DEFERMENT / DELAY

Related States & Conditions | Syntonic | Dystonic

Strive not, my soul, for an immortal life, but make the most of what is possible.
Pindar
518-438 BCE, Greek Poet
Pythian Odes

The man who is tardy acting
where utmost speed is called for,
rouses the ire of the gods who would set up
obstacles in his way; you can bank on that.
Vishnu Sharma
c. 200 BCE, Indian Sage, Royal Educator
Panchatantra , III.205, Chandra Rajan, tr., 1993

Don't postpone today's pleasure till tomorrow.
Persian Saying
in Bernard Lewis, A Middle East Mosaic , 2000

Dare to be wise; begin! He who postpones the hour of living rightly is like the rustic who waits for the river to run out before he crosses.
Horace
65-8 BCE, Roman Poet, Satirist

Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.
Spanish Saying

Believe me, "I shall live" is not the saying of a wise man. Tomorrow's life is too late: live today.
Martial
c. 40-c. 104, Spanish-Roman Epigrammatist, Poet
Epigrammata

Think of all the years passed by in which you said to yourself "I'll do it tomorrow," and how the gods have again and again granted you periods of grace of which you have not availed yourself. It is time to realize that you are a member of the Universe, that you are born of Nature itself, and to know that a limit has been set to your time. Use every moment wisely, to perceive your inner refulgence, or 'twill be gone and nevermore within your reach.
Marcus Aurelius
121-180, Roman Emperor, Stoic Philosopher
Meditations, Book 2:4 in Two Suns Rising , Jonathan Star, ed., 1991

Death will be so quick to swoop on you;
Gather merit till that moment comes!
Wait till then to banish laziness?
Then there'll be no time, what will you do?
"This I have not done. And this I'm only starting.
And this – I'm only halfway through …"
Then is the sudden coming of the Lord of Death,
And oh, the thought "Alas, I'm finished."
Shantideva
7th Century Indian Buddhist Scholar
The Way of the Boddhisattva , Padmakara, tr.

By the streets of by and by, one arrives at the house of never.
Miguel de Cervantes
1547-1616, Spanish Writer, Dramatist

Delay always breeds danger, and to protract a great design is often to ruin it.
Cervantes
Don Quixote

It is better to have a hen tomorrow than an egg today.
Thomas Fuller
1608-1661, English Cleric, Antiquary

Procrastination is the thief of time.
Edward Young
1683-1765, English Poet, Dramatist, Satirist, Cleric
Night-Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality , 1742-1746

One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
Benjamin Franklin
1706-1790, American Statesman, Scientist, Inventor, Writer

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
Samuel Johnson
1709-1784, English Lexicographer, Poet, Critic, Essayist

Delay is preferable to error.
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826, 3rd US President
Letter to George Washington, 1792 May 16

Lose this day loitering; t'will be the same old story tomorrow, and the next day more dilatory … Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting o'er lost days.
Goethe
1749-1832, German Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Philosopher, Scientist

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done.
Aaron Burr
1756-1836, US Vice-President
in James Parton, Life and Times of Aaron Burr

Space we can recover, time never.
Napoleon Bonaparte
1769-1821, French Militarist, Emperor

To be always intending to live a new life, but never find time to set about it – this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking from one day to another till he be starved and destroyed.
Walter Scott
1771-1832, Scottish Writer, Historian

Soon come.
Jamaican Saying

Nothing would be done at all if one waited until one could do it so well that no one could find fault with it.
John Henry Newman
1801-1890, English Cardinal, Theologian, Poet

You cannot do a kindness too soon, because you never know how soon it will be too late.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist, Philosopher

Where duty is plain delay is both foolish and hazardous; where it is not, delay may be both wisdom and safety.
Tryon Edwards
1809-1894, American Theologian

In putting off what one has to do, one runs the risk of never being able to do it.
Charles Baudelaire
1821-1867, French Poet, Translator, Critic
Intimate Journals

