The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Impermanence17 quotes
Sic transit gloria mundi.Everything flows and nothing stays. — Heraclitus · 348 BCIndividuals pass like shadows; but the commonwealth is fixed and stable. — Edmund Burke · 1780Nought may endure but Mutability. — Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1816We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it-for a little while. — Willa Cather · 1913The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless. — Alan Watts · 1982All 17 quotes →The only constant is change5 quotes
Everything flows and nothing stays. — Heraclitus · 348 BCNought may endure but Mutability. — Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1816The withered primrose by the mourning river,
The faded summer’s sun from weeping fountains,
The light-blown bubble vanished for ever,
The molten snow upon the naked mountains,
Are emblems that the treasures we up-lay
Soon wither, vanish, fade, and melt away. — Edmund Bolton · 1600There is nothing in this World constant, but Inconstancy. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Ceaselessly the river flows, and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools the shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment. Even so is man and his habitation. — Kamo no Chomei · 1212Change3 quotes
Everything flows and nothing stays. — Heraclitus · 348 BCNought may endure but Mutability. — Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1816There is nothing in this World constant, but Inconstancy. — Jonathan Swift · 1711Effects of time2 quotes
What's not destroyed by Time's devouring hand?
Where's Troy, and where's the May-pole in the Strand? — James Bramston · 1729We wove a web in childhood,
A web of sunny air;
We dug a spring in infancy
Of water pure and fair;
We sowed in youth a mustard seed,
We cut an almond rod;
We are now grown up to riper age —
Are they withered in the sod? — Charlotte Bronte · 1835Ephemeral nature of life2 quotes
Individuals pass like shadows; but the commonwealth is fixed and stable. — Edmund Burke · 1780We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it-for a little while. — Willa Cather · 1913The ephemeral2 quotes
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud.
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream. — Nagarjuna · 180The withered primrose by the mourning river,
The faded summer’s sun from weeping fountains,
The light-blown bubble vanished for ever,
The molten snow upon the naked mountains,
Are emblems that the treasures we up-lay
Soon wither, vanish, fade, and melt away. — Edmund Bolton · 1600The human condition2 quotes
Sic transit gloria mundi.Ceaselessly the river flows, and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools the shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment. Even so is man and his habitation. — Kamo no Chomei · 1212Accumulation of wealth1 quote
The withered primrose by the mourning river,
The faded summer’s sun from weeping fountains,
The light-blown bubble vanished for ever,
The molten snow upon the naked mountains,
Are emblems that the treasures we up-lay
Soon wither, vanish, fade, and melt away. — Edmund Bolton · 1600Aging1 quote
We wove a web in childhood,
A web of sunny air;
We dug a spring in infancy
Of water pure and fair;
We sowed in youth a mustard seed,
We cut an almond rod;
We are now grown up to riper age —
Are they withered in the sod? — Charlotte Bronte · 1835Decline of civilization1 quote
Egypt's might is tumbled down
Down a-down the deeps of thought;
Greece is fallen and Troy town,
Glorious Rome hath lost her crown,
Venice' pride is nought.
But the dreams their children dreamed
Fleeting, unsubstantial, vain
Shadowy as the shadows seemed
Airy nothing, as they deemed,
These remain. — Mary Coleridge · 1908Equality in death1 quote
From the days of old there is no permanence. The sleeping and the dead, how alike they are, they are like a painted death. What is there between the master and the servant when both have fulfilled their doom? — The Epic of Gilgamesh · 1000 BCLetting go1 quote
There's no eternity to the things we can touch. My master used to say, there's nothing we can hold onto in this world. Only by letting go can we finally possess what is real. — Master Li Mu Bai · 2000Life1 quote
The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless. — Alan Watts · 1982Mortality1 quote
Sic transit gloria mundi.Nature of life1 quote
The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless. — Alan Watts · 1982Past and present1 quote
Things bygone are the only things that last:
The Present is mere grass, quick-mown away;
The Past is stone, and stands for ever fast. — Eugene Lee-Hamilton · 1894Permanence1 quote
The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless. — Alan Watts · 1982River1 quote
Ceaselessly the river flows, and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools the shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment. Even so is man and his habitation. — Kamo no Chomei · 1212Sleep and death1 quote
From the days of old there is no permanence. The sleeping and the dead, how alike they are, they are like a painted death. What is there between the master and the servant when both have fulfilled their doom? — The Epic of Gilgamesh · 1000 BCSocietal collapse1 quote
Egypt's might is tumbled down
Down a-down the deeps of thought;
Greece is fallen and Troy town,
Glorious Rome hath lost her crown,
Venice' pride is nought.
But the dreams their children dreamed
Fleeting, unsubstantial, vain
Shadowy as the shadows seemed
Airy nothing, as they deemed,
These remain. — Mary Coleridge · 1908The United Kingdom1 quote
Individuals pass like shadows; but the commonwealth is fixed and stable. — Edmund Burke · 1780The land1 quote
We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it-for a little while. — Willa Cather · 1913The past1 quote
Things bygone are the only things that last:
The Present is mere grass, quick-mown away;
The Past is stone, and stands for ever fast. — Eugene Lee-Hamilton · 1894The present1 quote
Things bygone are the only things that last:
The Present is mere grass, quick-mown away;
The Past is stone, and stands for ever fast. — Eugene Lee-Hamilton · 1894Time1 quote
What's not destroyed by Time's devouring hand?
Where's Troy, and where's the May-pole in the Strand? — James Bramston · 1729Vanitas1 quote
Sic transit gloria mundi.Water1 quote
Ceaselessly the river flows, and yet the water is never the same, while in the still pools the shifting foam gathers and is gone, never staying for a moment. Even so is man and his habitation. — Kamo no Chomei · 1212Youth1 quote
We wove a web in childhood,
A web of sunny air;
We dug a spring in infancy
Of water pure and fair;
We sowed in youth a mustard seed,
We cut an almond rod;
We are now grown up to riper age —
Are they withered in the sod? — Charlotte Bronte · 1835