What does Time and Tide Wait for No Man mean to you?

Question

What does Time and Tide Wait for No Man mean to you and what images and thoughts does it bring for you?

I'm doing a project at college and I need ideas to help. I have an idea of what to do but I need to put more to it.

Answer 1

It means that history will do you over whether you want it to or not and you have to get swept up into it. You have to put up with what other people are doing as well as submit to contingencies in the fabric of physical nature.

Answer 2

Time and Tide Wait for No Man -
All plan is here at the mercy of the winds and waves, is something that Lord Nelson reflected upon. (1820 said of Nelson)

It is a proverb that is overused and rather misused.

It was common in the early 1800's in literature.

The naturalistic analogy of the sea tide is the only one that is a fair match as using this quote to denote the meaning.

"Tide" is a word as used since the 1500's does denote
a specific occasion, opportunity as "the hour is upon us"
as the tide will allow the ship to sail out to sea. But tide does not mean the "ebb and flow" of the ocean but the ship analogy does work as I will show.

But to use the quote as a set time as in one should do or be in a certain place at a fixed time misses the quotes intention.
Shakespeare used "time and the hour" often.

Mealtide, Christmastide, are examples still heard.

So the 1820 or so remark is noting that Lord Nelson seized the moment to act, on the occasion and opportunity, at an appointed hour. Nelson could have carred less about the "tide" of the ocean, he was concerned with the occasion, the chance to attack.

Hope you have an English professor? As if say a class in logic, philosophy may just want a literal application of this quote. Even so just view "tide" as opportunity.

Answer 3

Running late? Over sleep? Well, that happens because time does not wait for you. At 8 am, if you are not at work, time will move on...it does not remain at 8am until you get there. The tide works the same way. You can go to the beach or you can stay home. Either way, the tide comes and goes.

Answer 4

It means Mankind has no control over the events of Nature.

It reminds me of a poem 'The Totland Tides' which I once saw in Totland, Isle of Wight. I don't think I've remembered it all, but it was something like:

When full or new you see the moon,
The tide's far out in the afternoon.
But when the moon's at either quarter,
By tea the beach is underwater.
Get down to the beach as soon as you can,
For time and tide wait for no man.

Answer 5

Time and Tide Wait for No Man - Nature and the Universe are much more powerful than any human being. We are nothing but insignificant ants on the face of the world. Life goes on, no matter what befell you. We cannot change the course of natural events. Once we understand this our perspective of life changes. We start to live in harmony with nature, instead of trying to posses the world. Be humble and you will succeed.

Answer 6

Time and Tide Wait for No Man --this statement is true to my personal life. Due to my own wrongs now I am now suffering. I think wasted times never return. So I think you should discuss with your parents & some doomed persons to improve your ideas so that you can implement in your project. But remember--Never waste your valuable time.

Answer 7

Time and tide wait for no man means that time goes by no matter what. That you cant wait to do anything because time goes by any way.

Answer 8

Time will carry on ticking, whether man is around or not, the same with the tide, it will come in, then go out, just as it did before man was around, just like time, they will both carry on and on and on, fearing nothing, just carrying on, not waiting for man to catch up,

Answer 9

You can't sit around and wait for things to happen, you have to make them happen. Live your life. The world will go on with or without you.

Picture a young man in a rocking chair looking through the trees out at the lake. Flash quickly through the changing seasons. See the man's face grow older as he rocks in his chair. The hair becomes white, wrinkles appear. Eventually he dies in his chair, as the seasons continue to go on, tide coming in and going out.

Answer 10

Well King Canute didn't have an awful lot of luck with the tide and nobody has yet taken up trying H.G.Wells Time Machine prototype. So we are talking about two things that we have no direct control over,yet.

Answer 11

It means two things to me.
1)Punctuality.
2)Time is precious and golden and hence to be used in a precise manner as ordained by God.

Time is like a prepaid card of a mobile telephone service etc.
but the quantum is unlimited (who knows?)and and unknown.
For any one the life time of say 100 years or more is like a prepaid/purchased commodity and the metre starts ticking ,the momemt a person(he or she or any other species in the plant or animal kingdom) in come in to existence in this planet of ours.Then the time meter keeps running at a constant speed irrespective of the proper or improper usage of time by the person or species concerned.