Module overview:
Time | Content and Methods | |
'15 | 1. | Warming-Up, Coming together |
'30 | 2. | Introduction to the workshop and the topic |
'60 | 3. | Theatre Exercises |
'30 | 4. | Gallery of Self-Improvement |
'45 | 5. | Performative Exercise „Mr. Wolf“ |
'90 | 6. | Monologues and Movements |
'90 | 7. | Staging the monologues and choreographies |
'60 | 8. | Presentation of the performances and feedback |
Total: 7 h (+ circa 2h of breaks)
General aims of the module
Participants know important imperatives and strategies of self-improvement
Participants relate strategies of self-improvement to (the mental infrastructure of) competition and reflect on problematic dimensions of that relation
Participants experiment in a playful way with different forms of coping with the imperative of continuous self-improvement
Participants include cognitive, emotional and physical dimensions in their approach (holistic approach)
Participants have the possibility to enjoy working and experimenting together in a cooperative way (experience of cooperation)
Participants develop a joyful and playful attitude towards failure during the workshop (experience of „not improvement/optimization“)
Participants find artistic-performative forms of expression for their work and show them to others
How this documentation is made
In the workshop a lot of theatre-methods, games, and exercises are used. Usually these methods work like frames and can include a lot of different possible variations and fillings. These can vary from situation to situation and can be filled with other methods that future trainers might bring from their respective backgrounds. Please be aware that it usually makes sense to have experienced a method at least once before you facilitate it yourself.
For those of you who don't know so many exercises or don't remember them, you can have a look here: http://www.keithjohnstone.com/writing/ and here: http://improwiki.com/en or here: http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/en/index.php?nodeID=52
Although this workshop is explicitly not based on the “Theatre of the opressed” nor within improvisation theatre, you can find exercises in these fields that are applicable and useful for the Performance-Workshop as well.
Module Description
1. Warm-Up (15')
Before you start the workshop, make sure to offer one or two warming-up exercises that you like a lot. They should a) wake people up and b) be fun.
2. Introduction to the workshop (30')
„We will work with different text-based materials and create own small text components. Later we will also write monologues.“
Sitting in a circle the facilitator explains what will happen during the workshop and what is his/her personal approach, regarding both the approach to the content as well as to aesthetics. What will happen in the workshop? What was said more or less was the following:
„We will move a lot and we will develop our own movements with our bodies: We will do a lot of games and exercises that will allow us to have fun and create movements in a simple way. We will work with music. And we will create our own movement vocabulary, we won't dance ballet“
„We will try to combine brain and body, and have a look at the effects this connection might have if we combine them in different ways.“
3. Let's start! Theatre Exercises (60')
Exercise in the room to feel comfortable in the room, to come in (physical) contact with the room and with the others: people scatter in the room and go around, find their own rhythm of going, say hello to the others in different ways, etc.... You find some basic „room-exercises“ here: http://improwiki.com/en/wikis
„The running train“: Exercise with music. Two people come together. One person stands behind the other, looking in the same direction, the person in the front starts to go through the room, inspired by the music. Step 1: The first person turns around and the second person has to react and turn around as fast as possible, too. Now the second person is the first, the roles are changing. Step 2: The second person can stop the first person by giving a pat on the back. Then the second person “draws“ something on the back of the first person with the finger and the first person transforms the drawing into a movement . Step 3: Groups of 2 persons go together and build groups of 4 persons, then groups of 8. The groups start to react to the other groups in their movements in the room. Music used: „Je veux“ by Zaz
1,2,3 from Bradford: you find a description of the method here: http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/dbi/content/two-three-bradford
Exercise on subtext in a circle, e.g. with the words „you“ and „here“. The chosen word is expressed by every person in the circle with a different subtext / imitating different possible situations. In the second round with the second word in addition the next person reacts to it.
