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		<title>Shakespeare, William -- Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, sc. 4, l.  44ff (1.4.44-47) (1595)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/shakespeare-william/74111/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jan 2025 19:33:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Shakespeare, William]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[delay]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[MERCUTIO:Come, we burn daylight, ho! ROMEO: Nay, that&#8217;s not so. MERCUTIO:I mean, sir, in delay. We waste our lights in vain, light lights by day. Other sources give the last line as &#8220;&#8230; like lamps by day.&#8221; Shakespeare is the earliest written source of the phrase &#8220;burn(ing) daylight.&#8221; He used it again two years later [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p class="hangingindent">MERCUTIO:<span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab">Come, we burn daylight, ho! </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="hangingindent">ROMEO:  Nay, that&#8217;s not so. </p>
<p class="hangingindent">MERCUTIO:<span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab"><span class="tab">I mean, sir, in delay.<br />
We waste our lights in vain, light lights by day.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p></p>
<br><b>William Shakespeare</b> (1564-1616) English dramatist and poet<br><i>Romeo and Juliet</i>, Act 1, sc. 4, l.  44ff (1.4.44-47) (1595) 
									<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/romeo-and-juliet/read/#:~:text=Up%C2%A0to%C2%A0the%C2%A0ears,%C2%A0lights%C2%A0by%C2%A0day." target="_blank">Source</a>)
										<br><br><span class="cite">
						

<a href="https://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=romeojuliet&Act=1&Scene=4&Scope=scene#:~:text=We%20waste%20our%20lights%20in%20vain%2C%20like%20lamps%20by%20day.">Other sources</a> give the last line as "... like lamps by day."<br><br>

Shakespeare is the earliest written source of the phrase "burn(ing) daylight."  He used it again two years later in <em><a href="https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-merry-wives-of-windsor/read/#:~:text=of%C2%A0thy%C2%A0gentry.-,MISTRESS%C2%A0FORD,%C2%A0%20We%C2%A0burn%C2%A0daylight.,-Here%2C%C2%A0read%2C%C2%A0read">Merry Wives of Windsor</a></em> (2.1), where Mistress Ford says, "We burn daylight" (without Mercutio's explanation).
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		<title>Brault, Robert -- (Attributed)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/brault-robert-b/43553/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2020 16:37:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Brault, Robert]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[frivolity]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Do something every day that makes you feel guilty for wasting your time.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Do something every day that makes you feel guilty for wasting your time.</p>
<br><b>Robert Brault</b> (b. c. 1945) American aphorist, programmer<br>(Attributed) 
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		<title>~Other -- &#8220;God&#8217;s Minute&#8221;</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/other/40220/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jan 2020 17:47:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[~Other]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[accountability]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[I have only just a minute, Only sixty seconds in it. Forced upon me, Can&#8217;t refuse it, Didn&#8217;t seek it, Didn&#8217;t choose it But it&#8217;s up to me to use it. I must suffer if I lose it Give account if I abuse it Just a tiny little minute but eternity is in it. This [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have only just a minute,<br />
Only sixty seconds in it.<br />
Forced upon me,<br />
Can&#8217;t refuse it,<br />
Didn&#8217;t seek it,<br />
Didn&#8217;t choose it<br />
But it&#8217;s up to me to use it.<br />
I must suffer if I lose it<br />
Give account if I abuse it<br />
Just a tiny little minute<br />
but eternity is in it.</p>
<br>(Other Authors and Sources)<br>&#8220;God&#8217;s Minute&#8221; 
														<br><br><span class="cite">
						

This poem, and variants of it, have a wide trail of misattribution. It was used frequently by Elijah Cummings, US Representative, including during <a href="https://youtu.be/g6ZhFIqpBAg">his first floor speech</a>, and is often connected with him. Cummings in turn said it was a favorite of Parren Mitchell, US Representative. It is most correctly attributed in turn to civil right leader Benjamin May, but <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dr_Benjamin_E_Mays_Speaks/TW2AIp2Ld1sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA257&printsec=frontcover&bsq=sixty">May claimed</a> it was from an anonymous source. It has also been <a href="https://advocatenews.net/the-advocate-asks-historical-commission-members-discuss-hunt-for-54-saugus-time-capsule-and-project-to-chronicle-the-high-school-buildings-history-in-photos/">attributed to Welcome McCullough</a>, history teacher Saugus High School, MA, in the 1940s, though without primary citation that I can find.<br><br>
The variant used by Cummings:
<blockquote>
I only have a minute,<br> 
Sixty seconds in it,<br> 
Forced upon me,<br>
I did not choose it,<br>
But I know that I must use it,<br>
Give account if I abuse it,<br>
Suffer if I lose it.<br>
Only a tiny little minute,<br>
But eternity is in it.
</blockquote> 


