Ephemeral things (from Greek εφήμερος – ephemeros, literally "lasting only one day"are transitory, existing only briefly. Typically the term is used to describe objects found in nature, although it can describe a wide range of things. Ephemeral can also be used as an adjective to refer to a fast-deteriorating importance or temporary nature of an object to a person.

A

  • A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts. It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object which he has set before him. He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.
  • Let you sleeping head, my love,
    Human on my faithless arm;
    Time and fever burns away
    Individual beauty from
    Thoughtful children and the grave
    Proves the child ephemeral;
    But in my arms till break of day
    Let the living creature lie:
    Mortal, guilty, but to me
    The entirely beautiful.

B

C

  • In the network society, the space of flows dissolves time by disordering the sequence of events and making them simultaneous in the communication networks, thus installing society in structural ephemerality: being cancels becoming.
  • Dalitz plots led to the discovery of some 100 ephemeral particles, many living no longer than the time taken by a light beam to cross an atomic nucleus.

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G

  • When we look back at our experience, we can see so clearly its ephemeral, dreamlike nature. Yet when we look ahead, when we look to the future, somehow (and this is the great enchantment) we get dazzled by all the possibilities that are there waiting for us as if the next event in our lives, the next situation, the next project, the next relationship, the next meal, even on meditation the next breath … we live our lives in anticipation of the next hit of experience as if the one that's coming will finally do it for us. What's so strange is that nothing up 'til now has brought that sense of real completion or fulfillment. So why are we so seduced into thinking that the next one will? This is a very strange phenomena.

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L

  • To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty.

M

  • The simplest gesture, the ephemeral movement, the commonest object all become precious beyond words when touched, noticed, lived by one's own dear child.

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P

  • We now demand the light artillery of the intellect; we need the curt, the condensed, the pointed, the readily diffused / in place of the verbose, the detailed, the voluminous, the inaccessible. On the other hand, the lightness of the artillery should not degenerate into pop-gunnery/by which term we may designate the character of the greater portion of the newspaper press/their sole legitimate object being the discussion of ephemeral matters in an ephemeral manner.

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T

  • The individual is ephemeral, races and nations come and pass away, but man remains. Therein lies the profound difference between the individual and the whole.

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W

  • Ephemeral art is everywhere. Often it isn’t thought of as art with a capital “A.” By its nature, it can’t be bought, sold, collected, moved about easily, and it is impermanent. However, with photography and video we now can and do capture and make relatively permanent even the ephemeral. In many respects, this changes the artforms greatly.
    • Nancy S.M. Waldman, in "Art of the Now – an essay of ephemeral art".
  • I am not interested in the ephemeral-such subjects as the adulteries of dentists. I am interested in those things that repeat and repeat and repeat in the lives of the millions.

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Anonymous

  • On occasion, we find within w:Sedimentary rocksedimentary rock “ephemeral markings” - these are imprints/impressions that are made in mud and or sand that is rapidly hardened into stone with the impressions still in tact. Such ephemeral markings are also known as “trace fossils” or “ichnofossils”. These can include things like bird tracks or wave ripples or other types of evidence of movement that would normally be left within a soft surface. This usually occurs through some form of flood catastrophe (usually the laying down of a lot of water rapidly)
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