4. Gallery of self-improvement (30')
Before the workshop: prepare a wall full of images that have to do with the topic. I chose images from self-management, time-management, diet, yoga, networking, etc. Self-improvement can be described and analyzed in a lot of elements of our lives. (see Material 2)
Participants have time to watch the wall, to relate it with their own lives and thoughts and to get inspired by it. In the 30 minutes they have, each person writes down three imperatives of self-improvement that start with „you“ and put it on the wall. During the exhibition I put music by “Apparat”.
BREAK
5. Performative exercise „What's the time, Mr. Wolf“ (45')
(German name „Ochs am Berg“),You find a description of the game here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_the_time,_Mr_Wolf%3F
If the sun is shining, go outside. After playing it several times (in the variation “low countries”) change the rules of the game step by step:
If one person is caught by Mr. Wolf, the whole group has to start again.
Mr. Wolf is invisible. The group has to imagine Mr. Wolf, stop when the imagined Mr. Wolf turns around. You can do that in separated groups already.
Last step: Divide the group, so that you do not have more than ten people in one group. The small groups repeat the last step, but now they use the texts about self-improvement that they wrote in the gallery-phase and speak them with different subtexts in the freezing phases. The audition-group(s) describe(s) effects (1) and interpretations (2). As this last step is a kind of performance (and people can get nervous), I went inside the main room to use an adequate room with a stage for it.
6. Monologues and Movements (90 minutes)
The following part is a combination of working with creative writing methods and working with methods of new/contemporary dance. I switched between writing and moving parts, so that the participants did not have to write/dance all the time at a stretch. I will describe the two parts separately.
Writing Monologues based on associations
Participants get two papers and a pen each. They sit in a circle and write „self-improvement“ on the first and „failure“ on the second paper. They write the words in the center of the paper and make a circle around them. Then they start to write associations to these words, building chains from the circle to the border of the paper. This can be e.g. like this: self-improvement – healthy food – apples – apple tree – forest – lord of the rings – my first girlfriend Eva – etc...
Always associate to the word you wrote before. Participants do this until their papers are full (6-10 chains should emerge).
Participants do that with both words/papers and then change the papers with their neighbors. On the neighbors papers they underline on each paper three words they find interesting and then give them back.
Now everyone writes a monologue from one of the following perspectives:
The „I“ is in the mode of self-improvement and describes it's everyday habits or
The „I“ tries to reflect on it's own strategies of self-improvement, tries perhaps to change them and describes how that works
After writing the monologues two people come together and present their monologues to each other. They decide for one monologue they want to continue working with but they can also try to integrate passages they don't want to lose from the other monologue. At the end they have a text that they want to use for the rest of the workshop.
Creating movements and a first choreography
Before writing the monologues start with the movement/dancing-part: For every word that is underlined, the participants find a movement. Then they find a nice combination of the movements.
The participants start with this exercise in the same groups of two as above. At the beginning one person is the „mover“ and the other is the „reader“, after finishing they change the roles: One person (the reader) reads a word (e.g. „forest“) from his papers the other (the mover) creates spontaneously a small movement. Then the next word is read and the next movement is created. Then the „mover“ links movement 1 and movement 2. After working through all six words from the two papers, the participants change the roles. Now they work in the same way with the papers of the former mover. The result are two choreographies of six linked movements. These choreographies should be precise, so that participants can repeat them exactly and also teach them to other participants.
Exercises that helped us with the preparation of the movement parts
Room-Exercises with spontaneous statues to terms (I used terms from the lunch-break, some easy to translate in physical like „tired“, some more difficult like „pasta“, some really difficult like „green“). After working with statues you can go to small movements.
Puzzling: All participants are standing in a circle: One person goes to the center and goes into a free position. Freeze. Now a second person goes to the first and tries to find a position, that „fills“ blanks in the position of the first without touching him or her. Freeze. The first person tries to leave without touching. A third person is coming into the circle and so on.
