Wisdom and Inspiration from Dead Poets Society

Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary. – John Keating

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. – John Keating

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. – John Keating

To quote from Whitman: ‘O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.’ That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be? – John Keating

So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women – and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. – John Keating

I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way. – John Keating

We must constantly look at things in a different way. Just when you think you know something, you have to look at it in another way. Even though it may seem silly or wrong, you must try. – John Keating

There’s a time for daring and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for. – John Keating

Wisdom and Inspiration from Dead Poets Society part 2

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. – John Keating

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. – John Keating

Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. – John Keating

They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? – – Carpe – – hear it? – – Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary. – John Keating

Four words, gentlemen: ‘Seize the day’. – John Keating

We are food for worms, lads. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold and die. – John Keating

Sucking the marrow out of life doesn’t mean choking on the bone. – John Keating

Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. – John Keating

The powerful play goes on – and you may contribute a verse. – John Keating

Poetry, beauty, romance, love – these are what we stay alive for. – John Keating

There’s a time for daring, and there’s a time for caution. And a wise man understands which is called for. – John Keating

No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world. – John Keating

Language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women – and in that endeavor, laziness will not do. – John Keating

Death is a part of life, gentlemen. Whether we like it or not. – John Keating

We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow worm. – Winston Churchill

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. – Oscar Wilde

Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. – Dylan Thomas

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. – Steve Jobs

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I would rather die of passion than of boredom. – Vincent Van Gogh

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page. – Saint Augustine

Every artist was first an amateur. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. – Plutarch

Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. – John Lennon

We know what we are, but know not what we may be. – William Shakespeare

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. – Franklin D. Roosevelt

In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. – Abraham Lincoln

It is never too late to be what you might have been. – George Eliot

If you want to be happy, be. – Leo Tolstoy

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life. – Charles Darwin

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. – Nelson Mandela

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Believe you can and you’re halfway there. – Theodore Roosevelt

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. – Franklin D. Roosevelt

The best way to predict your future is to create it. – Abraham Lincoln