I do believe that the quotations capture the flavor of intent. Time is a measurement made by man. You should not sleep wake wake wake' On the surface, the Dalai Lama was making a joke about people who stayed up all night to bring in the new year, to see if anything was different. Finally, they fall asleep, and when they wake up, nothing has changed. The way that he said it had different meaning to me.
Nobody can stop the movement of time.
Whether our time is utilized in a sacred way is up to us. Whether the next century is happy or miserable is up to us. If we really look forward to a new millennium, we must work hard for this. This is not a new message. I have heard this from many people, read this in many books, spoken this to many people.