7. Staging the monologues and choreographies (90')
In the groups of two from 7) the participants start to combine their text and their two choreographies. They start to experiment with different forms of combination. Questions that could support them:
„Who is speaking which part of the text?“
„Which parts do we speak together (if any)?“
„When does which part of which choreography take part?“
„Which parts do we move together (if any)?“
„What are you doing, when you don't have anything special to do on the stage? How can you give focus on the main performing person?“
At the end each pair has a small performance.
In the last step the participants go together in groups of three or four pairs and combine their performances, keeping the same questions in mind. As they are six to eight people in each group, they can also work with choirs, speaking choirs as well as moving choirs. Additional tasks are now:
„Find an order for the three/four performances that makes sense to you“
„Decide how your performance will start and how it will end“
„Think about rhythmical questions: when are you loud/quiet, when fast/slow.“
„Think about subtexts and attitudes of the performers“
8. Presentation of the performances and feedback (60')
Finally the groups can present the results of their work on stage. For non-professional actors the facilitator should explain the difference between a private place and a stage, where every movement is significant and can be interpreted by the audience. I usually mark the border of the stage with a tape and explain, that crossing that border implies that you are not a private person anymore but someone performing. As such, you are performing a role which may differ from your private roles.
After the performances we had a small break and then gave feedback in two different ways:
In a circle: „What do you want to say concerning the workshop, which experiences do you want to share with us?“
In anonymous: At the end of the course we put papers for every workshop on the floor and left the room, so participants could write down detailed feedback.
Harald Welzer and Hartmut Rosa provide the theoretical background to link the concepts of growth and acceleration to our daily lives. Rosa claims that competition and the promise of eternity are the main engines for acceleration. They trigger acceleration in other areas, such as technology, and therefore provide the basis for economic growth. Welzer introduces us to the concept of mental infrastructures.
The workshop aims at connecting Rosa’s and Welzer’s theory with our own biographies. How has acceleration and growth influenced our lives? What do our mental infrastructures look like? What are barriers that hinder us from thinking, feeling and acting differently? Which ideas help us change?
The workshop will combine theoretical input and practical exercises, most of which are based on self-reflective elements.
Module overview:
Time | Content and Methods |
'35 | Warm-Up, Introduction to the workshop and the topic: Gallery walk, walking through the room (alternatively: Following hands) |
'10 | Explaining the goals of the workshop |
'40 | Experiencing self-constraint on time / internalization of acceleration and how it affects us: I-still-have-to list |
'30-50 | Reflective walk: making the shortage of time visible in our everyday life, get activated and share your experiences with someone |
'45 | Plan analysis: identifying mechanisms underlying acceleration and personal growth (goals and needs) |
'30 | Lecture: getting to know the theory of acceleration by Hartmut Rosa and link individual and societal processes such as personal and economic growth |
'80 | Map of change: identify barriers and bring together ideas on strategies that might be useful for a transformation towards a degrowth society |
'30 | Closing round and feedback |
Total: 5.30 h (plus 1 h of break)
General Aims of the Module:
make acceleration and growth visible in our own biographies (we talk about degrowth but visit one training after another….)
some (but little) theoretical background on acceleration (Rosa) and personal growth (humanistic psychology)
understand some needs and mechanisms underlying acceleration and why it is so hard to change (barriers)
learn about the value-action gap / attitude-behavior gap
develop ideas on resources and strategies towards a degrowth society
Module description:
Exercise I: Gallery walk
Aims:
Warm-up and set minds for the topic
Introduction to the topic: understanding time as a relative perception
Walking through the time gallery:
Participants read quotes, proverbs, images hanging on a clothesline
Note: put up music to create a comfortable atmosphere. Participants may talk if they wish to.
Time needed: 15 Minutes
Material: Material 3, pegs, clothesline, pictures (e. g. from a game called „Dixxit“), music, speakers
Exercise II: Walking through the room
Aims:
Understanding time as a concept shaped by society
Feel how different speeds affect us in a metaphorical sense
Procedure:
You should have a present voice and make sure participants use the whole room for this. This includes preparing the room in advance (no tables, chairs etc.)
