Latin proverbs

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This is a list of Latin and Roman proverbs and sayings.


A B C D E F G H I or J L M N O P Q R S T U V Mock References

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A

  • A mari usque ad mare
    • Translation: "From sea to sea," national motto of Canada.
  • Ab esse ad posse
    • Translation: "From being to knowing" from the existence of things one can make sure of their possibilities. See also A posse ad esse non valet consequentia.
  • Ab Iove principium
    • Translation: "Let's start with the most important [Jupiter]."
  • A Deo rex, a rege lex
    • Translation: "The king is from God, the law from the king". Attributed to James I of England
  • A posse ad esse non valet consequentia
    • Translation: "From a thing's possibility one cannot be certain of its reality." See also Ab esse ad posse.
  • Absentem lædit, qui cum ebrio litigat.
    • Translation: "He who quarrels with a drunk hurts an absentee."
  • Abusus non tollit usum
    • Translation: "Abuse is no argument against proper use", legal phrase meaning that just because something can be abused there is no reason for putting an end to its legitimate use
  • Acta est fabula
    • Translation: "The story has been completed." perhaps with the meaning of "What has happened was a story/fable." (Augustus' last words)
  • Ad astra
    • Translation: "To the stars," title of the magazine published by the National Space Society.
  • Ad astra per aspera
    • Translation: "To the stars through thorns" - motto of Kansas. (more frequently as "per aspera ad astra")
  • Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur
    • Translation: "Nobody must keep a commitment to do impossible things.".
  • Adde parvum parvo magnus acervus erit.
    • Translation: "Add little to little and there will be a big pile" — Ovid.
  • Ægroto dum anima est, spes est.
    • Translation: "As long as a sick person is conscious (or, has a good character, or reacts), there is still hope."
  • Age quod agis
    • Translation: "Do what you do", in the sense of "Do well what you do", "Do well in whatever you do" or "Be serious in what you do"
  • Alea iacta est.
    • Translation: "The die is cast!" (said by Julius Cæsar when he crossed the Rubicon, contrary to law.)
  • Amici, diem perdidi.
    • Translation: "Friends, I lost a day.", spoken by Titus in the context that he has done no good deed during that day. Source: Suetonius’ Life of Titus 8.1
  • Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur.
    • Translation: "A true friend is discerned during an uncertain matter" (Cicero)
  • Amor patriæ nostra lex.
    • Translation: "Love of the fatherland is our law."
  • Amor vincit omnia.
    • Translation: "Love conquers all"
  • Amore, more, ore, re
    • Translation: (with) "love, behaviour, words, actions"
  • Aquila non capit muscas.
    • Translation: "The eagle does not hunt flies."
  • Acquiris quodcumque rapis
    • Translation: "You acquire what you reap (or take by force)"
  • Argumentum ad hóminem
    • Translation: "To confuse an opponent using his own words or acts"
  • Ars est celare artem
    • Translation: "Art is to conceal art"
  • Ars longa, vita brevis.
    • Translation: "Art is long, life is short." The Latin translation by Horace of a phrase from Hippocrates, often used out of context. The art referred to in the original aphorism was the craft of medicine, which took a lifetime to acquire.
  • Asinus asinorum in sæcula sæculorum.
    • Translation: "The greatest jackass in eternity."
  • Audaces fortuna iuvat
    • Translation: "Luck helps those who're brave." or "Fortune favors the brave."(Virgil, Æneid 10,284)
  • Audi, vide, tace, si tu vis vivere (in pace).
    • Translation: "Hear, see, be silent, if you wish to live (in peace)." Roman proverb, according to this.
  • Audiatur et altera pars.
    • Translation: "The other part should be heard as well."
  • Auri sacra fames.
    • Translation: "The accursed hunger for gold." - Seneca
  • Aurora musis amica est
    • Translation: "Dawn is a friend of muses."
    • Erasmus, De Ratione Studii.
  • Aut disce aut discede
    • Translation: "Either learn or leave."
  • Ave cæsar! Morituri te salutant!
    • Translation: "Hail Cæsar! Those who are about to die salute you!" - Said by gladiators before they fought. Often translated as "We who are about to die salute you!", but that would be "Salutamus".
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B

  • Beati hispani, quibus vivere bibere est
    • Translation: "Lucky the Spaniards, for whom living is drinking" - A reference to the Latin accent of the Spanish, in which "v" was pronounced as "b".
  • Beati pauperes spiritu
    • Translation: "Lucky are those of a poor spirit" (Vulgate, Matthew 3:5)
  • Beatus, qui prodest, quibus potest.
    • Translation: "He is lucky who helps everyone he can." or, very differently, "He is lucky the one who gets an advantage from those on which he has some power."
  • "Bella gerant allii, tu felix austria nube."
    • Translation: "Others may lead wars, you, happy Austria, marry." Referring to Austria's cunning policy in early modern times to marry into all important royal houses.
  • "Bellum se ipsum alet"
    • Translation: "Let war pay for itself"
  • Bene diagnoscitur, bene curatur.
    • Translation: "Something that is well diagnosed can be cured well."
  • Bene qui latuit bene vixit
    • Translation: "He lives well who lives unnoticed"
    • Ovid, Tristia, III.iv.25
  • Bis dat, qui cito dat.
    • Translation: "He who eats young children throws up young adults." (Publilius Syrus)
  • Bis repetita non placent
    • Translation: "Repetitions are not well received." (Horace, Ars Poetica 365)
  • Bona diagnosis, bona curatio.
    • Translation: "Good diagnosis, good cure."
  • Bona valetudo melior est quam maximæ divitiæ.
    • Translation: "Good health is worth more than the greatest wealth."
  • Boni pastoris est tondere pecus, non deglubere.
    • Translation: "A good shepherd shears his sheep, he doesn't flay them" (Tiberius to his regional commanders) i.e. don't tax the populace excessively
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C

