TEMPUS FUGIT (time flies, the kettle doesn't)

Tempus fugit: time flies, so the Romans said. The kettle, it turns out, was never consulted.

A small winged hourglass keeps company with a very patient kettle, both sat beneath the motto in a mock-heraldic banner, with the loose translation printed smaller underneath for anyone who dropped Latin at school.

The phrase itself is genuine, borrowed from Virgil and public domain for two thousand years, which feels like the right amount of gravitas for a mug about waiting for water to boil. Part of the Latin Mottoes (Loosely Translated) series, and it pairs neatly with the rest of the set.