56 Carpe Diem Quotes

In our fast-paced world, it's easy to get caught up in the hustle and forget to truly live in the moment. The Latin phrase "Carpe Diem," meaning "seize the day," serves as a timeless reminder to embrace the present and make the most out of every opportunity. Whether you're looking for a boost of motivation or just a gentle nudge to appreciate the here and now, we've curated a collection of the top 56 Carpe Diem quotes to inspire you. Dive in and let these powerful words encourage you to live life to its fullest, today and every day.

1. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34” - Anonymous

2. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” - Mahatma Gandhi

3. “Real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the present.” - Albert Camus

4. “Carpe diem."(Odes: I.11)” - Horace

5. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” - Helen Keller

6. “Every day brings a chance for you to draw in a breath, kick off your shoes, and dance.” - Oprah Winfrey

7. “Nothing is worth more than this day.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

8. “If you don't take risks, you'll have a wasted soul.” - Drew Barrymore

9. “We are the change we have been waiting for.” - Barack Obama

10. “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.” - Benjamin Franklin

11. “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

12. “Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.” - Anthony Robbins

13. “Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.” - Walt Whitman

14. “Leave the problems of God to God and karma to karma. Today you’re here and nothing you can do will change that. Today you’re alive and here and honored, and blessed with good fortune. Look at this sunset, it’s beautiful, neh? This sunset exists. Tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. Please look. It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity.Lose yourself in it, make yourself one with nature and do not worry about karma, yours, mine, or that of the village.” - James Clavell

15. “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.” - Eckhart Tolle

16. “What part soever you take upon you, play that as well as you can and make the best of it.” - Sir Thomas More

17. “I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” - Robert Frost

18. “Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

19. “Why not just live in the moment, especially if it has a good beat?” - Goldie Hawn

20. “When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” - Marcus Aurelius

21. “There is only one day left, always starting over: It is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk.” - Jean-Paul Sartre

22. “I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.” - Groucho Marx

23. “Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, it is the only time we have. ” - Art Buchwald

24. “I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it.” - Rita Mae Brown

25. “My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus."[The Science of Second-Guessing (New York Times Magazine Interview, December 12, 2004)]” - Stephen W. Hawking

26. “Begin somewhere. You cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do.” - Liz Smith

27. “If a man is to live, he must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, spirit.” - Thomas Merton

28. “Live each day as if it's your last', that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that? What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy? It just wasn't practical. Better by far to simply try and be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you. Go out there with your passion and your electric typewriter and work hard at...something. Change lives through art maybe. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance.” - David Nicholls

29. “Cherish your solitude. Take trains by yourself to places you have never been. Sleep out alone under the stars. Learn how to drive a stick shift. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. Say no when you don’t want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, even if everyone around you disagrees. Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out what you’re doing here. Believe in kissing.” - Eve Ensler

30. “Don't think, but look! (PI 66)” - Ludwig Wittgenstein

31. “The trick is to enjoy life. Don't wish away your days, waiting for better ones ahead.” - Marjorie Pay Hinckley

32. “And so taking the long way home through the market I slow my pace down. It doesn't come naturally. My legs are programmed to trot briskly and my arms to pump up and down like pistons, but I force myself to stroll past the stalls and pavement cafes. To enjoy just being somewhere, rather than rushing from somewhere, to somewhere. Inhaling deep lungfuls of air, instead of my usual shallow breaths. I take a moment to just stop and look around me. And smile to myself.For the first time in a long time, I can, quite literally, smell the coffee.” - Alexandra Potter

33. “Allow yourself to enjoy each happy moment in your life.” - Steve Maraboli

34. “The people we consider successful in our society are all people that seize every moment and make the best of each situation.” - Steve Maraboli

35. “We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.” - Che Guevara

36. “Don't count the days, make the days count.” - Muhammad Ali

37. “Stop waiting for the perfect day or the perfect moment... Take THIS day, THIS moment and lead it to perfection.” - Steve Maraboli

38. “What I'm not sure about, is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we save. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time.” - Kazuo Ishiguro

39. “Each day gives the opportunity for you to be treated right, to feel worthy, and to be successful. It’s a choice you have to make, a faith you have to embrace, and a standard you have to set.” - Steve Maraboli

40. “You could lose the ones you loved in the blink of an eye—and he was willing to bet, when it happened, you weren’t thinking about all the reasons that could have kept you apart. You thought of all the reasons that kept you together. And, no doubt, how you wished you’d had more time. Even if you’d had centuries… When you were young, you thought time was a burden, something to be discharged as fast as possible so you could be grown-up. But it was such a bait-n-switch—when you were an adult, you came to realize that minutes and hours were the single most precious thing you had. No one got forever. And it was a fucking crime to waste what you were given.” - J.R. Ward

41. “Set wide the window. Let me drink the day.” - Edith Wharton

42. “Little FlyThy summers play,My thoughtless handHas brush'd away.Am not IA fly like thee?Or art not thouA man like me?For I dance And drink & sing: Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing. If thought is life And strength & breath: And the want Of thought is death; Then am I A happy fly, If I live, Or if I die” - William Blake

43. “Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering.” - Steve Maraboli

44. “‎Today is a new day. It's a day you have never seen before and will never see again. Stop telling yourself the 'same crap, different day' lie! How many days has that lie stolen from you? Seize the wonder and uniqueness of today! Recognize that throughout this beautiful day, you have an incredible amount of opportunities to move your life into the direction you want it to go.” - Steve Maraboli

45. “When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.” - A.W. Tozer

46. “Write it on your heartthat every day is the best day in the year.He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the daywho allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety. Finish every day and be done with it.You have done what you could.Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;begin it well and serenely, with too high a spiritto be cumbered with your old nonsense. This new day is too dear,with its hopes and invitations,to waste a moment on the yesterdays.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

47. “Live, laugh, love for tomorrow in another day.” - Robert Gerus

48. “I'm fairly certain that YOLO is just Carpe Diem for stupid people.” - Jack Black

49. “People—especially men—don't always know what they want. You try, and if it doesn't work, then you may quit.” With a broken heart. As if she'd read her mind, Abuelita frowned and scolded, “Hearts mend, but lost chances are gone forever.” - Cherise Sinclair

50. “I say if it's going to be done, let's do it. Let's not put it in the hands of fate. Let's not put it in the hands of someone who doesn't know me. I know me best. Then take a breath and go ahead.” - Anita Baker

51. “Death twitches my ear;'Live,' he says... 'I'm coming.” - Virgil

52. “Leave off asking what tomorrow will bring, andwhatever days fortune will give, count themas profit.” - Horace

53. “Why always "not yet"?  Do flowers in spring say "not yet"? ” - Norman Douglas

54. “Looking back on my life, I sigh. The caprice of youth goes with the wind, I’ve no regrets.” - Roman Payne

55. “... men du ga fra deg dagene dine, én etter én ble de brukt opp, og til slutt var det ingen igjen, bare et tomt høl som sjelen din ble sugd inn i, et eneste stort og svart ingenting. Og så var det ikke mer.” - Leif Østli

56. “When we realize the shortness of life, we begin to see the importance of making every moment count.” - Dillon Burroughs