Used as an admonition to seize the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future.
n.
Such an admonition.
[Latin : carpe, seize + diem, day.]
Dictionary:
car·pe di·em (kär'pĕ dē'ĕm', -əm, dī'-) ![]() |
[Latin : carpe, seize + diem, day.]
| Idioms: carpe diem |
Enjoy the present and don't worry about the future, as in It's a beautiful day, so forget tomorrow's test--carpe diem! Latin for "seize the day," an aphorism found in the Roman writer Horace's Odes, this phrase has been used in English since the early 1800s.
| Literary Dictionary: carpe diem |
carpe diem
| Columbia Encyclopedia: carpe diem |
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,Old time is still a-flying;And this same flower that smiles todayTomorrow will be dying.
Shakespeare's version of the theme takes the following form in Twelfth Night:What is love? 'Tis not hereafter;Present mirth has present laughter; What's to come is still unsure.In delay there lies no plenty,Then come and kiss me sweet and twenty; Youth's a stuff will not endure.
| Latin Phrase: carpe diem |
Usually explained, according to popular ideas of Epicurian philosophy, as - Enjoy the present day; but capable of higher interpretation - Seize the present opportunity; improve time.
| Poetry Glossary: Carpe Diem |
Latin for "seize the day," a common motif in lyric verse throughout the history of poetry, with the emphasis on making the most of current pleasures because life is short and time is flying.
| Wikipedia: Carpe diem |
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A sundial with a carpe diem inscription.
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Another sundial with a carpe diem inscription.
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Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace (See "Source" section below). It is popularly translated as "seize the day". The general definition of carpe is "pick, pluck, pluck off, gather" as in plucking, although Horace uses the word in the sense of "enjoy, make use of."
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In Horace, the phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – "Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future.", and the ode says that the future is unknowable, and that instead one should scale back one's hopes to a brief future, and drink one's wine. Compare with the Biblical "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die", a conflation, with emphasis on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting – an existential caution.
The expression, "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" derives from verses from the biblical books of Isaiah 22:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:32, both in a negative context illustrating a life without faith. It also occurs many times in modern English-language popular culture.
In the Ecclesiastes are some paragraphs with a similar message (9,7–9):
The phrase "And if not now, when?" (Pirkei Avoth 1:14)
The phrase Collige, virgo, rosas [...] ("gather, girl, the roses") appears at the end of the poem De rosis nascentibus[1] (also called Idyllium de rosis) attributed to Ausonius or Virgil. It encourages youth to enjoy life before it's too late; compare "Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May" from To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.
Related but distinct is the expression memento mori ("remember that you are mortal"); indeed, memento mori is often used with some of the sense of carpe diem. However, two major elements of memento mori are humility and repentance, neither of which figures prominently in the concept of carpe diem. So the two phrases could also represent opposing worldviews: with 'carpe diem' representing carefree, overflowing life and 'memento mori' a humble, meek existence.
Similarly, ubi sunt – "where are they [now]?" – invokes transience and meditation on death, but is not an exhortation to action. Compare Dead Poets Society, where a trophy case filled with pictures of long-dead boys ("these boys are now fertilizing daffodils") leads to an invocation of carpe diem.
De Brevitate Vitae (On the shortness of life), often referred to as Gaudeamus igitur, (Let us rejoice) is a popular academic commercium song, on taking joy in student life, with the knowledge that one will someday die; it is medieval Latin, dating to 1287.
Horace himself parodies the phrase in another of his poems, 'The town mouse and the country mouse'. He uses the phrase carpe viam meaning 'seize the road' to compare the two different attitudes to life of a person (or in this case, a mouse) living in a city and in the countryside.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Siduri attempts to dissuade Gilgamesh in his quest for immortality, urging him to enjoy life as it is: "As for you, Gilgamesh, fill your belly with good things; day and night, night and day, dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water, cherish the little child that holds your hand, and make your wife happy in your embrace; for this too is the lot of man." [2]
Original usage from Odes 1.11, in Latin and English:
| Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi | Don't ask (it's forbidden to know) what final fate the gods have |
| finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios | what end the gods will give me or you, Leuconoe. Don't play with Babylonian |
| temptaris numeros. ut melius, quidquid erit, pati. | fortune-telling either. It is better to endure whatever will be. |
| seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam, | Whether Jupiter has allotted to you many more winters or this final one |
| quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare | which even now wears out the Tyrrhenian sea on the rocks placed opposite |
| Tyrrhenum: sapias, vina liques et spatio brevi | — be smart, drink your wine. Scale back your long hopes |
| spem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit invida | to a short period. While we speak, envious time will have {already} fled |
| aetas: carpe diem quam minimum credula postero. | Seize the day and place no trust in tomorrow. |
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carpe diem |
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Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Literary Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more | |
![]() | Latin Phrase. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Poetry Glossary. Copyright © 2007, ILOVEPOETRY, Inc, All Rights Reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Carpe diem". Read more |
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