Read the following script and leave time in between:
Walking through the room at different speeds.
1) Relaxed
We walk through the room in a very relaxed way, slowly. Give attention to: your breathing........your relaxation..........your look, your posture and the way you walk........feel the ground.........look at the others (you may add: smile)
2) Accelerate – phase I
We walk through the room in a faster pace, almost our normal pace. Give attention to: your breathing........your look, your posture and the way you walk........feel the ground.........look at the others (you may add: smile)
3) Accelerate – phase II
We walk through the room in a fast pace, almost running. Give attention to: your breathing........your look, your posture and the way you walk........look at the others (you may add: smile)
Questions for reflection (shortly):
How did you feel at the different paces?
How do these feelings correspond to the quotes you read?
Did you experience some form of resonance?
Time needed: 20 Minutes
Material: music, speakers
Exercise II (Alternative): Following hands
Aims: warm-up, coming together
Procedure:
Participants come together in pairs. They should take their hands and use it as a magnet. The other takes the role of the follower and follows the magnet through the room. Participants should try different positions and play with their partners. You can encourage an active atmosphere with active music.
Questions for reflection (shortly):
How did you feel while following the hand? How did you feel leading the hand?
Are these feelings associated with the quotes that you have just read?
Time needed: 20 Minutes
Material: music, speakers
Explaining goals
Aims: Explaining goals of the workshop and making them transparent (see aims after the chart)
Note: Before you start, introduce the FREEZE idea: whenever you feel like the participants are not focused or wandering off with their minds, you might say FREEZE. Everyone will then immediately take a paper (make sure they are available, as well as pens) and write down their thought. Encourage participants to write down whatever is on their mind in that moment. Collect the sheets and make a break. You will get a better idea on where the group is and what they need. Make sure you can adapt your exercises accordingly if you wish to.
Time needed: 10 Minutes
Material: -
Exercise III: "I-still-have-to-list"
Aims: experiencing self-constraint on time / internalization of acceleration and how it affects us
Procedure:
Start with a little imagination you say to the participants: “You come back after this workshop and arrive at home. The next day, you sit at your desk and realize what needs to be done in the following weeks. All the things that you have to do and still didn't manage to do come to your mind....”
Participants should take a sheet of paper and list all the things they have to do beginning with the sentence "I still have to....". They have 3 minutes for this, so they need to be quick and note as much as they can think of.
Possible questions for reflection (collect quick impressions):
What is on the list? Give some quick examples.
Do you see a pattern?
Are to-do-lists an example of an overall feeling and tendency in society?
Why do you feel you still have to do all those things? Who tells you that you still have to?
Where does the pressure “to have to” come from?
Who tells you that you have to?
Do you feel it would be possible to ever “finish the list”?
Time needed: 40 Minutes
Material: Paper, Pens
Exercise IV: Reflective walk
Aims:
making the shortage of time visible in our everyday life
get activated and share you experiences with someone
Procedure:
Participants should find a partner that they haven't talked to until now.
They go for a walk with their partner. They should take the note sheet with suggested questions for reflection with them.
Note: When participants come back, let them know that they will have time later on to exchange with the others and give input and insights from their walk. They may use their newly gained knowledge for what’s coming now: plan analysis.
Time needed: 30-50 Minutes
Material: Material 4 (Note sheet)
Exercise V: Plan analysis
Aims:
identifying mechanisms underlying acceleration: needs as a motor for actions
work out goals and needs behind personal growth and acceleration
Procedure:
Write down the five points in Material 5 on a board/big sheet of paper and explain the idea behind the plan analysis.
The vertical plan analysis is a diagnostical tool that is used in psychotherapy to assess the needs of clients in relationships. Plans are seen as an expression of different motivational schemes. Behaviors are seen to be indicators for a need: by acting in a certain way, persons are trying to get something they want and need.