  • Cædite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.
    • Translation: "Slay them all. God will know his own."
    • Variation: "Kill them all. Let God sort them out."
    • Supposed statement by Abbot Arnold Amaury before the massacre of Béziers during the Albigensian Crusade, recorded 30 years later, according to Cæsar of Heisterbach.
    • Cited in The Perfect Heresy by Stephen O'Shea
  • Carpe diem
    • Translation: "Pluck the day." By Horace, Odes I,11,8, to Leuconoe: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero ("take hold of the day, believing as little as possible in the next"). A common mistranslation is "seize the day," however the verb in the imperative form for "seize" would be "cape."
  • Carthago delenda est
    • Translation: "Carthage must be destroyed." Actually, ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam ("Therefore, I conclude that Carthage must be destroyed") Cato the Elder used to end every speech of his to the Senate, on any subject whatsoever, with this phrase. Mentioned to indicate that someone habitually harps on one subject.
  • Cave ab homine unius libri
    • Translation: "Beware the man of one book."
  • Cave canem
    • Translation: "Beware the dog."
  • Caveat emptor.
    • Translation: "Let the buyer beware."
  • Cibi condimentum est fames
    • Translation: "Hunger is a spice for any meal."
  • Citius Altius Fortius
    • Translation: "Faster, Higher, Stronger" (Olympic Games motto)
    • Literal: "More swiftly, More highly, More strongly" (comparative adverbs, not adjectives)
  • Civis Romanus sum.
    • Translation: "I am a Roman citizen" (Cicero)
  • Claude os, aperi oculos!
    • Translation: "Shut your mouth, open your eyes."
  • Cogito ergo sum
    • Translation: "I think, therefore I am." Argument used by René Descartes as proof of his own existence.
  • Concordia civium murus urbium.
    • Translation: "Harmony of citizens is the wall of cities."
  • Concordia salus.
    • Translation: "well-being through harmony."
  • Consuetudinis magna vis est
    • Translation: "The power of habit is great."
    • Cicero, Tusculanæ Quæstiones, II.37
  • Consuetudo altera natura est
    • Translation: "Habit is second nature."
  • Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis
    • Translation: "There's no herb against the power of death."
  • Contraria contrariis curantur
    • Translation: "Opposites are cured by their opposites."
  • Corruptissima re publica plurimæ leges
    • Translation: "The greater the degeneration of the republic, the more of its laws" (Tacitus)
  • Credo quia absurdum
    • Translation: "I believe it because it is absurd." Attributed to Tertullian; see fideism.
  • Cuius regio, eius religio
    • Translation: "He who rules, his religion": the privilege of a ruler to choose the religion of his subjects, established at the Peace of Augsburg in 1555.
  • Cuiusvis hominis est errare
    • Translation: "Every human can err." (Cicero)
  • Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare. — Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippica XII, ii, 5
    • English Translation: "Any man can make a mistake; only a fool keeps making the same one."
  • Cum recte vivis, ne cures verba malorum
    • Translation: "If you live properly, don't worry about what the evil ones say" (Cato the younger)
  • Cura te ipsum
    • Translation: "Cure thyself." An exhortation to medical doctors or experts in general.
  • Cura, ut valeas!
    • Translation: "Take Care, that you may be well!"
  • Curæ pii Diis sunt
    • Translation: "The pious are [in] the care of the gods."
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D

  • Damnant quod non intellegunt.
    • Translation: "They condemn what they do not understand."
  • De gustibus non est disputandum.
    • Translation: "In matters of taste there is no dispute."
    • Commonly rendered as "There's no accounting for taste."
  • De minimis non curat prætor. (or rex or lex)
    • Translation: "The authority" (or "king", or "law") "does not care about trivial things."
  • De mortuis nihil nisi bene.
    • Translation: "Of the dead, nothing but good." I.e., "Say only good things about the dead." Probably a translation from a Greek sentence by Chilon
    • See Hebraic proverbs for an equivalent Hebrew proverb.
  • Deliriant isti Romani.
    • Translation: "They are mad, those Romans!"; — René Goscinny, Asterix and Obelix comic
    • Probably a reprise of an italian game of words "S.P.Q.R. - Sono Pazzi Questi Romani!" ("They are mad, those Romans")
  • Deorum iniuriæ Diis curæ.
    • Translation: "Offences to the gods are the concern of the gods."
  • Deserta faciunt et pacem appellant.
    • Translation: "They create a desolation and they call it peace." - Tacitus
  • Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne.
    • Translation: "The woman, beautiful above, ends in a fish tail." - Horace, Ars poetica
  • Deus [lo] vult!
    • Translation: "God wills it!," slogan of the Crusades.
  • Dic, hospes, Spartæ nos te hic vidisse iacentes, dum sanctis patriæ legibus obsequimur.
    • Translation: "Traveller, tell in Sparta that you saw us here where we rest, abiding by the sacred laws of the homeland." (Simonides of Ceos, translated by Cicero)
  • Dictum sapienti sat est.
    • "The said is enough for the wise" — understandable for a wise one without the need for explanations (Plautus), also as: sat sapienti and sapienti sat.
  • Diem perdidi.
    • Translation: "I lost the day" (Emperor Titus, passed down in Suetonius's biography (8))
  • Difficile est saturam non scribere
    • Translation: "It is hard not to write satire." (Juvenal)
  • Divide et impera.
  • Docendo discimus.
    • Translation: "We learn by teaching" (Seneca)
  • Dominus Illuminatio Mea.
  • Donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos.
    • Translation: "As long as you're prosperous, you'll have many friends." (Ovid, Tristia I,9,5)
  • Donec eris sospes, multos numerabis amicos. Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.
    • Translation: "As long as you are wealthy, you will have many friends. When the tough times come, you will be left alone."
  • Dosis facit venemon.
    • Translation: "It is the dose that makes the poison."
  • Dulce enim etiam nomen est pacis.
    • Translation: "The name 'peace' is sweet itself."
  • Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
    • Translation: "It is sweet and honorable to die for the fatherland." By Horace, Odes III, 2, 13, frequently quoted, notably in the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen.
  • Dum spiro, spero.
    • Translation: "As long as I breathe, I hope."
  • Dum vixi tacui, mortua dulce cano.
    • Translation: "Living, I was mute, dead, I sweetly sing." (Found written on some musical instruments - especially keyboard ones. Refers to the tree the wood of which was used to make the instrument.)
  • Duo cum faciunt idem, non est idem.
    • Translation: "When two do the same, it isn't the same." (Terence)
  • Duobus litigantibus, tertius gaudet.
    • Translation: "While two men argue, the third one rejoices."
  • Dura lex, sed lex.
    • Translation: "The law is harsh, but it is the law."
  • Dura necessitas.
    • Translation: "Necessity is harsh."
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E

