Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
To-morrow
Dreaming of a to-morrow, which to-morrow
Will be as distant then as ’tis to-day.
Tome Burguillos—To-morrow, and To-morrow. John Bowring’s trans.
How oft my guardian angel gently cried,
“Soul, from thy casement look, and thou shall see
How he persists to knock and wait for thee!”
And, O! how often to that voice of sorrow,
“To-morrow we will open,” I replied,
And when the morrow came I answered still,
“To-morrow.”
Lope de Vega—To-morrow. Longfellow’s trans. L. 9.
Never do but one thing at a time, and never put off till to-morrow what you can do today.
Chesterfield. Attributed also to DeWitt, Grand Pensionary of Holland.
Aliquod crastinus dies ad cogitandum dabit.
To-morrow will give some food for thought.
Cicero—Epistolæ Ad Atticum. XV. 8.
A shining isle in a stormy sea,
We seek it ever with smiles and sighs;
To-day is sad. In the bland To-be,
Serene and lovely To-morrow lies.
Mary Clemmer—To-morrow.
In the downhill of life, when I find I’m declining,
May my lot no less fortunate be
Than a snug elbow-chair can afford for reclining,
And a cot that o’erlooks the wide sea;
With an ambling pad-pony to pace o’er the lawn,
While I carol away idle sorrow,
And blithe as the lark that each day hails the dawn,
Look forward with hope for to-morrow.
John Collins—To-morrow. Found in the Golden Treasury of Best Songs and Lyrical Poems.
Defer not till to-morrow to be wise,
To-morrow’s Sun to thee may never rise;
Or should to-morrow chance to cheer thy sight
With her enlivening and unlook’d for light,
How grateful will appear her dawning rays!
As favours unexpected doubly please.
Congreve—Letter to Cobham. L. 61.
To-morrow, didst thou say?
Methought I heard Horatio say, To-morrow!
Go to—I will not hear of it. To-morrow!
’Tis a sharper—who stakes his penury
Against thy plenty—takes thy ready cash,
And pays thee naught but wishes, hopes, and promises,
The currency of idiots—injurious bankrupt,
That gulls the easy creditor!
Nathaniel Cotton—To-morrow.
Trust on and think To-morrow will repay;
To-morrow’s falser than the former day;
Lies worse; and while it says, we shall be blest
With some new Joys, cuts off what we possest.
Dryden—Aureng-zebe. Act IV. Sc. 1.
One today is worth two tomorrows.
Franklin—Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Never leave that till to-morrow which you can do to-day.
Franklin—Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Oh! to be wafted away
From this black Aceldama of sorrow,
Where the dust of an earthy to-day,
Makes the earth of a dusty to-morrow.
W. S. Gilbert—Heart-Foam.
Leuconoë, close the book of fate,
For troubles are in store,
****
Live today, tomorrow is not.
Horace—Carmina. I. XI.
There is a budding morrow in midnight.
Keats—Sonnet. Standing alone in giant Ignorance.
Far off I hear the crowing of the cocks,
And through the opening door that time unlocks
Feel the fresh breathing of To-morrow creep.
Longfellow—To-Morrow.
To-morrow! the mysterious, unknown guest,
Who cries to me: “Remember Barmecide,
And tremble to be happy with the rest.”
And I make answer: “I am satisfied;
I dare not ask; I know not what is best;
God hath already said what shall betide.”
Longfellow—To-Morrow.
There’s a fount about to stream,
There’s a light about to beam,
There’s a warmth about to glow,
There’s a flower about to blow;
There’s a midnight blackness changing
Into gray;
Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way.
Charles Mackay—Clear the Way. In Voices from the Crowd.
To-morrow never yet
On any human being rose or set.
William Marsden—What is Time?
To-morrow you will live, you always cry;
In what fair country does this morrow lie,
That ’tis so mighty long ere it arrive?
Beyond the Indies does this morrow live?
’Tis so far-fetched, this morrow, that I fear
’Twill be both very old and very dear.
“To-morrow I will live,” the fool does say:
To-day itself’s too late;—the wise lived yesterday.
Martial—Epigrams. Bk. V. Ep. LVIII.
To-morrow the dreams and flowers will fade.
Moore—Lalla Rookh. The Light of the Harem. Song.
To-morrow is, ah, whose?
D. M. Mulock—Between Two Worlds.
This day was yesterday to-morrow nam’d:
To-morrow shall be yesterday proclaimed:
To-morrow not yet come, not far away,
What shall to-morrow then be call’d? To-day.
Owen—To-Day and To-Morrow. Bk. III. L. 50.
Cum altera lux venit
Jam cras hesternum consumpsimus; ecce aliud cras
Egerit hos annos, et semper paulum erit ultra.
When another day has arrived, we will find that we have consumed our yesterday’s to-morrow; another morrow will urge on our years, and still be a little beyond us.
Persius—Satires. V. 67.
To-morrow, what delight is in to-morrow!
What laughter and what music, breathing joy,
Float from the woods and pastures, wavering down,
Dropping like echoes through the long to-day,
Where childhood waits with weary expectation.
T. B. Read—The New Pastoral. Bk. VI. L. 163.
Nemo tamen divos habuit faventeis
Crastinum ut possit sibi polliceri.
No one has had gods so favourable to him that he can promise himself a morrow.
Seneca—Thyestes. Act III. L. 619.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Macbeth. Act V. Sc. 5. L. 19.
Where art thou, beloved To-morrow?
When young and old, and strong and weak,
Rich and poor; through joy and sorrow,
Thy sweet smiles we ever seek,—
In thy place—ah! well-a-day!
We find the thing we fled—To-day!
Shelley—To-Morrow.
To-morrow yet would reap to-day,
As we bear blossoms of the dead;
Earn well the thrifty months, nor wed
Raw Haste, half-sister to Delay.
Tennyson—Love Thou the Land. St. 24.
Morgen, Morgen, nur nicht heute;
Sprechen immer träge Leute.
To-morrow, to-morrow, not to-day,
Hear the lazy people say.
Weisse—Der Aufschub.
A Man he seems of cheerful yesterdays
And confident to-morrows.
Wordsworth—The Excursion. Bk. VII.
In human hearts what bolder thoughts can rise,
Than man’s presumption on to-morrow’s dawn!
Where is to-morrow?
Young—Night Thoughts. Night I. L. 374.
To-morrow is a satire on to-day,
And shows its weakness.
Young—The Old Man’s Relapse. L. 6.
Some say “to-morrow” never comes,
A saying oft thought right;
But if to-morrow never came,
No end were of “to-night.”
The fact is this, time flies so fast,
That e’er we’ve time to say
“To-morrow’s come,” presto! behold!
“To-morrow” proves “To-day.”
Author Unknown. From Notes and Queries. Fourth Series. Vol. XII.