From: Dead Poets Society
Genre: Movies
Who said it?: John Keating
The story behind the quote: The world is still reeling from Robin Williams’ passing. So, even though I posted a quote from the man himself, I decided to give another quote from his movies. But, which in itself, I feel has a deeper meaning…
The quote comes from Dead Poets Society. The film is about an unorthodox teacher, John Keating, played by Robin Williams. His teaching style is different from the “standard” way of teaching as, while he was hired to instruct his students about how to read poems and literal works, he tries to teach them how to live life to the fullest.
In a pivotal scene, John Keating holds his class in the halls of the school and has one of the students read the first stanza of “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick. The then informs the students of the meaning of the poem is “Carpe Diem,” which means “Seize the day.” Keating then elaborates on the deeper meaning of the poem as shown in the clip below.
Geek wisdom: Our time in this world is limited. We all have an expiration date and we will eventually pass from this world. The thing is, we have no idea when our time on this world will end. So, while we’re still alive, we have to live life to the fullest.