Right now a moment is fleeting by! Capture its reality in paint! To do that we must put all else out of our minds. We must become that moment, make ourselves a sensitive recording plate. Give the image of what we actually see, forgetting everything that has been seen before our time.
—Paul Cezanne (1839–1906) French Painter
Live one day at a time emphasizing ethics rather than rules.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
Look upon every day as the whole of life, not merely as a section; and enjoy and improve the present without wishing, through haste, to rush on to another.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Humorist
The second half of the twentieth century is a complete flop.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–91) Polish-born American Children’s Books Writer, Novelist, Short Story Writer
We live in the present, we dream of the future, but we learn eternal truths from the past.
—Soong Mei-ling (1898–2003) First Lady of the Republic of China
There’s no present. There’s only the immediate future and the recent past.
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
Let us enjoy the fugitive hour. Man has no harbor, time has no shore, it rushes on and carries us with it.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
There is no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day.
—Alexander Woollcott (1887–1943) American Author, Critic, Actor
Our grand business undoubtedly is, not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Each present joy or sorrow seems the chief.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
We cannot overstate our debt to the past, but the moment has the supreme claim.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he knows that every day is Doomsday.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There exists only the present instant… a Now which always and without end is itself new. There is no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only Now, as it was a thousand years ago and as it will be a thousand years hence.
—Meister Eckhart (c.1260–1327) German Christian Mystic
Men spend their lives in anticipations, in determining to be vastly happy at some period when they have time. But the present time has one advantage over every other—it is our own. Past opportunities are gone, future are not come. We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock of wine; but if we defer the tasting of them too long, we shall find that both are soured by age.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Today is life—the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, today is big with blessings.
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) American Christian Science Religious Leader, Humanitarian, Writer
In the midst of hopes and cares, of apprehensions and of disquietude, regard every day that dawns upon you as if it was to be your last; then super-added hours, to the enjoyment of which you had not looked forward, will prove an acceptable boon.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Finish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two. This you cannot do without temperance.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
We think very little of time present; we anticipate the future, as being too slow, and with a view to hasten it onward, we recall the past to stay it as too swiftly gone. We are so thoughtless, that we thus wander through the hours which are not here, regardless only of the moment that is actually our own.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Every day is just one day.
—Anonymous
It is common to overlook what is near by keeping the eye fixed on something remote. In the same manner present opportunities are neglected and attainable good is slighted by minds busied in extensive ranges, and intent upon future advantages. Life, however short, is made shorter by waste of time.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Devote each day to the object then in time, and every evening will find something done.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Labour not after riches first, and think thou afterwards wilt enjoy them. He who neglecteth the present moment, throweth away all that he hath. As the arrow passeth through the heart, while the warrior knew not that it was coming; so shall his life be taken away before he knoweth that he hath it.
—Akhenaten (1378BCE–1348BCE) Egyptian Monarch, Religious Leader
Confine yourself to the present
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
I am in the present. I cannot know what tomorrow will bring forth. I can know only what the truth is for me today. That is what I am called upon to serve, and I serve it in all lucidity.
—Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Russian-born American Composer, Musician
Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.
—Corita Kent (1918–86) American Artist, Graphic Artist, Educator
Seize the day.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now.
—Denis Waitley (b.1933) American Motivational Speaker, Author