Daily Inspiration Quote by David Ogden Stiers

Under the surface of that gentle “People are nice enough” is an actor’s ear for timing and a quiet dread about what’s driving the performance. David Ogden Stiers frames modern life as a polite scene played under a metronome: everyone hits their marks, everyone smiles, but the dominant sound is the “giant tick of the second hand.” It’s a brilliantly theatrical image, turning time into a stage prop that steals focus from the humans supposedly at the center.

The intent isn’t to accuse people of being cruel; it’s to notice how pressure rewires social behavior. “Nice enough” lands like a half-compliment, suggesting courtesy drained of spaciousness. The subtext is that kindness survives, but it’s been reduced to something efficient: a quick warmth squeezed between obligations. The “tick” isn’t just background noise; it’s the cue that makes even sincere interactions feel timed, transactional, slightly frantic.

“Harried” does heavy lifting here. It’s not “busy” (which can sound self-congratulatory), it’s hunted. That word implies pursuit, as if people aren’t choosing speed so much as fleeing consequences: late fees, unread messages, career precarity, the constant visibility of digital life. Stiers, coming from a profession where pacing is everything, hears what many of us try to ignore: time isn’t passing; it’s pressuring. The line captures a cultural moment where decency remains common, but attention has become scarce, and scarcity makes even good people rush past each other.