Note: This is a modified and extremely brief version, it differs from the original idea!
Participants should think of a situation in which they had the feeling of being in shortage of time. The I-must-have-list might give them ideas for such situations. They should formulate every behavior in a command form. This might seem strange at first, but it will help participants to not lose the focus (explain this to them) .
Participants go into pairs of two and take a sheet (material 5). They perform a plan analysis with their partner. When one is done, switch roles. Note: It is important that participants think of a specific situation.
Questions for reflection:
Are there other ways to achieve the needs and goals behind an accelerated life?
What happens when people oppose “capitalistic” mental structures such as self-optimization? What happens if people “drop out” of the system?
Time needed: 45 Minutes
Material: Material 5
Lecture
Aims:
understand how and why acceleration and the feeling of shortage of time come into being by getting to know the theory of acceleration by Hartmut Rosa (Why do we have less less and less time, although we save time through efficiency and technological progress?)
link individual and societal processes: understand growth as motor of social acceleration: to remain stable, you have to grow (both in the economy, as well as individually)
link personal growth (Humanistic Psychology) with social acceleration and provide a critical reflection on the topic
Time needed: 30 Minutes
Material: Prezi (online or pdf version), projector
Map of change
Aims:
identify barriers and structural constraints that prevent us from acting
bring together ideas on strategies that might be useful for a transformation towards a degrowth society
think about individual resources & societal structures that provide the infrastructure for change
Hang up the map of change (see material 7).
Divide group in two halves – individual vs. societal: Hand out questions to reflect upon accordingly (Material 6)
1. First round: Think for yourself (5 minutes). Make notes if you want to.
After the first round:
Present the map of change and explain the different areas and what we want to do with it. The map of change is a visualization of the mental infrastructures in present society and the ones that are needed for a degrowth society (Alternative Island). It also visualizes the “roads” that might lead to such a transformation – the resources and strategies needed to get there (Resourcelandia). It also projects the barriers that might hinder us (Barrier Woods). The sea surrounding the land and islands may give space to further comments, critics etc (see example in the annex: Material 6).
2. Second round: groups with 5-6 persons (30 minutes).
In the group, they should further collect ideas and examples of a possible degrowth society, the society as we perceive it now, barriers and ways to overcome them. The focus should be on obstacles and strategies on how to overcome ”capitalistic mental infrastructures”, especially if there is not much time.
Each example/idea/concept should be written on a separate card. Provide different colors for strategies & resources, barriers, capitalistic infrastructures and degrowth infrastructures and open questions/comments.
The group should pick someone to present the cards in the plenum.
Remember: this is not an easy task, some people work all their lives on this and yet don’t have answers.
Questions for reflection (basically the same as on the sheet):
What are capitalistic/degrowth mental infrastructures?
What are the obstacles/barriers? Why do you have to run along and when do you manage to get out?
What are ways to overcome these mental infrastructures? How can mental infrastructures for a degrowth society be paved, on an individual and on a societal level? What are mechanisms of change?
Criticisms / Open comments
3. Third round: Each group presents in the plenum (20 minutes)
Have one person from each group present the outcomes from their group discussions. The person should put up the cards according to the area/color.
After each group has presented, you should have a nice collection of all the ideas on the map of change.
4. Fourth round: Group discussion (25 minutes)
Discuss about the different ideas you find on the map. Which are realistic, which do you find difficult?
Where do you feel contradictions and ambivalence?
What are pros & cons of different strategies?
Time needed: 80 Minutes
Material: Material 6+7, moderation cards in 5 different colors (parts of the map of change), crepe tape
Mindfulness-based exercise
Aims: try a mindfulness-based exercise as a tool for inner change
Procedure:
Make sure everyone can put him- or herself in a comfortable position (either lying down or sitting); participants can close their eyes (which makes it easier to visualize). For this exercise it is essential that no disturbances take place, you provide a comfortable room and have enough time. Read the material beforehand so you have a present and clear voice and don't get confused while reading out loud. Try to soften your voice and leave room between the sentences – the more comfortable you feel during the exercise, the more will the participants.