  • E fructu arbor cognoscitur.
    • Translation: "The tree can be recognized by its fruits."
  • E pluribus unum
    • Translation: "Out of many, one"
    • The motto of the United States of America, see wikipedia e pluribus unum on the origin of the phrase. (There's plenty more where this came from!)
  • Esse est percipi
    • Translation: "To be is to be perceived", the doctrine of the Idealists, said by George Berkeley.
  • Esse quam videri
    • Translation: "To be, rather than to seem" (state motto of North Carolina)
  • Errare humanum est. Perseverare diabolicum.
    • Translation: "To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil." (Seneca)
  • Et ipsa scientia potestas est.
    • Translation: "And knowledge itself, is power" (Francis Bacon, Meditationes sacræ)
  • Et nunc reges, intellegite erudimini qui iudicatis terram...
    • Translation: "And now kings, be warned, you who judge on earth..." (Vulgate, Psalms 2:10)
  • Ex astris, Scientia
    • Translation: "From the stars, Knowledge" (the motto of Starfleet Academy in Star Trek)
  • Ex Imperiis, Veritas
    • Translation: "Out of Power, Truth" (the motto of the Scorpio Research Institute)
  • Ex nihilo nihil fit
    • Translation: "Nothing comes from nothing" (you need to work for something; also the Conservation Law in philosophy and modern science). (Lucretius)
  • Ex oriente lux
    • Translation: "Light from the east", i.e. 'From the East comes the light [i.e. culture]'
  • Excusatio non petita, acusatio manifesta
    • Translation: "Unwanted excuse implies/means manifest accusation"
  • Exegi monumentum ære perennius
    • Translation: "I have built a monument more durable than bronze." (Horace, Odes III, 30, 1, of his poetry).
  • Exitus acta probat
    • Translation: "The results justify the deed", or "The ends justify the means".
  • Experto credite
    • Translation: "Believe me, for I have experienced" (Virgil)
  • Ex Sciencia Tridens
    • Translation: "From knowledge, comes (sea) power." Motto of the United States Naval Academy
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F

  • Faber est suæ quisque fortunæ
  • Fabricando fit faber.
    • Translation: "Practice makes perfect."
  • Facilis descensus Averno
    • Translation: "The descent to hell is easy."
  • Fama crescit eundo
    • Translation: "Rumors grow through circulation."
  • Felicitas est parvus canis calidus."
    • Translation: "Happiness is a warm puppy." from an early 1960's Peanuts comic strip by Charles Shultz
  • Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere
    • Translation: "Lucky [is the person] who could realize things" (variant of Virgil, Georgica 2, 490).
  • Festina lente !
    • Translation: "Make haste slowly" (i.e. proceed quickly but with caution, a motto of Augustus Caesar).
  • Fiat iustitia et pereat mundus
    • Translation: "Let justice be done, though the world perish" (Ferdinand I)
  • Fiat iustitia ruat cælum
    • Translation: "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."
  • Fiat lux
    • Translation: "Let there be light."
  • Fide, sed qui, vide.
    • Translation: "Trust but take care whom."
  • Finis coronat opus.
    • Translation: "Thread ornaments the work."
  • Flet victus, victor interiit.
    • Translation: "The conquered moans, the conqueror is undone."
  • Fluctuat nec mergitur
    • Translation: "Shaken by the waves, but it will not sink" (inscription on Paris' coat of arms).
  • Forsan et hæc olim meminisse iuvabit
    • Translation: "Perhaps even this will one day be pleasant to look back on" from Virgil's Æneid, possibly a translation from Æsop.
  • Fortasse erit, fortasse non erit
    • Translation: "Maybe it will be, maybe it will not"
  • Fortes fortuna iuvat
    • Translation: "Fortune favors the strong." (cf. Audaces fortuna iuvat.) (Terence)
  • Fortis cadere, cedere non potest
    • Translation: "A brave man may fall, but he cannot yield."
  • Fortuna est cæca
    • Translation: "Fortune is blind." (Cicero)
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G

  • Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres
    • Translation: "The whole of Gaul is divided into three parts." (C. Julius Caesar in "Commentarii de Bello Gallico")
  • Gaudeamus igitur iuvenes dum sumus
    • Translation: "Thus let us enjoy ourselves as long as we are young." (From an old German student's song. It is now regularely used in many different Universities, for example St-Andrews in Scotland)
  • Gloria victis.
    • Translation: "Glory to the defeated."
  • Græc affides, null affides
    • Translation: "No one trusts a Greek (No one trusts Greek's faith)".
  • Græca sunt, non leguntur
    • Translation: "They are Greek, and are not read". Similar to the expression "It's Greek to me"
  • Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes intulit agresti Latio
    • Translation: "Captive Greece captured her ferocious victor, and brought the arts into the rustic Latium" (Horace's "Epistulæ")
  • Gutta cavat lapidem non vi, sed sæpe cadendo; sic homo fit sapiens non vi, sed sæpe legendo.
    • Translation: "A drop drills a rock by falling not twice, but many times; so too is a human made smart by reading not two, but many books" (Giordano Bruno).
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H

