Q0046
“What then is time? If no one asks me, I know; if…” — Augustine of Hippo (Confessions XI.14)
Verified English quotation. Primary source: Confessions XI.14. Theme: time.
English
What then is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I wish to explain it to one who asks, I do not know.
Source and attribution
The archive attributes this English wording to Confessions XI.14 and files it under Patristic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
About Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was the North African bishop and theologian who shaped Latin Christianity’s doctrines of grace, sin, and the two cities. A former Manichaean and rhetor, he converted under Ambrose’s influence at Milan and narrated his restless heart in the Confessions.
How to read this passage
Is time a river, a dimension, or a structure of consciousness? Augustine, Bergson, and modern metaphysics offer rival pictures while ethics asks how finite time should be spent. This passage enters that discussion through time, knowledge, humility.
Concepts in this quote
- Time
- Philosophy of time asks what tense and duration are—and how memory, death, and history shape a human life.
- Knowledge
- Knowledge is the philosophical study of what we can justifiably claim to know—and where certainty ends.
- Humility
- Humility appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat humility as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.
How to cite this quotation
APA: Augustine of Hippo. (n.d.). What then is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I wish to explain it to one who asks, I do not know. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0046
MLA: Augustine of Hippo. “What then is time? If no one asks….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0046.
Chicago: Augustine of Hippo. “What then is time? If no one asks….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0046.
Frequently asked questions
What is the source of the quotation “What then is time? If no one asks…”?
The passage is attributed to Augustine of Hippo, Confessions XI.14. The archive attributes this English wording to Confessions XI.14 and files it under Patristic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.
What does Augustine of Hippo mean by time?
Is time a river, a dimension, or a structure of consciousness? Augustine, Bergson, and modern metaphysics offer rival pictures while ethics asks how finite time should be spent. This passage enters that discussion through time, knowledge, humility.