Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today
Meaning: Avoid procrastination.
Origin: Lord Chesterfield gave this advice in a 1749 letter to his son: "No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day." Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack has a close cousin: "Have you somewhat to do tomorrow, do it today."
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
- French: Ne remets pas à demain ce que tu peux faire aujourd'hui (literally: Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today)
- Spanish: No dejes para mañana lo que puedas hacer hoy (literally: Don't leave for tomorrow what you can do today)
- Japanese: 今日できることを明日に延ばすな (Kyō dekiru koto wo asu ni nobasu na) (literally: Don't postpone to tomorrow what you can do today)
- German: Was du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen (literally: What you can take care of today, do not put off until tomorrow)
More proverbs about Perseverance
- Blood, sweat, and tears — Great achievement requires immense effort and sacrifice.
- The first step is the hardest — Starting something new requires the most courage.
- Patience is a virtue — The ability to wait calmly is a valuable quality.
- A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor — Hardship and challenges are what build true expertise and resilience.
- Dripping water hollows out stone — Persistent small efforts accomplish what force alone cannot.
- The ox is slow, but the earth is patient — Steady, unhurried work in harmony with natural rhythms eventually yields abundance.
From our tongue twisters
- 경찰청 철창살은 외철창살이고 검찰청 철창살도 외철창살이다. (Gyeongchalcheong cheolchangsal eun oe cheolchangsal igo, geomchalcheong cheolchangsal do oe cheolchangsal ida.) — A 'cheong/cheol/chal' onslaught — Korean's aspirated stops and affricates in relentless s…
- Strč prst skrz krk. — Four words, zero vowels — the most concentrated consonant cluster challenge in any Europe…
- Red lorry, yellow lorry. — The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…