Carpe diem, the phrase from the poet Horace (65 BC-8 BC), is usually translated from Latin as ‘seize the day’. However, ‘carpe’ translates literally as ‘pluck’, so a better version would be to ‘pluck the day when it is ripe’. The full phrase carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero means ‘pluck the day, trusting as little as possible in the future’. The line, ‘Gather ye rosebuds while ye may’, from Robert Herrick, reflects the spirit. It was Lord Byron’s use of the phrase, in his 1817 work Letters , published in 1830 by Thomas Moore, which set off its integration into English.
