New Delhi, May 18 -- Time moves fast, and it never returns. Every moment passes the instant it arrives. The arrow does not pause once it leaves the bow. Neither does time wait for the unprepared or the distracted.

This proverb is one of the oldest observations in human language. Cultures across the world have reached the same conclusion independently. Time is not a resource that can be stockpiled or recovered. It is spent whether or not you choose how to spend it.

The arrow is a precise image. It is fast. It is directional. It does not curve back toward the archer. Time shares every one of those qualities. The proverb is not pessimistic. It is clarifying. Know what you are dealing with. Then act accordingly.

Modern life is specifically...