For John was running, and this was terrible. Because if you ran, time ran. You yelled and screamed and raced and rolled and tumbled and all of a sudden the sun was gone and the whistle was blowing and you were on your long way home to supper. When you weren't looking, the sun got around behind you! The only way to keep things slow was to watch everything and do nothing! You could stretch a day to three days, sure, just by watching!
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the relationship between time and our perception, emphasizing the importance of mindfulness.
In this quote, Ray Bradbury illustrates the notion that time seems to slip away rapidly when we are caught up in the flow of life's activities. He suggests that by actively engaging in the moment and observing our surroundings, we can create a sense of stillness and prolong our experience of time, contrasting the hustle of daily life with the tranquility found in mindful observation.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech about the importance of living in the moment.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
From an evolutionary standpoint, human consciousness has not been around very long. A little light just went on after four and a half billion years. How often does that happen? Maybe it is quite rare.
If religion has given birth to all that is essential in society, it is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.
As precious as life itself is our heritage of individual freedom, for man's free agency is a God-given gift.
The earth has everything for all human needs, but nothing for his greed.
Public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous conscientiousness of honor. It is not the produce of riches only, but of the hard earnings of labor and poverty. It is drawn even from the bitterness of want and misery. Not a beggar passes, or perishes in the streets, whose mite is not in that mass.
Answer the big question of eternity, and the little questions of life fall into perspective.
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