The present moment is just a single day, taken one hour at a time. But when we call on them, all the days from our past appear before us. We can examine them and linger over them — if we're not too busy to do it. A calm and peaceful mind can review every part of its life. But the minds of busy people are like animals under a yoke. They can't turn aside or look back. So their life passes away into emptiness. It's like pouring water into a broken vessel — no matter how much you pour in, it can't hold anything. The same is true with time. It doesn't matter how much time you give busy people if their minds have no place to store it. It just leaks away through the cracks and holes in their thoughts.
Our present consists only of single days, and those, too, taken one hour at a time: but all the days of past times appear before us when bidden, and allow themselves to be examined and lingered over, albeit busy men cannot find time for so doing. It is the privilege of a tranquil and peaceful mind to review all the parts of its life: but the minds of busy men are like animals under the yoke, and cannot bend aside or look back. Consequently, their life passes away into vacancy, and as you do no good however much you may pour into a vessel which cannot keep or hold what you put there, so also it matters not how much time you give men if it can find no place to settle in, but leaks away through the chinks and holes of their minds.