Art is long, life is short

Russian translation

Искусство долго, жизнь коротка.
Нельзя попусту растрачивать время, в жизни нужно многое успеть.

Derivation

Life is short.

Variants

Art is long, time is fleeting.
Art is long and time is short.

Synonyms

Life is but a span.
So much to do, so little done.

Comparison

Жизнь коротка, искусство вечно.
Век долог, да час дорог.

Examples

"This," opening another door, "is my chamber. I read here when the family suppose I have retired to rest. Sometimes I injure my health, rather more than I can quite justify to myself, by doing so, but art is long and time is short." (Dickens)

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. (Longfellow)

He turned back to the table. "Let us have tea. " "I only came for a glas of water. This is..." "You came here to meet me. Please. Life is short." (Fowles)

If only, Anthony thought as he came in from his walk, if only one had two sets of eyes! James would be able to read Cadide and the Imitation simultaneously. Life was so short, and books so countlessly many. (Huxley)

By this time I was wishing I had not stepped into Chicote's... and I was tired of looking at both of these young people. Life is very short and ugly women are very long and sitting there at the table I decided that even though I was a writer and supposed to have an insatiable curiosity about all sorts of people, I did not really care to know whether those two were married, or what they saw in each other. (Hemingway)

If Art is long, Low is longer. The words Corven v. Corven and Croom rewarded no eye scanning the Cause List of The Times newspaper. Undefended suits in vast numbers occupied the attention of Mr. Justice Covell. (Galsworthy)