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		<title>Martial -- Epigrams [Epigrammata], Book  5, epigram  20 (5.20.11-14) (AD 90) [tr. Pott &#038; Wright (1921)]</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/martial/38677/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 25 May 2018 22:24:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Martial]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[accountability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[age]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[carpe diem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[march of time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[passage]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[To you and me Life is not full; we see The good days fly And, ah, how grievously Their sum doth mount, Set all to our account; Why dally we Who know what life should be? [Nunc vivit necuter sibi, bonosque Soles effugere atque abire sentit, Qui nobis pereunt et inputantur. Quisquam vivere cum sciat, [&#8230;]]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>To you and me<br />
<span class="tab">Life is not full; we see<br />
The good days fly<br />
<span class="tab">And, ah, how grievously<br />
Their sum doth mount,<br />
<span class="tab">Set all to our account;<br />
Why dally we<br />
<span class="tab">Who know what life should be?</p>
<p><em>[Nunc vivit necuter sibi, bonosque<br />
Soles effugere atque abire sentit,<br />
Qui nobis pereunt et inputantur.<br />
Quisquam vivere cum sciat, moratur?]</em></span></span></span></span></p>
<br><b>Martial</b> (AD c.39-c.103) Spanish Roman poet, satirist, epigrammatist [Marcus Valerius Martialis]<br><i>Epigrams [Epigrammata]</i>, Book  5, epigram  20 (5.20.11-14) (AD 90) [tr. Pott &#038; Wright (1921)] 
														<br><br><span class="cite">
						

The phrase <em>pereunt et imputantur</em> (they [the days] pass by, and are put to our account) is often found on sundials.<br><br>

"To Julius Martialis." (<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0506%3Abook%3D5%3Apoem%3D20#:~:text=Nunc%20vivit%20necuter%20sibi%2C%20bonosque">Source (Latin)</a>).<br><br> 

Alternate translations:<br><br>

<blockquote>Now, to himself, alas! Does neither live,<br>
<span class="tab">But sees good suns, of which we are to give<br>
A strict account, set, and march quick away:<br>
<span class="tab">Know a man how to live, and does he stay?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Select_Epigrams_of_Martial/guUNAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=martial%20epigrams%20hay&pg=PA231&printsec=frontcover&bsq=%22now%20to%20himself%22">Cowley</a> (1656)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>We behold the good suns shine, and pass away; lost are they for ever, yet, nevertheless, they are counted in our reckoning. Is it possible that anyone who knows how to live delays to live accordingly?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/martialmoderns00mart/page/84/mode/2up?q=%22lib+v%2C+ep+xxi%22">Amos</a> (1858), ch. 3, #14; identified as ep. 21]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>As it is, neither of us lives for himself, but sees his good days flee from him and vanish; days which are ever being lost to us, and set down to our account. Should any one, then, delay to live, when he knows how?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book05.htm#:~:text=As%20it%20is%2C%20neither%20of%20us%20lives%20for%20himself%2C%20but%20sees%20his%20good%20days%20flee%20from%20him%20and%20vanish%3B%20days%20which%20are%20ever%20being%20lost%20to%20us%2C%20and%20set%20down%20to%20our%20account.%20Should%20any%20one%2C%20then%2C%20delay%20to%20live%2C%20when%20he%20knows%20how%3F">Bohn's Classical</a> (1859)]</blockquote><br>



<blockquote>Now neither lives unto himself, alas!<br>
<span class="tab">And the good suns we see, that flash and pass<br>
And perish; and the bell that knells them cries,<br>
<span class="tab">"Another gone: O when will ye arise?"<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/martialinenglish00mart/page/258/mode/2up?q=%22now+neither+lives+unto%22">Stevenson</a> (1884)]</blockquote><br>




<blockquote>Today neither lives for himself, and he feels the good days are flitting and passing away, our days that perish and are cored to our account. Does any man, when he knows how to live, delay?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Epigrams/w4ZfAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22neither%20lives%20for%20himself%22&pg=PA311&printsec=frontcover">Ker</a> (1919)]</blockquote><br>



<blockquote>Now neither of us truly lives at all.<br>
Suns rise and set and swell the reckoning. Say,<br>
Does life mean anything? Then live today.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Martial_s_Epigrams/g35fAAAAMAAJ?gbpv=1&bsq=%22set%20and%20swell%22">Francis & Tatum</a> (1924), #230, "To His Cousin"]</blockquote><br>

