Brewer's: Time

Time and tide wait for no man.

For the next inn he spurs a main. In haste alights, and scuds away - But time and tide for no man stay.

Somerville: The Sweet-scented Miser.

Take [or Seize ] Time by the forelock (Thales of Miletus.). Time is represented as an old man, quite bald, with the exception of a single lock of hair on the forehead. Shakespeare calls him “that bald sexton, Time.” (King John, iii. 1.)

Time is, Time was, Time's past.
Friar Bacon made a brazen head, and it was said if he heard his head speak he would succeed in his work in hand, if not he would fail. A man named Miles was set to watch the head, and while Bacon was sleeping the head uttered these words: “TIME IS;” and half an hour afterwards it said “TIME WAS;” after the expiration of another half-hour it said “TIME'S PAST,” fell down, and was broken to pieces.
Like Friar Bacon's brazen head, I've spoken; Time is, time was, time's past.

Byron: Don Juan. i. 217-8.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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