Time needed: 20 Minutes
Material: Material 8: Peaceful place
Closing round/Feedback
Aims:
get feedback of the group
closing the workshop together
Procedure:
Sit in a circle. Each participant has about one minute to answer the question: “What do you take along from this workshop?” (make sure you include yourself). After you are finished, invite participants to sit with crossed legs and put their hands on the neighbor’s knees. Take time to look at each other and close the round.
Time needed: 20 Minutes
Material: --
Module overview:
Time | Content and Methods | |
10' | 1. | Short Introduction to the workshop and the underlying theoretical concepts: Definition of „Efficiency“, „Division of labor“ and the „Knowledge society“ |
5' | 2. | Introduction to practical workshops: Participants decide on the workshop they want to join and receive a question to reflect upon |
120' | 3. | Different practical workshops are offered: 1. How to bake your own bread, 2. How to produce tasty spreads, 3. Harvesting at the CSA project |
30' | 4. | Reflection about individual experiences in the practical workshops |
45' | 5. | Reflection on experiences and the link to mental infrastructures related to the social organization of work (in the plenary) |
6. | Convivial dinner with fresh bread, a variety of colourful spreads and fresh salad from the CSA field |
Total: 3,5h + Dinner
General aims of the module
Participants experience themselves in a practical activity which differs from their daily work (usually at a computer) – and the usual seminar setting – and which allows to experience another form of self-efficacy by working with their hands and bodies
Starting from the practical experience they reflect upon their daily work and from there on how work is socially organized within modern societies and what mental infrastructures are linked to it – the idea of efficiency, a strong division between the categories „practical“ and „theoretical“ and as a result the tendency to depreciate practical skills
Participants know that practical skills are an important issue in the degrowth debate and why. They discuss how a focus on practical skills can foster a social-ecological degrowth society and where the limits of this approach are.
Participants have fun preparing a convivial meal for all.
Module description
1. Introduction to the Workshop (10')
As an introduction to the workshop the trainer puts up 3 definitions of central concepts shaping the organization of work in modern societies which are in this workshop understood as mental infrastructures supporting the growth society. They will be questioned later on in the workshop. At this point these concepts are very shortly explained – as well as how they are interrelated:
A. Efficiency describes the extent to which time, effort or cost is well used for an intended task or purpose. It defines the relationship between the effort that has been made (resources & working hours) and the outcome. [cf. Wikipedia]
B. The division of labour is the specialisation of cooperating individuals who perform specific tasks and roles. It is historically associated with the growth of total output and trade and with a rise of complexity in industrialised societies. It is in this context expected to increase both producer and individual worker productivity. [cf. Wikipedia]
C. The term Knowledge society refers to a society formation in highly industrialized countries: individual and colletive theoretical knowledge as well as its organization becomes more and more the social and economic basis of these societies. Aside with the tendency to a rising reputation of theoretical knowledge, practical skills are depreciated. [cf. Wikipedia; Ax 2009]
Then the participants can ask comprehension questions, but the concepts are not discussed yet.
2. Introduction to the practical workshops (5')
In the next step the different workshops are presented and the participants decide on which workshop they would like to attend. Then every person receives a little piece of paper with a question on it. He or she will take this question to the workshop and is invited to reflect upon it while doing the practical work. The questions are randomly distributed among the participants, so several people receive the same question. In Leipzig we used the following questions:
What does efficiency mean to you personally? In what situations do you experience it's positive/negative aspects?
What positive/negative aspects of the strong division of labour (within our society) do you experience in your personal life?
What kind of work has made you happy in the past and why?
What kind of (theoretical and practical) knowledge and skills would you personally like to develop more? Why?