  • Habitus non facit monachum
    • Translation: "A habit does not make a monk"
  • Hannibal ad portas!
    • Translations: "Hannibal before the gates!" Refers to the threat to Rome imposed by Hannibal's Italy campaign. Conveys a sense of greater distress than Hannibal ante portas, for ad suggests, unlike ante, a movement towards the gates. Cicero, Philippica I; Livius, Ab urbe condita XXIII It is used to refer to those who dither in times of great peril.
  • Hannibal ante portas.
    • Translation: "Hannibal before the gates." See above.
  • Hic Rhodus, hic salta.
    • Translation: "Here is Rhodos, jump here." Aesop (referring to someone who bragged about jumping a long distance "on Rhodos")
  • Hinc illæ lacrimæ.
    • Translation: "Therefore these tears."
  • Hodie mihi, cras tibi.
    • Translation: "What's to me today, tomorrow to you."
  • Hominem, memento te.
    • Translation: "[You are] a man, I remind you." Said by the slave holding the laurel leaves over the general's head in a Roman triumph. Its basic meaning was, "Don't presume, merely because you are dressed as an image of Mars and processing through the streets like the deity of a religious festival, that you really are a god."
  • Homines quod volunt credunt.
  • Homo homini lupus est.
  • Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit
  • Homo sui iuris.
    • Translation: "Man his own judge."
  • Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.
    • Translation: "I am human, so nothing that is human is foreign to me." (Terence)
  • Honores mutant mores.
    • Translation: "Honors change behavior"
  • Hora incerta, mors certa
    • Translation: "Hour uncertain, death certain"
  • Hypotheses non fingo.
    • Translation: "I feign no hypotheses" (I do not assert that any hypotheses are true). Newton, Principia
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I

Note: I and J are the same letter in Latin.

  • Iacta alea est.
  • Ignis natura renovatur integra (INRI)
    • Translation: "Through fire nature is reborn whole", as when a forest burns down, the ash provides an excellent medium for new growth.
  • Ignorantia iuris nocet
    • Translation: "Being ignorant of law harms."
  • Ignorantia legis non excusat
    • Translation: "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."
  • Ignoti nulla cupido
    • Translation: "The unknown does not tempt."
  • In cauda venenum
    • Translation: "The poison is in the tail" (as in a scorpion).
  • In magnis voluisse sat est
    • Translation: "In big things it's enough to just have the will."
  • In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas
    • Translation: "In necessary things unity, in doubtful things liberty, in all things charity" (often misattributed to St Augustine).
  • In omnia paratus
    • Translation: "Ready for all things."
  • In vino veritas.
    • Translation: "Truth is in wine" That is, "Wine will bring out truth."
  • In vitium ducit culpæ fuga, si caret arte.
    • Translation: "Fleeing from error leads into fault if skill is lacking." Horace, De Arte Poetica
  • Infinitus est numerus stultorum
  • Inter arma enim silent leges (Musæ).
    • Translation: "During wars laws" (or "arts") "are silent." Cicero, Oratio Pro Annio Milone (IV)
  • Interdum dormitat bonus Homerus
    • Translation: "Sometimes even the good Homer slumbers" (i.e. even the best of us makes mistakes); originally quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus, Horace, Ars Poetica
  • Ira furor brevis est.
    • Translation: "Anger is brief insanity" (Horace, epistles I, 2, 62).
  • Is fecit, cui prodest.
    • Translation: "Done by the one who profits from it."
  • Iura novat curia.
    • Translation: "The law is known to the court." This is the principle that it is the court's job to interpret the law, and the constitution.
  • Iurare in verba magistri.
    • Translation: "Swear by the words of the teacher."
  • Iustitia omni auro carior.
    • Translation: "Justice is more precious than all gold."
  • In lumine tuo, videbimus lumen.
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L

  • Labor omnia vincit.
    • Translation: "Work conquers all things." Motto of the State of Oklahoma and Motto of Sydney Girls High School, Sydney, Australia
  • Laborare est orare.
    • Translation: "To work is to pray." A common school motto.
  • Libertati viam facere.
    • Translation: "Making a road to freedom."
  • Licet volare si in tergo aquilæ volat.
    • Translation: "A man can fly if he wishes, if he rides on the back of an eagle."
  • Lucus a non lucendo
    • Translation: "The word for grove is lucus because it is not light [non lucet] in a grove." Used as an example of absurd etymology.
  • Luctor et emergo
    • Translation: "I struggle and arise." Motto of the Dutch province Zeeland.
  • Lupus in fabula.
    • Translation: "A wolf in the story." Said about someone who has just appeared and it was talked about him.
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M

  • Major e longinquo reverentia
    • Translation: "Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful." Tacitus, annals 1,47
  • Mala herba cito crescit
    • Translation: "Weeds grow fast."
  • Mali principii malus finis.
    • Translation: "The bad end of a bad beginning."
  • Manus manum lavat
    • Translation: "One hand washes the other."
  • Mater artium necessitas.
    • Translation: "Necessity is the mother of invention" (Apuleius)
  • Maxima debetur puero reverentia
    • Translation: "One owes the greatest possible care for the child" (Juvenal)
  • Medicus curat, natura sanat
    • Translation: "The doctor cares [for his patient], nature heals [him]." or "Doctor cures, nature saves"
  • Medio tutissimus ibis
    • Translation: "In the middle shall you walk the safest" i.e. the middle path is the safest one (Ovid)
  • Memento mori.
    • Translation: "Remember your mortality." Also, ironically, "Remember to die." it is the motto of the Friars of Trappa.
  • Mens sana in corpore sano
    • Translation: "Healthy mind in healthy body." (Usually understood as "a healthy mind requires a healthy body", but actually Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano, "One prays that there is a healthy mind in (that) healthy body." Juvenal, Satires 10, 356). See also ASICS.
  • Morituri te salutant
    • Translation: "Those who are about to die greet you." (traditional greeting of the gladiators prior to battle; passed on by Suetonius, Claudius 21). (Morituri te salutamus would express "We who are about to die greet you.")
  • Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
    • Translation: "The world desires to be deceived; therefore it is" (Attributed to Petronius)
  • Munit hæc et altera vincit.
    • Translation: "One defends and the other conquers" (motto of Nova Scotia.)
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N

