Present

Present

The present (or now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of time between the past and the future, and can vary in meaning from being an instant to a day or longer. In radiocarbon dating, the "present" is defined as AD 1950.

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Famous quotes containing the word present:

    Open the envelope quickly,
    O this is not our son’s writing, yet his name is sign’d,
    O a strange hand writes for our dear son, O stricken mother’s soul!
    All swims before her eyes, flashes with black, she catches the main
    words only,
    Sentences broken, gunshot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken to hospital,
    At present low, but will soon be better.
    Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

    There is a Restlessness springing from the consciousness of power not fully utilized, which must be present wherever there is unused power of whatever kind. This is the restlessness of the germ within the seed, struggling upward and downward towards its proper life. ... it is a striving full of pain, the cutting of tender flesh by the fetters of the captive as he struggles against their pitilessness.
    Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)

    Giving presents is a talent; to know what a person wants, to know when and how to get it, to give it lovingly and well. Unless a character possesses this talent there is no moment more annihilating to ease than that in which a present is received and given.
    Pamela Glenconner (1871–1928)