All We Have To Decide Is What To Do With The Time Given Us

All We Have To Decide Is What To Do With The Time Given Us

JRR Tolkien Quote

All we have to decide is what to do with the time given us; JRR Tolkien reflecting on the time of our lives

JRR Tolkien was more famous for his book writing eloquence than his snappy one liners but this seems more than just a quote as it infers that you can hear your clock go tick tock as fate reflects on the time of your life.

How Would You Like To Spend The Time Given To You


Real life truths may seem obvious when you read them but if you consider how life always seems to get in the way of the average person carrying through with the obvious advice you realise just how elusive it can be to actually carry it out.

If you ask the average person how they would like to spend the time given to them the chances are you would be listening to a totally unrealistic list of desires due to bad planning and understanding of what they really wanted out of life from an early age.

It is probably not so much that what they wanted has changed so much since they were young it is more due to the route chosen to achieve what they wanted was a short term plan and could never realistically achieve those dreams.

Having said all that, it is never too late to change, at every stage of life we all have a remainder of time that will be given to us, it is quite literally what you decide you want to do with it.

That is why I really like this quote from JRR Tolkien, it is never too late to decide to make a difference to your life.

For The Fallen Time Was Not On Their Side


Reading JRR Tolkiens biography I could really see the humanist side of his nature, he spoke fondly of the plain soldier and you could feel the deep sympathy for their plight. After waiting to attain his degree Tolkien enlisted into the army and served at the Somme before he was medically invalided with Trench Fever.

Tolkien never recovered enough to serve again and by the end of the war all but one of his many childhood friends had been killed in battle. Time was not on their side and it makes you appreciate what time you have left on earth.

I imagine going through anything as horrendous as the first world war would have a very profound effect on one's outlook on life.

That thought alone makes me respect even more the meaning of the quote "All we have to decide is what to do with the time given us".


Michael Joseph Farrelly Article By:



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Random Time Quote

"I've been on a calendar, but never on time" - Marilyn Monroe