ships that pass in the night

Cultural  

1. Often said of people who meet for a brief but intense moment and then part, never to see each other again. These people are like two ships that greet each other with flashing lights and then sail off into the night. From a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

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ships that pass in the night Idioms  

1. Individuals who are rarely in the same place at the same time. For example, Jan works the early shift and Paula the late shift—they're two ships that pass in the night. This metaphoric expression comes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem “The Theologian's Tale” (published in Tales of a Wayside Inn, 1873).

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Example Sentences

"We are always going in different directions, like ships that pass in the night really. We whizz past each other."

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2025

I appreciate that this is the only time Evan Rachel Wood or James Marsden will probably recognize that you exist, but yours are ships that pass in the night.

From The Verge • Apr. 20, 2018

Such attitudes tend to confirm Ho Chi Minh's opinion that democratic governments are like "ships that pass in the night."

From Time Magazine Archive

There are lives which only touch each other in this world and then separate, going their different ways—like ships that pass in the night.

From Personal Friendships of Jesus by Miller, J. R. (James Russell)

From ten days to three weeks was the average stay: then, like ships that pass in the night, the "Once-Tireds," drifted away.

From Captain Jim by Bruce, Mary Grant