Practical Workshops (120')
In Leipzig we offered the following 3 workshops:
1. How to bake your own bread
2. How to produce tasty spreads
3. Harvesting at the CSA project
They were all related to the collective preparation of a meal, but other workshops are also possible, of course.
4. Reflection in small groups (30')
Within the workshop groups the participants exchange about their experiences within the workshop. The reflection is guided by the questions that the participants had received, but also any other experiences can be shared here.
5. Reflection in Plenary (45')
In the plenary then, there is first the opportunity for all to share whatever they want to share with the whole group: an especially interesting issue that had come up in the small group, an open question that could be relevant for further research or reflection etc.
In a second round, we link the personal experiences to degrowth as a societal concept which focuses strongly on the development on practical skills as well as concepts of self-providing. The following questions can help with this:
Is a degrowth society a more „practical“ society than the present and what does that mean? In which fields?
What role does self-sufficiency and the development of practical skills play for the transformation towards a degrowth society?
What are the limits – and risks? - of the strong focus of the degrowth debate towards practical skills and self-sufficiency?
The results of this debate in Leipzig can be found here (Material 10).
6. Convivial dinner
At the end, we prepare a common meal for all: with a colourful, fresh salad, bread and spreads. It's the direct „practical“, visible and tasteable outcome of the workshops.
Pick a font you like and reprint quotes on nice, colored paper (suggested font size: 18 pp).
There are calendars and clocks to measure it, but it won’t say much, because everyone knows that one may experience a single hour like an eternity, but sometimes it passes like a moment – depending on what you experienced in this hour. Because time is life. And life’s home is in the heart.
– Michael Ende
Until this day, more and more people had less and less time, although time was being saved by all means. But you see, exactly the time saved was the one lost.
– Michael Ende
Children are more resistant to saving time than all other people.
– Michael Ende
And those who possess the time of men, has unlimited power!
– Michael Ende
Because everyone has their own time. And just as long as it is really his, he remains alive.
– Michael Ende
As you have eyes to see the light, and ears to hear sounds, so you have a heart in order to perceive time. And all time not perceived with the heart is as lost as the colors of the rainbow to a blind man or the song of a bird for a deaf man. But unfortunately, there are blind and deaf hearts which perceive nothing, even though they beat.
– Michael Ende
If people knew what death was, they would no longer be afraid of it. And if they had no fear, then nobody could steal their life’s time any longer.
– Michael Ende
There is a large and quite commonplace mystery. All people are a part of it, everyone knows it, but few ever think about it. Most people take it for granted and don’t ever wonder. This mystery is time ...
– Michael Ende
It is not that we have too little time, but there is too much time, we do not use.
– Lucius Annaeus Seneca
There are thieves who do not get punished even though they steal the most precious thing: time.
– Napoleon Bonaparte
The time we take is time that is gives us something back.
– Ernst Ferstl
If you sit for two hours with a girl, it seems as if it was a minute. If you sit but one minute on a hot stove, it seems as if it were two hours. That is relativity.
– Albert Einstein
There are more important things in life than constantly increasing its speed.
– Mahatma Gandhi
Time is money.
– Benjamin Franklin
"Good day," said the little prince.
"Good day," said the merchant.
He traded with absolutely effective, thirst-quenching pills. You swallow one every week and will not feel the need to drink anything.
"Why are you selling those?" said the little prince.
"It is a great time saver. It saves fifty-three minutes per week. "
"And what do you do with those 53 minutes?"
"You do with it what you want."
"If I had fifty-three minutes left," said the little prince, "I would go quite slowly to a well ..."
– Antoine de Saint Exupery
Lost time is never found.
– Benjamin Franklin
The most modern form of human poverty is Not-having-time.
– Ernst Ferstl
It is good if the passing of time
does not appear as something
that consumes us,
but rather as something
that completes us.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry
In this country you have to run as fast as you can if you want to stay in the same place.
– The Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland