time flies

Idioms  

1. Time passes quickly, as in It's midnight already? Time flies when you're having fun, or I guess it's ten years since I last saw you—how time flies. This idiom was first recorded about 1800 but Shakespeare used a similar phrase, “the swiftest hours, as they flew,” as did Alexander Pope, “swift fly the years.”

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Example Sentences

It’s incredibly taxing mentally, but once you get into a flow and lose yourself, time flies.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2024

The old saying "time flies when you're having fun" is an easy way to think about the idea of post-concert amnesia.

From BBC • Jun. 1, 2023

Conventional wisdom tells us that life is short, time flies and there are never enough hours in the day.

From New York Times • Dec. 7, 2022

In your twenties you hear about people that are more mature than you saying time flies.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 23, 2020

“Don’t they say that time flies when you are happy?”

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie