To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" is a poem written by English Cavalier poet Robert Herrick in the 17th century. The poem is in the genre of "carpe diem", Latin for "seize the day". It goes as follows: First published in 1648 as number 208 in a volume of verse entitled "Hesperides", it is perhaps one of the most famous poems to extol the notion of "carpe diem". "Carpe diem" expresses a philosophy that recognizes the brevity of life and therefore the need to live for and in the moment.
Carl Diem Carl Diem Carl Diem (born June 24, 1882, Würzburg – December 17, 1962, Cologne) was a German sports administrator, and as Secretary General of the Organizing Committee of the Berlin Olympic Games, the chief organizer of the 1936 Olympic Summer Games. He created the tradition of the Olympic torch relay when he organised the 1936 build-up event, and was an influential historian of sport, particularly the Olympic games. Born into an upper-middle-class family, Diem was a middle- and long-distance runner as a teenager - unusual in a country where gymnastic-style athletics was fashionable, rather than what were known as "anglo-saxon"