Q0422

Henri Bergson

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

We do not think real time. But we live it.
Thinker Henri Bergson
School Philosophy of Life
Source Creative Evolution (durée)
Theme Time
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Creative Evolution (durée), within the tradition of Philosophy of Life. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of time, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Henri Bergson's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Henri Bergson. (n.d.). We do not think real time. But we live it. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0422

MLA: Henri Bergson. “We do not think real time. But we….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0422.

Chicago: Henri Bergson. “We do not think real time. But we….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0422.

Same thinker

More from Henri Bergson

  1. For a conscious being, to exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
  2. Intelligence is characterized by a natural incomprehension of life.
  3. The universe… is a machine for the making of gods.

All quotations by Henri Bergson

Same theme

More on time

  1. Upon those who step into the same rivers, different and different waters flow.
  2. All else belongs to others; time alone is ours.
  3. Claim yourself for yourself.
  4. 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.
  5. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.

Browse the time theme