burn daylight

With ‘We Burn Daylight,’ Bret Anthony Johnston tries to humanize the Waco siege, often remembered in sensational headlines.

If these things cannot bless and enhappy me, why should I burn daylight? why should I not off them, as the bee gets off the plants that yield her no honey, and once, at last, see where my happiness lies, in pursuing happiness, and where my happiness lies, in God’s ways; the first step whereof is poverty of spirit?” p.

We burn daylight:—here, read, read; perceive how I might be knighted.

"You don't burn daylight, do you?" he sneered.

Well, ma'am," he drawled, "I sure hate to burn daylight.