  • Natura non facit saltum (saltus)
    • Translation: "Nature makes no leaps" i.e. the development of nature is gradual (Maximus Tyrius)
  • Naturalia non sunt turpia
    • Translation: "Natural things are not shameful"
  • Natura abhorret a vacuo.
    • Translation: "Nature abhors a vacuum."
  • Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse.
    • Translation: "To sail is necessary, to live is not necessary," Attributed by Plutarch to Gnaeus Pompeius who, during a severe storm, commanded sailors to bring food from Africa to Rome
  • Ne nuntium necare
    • Translation: "Don't kill the messenger"
  • Ne quid nimis
    • Translation: "Not too much", moderation in all thing (Terence)
  • Ne sutor supra crepidam
    • Translation: "Shoemaker, not above the sandal", do not criticise things you know nothing of (attributed to Apelles (352-308 BC), the famous Greek painter. He had asked a cobbler to view a painting he was working on to help him (Apelles) paint the sandals correctly. The cobbler explained what was wrong with the sandals, but then began to criticize other aspects of the painting. Apelles stopped him with this famous line, meaning that, while the cobbler was certainly an expert at making shoes, he was not qualified to offer opinions as to anything else---particularly art.)
  • Nec Hercules contra duos.
    • Translation: "Even Hercules [can't] against two"
  • Nemo iudex in causa sua.
    • Translation: "No-one is a judge in his own case".
  • Nemo me impune lacessit.
    • Translation: "No-one attacks me with impunity," the Scottish and Montresor mottos.
  • Nemo saltat sobrius
    • Translation: "Nobody dances sober" (Cicero)
  • Neque ignorare [medicum] oportet quæ sit ægri natura.
    • Translation: "Nor does it behoove [the doctor] to ignore the sick man's temperament." A. Cornelius Celsus, 'De Medicina', Prooemium.
  • Nihil lacrima citius arescit.
    • Translation: "Nothing dries more quickly than a tear."
  • Nihil Sine Deus.
    • Translation: "Nothing without God." used as a motto by the German Hohenzolern royal family-Sigmaringen dynasty. The *Nihil Sine Deo formula was the motto of the Kingdom of Romania as ruled by the Hohenzolern Sigmaringen (1878 - 1947).
  • Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit.
    • Translation: "Nothing is so fortified that it can't be conquered with money." (Cicero)
  • Nil admirari
    • Translation: "To not admire anything" you shouldn't let yourself be taken away by anything (Horace)
  • Nil desperandum auspice deo.
    • Translation: "When God is on our side there is no cause for despair." or "Do not despair, have faith in God" or "Don’t despair, in God we trust". City of Sunderland (UK) motto since 1849 [1].
  • Nil satis nisi optimum
    • Translation: "Nothing but the best is good enough."
  • Nil sine magno labore vita dedit mortalibus
    • Translation: "life does not give mortals anything but hard labor" (Horace)
  • Nil sine numine.
    • Translation: "Nothing without Providence," the motto of Colorado.
  • Noli turbare circulos meos
    • Translation: "Don't move my circles" commonly attributed last words of Archimedes
  • Nomen est omen.
    • Translation: "A name is an omen."
  • Nomina stultorum scribuntur ubique locorum
    • Translation: "Fools have the habit of writing their names everywhere"
  • Nomina sunt odiosa
    • Translation: "Names are odious" (Cicero)
  • Non bis in idem.
    • Translation: "Not twice in the same (matter)." Legal principle forbidding Double jeopardy.
  • Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.
    • Translation: "It is not every man's lot to go to Corinth" Corinth was at this time known for its many and lavish brothels
  • Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo.
    • Translation: "I was not, I was, I am not, I don't care." (found on tombstones abbreviated NFFNSNC)
  • Non habes iure provocare mihi.
    • Translation: "You don't have the right to provoke me."
  • Non licet omnibus adire Corinthum
    • Translation: "Not everybody is granted [the privilege of] going to Corinth" (Horace, epistles I, 17, 36)
  • Non multæ sed multum.
    • Translation: "Not many, but much."
  • Non nobis solum nati sumus
    • Translation: "We are not born for ourselves alone"
  • Non olet
    • Translation: "It [money] doesn't smell" (according to Suetonius, Emperor Vespasian was challenged by his son Titus for taxing the public lavatories, the emperor held up a coin before his son and asked whether it smelled)
  • Non omnia possumus omnes.
    • Translation: "All of us cannot do everything." (Virgil)
  • Non scholæ, sed vitæ discimus.
    • Translation: "We learn not for school but for life." (Original quotation Seneca's is "Non vitæ, sed scholæ discimus")
  • Non ut edam vivo, sed ut vivam edo.
    • Translation: "I don't live to eat, but I eat to live."
  • Non vestimentum virum ornat, sed vir vestimentum.
    • Translation: "Not the raiment graces the man, but the man the raiment."
  • Non vini vi no, sed vi no aquæ.
    • Translation: "I swim not thanks to the wine, but thanks to the water."
  • Nondum amabam, et amare amabam.
    • Translation: "I did not love, even if I yearned to love."
  • Nosce te ipsum!
  • Nulla dies sine linea.
    • Translation: "No day without a line."
  • Nulla est medicina sine lingua Latina.
    • Translation: "Medicine is nothing without Latin."
  • Nulla poena sine lege
    • Translation: "No punishment without a law."
  • Nulla regula sine exceptione.
    • Translation: "No rule without exception."
  • Nulla res tam necessaria est quam medicina.
    • Translation: "Nothing is so necessary as medicine."
  • Nunc aut numquam
    • Translation: "Now or never"
  • Nunc est bibendum
    • Translation: "Now it's time to drink" (Horace, Odes I, 37, 1)
[edit]

