Literary notes about Timeless (AI summary)
In literature, the word "timeless" is often employed to evoke a sense of permanence or an unchanging state that transcends the ordinary flow of time. Authors use it to depict moments or qualities that remain constant despite the inevitable progression of life, as seen when the present is portrayed as a suspended, unalterable "now" [1, 2]. It is also employed to articulate a depth of experience or thought that connects different eras, suggesting that certain emotions, ideas, or natural landscapes possess an eternal, almost mystical quality [3, 4, 5]. Moreover, timelessness is invoked to underscore the enduring value of art, ideals, or inner consciousness—qualities that persist regardless of historical context or change [6, 7, 8, 9]. This multifaceted use of "timeless" in literature enriches narratives by linking the transient with the eternal and the personal with the universal.
- But there can be no moving, no falling, no change, in the timeless "now" with which we have been concerned.
— from An Introduction to Philosophy by George Stuart Fullerton - The fact is that this timeless "now" is a product of reflective thought and not a something of which we are directly conscious.
— from An Introduction to Philosophy by George Stuart Fullerton - So timeless seemed the grey warm air, so fluid and impersonal his own mood, that all ages were as one to him.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - When she had become blank and timeless he came, and she slipped off her seat to him, like one come back from the dead.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - There his soul remained, at the apex of the arch, clinched in the timeless ecstasy, consummated.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - Memory, timeless, constitutes self-consciousness, iv.
— from Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 4In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods by Plotinus - The quality itself is timeless, like all essences and natures.
— from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James - This is Reality with the big R, reality that makes the timeless claim, reality to which defeat can't happen.
— from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James - As we look back at those old principles, we find them as timely as they are timeless.
— from State of the Union Addresses by Richard M. (Richard Milhous) Nixon
