白驹过隙

白駒過隙

báijūguòxì

idiom

Meanings

1 a white colt flashing past a crack
2 how fleetingly time passes
3 life is brief as a glimpse through a gap

Characters

Examples

人生如白驹过隙，转瞬即逝。

Rénshēng rú bái jū guò xì, zhuǎnshùn jí shì.

Life is like a white colt flashing past a crack — gone in an instant.

三十年白驹过隙，当年的少年已两鬓斑白。

Sānshí nián bái jū guò xì, dāngnián de shàonián yǐ liǎng bìn bānbái.

Thirty years vanished in a flash; that youth's temples are now gray.

时间白驹过隙，不容虚度。

Shíjiān bái jū guò xì, bùróng xūdù.

Time flashes by like a white colt — it mustn't be wasted.

Tips

history

From 《庄子·知北游》: 人生天地之间，若白驹之过卻，忽然而已 — 'a person's life between heaven and earth is like a white colt leaping past a crack; it is simply over.' Zhuangzi's view of mortality captured in one image.

Stroke Order

白 bái

驹 jū

过 guò

隙 xì