O

  • O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint, agricolas
    • Translation: "Oh fortunate farmers [i.e., non-mariners], if only they would see their luck" (Virgil, Georgica 2, 458ff.)
  • O sancta simplicitas!
    • Translation: "O sacred vanity" (attributed to Jan Hus as he was burned at the stake)
  • Obscuris vera involvens
    • Translation: "Obscurity envelops truth" (Virgil).
  • Oculi plus vident quam oculus.
    • Translation: "Several eyes see more than only one."
  • Omne ignotum pro magnifico.
    • Translation: "Everything unknown passes for miraculous."
  • Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci
    • Translation: "He has gained every point who has mixed the useful and the agreeable." (Horace)
  • Omne vivum ex ovo
    • Translation: "Everything living comes from the egg"
  • Omnes homines sibi sanitatem cupiunt, sæpe autem omnia, quæ valetudini contraria sunt, faciunt.
    • Translation: "All men wish to be healthy, but often they do everything that's disadvantageous to their health."
  • Omnes hore vulnerant, Ultima Hore Necat
    • Translation: "Every passing hour wounds; the last hour kills" (Unknown Posted under medieval sundials to remind people to enjoy life)
  • Omnes viæ Romam ducunt
    • Translation: "All roads lead to Rome."
  • Omnia mea mecum porto.
    • Translation: "All that's mine I carry with me."
  • Omnia munda mundis.
    • Translation: "Everything is pure for the one who is pure"
  • Omnia vincit amor
    • Translation: "Love conquers all" More fully, Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori: "Love conquers all, let us too yield to love" (Virgil, Eclogues 10:69).
  • Omnium artium medicina nobilissima est.
    • Translation: "Medicine is the noblest of all arts."
  • Optimum medicamentum quies est.
    • Translation: "Peace is the best medicine."
  • Ora et labora.
[edit]

P

  • Pacem in Terris
    • Translation: "Peace on Earth"
  • Pacta sunt servanda
    • Translation: "Agreements must be honoured."
  • Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus
    • Translation: "The mountains are in labour, and a ridiculous mouse shall be born" — i.e. "much ado about nothing"; from Horace, Ars Poetica.
    • Often quoted in the present tense (parturiunt), but likely to have been in the future tense (parturient) in the original (see Horace page).
  • Pax melior est quam iustissimum bellum.
    • Translation: "Peace is better than the most just war."
  • Pecunia non olet.
  • Peior est bello timor ipse belli.
    • Translation: "Worse than war is the very fear of war."
  • Per ardua ad astra.
    • Translation: "Through adversity to the stars" also "Through the heights or difficult places, to the stars or heaven or immortality" (motto of the Royal Air Force). The Latin words offer shades of meaning so that each translation colours the others.
  • Per aspera ad astra
    • Translation: "Through hardships to the stars" (motto of NASA) from Seneca.
  • Per fas et nefas
    • Translation: "With right and wrong" by any means necessary
  • Per scientiam ad salutem ægroti.
    • Translation: "To heal the sick through knowledge."
  • Perditio tua ex te, Israel
    • Translation: "Destruction is thy own, Israel" (Bible, Hosea IX:13)
  • Periculum in mora
    • Translation: "[There's] danger in delay" (Livy)
  • Perspecite potestatem cæsi.
    • Translation: "Behold the power of cheese."
  • Piscem natare doces
    • Translation: "[You] teach a fish to swim."
  • Piscis primum a capite foetet
    • Translation: "Fish stinks from the head first"
  • Plenus venter non studet libenter.
    • Translation: "A full belly doesn't like studying."
  • Plures crapula quam gladius perdidit.
    • Translation: "Drunkenness takes more lives than the sword."
  • Plus ultra.(motto of Spain)
    • Translation: "Further beyond." (With reference to nec plus ultra, "no further beyond", referring to Finisterre as the limit of exploration. It is a translation of King Charles I of Spain's French motto plus oultre; the adjective is ulterior).
  • Post cenam non stare sed mille passus meare.
    • Translation: "Do not rest after dinner, but walk a mile."
  • Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
    • Translation: "'After this, therefore because of this.'"
  • Post hoc non est propter hoc.
    • Translation: "'After this' is not 'because of this'."
  • Post Tenebras Lux
    • Translation: "After the darkness the light" (motto of the canton Geneva, Switzerland)
  • Potius sero quam numquam
    • Translation: "Better late then never" (Livy)
  • Præmonitus, præmunitus
    • Translation: "Forewarned (is) forearmed"
  • Præsente medico nihil nocet.
    • Translation: "In the presence of a doctor nothing can harm."
  • Prævenire melius est quam præveniri.
    • Translation: "It is better to precede than to be preceded."
  • Primum ego, tum ego, deinde ego.
    • Translation: "First I, then I, thereafter I." (The author of this confident statement, a Roman emperor, will be added soon!)
  • Primum non nocere
    • Translation: "First, do no harm" (often falsely attributed to the Hippocratic Oath).
  • Principiis obsta
    • Translation: "Resist the beginnings" (i.e. undesirable trends should be nipped in the bud).
  • Pro aris et focis
    • Translation: "For altar and hearth" i.e. for our homes (Cicero)
  • Pro Deo et patria
    • Translation: "For God and Country" (Unknown)
  • Proximus sum egomet mihi
    • Translation: "I am closest to myself" (Terence)
  • Pulvis et umbra sumus
    • Translation: "We are dust and shadow" (Horace, Carmina, Book IV, 7, 16).
[edit]

