What does this idiom mean? 物竞天择，时不我待

[alexamies]

Can anybody tell me what this means? I cannot find it any any dictionary that I have looked in, including my Dictionary of Chinese Idioms.

物竞天择，时不我待。

Here is the following sentence. It is from an article on the Xinhua web site on economic reform in China.

正如去年全国两会期间，胡锦涛总书记在参加人大代表团审议时所指出的，要在新的历史起点上继续推进社会主义现代化建设，说到底要靠深化改革、扩大开放。要毫不动摇地坚持改革方向，要不失时机地推进改革。

[rootfool]

物竞天择 is derived from the theory of Revolution.It means nature select the fittest creature by competetion.

时不我待=时不待我 is a inversion.Means chance/time didn't wait me/us.

[realyunzhi]

rootfool is

absolutely right!

and my view is

时不我待 it means " you never get the second chance to (do sth)"

[alexamies]

Thanks. That makes sense. I think that this was a difficult one because I asked a native speaker and she didn't know what this meant.

[Lugubert]

Wenlin puts it

struggle for survival by the law of natural selection

time waits for no one.

[Sarah_chen]

Lugubert. i quite agree with what you translated