The man that has allowed his youth to go by in idleness and has not taken anxious precautions against the ills of life—that man, foredone with years, will in the presence of burdensome old age often ask in vain, alas, for a neighbour's help.
Quisquis torpentem passus transisse iuventam,
nec timuit vitae providus ante mala,
collectus senio, postquam gravis adfuit aetas,
heu frustra alterius saepe rogabit opem.
nec timuit vitae providus ante mala,
collectus senio, postquam gravis adfuit aetas,
heu frustra alterius saepe rogabit opem.
Original text (Latin)
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Notes from Wikiquote
XXXIV. De Formica et Cicada ('The Ant and the Grasshopper')