"The clock never stops, never stops, never waits. We're growing old. It's getting late"
About this Quote
The line hammers a simple truth with the insistence of a second hand. Repetition turns the clock into a character, relentless and indifferent, and the cadence feels like the tick itself. There is no bargaining here, no pause button. Time is not a backdrop but an engine pushing everything forward whether we are ready or not. Then comes the shift from observation to admission: we are growing old. The pronoun matters. It is not I or you, but we, a soft, communal recognition that everyone is caught in the same current. And the last phrase lands like both a practical reminder and a metaphysical warning: it is getting late. Late in the day, late in a life, late in a relationship that needs mending or a dream that needs starting.
Ben Folds often writes about adulthood with a blend of wit and bruised tenderness, and this line fits that sensibility. Beneath the catchy melodies and piano flair, his songs sit with the awkwardness of becoming and the ache of passing time. Think of the way he captures growing up and fatherhood in Still Fighting It, or the fragile gratitude of The Luckiest, or the backward glance of Landed. He treats time not as a grand philosophical puzzle but as the pressure that shapes ordinary days: the call you keep postponing, the apology you owe, the art you meant to make. The music may smile, but the lyrics keep their eyes open.
There is urgency here, but not panic. The invitation is to choose while choice remains, to love while love can be received, to act before inertia hardens into regret. By acknowledging that the clock never waits, the line does not counsel despair; it shifts the focus to what is still possible. The fact that it is getting late is precisely why now matters.
Ben Folds often writes about adulthood with a blend of wit and bruised tenderness, and this line fits that sensibility. Beneath the catchy melodies and piano flair, his songs sit with the awkwardness of becoming and the ache of passing time. Think of the way he captures growing up and fatherhood in Still Fighting It, or the fragile gratitude of The Luckiest, or the backward glance of Landed. He treats time not as a grand philosophical puzzle but as the pressure that shapes ordinary days: the call you keep postponing, the apology you owe, the art you meant to make. The music may smile, but the lyrics keep their eyes open.
There is urgency here, but not panic. The invitation is to choose while choice remains, to love while love can be received, to act before inertia hardens into regret. By acknowledging that the clock never waits, the line does not counsel despair; it shifts the focus to what is still possible. The fact that it is getting late is precisely why now matters.
Quote Details
| Topic | Time |
|---|
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