The meaning of "carpe diem" is similar to that of many phrases we continue to use in English and can be thought of as a warning to make the most of the time we have, with the implication that our time on Earth is short. Other related phrases are "Strike while the iron is hot" and "The early bird catches the worm".
The original source for the phrase is the lyric poet Horace (1st century BC). The term is first found in Odes Book I: Dum loquimur, fugerit invida Aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero which translates as: "While we're talking, envious time is fleeing: pluck the day, put no trust in the future".
Many authors have quoted the Latin original, but it was Lord Byron's use of the phrase that first began to integrate it into English. He included it in his 1817 work "Letters", which was published in 1830 by Thomas Moore: "I never anticipate, - carpe diem - the past at least is one's own, which is one reason for making sure of the present."
The noble George Gordon Noel, sixth Baron Byron, is better known as a womaniser than as a Latin scholar, but he was well versed in the language and was a Horace aficionado. He was taught Latin as a child by the son of his bootmaker and went on to write his version of Horace's The Art of Poetry, as "Hints from Horace", in 1811.
