"Ah, at last you return. Or is this the first time we've met in this particular sequence of events? It's difficult for me to separate out what has happened from what could have happened, now that we are so close to the end.
"Oh, not necessarily the end of you. That depends on what you do. Right now, you're looking for the Earth-bound half of The Tower, the great gateway I once worked with Eukrisal and the others to build, back when we had our old bodies, back 14,000 years ago. When the backlash of our hubris fell upon us, I suffered worse than those who were merely killed. My mind was split across every moment between then, and...
"Well, very soon. As we tried to recover, the Mu captured our gateway, and hid it, and sealed it away in their deepest vaults. I do not know where it is now, but I will know where it is in the future and when I learn of it's location, I will be quite surprised. That is, until I remember that you know the location because I will remember where you found it in the future so that I can tell you know where to go. I will tell you where to find the Earthly half of our great project, deep within the lost vaults of the Mu.
"Existing at all points of time across 14 millennia is difficult. I hope that you find the Tower, and build your new gateway, and reach your point of destiny. I cannot wait for the day when I can live one moment at a time."
— Diviner Maros, City of Heroes
Robert: I told you they'd come.
Rosalind: No, you didn't.
Robert: Right. I was going to tell you they'd come.
Rosalind: But you didn't.
Robert: But I don't.
Rosalind: You sure that's right?
Robert: I was going to have told you they'd come?
Rosalind: No.
Robert: The subjunctive?
Rosalind: That's not the subjunctive.
Robert: I don't think the syntax has been invented yet.
Rosalind: It would have had to have had been.
Robert: Had to have... had... been? That can't be right.
Rosalind: No, you didn't.
Robert: Right. I was going to tell you they'd come.
Rosalind: But you didn't.
Robert: But I don't.
Rosalind: You sure that's right?
Robert: I was going to have told you they'd come?
Rosalind: No.
Robert: The subjunctive?
Rosalind: That's not the subjunctive.
Robert: I don't think the syntax has been invented yet.
Rosalind: It would have had to have had been.
Robert: Had to have... had... been? That can't be right.
— The Lutece Twins, Bioshock Infinite
Picard: Q. I knew it. What's going on?
Q: It's Judge Q to you. And isn't it obvious what's going on?
Q: "Seven years ago". How little do you mortals understand time. Must you be so linear, Jean-Luc?
— Star Trek: The Next Generation, "All Good Things..."
"What is time to us? We stand outside. Everything has happened. Everything is happening. We smell the brick oven of the desert and the gelid funk of aeons, and we are there."
— The Buzzing, The Secret World
"There is no future. There is no past. Do you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet."
— Dr. Manhattan, Watchmen
Pearly Soames: Lucifer! I need to stop this one - now!
The Judge: Now?... You have no idea what "now" is. Now, I was flying. Now, I breathed fire and I ate them as they fled. Now, I whipped my tail and the winds trembled. Now, I am hidden in this pale shade of flesh and bone. Now I am witness to man's eternal salvation, now I am witness to his demise. Do NOT speak to me of time, demon, its simplest ebbs and turns elude your meager understanding! Find another way, NOW!
The Judge: Now?... You have no idea what "now" is. Now, I was flying. Now, I breathed fire and I ate them as they fled. Now, I whipped my tail and the winds trembled. Now, I am hidden in this pale shade of flesh and bone. Now I am witness to man's eternal salvation, now I am witness to his demise. Do NOT speak to me of time, demon, its simplest ebbs and turns elude your meager understanding! Find another way, NOW!
"I know because I'm everywhere, buddy. I'm here and now, then and gone. I'm yesterday, today and tomorrow, and I'm all the moments in between. I'm everything folded together. I know exactly where you've been and exactly where you're going. I wish I didn't, but I do. I knew you'd be here today, and why. And I know exactly what you'll say when I ask you to buy this two-bit business from under me."
— Jimmy, String City, by Graham Edwards
"The Observants look at time like they are watching a parade: one thing after another, passing by in sequence right in front of them. I see the parade from above - all the twists and turns it might, or might not, take."
"This is how we know you. All the times you have come to us, in the past, the future, and right now, the present. For us, the time is not important. Just the events."
Prophet!Jake: Experiences? What is this?
Sisko: Memories. Events from my past, like this one.
Prophet!Jake: Past?
Sisko: Things that happened before now. You have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.
Prophet!Jake: What comes before now is no different than what is now, or what is to come. It is one's existence.
Sisko: Then, for you, there is no linear time.
(scene transitions to a beach)
Prophet!Jennifer: Linear time. what is this?
Sisko: My species lives in one point in time. And once we move beyond that point, it becomes the past. The future, all that is still to come, does not exist yet for us.
Prophet!Jennifer: Does not exist yet?
Sisko: That is the nature of linear existence. And if you examine it more closely, you will see that you do not need to fear me.
— Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Emissary"
