Carpe diem returning to the normal and normative behaviors of Mesopotamian society." In Horace, the phrase is part of the longer , which can be translated as "Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow (the future)". The ode says that the future is unforeseen and that one should not leave to chance future happenings, but rather one should do all one can today to make one's future better. This phrase is usually understood against Horace's Epicurean background. The meaning of as used by Horace is not to ignore the future, but rather not to trust that everything is going to
Toward the End of Time published in "Consider the Lobster"), novelist David Foster Wallace wrote a scathing critique of "Toward the End of Time." Wallace wrote: Wallace quotes literary readers he knows who characterize Updike "just a penis with a thesaurus." Aside from its protagonist, who, Wallace argues, is fundamentally unlikable, the novel's prose is so "turgid" that it distracts "us with worries about whether Mr. Updike might be injured or ill." Wallace concludes: In contrast, Margaret Atwood wrote a very positive review of "Toward the End of Time" for the "New York Times", "Memento Mori--But First, Carpe Diem." She praises Updike's "brilliant metaphors" and