Sands of time

The allusion is to the hourglass filled with sand by which time used to be measured. The history of the hourglass is obscure. Some say it dates back to the 8th century but it was commonly in use from the 14th century onwards. The thought that the sands of time were running by or running out must have occurred to many people down the ages but none are specifically recorded. There is no reference to the sands of time in Shakespeare. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in A Psalm of Life (1839) embellished the concept by writing that great men leave “footprints on the sands of time.”