"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once"
About this Quote
Time, in Woody Allen's hands, isn't a majestic river or a philosophical mystery. It's crowd control. The line lands because it treats one of our most abstract concepts like a practical bureaucrat: nature needed a scheduling system, so it invented minutes. That deflation is the joke, and it's also the worldview. Allen's comic persona thrives on taking the grand and sanding it down into the petty, anxious, and manageable - as if the universe is less a cathedral than a cramped New York apartment where too many things are always trying to happen at once.
The intent is slyly calming and deeply neurotic. On the surface, it's a light paradox that makes you nod and smirk. Underneath, it's an admission that simultaneity is terrifying: desire, grief, obligation, mortality - all pressing for attention. Time becomes the thin wall between you and psychic overload. It's not romantic; it's an coping mechanism, a cosmic excuse for why life feels perpetually behind schedule.
Context matters because Allen's films orbit around characters who overthink, catastrophize, and negotiate with meaning like it's a hostile landlord. This line fits that sensibility: it suggests order without promising justice. Nature isn't benevolent; it's merely functional. The humor is a pressure valve, but it also carries a quiet cynicism: the universe doesn't solve your problems, it just staggers them so you can survive them one at a time.
The intent is slyly calming and deeply neurotic. On the surface, it's a light paradox that makes you nod and smirk. Underneath, it's an admission that simultaneity is terrifying: desire, grief, obligation, mortality - all pressing for attention. Time becomes the thin wall between you and psychic overload. It's not romantic; it's an coping mechanism, a cosmic excuse for why life feels perpetually behind schedule.
Context matters because Allen's films orbit around characters who overthink, catastrophize, and negotiate with meaning like it's a hostile landlord. This line fits that sensibility: it suggests order without promising justice. Nature isn't benevolent; it's merely functional. The humor is a pressure valve, but it also carries a quiet cynicism: the universe doesn't solve your problems, it just staggers them so you can survive them one at a time.
Quote Details
| Topic | Time |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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