Present Tense Quotes

“I'm sitting at the bar, rearranging the order of my jokes. I'm under the delusion that I'm having bad shows because of some cosmic misalignment of words, phrases, and ideas. I may as well have cast runes into a spirit bowl, hoping that the collective heart of the audience would open to my necromantic call. Maybe that's how jugglers do it. Those guys never have shitty sets.”
― Patton Oswalt, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland

“And first love always happens in the overwhelming first person. How can it not? Also, in the overwhelming present tense. It takes us time to realise that there are other persons, and other tenses.”
― Julian Barnes, The Only Story

“Only in the present tense is the subject married to its verb. The action—all action, past and future—comes at the end. At the very end, when there is nothing left to do but act.”
― Jill Alexander Essbaum, Hausfrau

“Wisely the Hebrews admit no Present tense in their language;
While we are speaking the word, it is is already the Past.”
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Complete Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“The success of the future does not lie solely on the safety of the past, but relies broadly on the security of the present.”
― Israelmore Ayivor

“Several times over the years Kate would tell me how she saw Grady in her dreams. In the dream Kate would say to her, “You can't be here, Grady, you died.” Inevitably as she said that, Grady would disappear, poof, just like that. I tried to explain to her that she needed to accept Grady into her dreams. She needed to give Grady permission to stay. Until she did, Grady would have to honor what Kate believed to be true. When Kate said, “You can’t be here,” Grady could not stay. That’s the way it works. A loyal dog obeys its master, even beyond the grave.”
― Kate McGahan, JACK McAFGHAN: Reflections on Life with my Master

“In America we have only the present tense. I am in danger. You are in danger.”
― Adrienne Rich