But time given to wishing for what can't be is not only spent, but wasted, and for all that we waste we shall be accountable.

Wishing, like sipping a glass of punch, or pulling aside a bearskin rug in order to access a hidden trapdoor in the floor, is merely a quiet way to spend one's time before the candles are extinguished on one's birthday cake.

I hate wasting time.

I have no patience for wasting time.

Michael, "I never expected the wish to come true."

The Trout, "Great Oceans! Why bother to wish it, then? I call that simply a waste of time.

But why do only unimportant things?" asked Milo, who suddenly remembered how much time he spent each day doing them.

"Think of all the trouble it saves," the man explained, and his face looked as if he'd be grinning an evil grin--if he could grin at all. "If you only do the easy and useless jobs, you'll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult. You just won't have the time. For there's always something to do to keep you from what you really should be doing, and if it weren't for that dreadful magic staff, you'd never know how much time you were wasting.