Take time when time is, for time will away.
Meaning: Seize opportunities promptly; delays risk losing them forever to circumstance's passage.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Perseverance
- Time and tide tarry for no man. — Constant natural forces—time's flow and ocean's tides—proceed indifferently; delay ensure…
- Time is the rider that breaks youth. — Youth's strength and invulnerability gradually diminish as years pass and experiences acc…
- What is a workman without his tools? — A skilled person stripped of necessary resources cannot apply their expertise effectively.
- Trade knows neither friends nor kindred. — Business transactions dissolve personal loyalties; profit motives override familial bonds…
- Fall not out with a friend for a trifle. — Friendships are too valuable to sacrifice over minor disagreements or petty disputes.
- He who seeketh trouble never misseth it. — Persistent negativity and conflict-seeking behavior inevitably attract the very problems…
From our untranslatable words
- Yurodivy — One who plays the fool deliberately as a religious act, and is therefore licensed to spea…
- Khalyava — Something good got for free and without effort — and, strictly, something you were never…
- Beloruchka — Someone who dodges dirty or hard work — a person whose hands stay conspicuously clean.