A Moving Image of Eternity

[the Demiurge] began to think of making a moving image of eternity: at the same time as he brought order to the universe, he would make an eternal image, moving according to number, of eternity remaining in unity. This, of course, is what we call "time."

--Plato, Timaeus 37d

The moment is not properly an atom of time but an atom of eternity. It is the first reflection of eternity in time, its first attempt, as it were, at stopping time.

--Kierkegaard

If our heart were large enough to love life in all its detail, we would see that every instant is at once a giver and a plunderer.

--Gaston Bachelard