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today." Under the influence of this pestilent morality, I am forever letting tomorrow's work slop backwards into today's, and doing painfully and nervously today what I could do quickly and easily tomorrow.
J. A. Spender
1862-1942, English Editor, Writer, Essayist

I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things.
William J. Locke
1863-1930, English Writer
Simon the Jester

Why always "Not yet"? Do flowers in spring say "Not yet"?
Norman Douglas
1868-1952, British Diplomat, Writer
An Almanac

Immortality is the only thing which doesn't tolerate being postponed.
Karl Kraus
1874-1936, Austrian Scientist, Critic, Poet
Sayings and Contradictions , 1909

The oldest habit in the world for resisting change is to complain that unless the remedy to the disease should be universally applied it should not be applied at all. But you must start somewhere.
Winston Churchill
1874-1965, English Prime Minister, Historian, 1953 Nobel Laureate

We cannot put off living until we are ready.
José Ortega y Gasset
1883-1955, Spanish Philosopher, Critic

Don't wait. The time will never be just right.
Napoleon Hill
1883-1970, American Writer

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon – instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.
Dale Carnegie
1888-1955, American Writer, Trainer

If you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured, it may never arrive. Mountains will not be climbed, races won, or lasting happiness achieved.
Maurice Chevalier
1888-1972, French Entertainer

While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.
Henry Link
1889-1952, American Psychologist

Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favorable are the kind who do nothing.
William Feather
1889-1981, American Publisher, Writer
The Business of Life

The truth is that we live out our lives putting off all that can be put off; perhaps we all know deep down that we are immortal and that sooner or later all men will do and know all things.
Jorge Luis Borges
1899-1986, Argentinian Writer, Poet, Librarian
"Funes the Memorious," Labyrinths , 1962

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore – and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over – like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Langston Hughes
1902-1967, African-American Poet, Writer, Playwright
"Harlem," Montage of a Dream Deferred , 1951

When you say, "Wait a moment," you are bound by your karma; when you say "Yes I will," you are free.
Shunryu Suzuki
1905-1971, Japanese Zen Master

Delay is the deadliest form of denial.
C. Northcote Parkinson
1909-1993, English Political Scientist, Historian

Never put off doing something useful for fear of evil that may never arrive.
James D. Watson
1928-, co-discoverer of DNA structure

We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
1929-1968, African-American Civil Rights Leader, Cleric, 1964 Nobel Laureate
The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. , Coretta Scott King, ed., 1983

You must not procrastinate. Rather, you should make preparations so that even if you did die tonight, you would have no regrets. If you develop an appreciation for the uncertainty and imminence of death, your sense of the importance of using your time wisely will get stronger and stronger.
Dalai Lama
1935-, Tibetan Leader, 14th Dalai Lama, Teacher, Writer
Advice on Dying and Living a Better Life

None of us knows if we'll live to see another day, how long we may have together, to know love, to experience tenderness, to share oneself with another. Once we know what we want, there is no time to waste, no need for hesitation, vacillation or delay. Just do it.
Larry Chang
1949-, Chinese-Jamaican Artist, Writer, Activist

If we accept and internalize the fact of our own mortality, then, by definition, we have to deal with the essential questions of how we live and spend our allotted time. We have to stop procrastinating, pretending that we have forever to do what we want to do and be what we long to be.
Surya Das
1950-, American Tibetan Buddhist Lama, Translator, Writer
Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Spiritual Life from Scratch, 1999

We make up for so much time a little too late.
Alanis Morissette
1974-, Canadian Pop Singer, Songwriter

Ultimately, all you have to do is to be willing to respond to the truth without hesitation.
Andrew Cohen
1955-, American Spiritual Teacher, Writer

You cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions. Goal setting is often a matter of balancing timing against available resources. Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions.
Gary Ryan Blair
Mind Munchies: A Delicious Assortment of Brain Snacks!

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.
- Fr. Alfred D'Souza

The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
- W. M. Lewis

Delay is a bitter tonic, but it increases the appetite.
- Austin O'Malley
Keystones of Thought

Don't let your life wait for other people.
- Meredith Rowe

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