 




<blockquote>Now neither lives his life, but he<br>
<span class="tab">Marks precious days that pass and flee.<br>
These days are lost, but their amount<br>
<span class="tab">Is surely set to our account.<br>
Knowledge the clue to life can give;<br>
<span class="tab">Then wherefore hesitate to live?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/44640/44640-h/44640-h.htm#:~:text=Now%20neither%20lives,hesitate%20to%20live%3F">Duff</a> (1929)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>But as things are now, neither one of us<br>
<span class="tab">Lives for himself, while ever glorious<br>
Days slip by unlived, never to come<br>
<span class="tab">Again, deducted always from that sum<br>
Allotted us. Why then do we not live,<br>
<span class="tab">We who know the joys that life can give?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/martialselectede0000unse/page/56/mode/2up?q=%22neither+one+of+us%22">Marcellino</a> (1968)]</blockquote><br>


<blockquote>But as it is, we, both and each,<br>
<span class="tab">Miss the rich life within our reach,<br>
We watch the good sun speed and set<br>
<span class="tab">And the lost day goes down as debt.<br>
Would any man, if he knew how<br>
<span class="tab">To live, not do it here and now?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/epigrams0000mart/page/68/mode/2up?q=%22both+and+each%22">Michie</a> (1972)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now, twin lives are not our own.<br>
Our good suns flee & disappear,<br>
Debited, as they die, to us.<br>
Who hesitates that's learned to live?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Epigrams_of_Martial_Englished_by_Divers/ZLDoDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover&bsq=%22twin%20lives%22">Whigham</a> (1987)]</blockquote><br>



<blockquote>We toil too much for others. Days<br>
flicker by and then are billed,<br>
one by one, to our accounts. Since we know<br>
how, let's start really living now.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/selectedpoemstra00matt/page/140/mode/2up?q=%22toil+too+much%22">Matthews</a> (1992)]</blockquote><br>




<blockquote>We feel our good days slip away and leave us; they are wasted, and put to our account. Does any man, knowing the way to live, defer it?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.pdfdrive.com/martial-epigrams-volume-i-spectacles-books-1-5-loeb-classical-library-no-94-e157115547.html">Shackleton Bailey</a> (1993)]</blockquote><br>

<blockquote>Now neither lives<br>
his life. We feel our good days flee,<br>
Numbered and spent. Knowing the way<br>
<span class="tab">to live, why should a man delay.<br>
[tr. <a href="https://archive.org/details/selectedepigrams0000mart_b6d3/page/44/mode/2up?q=%22good+days+flee%22">McLean</a> (2014)] </blockquote><br>




<blockquote>As it is now, neither of us lives for his own benefit, each of us can feel his best days slipping away and leaving us behind. They're gone, they've been debited from our account. What kind of person knows how to live, but keeps putting it off?<br>
[tr. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Epigrams/AqHKBwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR5&printsec=frontcover&bsq=neither%20of%20us%20lives">Nisbet</a> (2015)]</blockquote><br>
						</span>
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		<title>Keyes, Daniel -- Flowers for Algernon (novel) (1966)</title>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2015 14:58:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Keyes, Daniel]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.</p>
<p><a href="https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Keyes-never-been-wist_info.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" src="https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Keyes-never-been-wist_info.jpg" alt="Keyes - never been - wist_info" width="605" height="359" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-31183" srcset="https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Keyes-never-been-wist_info.jpg 605w, https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Keyes-never-been-wist_info-300x178.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 605px) 100vw, 605px" /></a></p>
<br><b>Daniel F. Keyes</b> (1927-2014) American author<br><i>Flowers for Algernon</i> (novel) (1966) 
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		<title>Napoleon Bonaparte -- Letter to Baron von Stein, Dammartin le St. Père (7 Jan 1814)</title>
		<link>https://wist.info/napoleon-bonaparte/26925/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2014 13:11:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Dave</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Napoleon Bonaparte]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lost ground]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less chary of the latter than the former. Space we can recover, lost time never. Alt. trans.: &#8220;One always has a chance of recovering lost ground, but lost time &#8212; never.&#8221;]]></description>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less chary of the latter than the former. Space we can recover, lost time never.</p>
<br><b>Napoleon Bonaparte</b> (1769-1821) French emperor, military leader<br>Letter to Baron von Stein, Dammartin le St. Père (7 Jan 1814) 
														<br><br><span class="cite">
						

Alt. trans.: "One always has a chance of recovering lost ground, but lost time -- never."
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