John C. Bogle was selected as one of the four masters of investment in the 21 Century by the global business magazine, 'Fortune'. He is an international investment expert often compared to Warren Buffett. In the book titled ‘Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life', Bogle asks a question. "What is important in our lives, and by which means should we evaluate our lives?" He gives 'the courage of keep challenging' as an answer. To let us understand the meaning, he introduces the well-known saying of Goethe. “Then indecision brings its own delays, and days are lost lamenting o’er lost days. Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute; what you can do, or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” You would probably have heard the phrase “seize the day” at least once in your life. The origin of this saying comes from a Latin poem, 'Odes' by Horace.

The Origin of ‘Seize the Day’ : Carpe Diem
“Seize the day” is the translation of “Carpe diem” in Latin. Carpe diem originated from a verse of The Odes by Horace, a lyric poet of The Ancient Roman Republic. Ode, which was first written as a song that was accompanied by musical instruments, indicates a lyric poetry with rhythm. Horace was born as a son of an emancipated slave and was involved in Brutus’ camp after the assassination of Caesar. However, he failed to succeed and started to write poems while serving as a minor official. In his eleventh work, he writes a story of scolding a lady who is greatly concerned about the future. The poet teaches her the transience of life and concludes with ‘Carpe diem, quam minimum credula poster’ which means ‘Seize the day, and trust tomorrow as little as possible.’ Some people misunderstand this phrase; they take it that we should live our lives based only on pleasure because Horace was affected by the school of Epicurus. However, the underlying meaning is ‘Because time flies like an arrow and nobody knows about the future, we should pick the day’.

‘Carpe Diem’ in ‘The Dead Poets Society’
The movie, ‘The Dead Poets Society’ successfully portrays this lesson. This movie is about high school students agonizing between ‘following the rules’ passively and ‘following the passion’ actively. Korean students these days are forced to follow strict rules at school. The school's goal is to increase the college entrance rate, thereby taking away their own passion. Mr. John Keating, played by Robin Williams, teaches poems. He arouses autonomy and breaks the uniformity of students’ thoughts and persuades them to think creatively. When he enlightens students to grasp ‘challenge spirits’, he preaches, “Most men who fear to challenge live lives suppressing their dreams.” To give the students the courage to challenge, Mr. Keating accentuates “Carpe diem”, which means, be faithful to today.

The Commonly Used Phrase, ‘Seize the Day’
The phrase seize the day has been prevalent throughout history and continues to be so. The movie titled “Seize the Day” was released in 1986 and the novel by Saul Bellow is also titled, “Seize the Day.” Also, in Las Vegas, Nevada, there exists a company named “Seize the day.” Not only this, Avenged Sevenfold, a heavy metal band that occasionally ranks on the Billboard charts wrote and sang a song “Seize the Day.” In the song, there is a lyric ‘Seize the day or die regretting the time you lost.’ Many other singers such as Steve Haun, Cosmic Gate, Damien Dempsey, and so on have sung songs named ‘Seize the Day.’

Here is a famous saying by Benjamin Franklin. “You may delay but time will not.” Life is short and this moment is only for once. Therefore, we should live life to the fullest. Seize every day and make the most of every opportunity.
 

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