12 best time inspirational quotes on saving time and time management for your office
A minute has 60 seconds, an hour has 60 minutes, a day has 24 hours and working day has around 8 (not an inspirational quote). Time always seems in short supply and is a concept and measure that we continually challenge, get challenged by and attempt to tame.
At Timewatch, we help businesses save time with our calendar planning, resource scheduling, and time tracking systems and we thought we’d add some inpirational quotes. These 12 inspirational time saving and time management quotes are perfect for your office for your own motivation or to inspire your co-workers. Are these the best inspirational time-saving and time management quotes? Read through them all and share.
1. “Time is Money”
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was one of the world’s greatest multitaskers: writer, scientist, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, inventor, political philosopher. It’s fair to say he knew something about time management. Although “Time is money” appeared in print in earlier times, Franklin made the quote famous in an essay called “Advice to a Young Tradesman”. We like this inspirational quote so much it inspired one of our software packages.
2. “We talk about saving time and killing time when actually we can’t do either. We have no choice but to spend it at a constant and flowing rate.”
Michael LeBoeuf
Author Michael LeBouef is an expert on time management and business. He’s the author of multiple management books that cover productivity challenges including “Working Smart”, “The Productivity Challenge” and “How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life” ( a solid goal to have). He taught fr 20 years at the University of New Orleans.
3. “Patience and time are my warriors, my champions.”
Leo Tolstoy
These words from Tolstoy were attributed to the character General Kutuzov, the commander of the Russian forces against Napoleon, in the opus “War and Peace”. If you’ve read that classic book then you would know all about patience and time. Tolstoy portrays Kutuzov as a brilliant strategist as well as a practiced philosopher of human nature. Patience and time can be winning strategies.
4. “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.”
William Shakespeare
If you’re not early then you’re late is good advice that fits most occasions. Another way of looking at this Shakesperian quote is that it is better to invest time in waiting for an opportunity than miss the chance completely. From Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, the quote can reference any situation when you need to change things.
5. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
Steve Jobs
A famous line from Jobs’ famous commencement address at Stanford University in 2005 there’s no irony whatsoever that the iPhone – perhaps the most famous Jobs invention – plays a big role in wasting time as people scroll through social media apps. Still, Jobs did have a point. You can watch the speech here:
6. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot”
Michael Altshuler
Michael Altshuler launched what would become a multi-million dollar copier business when he was 22 years old. He sold that business to become a motivational speaker and sales consultant. He knows first hand that time does fly. And that you can be in charge of how you use that time.
7. “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own.”
Bruce Lee
Martial Arts star Bruce Lee died at the age of just 32 in 1973 and today is a timeless and iconic global figure. Lee was more than a movie star and martial arts expert. He wrote poetry that reflected his philosophy and this quote is one for all people and all situations.
8. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
Albert Einstein
Let’s agree that Einstein was being a little modest with the truth here – he was super smart – but his point should be well understood. If you have patience and spend your time well then the solution will eventually be clear to see.
9. “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I would spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”
Abraham Lincoln
The 16th President of the United States came to an untimely premature end but Abraham Lincoln is acknowledged as one of the most influential leaders of all time. He can claim to be the greatest American president considering his stewardship through national crisis and his quote here is clear to see. This is one of our favorite inspirational quotes as it simplay says: prepare, prepare, prepare.
10. “Don’t make the same decision twice. Spend time and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you don’t revisit the issue unnecessarily.”
Bill Gates
Love or hate Microsoft products (and plenty of people do both) there is no denying Bill Gates knows how to turn an idea into reality and then turn that reality into a business behemoth. How did he do it? Apparently by not making the same decision twice.
11. “Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well.”
Louisa May Alcott
Iconic author Louisa May Alcott was an abolitionist and feminist and author of “Little Women” who also served as a nurse during the American Civil War. Her time management advice should be well received: balance your time and make the most of it all.
12. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin makes two appearances on this list and – considering his multitude of talents – it’s difficult to argue that he doesn’t deserve another piece of quote pie. Franklin lays the groundwork here for future president Abraham Lincoln: prepare, prepare, prepare and is another of our favorite inspirational quotes. It’s a great way to spend your time. Franklin played a major role in America’s independence from Britain – which we have to agree takes some planning. The project was (pretty much) a success.
We Save Employees And Business Time
Are we disagreeing with LeBoeuf? No, not at all, you can’t save time and use it later, but you can use better tools to decrease the time spent on certain tasks and use the time more wisely elsewhere. This is what we help businesses do. Our employee scheduling app, calendar planner, Outlook time tracking etc. all reduce the time it takes to perform various business tasks so that you can use the time you “saved” on more productive and hopefully chargeable tasks.
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Other posts you may be interested in:
 | Our Outlook Timesheet Saves Time! Are we disagreeing with LeBoeuf’s entry in our inspirational quotes?Not at all. We love LeBoeuf’s quote as his play on words is correct in that we can’t bank time, but you can invest that time more wisely – our Outlook Autofill Timesheet reduces the time it takes to complete a timesheet, so that you can use the time you “saved” on more productive and hopefully chargeable tasks. |
 | Use Outlook For Your Weekly TimesheetOutlook appointments already hold most of the information needed for a timesheet, why not let staff post it to their timesheet, and save them hours each week? |
 | How to Use Microsoft Teams calls and meetings for time tracking and timesheetsPeople often forget calls they made earlier the day or week, and miss them in their timesheet. Now, with our Teams timesheet add in, employees will never miss a minute that can be added to their timesheet. |
 | Time Management Statistics (New Research in 2022)We asked 300 employees across a wide range of industries in the United States and the United Kingdom to uncover new time management statistics. Which time management techniques do people use and how effective are they, how much time people waste and what on, what are the real benefits of better time management and how long does it take to manage time well? Read the full article here. |