# "How long is forever?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 10, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478 "2013-09-10T05:20:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/1 "2013-09-10T05:20:43Z")
asked Alice. “Sometimes, just one second,” replied White Rabbit. What does this mean to you? [ETA: Mods, feel free to move this to Cafe Society since it regards a Lewis Carroll book.] ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/2 "2013-09-10T05:47:06Z")
Times move in diverse ways among diverse people. Or so I have heard. It is a subjective kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/3 "2013-09-10T12:27:36Z")
“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT’S relativity.” Attributed to Albert Einstein, but possibly apocryphal. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/4 "2013-09-10T12:32:05Z")
Just a second and I’ll be back with an answer… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/5 "2013-09-10T12:40:36Z")
I don’t believe in destiny Or the guiding hand of fate I don’t believe in forever Or love as a mystical state I don’t believe in the stars or the planets Or angels watching from above But I believe there’s a ghost of a chance we can find someone to love And make it last… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/6 "2013-09-10T13:02:43Z")
> [@](#): > > If today was not an endless highway > If tonight was not a crooked trail > If tomorrow wasn’t such a long time > Then lonesome would mean nothing to you at all > > Bob Dylan … ---
**Author:** ![sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sylmar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/7 "2013-09-10T13:05:21Z")
According to my then six year old son about 30 seconds… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/8 "2013-09-10T14:17:10Z")
> [@IceQube](#): > > it regards a Lewis Carroll book. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/9 "2013-09-10T15:50:54Z")
The time it will take until I meet the love of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/10 "2013-09-10T16:16:17Z")
Forever is always one second away. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/11 "2013-09-10T16:21:59Z")
Time is relative. Lunchtime, doubly so. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/12 "2013-09-10T16:30:28Z")
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/13 "2013-09-10T17:27:38Z")
It means pretty much the same thing as the book as a whole - Lewis Carroll was on drugs. A lot. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/14 "2013-09-10T18:02:57Z")
What book? I don’t think that’s in _Alice in Wonderland_, or _Through the Looking Glass_. Been a year since I’ve read the stories, I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/15 "2013-09-10T18:45:29Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > It means pretty much the same thing as the book as a whole - Lewis Carroll was on drugs. A lot. It’s a drug called _imagination_. Amazing thing, it is. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/16 "2013-09-10T18:55:17Z")
I agree with aNewLeaf. Maybe it’s from a play adaptation, but I don’t find it in either of Carroll’s Alice books. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/17 "2013-09-10T19:55:49Z")
If it’s from Carroll, I’m curious to know how old he was at the time. Because as we age, time goes by much more quickly. Remember how long summer was when you were a kid? And now that I’m almost 68, it seems that just a couple of weeks ago the crocuses came up, and I was waiting for my magnolia tree to blossom. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/18 "2013-09-10T20:25:02Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > I agree with aNewLeaf. Maybe it’s from a play adaptation, but I don’t find it in either of Carroll’s Alice books. Google just turns up a bunch of blogs which attribute the “quote” to Lewis Carroll without any further information. It certainly doesn’t strike me as the kind of thing Carroll would write. I’m willing to bet that some would-be philosopher stuck the words in the mouths of Carroll’s characters, and somehow they got attributed to Carroll himself. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/19 "2013-09-10T21:52:16Z")
Whether or not it’s really a Carroll statement: A forever second can refer to an unbearable event, or it can refer to the time it takes to make a life altering decision or witness a life-altering event. Depends on how metaphorical you want to make it. For me, the second before brain death under the right conditions could give rise to a time-dilated state of consciousness governed only by the laws of dreams. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478/20 "2013-09-10T22:00:48Z")
Relative time is a more modern invention anyway, Einsteinian in a way Carroll’s works were not. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-forever/668478.md?page=2)