time and tide wait for no man

Prov. Things will not wait for you when you are late. Hurry up or we'll miss the bus! Time and tide wait for no man. Ellen: It's time to leave. Aren't you finished dressing yet? Fred: I can't decide which necktie looks best with this shirt. Ellen: Time and tide wait for no man, dear.

One must not procrastinate or delay, as in Let's get on with the voting; time and tide won't wait, you know. This proverbial phrase, alluding to the fact that human events or concerns cannot stop the passage of time or the movement of the tides, first appeared about 1395 in Chaucer's Prologue to the Clerk's Tale. The alliterative beginning, time and tide, was repeated in various contexts over the years but today survives only in the proverb, which is often shortened (as above).