Tempus fugit


Tempus fugit is a Latin phrase, usually translated into English as "time flies". The expression comes from line 284 of book 3 of Virgil's Georgics, where it appears as : "it escapes, irretrievable time". The phrase is used in both its Latin and English forms as a proverb that "time's a-wasting".

Usage

Tempus fugit is typically employed as an admonition against sloth and procrastination rather than a motto in favor of licentiousness ; the English form is often merely descriptive: "time flies like the wind", "time flies when you're having fun".
The phrase is a common motto, particularly on sundials and clocks. It also has been used on gravestones.
Some writers have attempted rebuttals:
Time goes, you say? Ah, no! alas, time stays, we go. by H Austin Dobson 1840-1921.
'Hêd Amser! / Meddi Na! / Erys Amser / Dyn Â' on sundial at Univ of Bangor, North Wales. says the sundial was commissioned by Sir William Henry Preece, and offers an English equivalent:
Time flies, thou sayest - Nay! Man flies; Time still doth stay.
Another English version is: Time Flies, Say Not So: Time Remains,'Tis Man Must Go.

In the ''Georgics''

The phrase's full appearance in Virgil's Georgics is:
Original
Translation
Translation
Thus every Creature , and of every Kind ,
The secret Joys of sweet Coition find :
Not only Man's Imperial Race ; . . .		Nay, every race on earth of men, and beasts,
, , . . . but they
That wing the liquid Air ; or swim the Sea ,
Or haunt the  , . . .		And ocean-folk, and flocks, and painted birds,
: .... . . . rush into the flame :
For Love is Lord of all ; and is in all the same .		Rush to the raging fire: love sways them all.
, ,But time is lost , which never will renew ,Fast flies meanwhile the irreparable hour,
.While we too far the pleasing Path pursue ;
Surveying Nature , with too nice a view .		As point to point our charmed round we trace.