by Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

Of Courage
Language: English 
Take time by the forelock,
Now or never.
You must live in the present,
Launch yourself on every wave,
Fine your eternity in each moment.
Fools stand on their island opportunities
And look toward another land.
There is no other land;
There is no other life but this,
Or the like of this.

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Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):


Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-02-07
Line count: 10
Word count: 53