白はっ駒くの隙げきを過すぐるが如ごとし

expression

time flies; life is fleeting

A classical proverb from Zhuangzi, used to express how quickly time passes. The literal image is of a white horse glimpsed through a crack in a wall, vanishing in an instant. Rare in modern conversation but found in literary or reflective contexts.

• 「白はっ駒くの隙げきを過すぐるが如ごとし」という言こと葉ばがある。

  There is a saying, 'Time flies like a white horse glimpsed through a crack in the wall.'

• 人じん生せいは白はっ駒くの隙げきを過すぐるが如ごとしと古こ人じんは言いった。

  The ancients said that life passes as swiftly as a white horse seen through a gap in a wall.