Someone is deciding whether a delay is something to endure or something that will cost them the chance to act.
A different response to the same situation. This is an equally useful comparison.
What supports this analysis
Every required claim and relation in this set passed its recorded review path.
Each member expression and its sense are located in a registered historical dictionary at a confirmed page, and the contrast follows from what those two records already say about their own use. What is editorial rather than sourced is the pairing itself: neither source compares the two traditions, and no transmission or shared origin is claimed.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-26
- Reviewed by
- AI publication-readiness review run, independently of the proposer (AI data-completeness review run)
How this record reached us: AI suggested. This describes provenance and does not raise confidence.
- Verified:
- Passed the recorded review path, with sources, rights and review roles shown.
- Disputed:
- Credible disagreement exists. Review the competing interpretations before classroom use.
- Partial coverage:
- Some required claims are reviewed but not yet verified. Read the evidence before classroom use.
Candidate, reviewed and rejected material is editorial-only and never appears on this site.
Why these are connected
Both sayings are about time acting on a person who cannot control it, and a reader searching for counsel about a delay will meet them in the same results. That shared subject is the whole of the connection.
Where they differ
They give opposite advice, and the difference is which kind of delay is in front of you. The English member treats time as an opportunity that is leaving, so it argues against waiting. The Arabic member treats time as a hardship that cannot be shortened, so it argues for bearing it. Reading either as a general rule about patience reverses the other one. Neither source establishes present-day usage: Apperson records the English form from c. 1386, and Burckhardt records the Arabic as current at Cairo c. 1816-17.
Relationship detail
Supporting facets. One label cannot carry a whole relationship.
- Alignment
- Contrasting
- Evidence quality
- Moderate
- Metaphor overlap
- Low
- Use-case overlap
- Low
- Semantic closeness
- Low
- Historical direction
- Not established
Historical relationship
Not established. The reviewed sources do not support a claim about transmission or shared origin between these members, so none is made.
Compare
- Sense: Verified
Member 1: English
EnglishTime and tide wait for no man.
- Literal translation
Time and tide wait for nobody.
- Natural translation
Time and tide wait for nobody.
- Functional meaning
Warns that time and opportunity continue moving, so delay can forfeit the chance to act.
- Usage context
Used as contrasting wisdom when waiting is riskier than timely action.
Relationship to this situation
Contrasting wisdomRelationship: VerifiedTreats the passage of time as a cost: the opportunity moves on, so waiting forfeits it. The published record already describes its own use as contrasting wisdom.
- Community
- Unknown
- Region
- Unknown
- Historical period
- Recorded from c. 1386, with later forms through 1850.
- Register
- historical proverb with continuing recognition
Full proverb detail: Time and tide wait for nobody.Reviewed 2026-08-24 - Sense: Verified
Member 2: Arabic
Arabicدوا الدهر الصبر عليه
dawāʾ ad-dahr aṣ-ṣabr ʿalayh
- Literal translation
The remedy for hard times is patience with them.
- Natural translation
The remedy for hard times is patience with them.
- Functional meaning
Frames patience as a way to endure a condition that cannot be changed immediately.
- Usage context
Used as historical counsel for bearing difficult times; the source does not establish current usage.
Relationship to this situation
Contrasting wisdomRelationship: VerifiedTreats the passage of time as a condition: it cannot be hurried, so endurance is the remedy rather than action.
- Community
- Cairene Arabic speakers as recorded by Burckhardt
- Region
- Cairo, Egypt
- Historical period
- Recorded as current at Cairo c. 1816–17 and published in 1830; no claim of current 2026 usage.
- Register
- colloquial Egyptian Arabic as historically collected
Full proverb detail: The remedy for hard times is patience with them.Reviewed 2026-08-24
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