To-morrow cheats us all. Why dost thou stay, And leave undone what should be done to-day? Beginthe present minutes in thy power; But still t adjourn, and wait a fitter hour, Is like the clown, who at some rivers side Expecting stands, in hopes the running tide Will all ere long be pastFool! not to know It still has flowd the same, and will for ever flow. Hughes.Horace, Book I. Epi. II.; and Francis, Ibid.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Shakespeare.Macbeth, Act V. Scene 5. (On hearing of the death of Lady Macbeth.)
Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, To-morrows sun to thee may never rise; Or should to-morrow chance to cheer thy sight With her enlivening and unlookd for light, How grateful will appear her dawning rays, As favours unexpected doubly please. Congreve.Letter to Cobham.