Half of today is better than all of tomorrow.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
It is a mark of soulfulness to be present in the here and now. When we are present, we are not fabricating inner movies. We are seeing what is before us.
—John Bradshaw (1933–2016) American Motivational Speaker
Tomorrow I will live, the fool does say: today itself’s too late; the wise lived yesterday.
—Martial (40–104) Ancient Roman Latin Poet
Now is the operative word. Everything you put in your way is just a method of putting off the hour when you could actually be doing your dream. You don’t need endless time and perfect conditions. Do it now. Do it today. Do it for twenty minutes and watch your heart start beating.
—Barbara Sher (1935–2020) American Career Coach
The best part of our lives we pass in counting on what is to come.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Few of us ever live in the present, we are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what has gone.
—Louis L’Amour (1908–88) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
The past, the present and the future are really one: they are today.
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) American Abolitionist, Author
Believe that each day that shines on you is your last.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
We can live forever, a minute at a time.
—Unknown
He who lives in the present lives in eternity.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) Austrian-born British Philosopher
The man least dependent upon the morrow goes to meet the morrow most cheerfully.
—Epicurus (c.341–270 BCE) Greek Philosopher
And if not now, when?
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon—instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
To live is so startling, it leaves but little room for other occupations.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
Now is all we have. Everything that has ever happened to you and anything that is ever going to happen to you, is just a thought.
—Wayne Dyer (b.1940) American Motivational Writer, Author, Motivational Speaker
We cannot put off living until we are ready. The most salient characteristic of life is its coerciveness: it is always urgent, “here and now” without any possible postponement. Life is fired at us point-blank.
—Jose Ortega y. Gasset (1883–1955) Spanish Critic, Journalist, Philosopher
O thoughts of men accurst.—Past and to come seem best; things present, worst.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
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
This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The present is all you have for your certain possession.
—Unknown
If you have one eye on yesterday, and one eye on tomorrow, you’re going to be cockeyed today.
—Unknown
To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow. But of course, without the top you can’t have any sides. It’s the top that defines the sides.
—Robert M. Pirsig (b.1928) American Writer, Philosopher, Author
A man would do well to carry a pencil in his pocket and write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable, and should be secured, because they seldom return.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Today was once the future from which you expected so much in the past.
—Unknown
Banish the future. Live only for the hour and its allotted work. Think not of the amount to be accomplished, the difficulties to be overcome, or the end to be attained, but set earnestly at the little task at your elbow, letting that be sufficient for the day.
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
The present offers itself to our touch for only an instant of time and then eludes the senses.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
The more I give myself permission to live in the moment and enjoy it without feeling guilty or judgmental about any other time, the better I feel about the quality of my work.
—Wayne Dyer (b.1940) American Motivational Writer, Author, Motivational Speaker
The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Are not my days few? Cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little before I go whence I shall not return.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
Each day is a special gift from God, and while life may not always be fair, you must never allow the pains, hurdles, and handicaps of the moment to poison your attitude and plans for yourself and your future. You can never win when you wear the ugly cloak of self-pity, and the sour sound of whining will certainly frighten away any opportunity for success. Never again. There is a better way.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-Help Author
The future is made of the same stuff as the present.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry—all forms of fear—are cause by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.
—Eckhart Tolle (b.1948) German Spiritual Writer, Public Speaker, Spiritual Teacher
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
—Abbie Hoffman (1936–89) American Political Activist, Anarchist
Use your precious moments to live life fully every single second of every single day.
—Marcia Wieder
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
Those who live to the future must always appear selfish to those who live to the present.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
We can easily manage, if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed for it.—But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow to the weight before we are required to bear it.
—John Newton (1725–1807) English Clergyman, Writer
Now is the time to be doing, now is the time to be stirring, now is the time to amend myself.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
We convince by our presence.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.
—Corita Kent (1918–86) American Artist, Graphic Artist, Educator
Very strange is this quality of our human nature which decrees that unless we feel a future before us we do not live completely in the present.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
It is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone. Even this burden, too, can be lessened if you confine it strictly to its own limits.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
We shall be better prepared for the future if we see how terrible, how doomed the present is.
—Iris Murdoch (1919–99) British Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
Wisdom will never let us stand with any man on an unfriendly footing. We refuse sympathy and intimacy with people, as if we waited for some better sympathy or intimacy to come. But whence and when: Tomorrow will be like today. Life wastes itself while we are preparing to live.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If its colors were but fast colors, self-conceit would be a most comfortable quality.—But life is so humbling, mortifying, disappointing to vanity, that a great man’s idea of himself gets washed out of him by the time he is forty.
—Charles Buxton (1823–71) British Politician, Writer
There is no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day.
—Alexander Woollcott (1887–1943) American Author, Critic, Actor