Q

  • Quæ communiter possidentur communiter negliguntur
    • Translation: "(Things) which are possessed in community are neglected in community."
  • Qualis rex, talis grex
    • Translation: "Like king, like people"
  • Quem di diligunt, adulescens moritur
    • Translation: "Whom the gods love dies young" (Plautus, Bacchides, IV, 7, 18). In the comic play, a sarcastic servant says this to his aging master. The rest of the sentence reads: dum valet, sentit, sapit, "while he is full of health, perception and judgement."
  • Quem dii odere, pædagogum fecere (also Quem dii oderunt, paedagogum fecerunt)
    • Translation: "Whom the gods hated, they made them pedagogues"
  • Quem Juppiter vult perdere dementat prius
    • Translation: "Whom Jupiter wishes to destroy, he first makes mad."
    • James Duport (1606-1679), Dean of Peterborough 1664, in his book Homeri Gnomologia which is a collection of maxims etc from Homer, illustrated by quotations from the Bible and classical literature.
    • Benham's Book of Quotations notes it has been pointed out dementat as an active verb is not classical Latin.
    • Similar:
      • Stultum facit Fortuna quem vult perdere.
        • When Fortune wishes to ruin a man she makes him a fool.
        • Publilius Syrus, translation from Benham's Book of Quotations.
    • And also (in Greek):
      • When a divinity would work evil to a man, first he deprives him of his senses.
        • Euripides, fragment. Translation from Benham's Book of Quotations.
  • Qui dormit non peccat.
    • Translation: "He who sleeps does not sin"
  • Qui habet aures audiendi audiat
    • Translation: "Those who have ears to hear, hear!" (Vulgate, Matthew 11:15)
  • Qui custodiet ipsos custodes?
    • Translation: "Who watches the watchers?" or "Who guards the guardians?"
  • Qui rogat, non errat.
    • Translation: "(One) who asks, doesn't err."
  • Qui scribit, bis legit.
    • Translation: "Who writes, reads twice."
  • Qui tacet, consentire videtur.
    • Translation: "Who is silent seems to agree."
  • Qui transtulit sustinet.
    • Translation: "He who is transplanted is still sustained." (motto of Connecticut referring to the transplantation of settlers from England to the New World.)
  • Qui vult dare parva non debet magna rogare.
    • Translation: "He who wishes to give little shouldn't ask for much."
  • Quia suam uxorem etiam suspiciore vacare vellet.
    • Translation: "Caesar's wife may not be suspected" (Plutarch, Caesar 10) The rhetorian Clodius was having an affair with Caesar's second wife, Pompeia. At a party attended by Pompeia Clodius arrived in disguise but was caught. In the following trial, Caesar claimed that nothing wrong had happened, but he still had to divorce her.
  • Quid Saulus inter prophetas?
    • Translation: "What is Saul doing among the prophets?" (a fifth wheel)
  • Quid pro quo
    • Translation: "Do for I and I will do for you"
  • Quidquid agis, prudenter agas, et respice finem!
    • Translation: "Whatever you do, may you do it prudently, and toe the line!"
  • Quidquid discis, tibi discis
    • Translation: "Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself."
  • Quidquid id est timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
    • Translation: "Whatever it is, I fear the girls, even those giving kisses." (a variant on Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes).
  • Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
    • Translation: "Anything said in Latin sounds profound."
  • Quieta non movere
    • Translation: "Don't move settled things" (i.e. "Don't rock the boat").
  • Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
    • Translation: "Who will watch the watchmen themselves?" (Juvenal).
  • Quod erat demonstrandum.
    • Translation: QED "Which was to be demonstrated." Commonly translated as: "That has been demonstrated."
  • Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi.
    • Translation: "All that is allowed to Jupiter is not necessarily allowed to an ox."
  • Quod medicina aliis, aliis est acre venenum.
    • Translation: "What is medicine to some, is bitter poison to others."
  • Quod nocet, sæpe docet
    • Translation: "That which harms, often teaches"
  • Quod non est in actis, non est in mundo
    • Translation: "What is not in the documents does not exist"
  • Quos amor verus tenuit, tenebit.
    • Translation: "Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding." - Seneca
  • Quot capita, tot sententiæ.
    • Translation: "As many opinions as people."
  • Quot linguas calles, tot homines vales.
    • Translation: "You are worth as many people as there are languages that you speak."
[edit]

R

  • Radix malorum est cupiditas
    • Translation: "Greed is the root of all evil." (theme of the Pardoner's Tale from the Canterbury Tales)
  • Recta linea brevissima, recta via tutissima
    • Translation: "Straight line is the shortest, straight road is the most safe."
  • Reddite ergo quæ sunt Cæsaris, Cæsari
  • Repetita iuvant.
    • Translation: "Repetition is useful", or "Repeating things helps".
  • Repetitio est mater studiorum.
    • Translation: "Repetition is the mother of study."
  • Rete non tenditur milvio
    • Translation: "The net is not extended to the kite" (i.e. things (of the air) fall where they may).
  • Ridendo dicere verum
    • Translation: "To tell the truth while laughing (i.e., joking)"
  • Roma die uno non ædificata est
    • Translation: "Rome wasn't built in a day."
  • Roma locuta, causa finita est
    • Translation: "Rome (i.e. the Pope) has spoken, the cause (i.e. discussion) is finished."
  • Roma traditoribus non premia
    • Translation: "Rome does not reward traitors" (Told by Scipio to the liutenaunts of Viriato, a Lusitan rebel leader, after they assasinated him in hopes of getting a reward)
  • Risus abundat in ore stultorum
    • Translation: "Laughs are plentiful in the mouth of the foolish."
  • Rustica progenies semper villana fuit.
    • Translation: "A rustic ancestry will always remain field-slaves." "Villana" in Roman times meant the slaves attached to an estate (villa), and is the root of the term villein (and by extension, villain). Villa is also the root of "village," because the descendants of estate-slaves tended to stay near the estate through the Dark Ages, though by the time of Charlemagne they had proven this saying false by changing from slaves to serfs.
[edit]

