old-because-he-has-lived-a-certain-number-of-years/) [Brennan Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brennan-manning/) > [It requires twenty years for a man to rise from the vegetable state in which he is within his mother's womb, and from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/voltaire/it-requires-twenty-years-for-a-man-to-rise-from-the-vegetable-state/) [Voltaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/voltaire/) > [For 60 years man has been putting plastic into the ocean. And from that day onward we're also taking it back out again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/boyan-slat/for-60-years-man-has-been-putting-plastic-into-the-ocean-and-from/) [Boyan Slat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/boyan-slat/) > [Every ten years a man should give himself a good kick in the pants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-steichen/every-ten-years-a-man-should-give-himself-a-good-kick-in-the-pants/) [Edward Steichen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-steichen/) ## More by Yehuda Amichai > [“Out of three or four in a room One is always standing at the window Hair dark above his thoughts Behind him the words…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/out-of-three-or-four-in-a-room-one-is-always-standing-at-the-window/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [And as we stray further from love, we multiply the words. Had we remained together we could have become a silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/and-as-we-stray-further-from-love-we-multiply-the-words-had-we/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [From the place where we are right, flowers will not grow in the spring.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/from-the-place-where-we-are-right-flowers-will-not-grow-in-the-spring/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [I’ve never been in those places where I’ve never been and never will be, I have no share in the infinity of light-years and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/i-ve-never-been-in-those-places-where-i-ve-never-been-and-never-will/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [It was not an adventure; it was my life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/it-was-not-an-adventure-it-was-my-life/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [“When you smile, serious ideas get exhausted. At night the mountains keep quiet beside you, in the morning the sand goes with you down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/when-you-smile-serious-ideas-get-exhausted-at-night-the-mountains/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [Jerusalem is a port city on the shore of eternity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/jerusalem-is-a-port-city-on-the-shore-of-eternity/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [“People use each other as a healing for their pain. They put each other on their existential wound, on the eye, on the cunt,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/people-use-each-other-as-a-healing-for-their-pain-they-put-each-other/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [“Spy (1973) Many years ago, I was sent to spy out the land beyond the age of thirty. And I stayed there and didn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/spy-1973-many-years-ago-i-was-sent-to-spy-out-the-land-beyond-the-age/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [“Look, just as time isn't inside clocks love isn't inside bodies: bodies only tell the love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/look-just-as-time-isn-t-inside-clocks-love-isn-t-inside-bodies-bodies/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [“Try to remember some details. For the world is filled with people who were torn from their sleep with no one to mend the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/try-to-remember-some-details-for-the-world-is-filled-with-people-who/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [Love is like a reservoir of kindness and pleasure, like silos and pools during a siege.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/love-is-like-a-reservoir-of-kindness-and-pleasure-like-silos-and/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [Here (Jerusalem), tears do not weaken the eyes, they only polish and shine the hardness of faces like stone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/here-jerusalem-tears-do-not-weaken-the-eyes-they-only-polish-and/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [“I believe with perfect faith that at this very moment millions of human beings are standing at crossroads and intersections, in jungles and deserts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/i-believe-with-perfect-faith-that-at-this-very-moment-millions-of/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) > [And what will you do now? You'll collect loves Like stamps. You've got doubles and no one Will trade you and you have the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yehuda-amichai/and-what-will-you-do-now-you-ll-collect-loves-like-stamps-you-ve-got/) [Yehuda Amichai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) [Explore all 42 Yehuda Amichai quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yehuda-amichai/) ## More Bare branches quotes > [Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee, Whether the summer clothe the general earth With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing Betwixt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/therefore-all-seasons-shall-be-sweet-to-thee-whether-the-summer/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [“A spring sun was shining on the rue St. Honore, as I ran down the church steps. On one corner stood a barrow full…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-w-chambers/a-spring-sun-was-shining-on-the-rue-st-honore-as-i-ran-down-the/) [Robert W. Chambers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-w-chambers/) > [“The truth is dark under your eyelids. What are you going to do about it? The birds are silent; there's no one to ask.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/the-truth-is-dark-under-your-eyelids-what-are-you-going-to-do-about/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [Enormous morning, ponderous, meticulous; gray light streaking each bare branch, each single twig, along one side, making another tree, of glassy veins.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-banville/enormous-morning-ponderous-meticulous-gray-light-streaking-each-bare/) [John Banville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-banville/) > [“Willow trees dipped their bare branches into pond water like girls testing the temperature with their toes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-berg/willow-trees-dipped-their-bare-branches-into-pond-water-like-girls/) [Elizabeth Berg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-berg/) > [“He had done nothing on Christmas day, just wandered around outside in the frozen woods. Hard ground, chill winds and bare branches that looked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-ronald/he-had-done-nothing-on-christmas-day-just-wandered-around-outside-in/) [R.D. Ronald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-ronald/) > [There is lace in every living thing: the bare branches of winter, the patterns of clouds, the surface of water as it ripples in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brunonia-barry/there-is-lace-in-every-living-thing-the-bare-branches-of-winter-the/) [Brunonia Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brunonia-barry/) > [“Then, without really realizing it, I start to think of one thing I did wrong for each tree I look at. Wide oak -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nina-lacour/then-without-really-realizing-it-i-start-to-think-of-one-thing-i-did/) [Nina LaCour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nina-lacour/) > [“Gods? There is but one God now, child, and I am no more than a wind through bare branches.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-arden/gods-there-is-but-one-god-now-child-and-i-am-no-more-than-a-wind/) [Katherine Arden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-arden/) > [“She was too thin, her face all sharp bones and pale skin, tinged blue from lack of sunlight. Ugly, like him. Her eyes were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefan-bachmann/she-was-too-thin-her-face-all-sharp-bones-and-pale-skin-tinged-blue/) [Stefan Bachmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefan-bachmann/) > [“Perhaps the House had heard Harvey wishing for a full moon, because when he and Wendell traipsed upstairs and looked out the landing window,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/perhaps-the-house-had-heard-harvey-wishing-for-a-full-moon-because/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [“Fate. As a child, that word was often my only companion. 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Let’s calm ourselves down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leta-herman/the-metal-element-represents-people-who-respect-treasure-and-conserve/) Leta Herman > [“A Short Testament Whatever harm I may have done In all my life in all your wide creation If I cannot repair it I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-porter/a-short-testament-whatever-harm-i-may-have-done-in-all-my-life-in-all/) Anne Porter [Browse all 35 Bare branches quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bare-branches/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A man doesn't have time in his life to have time for everything. He doesn't have seasons enough to have a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes Was wrong about that. A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment, to laugh and cry with the same eyes, with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them, to make love in war and war in love. And to hate and forgive and remember and forget, to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest what history takes years and years to do. A man doesn't have time. When he loses he seeks, when he finds he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves he begins to forget. And his soul is seasoned, his soul is very professional. Only his body remains forever an amateur. It tries and it misses, gets muddled, doesn't learn a thing, drunk and blind in its pleasures and its pains. 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