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Template:FixHTML Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace (See Template:Section2 section below). It is popularly translated as "seize the day". Carpe means "pick, pluck, pluck off, gather", but Horace uses the word to mean "enjoy, make use of."
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 end |
| finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios | the gods will grant to 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 wise, strain the wine, and 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, trusting as little as possible in the next. |
