The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.

The image of an hourglass suggests that as life’s remaining “sand” diminishes, perspective ought to sharpen rather than blur. The saying links age and experience with clearer judgment: time lived should refine one’s ability to see motives, consequences, and illusions for what they are. It also carries a quiet admonition—if clarity does not increase with passing years, then experience has been wasted. Although often attributed to Machiavelli because it resonates with his reputation for hard-eyed political realism, the sentiment is more broadly proverbial: mortality is not merely a countdown but a lens that can make priorities and truths more legible.