Time

"To-day is the parent of to-morrow. The present casts its shadow far into the future. That is the law of life, individual and social. Revolution that divests itself of ethical values thereby lays the foundation of injustice, deceit, and oppression for the future society. The means used to prepare the future become its cornerstone."

"Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who can call today his own; He who, secure within, can say, Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today."

"Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow was always better, for someone. The difficult task lay in ensuring that the someone was one of yours."

"Oogway: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the "present"."

"Yesterday is past. Tomorrow is but a dream. Today is a gift, cherish each moment."

"Rise! for the day is passing, And you lie dreaming on; The others have buckled their armour, And forth to the fight have gone: A place in the ranks awaits you, Each man has some part to play; The Past and the Future are nothing, In the face of the stern To-day."

"To-day what is there in the air That makes December seem sweet May? There are no swallows anywhere, Nor crocuses to crown your hair And hail you down my garden way. Last night the full moon's frozen stare Struck me, perhaps; or did you say Really—you'd come, sweet Fnend and fair! To-day?"

"Oh, the nursery is lonely and the garden's full of rain, And there's nobody at all who wants to play, But I think if I should only run with all my might and main, I could leave this dreary country of To-day."

"What yesterday was fact to-day is doctrine."

"The acts of to-day become the precedents of to-morrow."

"Die Gegenwart ist eine mächtige Göttin."

"Happy the man, and happy he alone, He, who can call to-day his own: He who, secure within, can say, To-morrow, do thy worst, for I have liv'd to-day."

"What dost thou bring to me, O fair To-day, That comest o'er the mountains with swift feet?"

"Days that need borrow No part of their good morrow, From a fore-spent night of sorrow."

"To-morrow let my sun his beams display, Or in clouds hide them: I have lived to-day."

"To-day is ours; what do we fear? To-day is ours; we have it here. Let's treat it kindly, that it may Wish, at least, with us to stay. Let's banish business, banish sorrow; To the gods belongs to-morrow."

"Out of Eternity The new Day is born; Into Eternity At night will return."

"Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and our people rediscover their identity and thereby increase their self respect. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today."

"Non est, crede mihi, sapientis dicere ‘Vivam’: Sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie."

"Nothing that is can pause or stay; The moon will wax, the moon will wane, The mist and cloud will turn to rain, The rain to mist and cloud again, To-morrow be to-day."

"That the bird has no “next day” is certain enough. Therefore be like the bird; remove the next day and then you are without the care of self-torment – and this can be done just because the next day lies in the self. One the other hand, let today drop away almost entirely in comparison with the next day’s trouble, and then you are deepest in self-torment. It all is the difference of one day – and yet what an enormous difference!"

"Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. And everyone here will ultimately be judged — will ultimately judge himself — on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort."

"The presence of perpetual change Is ever on the earth; To-day is only as the soil That gives to-morrow birth."

"To-day is the parent of to-morrow. The present casts its shadow far into the future. That is the law of life, individual and social. Revolution that divests itself of ethical values thereby lays the foundation of injustice, deceit, and oppression for the future society. The means used to prepare the future become its cornerstone."

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life."

"The sacred lamp of day Now dipt in western clouds his parting ray."

"How fine has the day been! how bright was the sun, How lovely and joyful the course that he run! Though he rose in a mist when his race he begun, And there followed some droppings of rain: But now the fair traveller's come to the west, His rays are all gold, and his beauties are best; He paints the skies gay as he sinks to his rest, And foretells a bright rising again."

"When the sun is setting outside so that you cannot even recognise the hand in front of you, go indoors!"

"The sun was down, And all the west was paved with sullen fire. I cried, "Behold! the barren beach of hell At ebb of tide.""

"The lonely sunsets flare forlorn Down valleys dreadly desolate; The lonely mountains soar in scorn As still as death, as stern as fate."

"Methought little space 'tween those hills intervened, But nearer,—more lofty,—more shaggy they seemed. The clouds o'er their summits they calmly did rest, And hung on the ether's invisible breast; Than the vapours of earth they seemed purer, more bright,— Oh! could they be clouds? 'Twas the necklace of night."

"Long on the wave reflected lustres play."

"Now in his Palace of the West, Sinking to slumber, the bright Day, Like a tired monarch fann'd to rest, 'Mid the cool airs of Evening lay; While round his couch's golden rim The gaudy clouds, like courtiers, crept— Struggling each other's light to dim, And catch his last smile e'er he slept."

"After a day of cloud and wind and rain Sometimes the setting sun breaks out again, And, touching all the darksome woods with light, Smiles on the fields until they laugh and sing, Then like a ruby from the horizon's ring, Drops down into the night."

"Forming and breaking in the sky, I fancy all shapes are there; Temple, mountain, monument, spire; Ships rigged out with sails of fire, And blown by the evening air."

"Oft did I wonder why the setting sun Should look upon us with a blushing face: Is't not for shame of what he hath seen done, Whilst in our hemisphere he ran his race?"

"See! he sinks Without a word; and his ensanguined bier Is vacant in the west, while far and near Behold! each coward shadow eastward shrinks, Thou dost not strive, O sun, nor dost thou cry Amid thy cloud-built streets."

"Come watch with me the shaft of fire that glows In yonder West: the fair, frail palaces, The fading Alps and archipelagoes, And great cloud-continents of sunset-seas."

"For now the sun is verging to the sea, And as he westward sinks, the floating clouds Suspended, move upon the evening gale, And gathering round his orb, as if to shade The insufferable brightness, they resign Their gauzy whiteness; and more warm'd, assume All hues of purple. There, transparent gold Mingles with ruby tints, and sapphire gleams, And colours, such as Nature through her works Shews only in the ethereal canopy. Thither aspiring Fancy fondly soars, Wandering sublime thro' visionary vales, Where bright pavilions rise, and trophies, fann'd By airs celestial; and adorn'd with wreaths Of flowers that bloom amid elysian bowers. Now bright, and brighter still the colours glow, Till half the lustrous orb within the flood Seems to retire: the flood reflecting still Its splendor, and in mimic glory drest; Till the last ray shot upward, fires the clouds With blazing crimson; then in paler light, Long lines of tenderer radiance, lingering yield To partial darkness; and on the opposing side The early moon distinctly rising, throws Her pearly brilliance on the trembling tide."

"When the sun sets, who doth not look for night?"

"The setting sun, and music at the close, At the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last."

"And the gilded car of day, His glowing axle doth allay In the steep Atlantic stream."

"Utu, shepherd of the land, father of the black-headed, when you go to sleep, the people go to sleep with you; youth Utu, when you rise, the people rise with you."

"Softly the evening came. The sun from the western horizon Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the landscape; Twinkling vapors arose; and sky and water and forest Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and mingled together."

"Down sank the great red sun, and in golden, glimmering vapors Veiled the light of his face, like the Prophet descending from Sinai."

"There was strong music in the sky: the music of sunset. In the west, a wall of clear red amber through which the sun went blazing down. The remainder of the sky was smoky rose, a color like a perfume—musk. The earth had given up its tinctures. Heights and depths and long dunes were melting into the air."

"It was the cooling hour, just when the rounded Red sun sinks down behind the azure hill, Which then seems as if the whole earth is bounded, Circling all nature, hush'd, and dim, and still, With the far mountain-crescent half surrounded On one side, and the deep sea calm and chill Upon the other, and the rosy sky With one star sparkling through it like an eye."

"Sunsets are loved because they vanish."

"When the sun sinks in the west Die a million people of the Bangladesh."

"The death-bed of a day, how beautiful!"