100 Time Management Quotes That Value What Matters
Time is one resource you can’t get back.
Managing it well is a superpower in both business and life.
These quotes share insights on prioritizing what matters, creating structure, and making every moment count.
If you’re looking to reclaim your schedule, start here.
Top Time Management Quotes
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot. ~ Michael Altshuler
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. ~ William Penn
The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. ~ Stephen Covey
You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. ~ Charles Buxton
Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have. ~ John C. Maxwell
Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else. ~ Peter Drucker
Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed. ~ Peter Drucker
The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it. ~ Shoppenhauer
Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. ~ Charles Richards
Either you run the day or the day runs you. ~ Jim Rohn
Ordinary people think merely of spending time, great people think of using it. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
The most efficient way to live reasonably is every morning to make a plan of one’s day and every night to examine the results obtained. ~ Alexis Carrel
Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is to say ‘I don’t want to.’ ~ Lao Tzu
He who every morning plans the transactions of that day and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life. ~ Victor Hugo
One always has time enough, if one will apply it well. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The essence of self-discipline is to do the important thing rather than the urgent thing. ~ Barry Werner
Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you. ~ Carl Sandburg
Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life. ~ Alan Lakein
The key is in not spending time, but in investing it. ~ Stephen R. Covey
A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. ~ Charles Darwin
Effective Planning Quotes
A goal without a plan is just a wish. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Before anything else, preparation is the key to success. ~ Alexander Graham Bell
The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. ~ John F. Kennedy
Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation. ~ Robert H. Schuller
Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure. ~ Confucius
Preparation is the key to success. ~ Alexander Graham Bell
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. ~ Chinese Proverb
An hour of planning can save you 10 hours of doing. ~ Dale Carnegie
Proper preparation prevents poor performance. ~ Charlie Batch
Preparedness is the key to success and victory. ~ Douglas MacArthur
The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare. ~ Bobby Knight
The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes. ~ Benjamin Disraeli
Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. ~ Zig Ziglar
Preparation is the be-all of good performance. ~ Charlotte Whitton
The key is not the will to win… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important. ~ Bobby Knight
Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. ~ Bobby Unser
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. ~ Seneca
Chance favors the prepared mind. ~ Louis Pasteur
Prioritization Quotes
The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. ~ Stephen Covey
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. ~ Stephen Covey
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. ~ Stephen Covey
Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important. ~ Stephen Covey
The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones. ~ Brandon Sanderson
What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower
The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do. ~ Michael Porter
You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. ~ Charles Buxton
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. ~ William Penn
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot. ~ Michael Altshuler
Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have. ~ John C. Maxwell
Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else. ~ Peter Drucker
Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed. ~ Peter Drucker
The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it. ~ Shoppenhauer
Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. ~ Charles Richards
Either you run the day or the day runs you. ~ Jim Rohn
Ordinary people think merely of spending time, great people think of using it. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
The most efficient way to live reasonably is every morning to make a plan of one’s day and every night to examine the results obtained. ~ Alexis Carrel
Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is to say ‘I don’t want to.’ ~ Lao Tzu
Scheduling Techniques Quotes
The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. ~ Stephen Covey
Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed. ~ Peter Drucker
The most efficient way to live reasonably is every morning to make a plan of one’s day and every night to examine the results obtained. ~ Alexis Carrel
He who every morning plans the transactions of that day and follows that plan carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life. ~ Victor Hugo
One always has time enough, if one will apply it well. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The essence of self-discipline is to do the important thing rather than the urgent thing. ~ Barry Werner
Time is the most valuable coin in your life. You and you alone will determine how that coin will be spent. Be careful that you do not let other people spend it for you. ~ Carl Sandburg
Time = life; therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life. ~ Alan Lakein
The key is in not spending time, but in investing it. ~ Stephen R. Covey
A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. ~ Charles Darwin
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot. ~ Michael Altshuler
Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. ~ William Penn
You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. ~ Charles Buxton
Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have. ~ John C. Maxwell
Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else. ~ Peter Drucker
The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it. ~ Shoppenhauer
Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. ~ Charles Richards
Either you run the day or the day runs you. ~ Jim Rohn
Ordinary people think merely of spending time, great people think of using it. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is to say ‘I don’t want to.’ ~ Lao Tzu
Time Efficiency Quotes
Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. ~ Peter Drucker
The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. ~ Bill Gates
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. ~ Peter Drucker
Efficiency is intelligent laziness. ~ David Dunham
Never mistake motion for action. ~ Ernest Hemingway
The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be. ~ Bruce Lee
Efficiency is doing better what is already being done. ~ Peter Drucker
The most efficient way to live reasonably is every morning to make a plan of one’s day and every night to examine the results obtained. ~ Alexis Carrel
Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest. ~ Leo Babauta
The key to successful time management is doing the most important task first, and giving it your full concentration, to the exclusion of everything else. ~ Brian Tracy
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. ~ Mark Twain
Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort. ~ Paul J. Meyer
You don’t need a new plan for next year. You need a commitment. ~ Seth Godin
Productivity is less about what you do with your time and more about how you run your mind. ~ Robin Sharma
The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. ~ Stephen Covey
Ordinary people think merely of spending time, great people think of using it. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
Don’t confuse activity with productivity. Many people are simply busy being busy. ~ Robin Sharma
Focus on being productive instead of busy. ~ Tim Ferriss
It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less. ~ Nathan W. Morris
The key to productivity is to rotate your avoidance techniques. ~ Shannon Wheeler
