Procrastination is the thief of time

This popular saying was coined by the English poet Edward Young (1681-1765). It appears in his poem Night Thoughts, which was published in 1742. Night Thoughts was very widely read at the time and it enjoyed the distinction of being translated into several foreign languages. Young’s work was greatly admired on the Continent and served as inspiration to Goethe among others. With the publication of Undertones of War by Edmund Blunden in 1928, Night Thoughts enjoyed a return to popularity because Blunden maintained that it helped him get through the ordeals of trench warfare in WWI.