Context

This line is spoken by John Keating, played by Robin Williams, in the film Dead Poets Society, directed by Peter Weir (1989).

Ever had a strange English teacher? Sure, we all have. It's during Mr. Keating's first English class at Welton Academy that his students realize that he's a bit unorthodox himself. First, he has them get up out of their seats and walk into the hall where he makes them read aloud from the poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." Oh, he also mentions that they're all gonna die one day. Yeah, it's a little bit weird for the first class.

Mr. Keating wants his students to know that—even though they're young, healthy high-schoolers right now—eventually, they'll end up as worm food. He shows them pictures of Welton alumni on the wall: boys who have long since died. He tells them that these former students have a message for them if they listen closely: "Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."

Basically, he wants to inspire his students to live their best lives. One day, it'll all be over and they'll want to be able to look back and know they did everything in their power to make their world extraordinary. The dead—including some of the dead poets they're about to read—want to tell them that. All they need to do is listen and seize away.

Lean in, and check out the clip.

Where you've heard it

Mr. Keating didn't invent "carpe diem." It's an old Latin phrase that comes from the poet Horace's "Odes." You'll see it (and references to it) pop up pretty darn frequently.

Additional Notable References

• Green Day has a song called "Carpe Diem," which expresses some of the same themes as this quote—"Carpe diem, a battle cry. Are we all too young to die?"
• Robin Williams actually starred in another movie called Seize the Day, which didn't turn out to be as popular as Dead Poets Society.
• This quote was voted as one of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time by the American Film Institute. Seize the day, indeed.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Will you look a little showy and overblown if you start advising youngsters to "seize the day" and "make their lives extraordinary"? Sure. But will you also be as awesome as Mr. Keating? You betcha.