Charles Dickens
1850 · London, England
Procrastination is the thief of time. Collar him!
David Copperfield, chapter 12, Mr. Micawber's advice
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In the same thread
Marcus Aurelius Μᾶρκος Αὐρήλιος
170s · Roman Empire
At dawn, when you are reluctant to get up, have this thought ready: I am rising to do the work of a human being. Why then do I grumble, if I am going to do what I was born for, what I was brought into the world to do? Or was I made for this, to lie under the blankets and keep myself warm?
Ὄρθρου, ὅταν δυσόκνως ἐξεγείρῃ, πρόχειρον ἔστω ὅτι ἐπὶ ἀνθρώπου ἔργον ἐγείρομαι· τί οὖν δυσκολαίνω, εἰ πορεύομαι ἐπὶ τὸ ποιεῖν ὧν ἕνεκεν γέγονα καὶ ὧν χάριν προῆγμαι εἰς τὸν κόσμον; ἢ ἐπὶ τοῦτο κατεσκεύασμαι, ἵνα κατακείμενος ἐν στρωματίοις ἐμαυτὸν θάλπωMeditations 5.1
Meng Haoran 孟浩然
earlier 8th century · Tang China
Asleep in spring, I did not notice the dawn. Everywhere I hear birds singing. In the night there was the sound of wind and rain. How many flowers have fallen, I wonder?
春眠不覺曉，處處聞啼鳥。
夜來風雨聲，花落知多少。"Spring Dawn," in the Complete Tang Poems
Ishikawa Takuboku 石川啄木
c. 1911 · Meiji Japan
I slept late and had no time to read the paper, and today again I feel it like a debt.
朝寝して新聞読む間なかりしを
負債のごとく
今日も感ずる。Tanka collection Sad Toys (Kanashiki gangu)
Hesiod Ἡσίοδος
c. 700 BC · Boeotia, ancient Greece · To his brother Perses
Do not put things off till tomorrow and the day after. A man who works carelessly does not fill his barn, nor does one who puts things off. Care is what makes work prosper.
μηδʼ ἀναβάλλεσθαι ἔς τʼ αὔριον ἔς τε ἔνηφιν·
οὐ γὰρ ἐτωσιοεργὸς ἀνὴρ πίμπλησι καλιὴν
οὐδʼ ἀναβαλλόμενος· μελέτη δὲ τὸ ἔργον ὀφέλλειWorks and Days, lines 410–412
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us