“Gather the rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today, to-morrow will be dying.”

“Why does the poet write these lines?” Keating asks “Because we are food for worms, lads! Because we’re only going to experience a limited number of springs, summers, and falls. One day, hard as it is to believe, each and every one of us is going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die!”

[now looking at old photographs of former Welton students in a trophy case]
“They are not that different than any of you, are they? There’s hope in their eyes, just like in yours. They believe themselves destined for wonderful things, just like many of you. Well, where are those smiles now, boys? What of that hope?”

“Did most of them not wait until it was too late before making their lives into even one iota of what they were capable? In chasing the almighty deity of success did they not squander their boyhood dreams? Most of those gentlemen are fertilizing daffodils now. However, if you get very close, boys, you can hear them whisper. Go ahead, lean in. Hear it?

“Carpe Diem, lads. Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary!”

~ The Dead Poets Society