Lordynges, the tyme wasteth nyght and day,
And steleth from us, what pryvely slepynge,
And what thurgh necligence in oure wakynge,
As dooth the streem that turneth nevere agayn.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Man of Law’s Introduction. The Man of Law says that time steals from us imperceptibly when sleeping, and through negligence when we are awake. It is like a stream that never turns back.