quote · Legacy record
How can the past and future be, when the past no longer is, and the future is not yet? As for the present, if it were always present and never moved on to become the past, it would not be time, but eternity.
How can the past and future be, when the past no longer is, and the future is not yet? As for the present, if it were always present and never moved on to become the past, it would not be time, but eternity.
Approximate author period: c. 392 AD · classical
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Augustine of Hippo
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 392 AD · classical
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 354 to 430; Wikidata Q8018, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8018 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided quotation collection
Supplied reference C; CSV row 163180; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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