“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity.”
1960s, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (1967)
Context: We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late."
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Martin Luther King, Jr. 658
American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Ci… 1929–1968Related quotes
“The future is now. It's time to grow up and be strong. Tomorrow may well be too late.”
Source: Reasons to Be Pretty
“In life, the way we perceive life and reality is often instrumental in how things can unfold.”
Vanna Bonta Talks About Quantum fiction: Author Interview (2007)
2016, Remarks to the People of Cuba (March 2016)
“Believe me, wise men don't say ‘I shall live to do that’, tomorrow's life is too late; live today.”
Non est, crede mihi, sapientis dicere ‘Vivam’:
Sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie.
I, 15.
Variant translations:
'I'll live to-morrow', 'tis not wise to say:
'Twill be too late to-morrow—live to-day.
Tomorrow will I live, the fool does say;
Today itself's too late; the wise lived yesterday.
Epigrams (c. 80 – 104 AD)
Source: Tomorrow Is Now (1963), p. 134
“Today, let us make haste to enjoy life. Who knows if we will be tomorrow?”
Hâtons-nous aujourd'hui de jouir de la vie. Qui sait si nous serons demain?
Athalie, act II, scene IX.
Athalie (1691)
1960s, Keep Moving From This Mountain (1965)
Context: Each of us lives in two realms, the "within" and the "without." The within of our lives is somehow found in the realm of ends, the without in the realm of means. The within of our [lives], the bottom — that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion for which at best we live. The without of our lives is that realm of instrumentalities, techniques, mechanisms by which we live. Now the great temptation of life and the great tragedy of life is that so often we allow the without of our lives to absorb the within of our lives. The great tragedy of life is that too often we allow the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live.