S

  • Sæpe morborum gravium exitus incerti sunt.
    • Translation: "The effects of serious illnesses are often unknown."
  • Salus ægroti suprema lex.
    • Translation: "The well-being of the patient is the most important law."
  • Salus populi suprema lex esto.
    • Translation: "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law." (motto of the U.S. state of Missouri).
  • Sapere aude.
    • Translation: "Dare to be wise." (Horace) (Motto of the University of New Brunswick)
  • Sapiens omnia sua secum portat
    • Translation: "A wise man takes everything he owns with himself" (i.e. in his head, his wealth is his wisdom)
  • Sapientia est potentia.
    • Translation: "Wisdom is power."
  • Scio me nihil scire
    • Translation: "I know that I know nothing" (Socrates)
  • Scire aliquid laus est, pudor est nihil discere velle.
    • Translation: "It is commendable to know some things, it is disgraceful to refuse to learn." (Seneca)
  • Semper fidelis
    • Translation: "Always faithful", motto of the United States Marine Corps
  • Semper ubi sub ubi
    • Translation: "Always wear underwear!", motto of the the weirdos!
  • Si decem habeas linguas, mutum esse addecet.
    • Translation: "Even if you had ten tongues, you should hold them all."
  • Si Deus pro nobis, quis contra nos?
    • Translation: "If God is with us, who can be against us", (Vulgate, Romans 8:31)
  • Si fueris Romæ, Romano vivito more, si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi.
    • Translation: "If you are in Rome, live in the Roman way, if you are somewhere else, live like there."
  • Sine scientia ars nihil est.
    • Translation: "Art without knowledge is nothing." (Art and knowledge are tightly intervowen and could not exist one without the other. Source: w:Jean Vignot, w:1390?)
  • Si quæris peninsulam amoenam circumspice
    • Translation: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you" (the motto of the U.S. state of Michigan).
  • Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.
    • Translation: "If you had kept your silence, you would have stayed a philosopher." Can be used as a trap for those who don't know Latin, as was demonstrated in TV sitcom Yes, Prime Minister.
  • Si uno adhuc proelio Romanos vincemus, funditus peribimus!
    • Translation: "Another victory like that, and I'm done for!" (literally, "If we defeat the Romans in a battle like this, we will completely perish.") (Plutarch, Pyrrhus 21, 14) Attributed to King Pyrrhus of Epirus after a victory with heavy casualties. See Pyrrhic victory
  • Si vales, valeo
    • Translation: "If you are well, we are well"
  • Si vis amaria, ama
    • Translation: "If you want to be loved, love" (Seneca)
  • Si vis pacem, para bellum.
    • Translation: "If you want peace, prepare for war." (Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris) origin of the name parabellum for some ammunition and firearms, e.g. Luger parabellum
  • Si vis pacem, para iustitiam.
    • Translation: "If you want peace, prepare justice."
  • Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
    • Translation: "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us" (motto of The Addams Family).
  • Sic semper tyrannis
  • Sic transit gloria mundi.
    • Translation: "Thus passes the glory of the world." In Bible; repeated during the coronation of the Pope.
  • Silent enim leges inter arma
    • Translation: "Laws are silent in times of war"
  • Sine labore non erit panis in ore.
    • Translation: "Without work there won't be any bread in your mouth."
  • Sit tibi terra levitas (S.T.T.L.)
    • Translation: "May the earth rest lightly on you" — a benediction for the dead, often inscribed on tombstones or other gravestones.
  • Sit vis vobiscum
    • Translation: "May the force be with you"
  • Sol lucet omnibus
    • Translation: "The sun shines for everyone" (Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Satyricon 100)
  • Soli Deo gloria
    • Translation: "Glory to God alone"
  • Stat sua cuique dies
    • Translation: "The date is set for each and everyone" (Virgil)
  • Sub Cruce Lumen
    • Translation: "the light (of learning) under the (Southern) Cross" (Motto of the University of Adelaide, Australia)
  • Sum quod eris; fui quod es.
    • Translation: "I am what you will be. I was what you are." (used on Roman tombstones).
  • Summum ius summa inuria.
    • Translation: "More law, less justice." (Cicero, De officiis I, 10, 33)
  • Sunt facta verbis difficiliora
    • Translation: "Works are harder than words." i.e. "Easier said than done."
  • Sunt pueri pueri pueri puerilia tractant
    • Translation: "Boys are boys and boys will act like boys."
  • Sutor, ne ultra crepidam!
    • Translation: "Cobbler, no further than the sandal!" I.e. don't offer your opinion on things that are outside your competence. It is said that the Greek painter Apelles once asked the advice of a cobbler on how to render the sandals of a soldier he was painting. When the cobbler started offering advice on other parts of the painting, Apelles rebuked him with this phrase (but in Greek).
  • Suum cuique
    • Translation: "To each what he deserves"
[edit]

T

  • Tarde venientibus ossa.
    • Translation: "For those who come late, only the bones."
  • Temet nosce
    • Translation: "Know yourself" (Rendering in the movie The Matrix of the Greek gnothi seauton, from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Traditionally rendered in Latin as: Nosce te ipsum!)
  • Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis.
    • Translation: "The times are changed, and we are changed in them." -- Cicero
  • Tempori parce!
    • Translation: "Save time!"
  • Tempus fugit
    • Translation: "Time flees" (i.e., "time flies"). Originally as Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus^** Translation: "Meanwhile the irreplaceable time flees" (Virgil)
  • Teneo te, Africa!
    • Translation: "I have you, Africa!" Svetonius attributes this to Caesar, when the emperor was on the African coast.
  • Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
    • Translation: "I fear the Danaens [the Ancient Greeks] even if they bring presents" (Virgil, Æneis, 2, 49) Uttered by Laocoön as he warns his fellow Trojans against accepting the Trojan Horse.
  • Tres faciunt collegium.
    • Translation: "Three makes a company."
  • Tu quoque Brute filii mihi?
    • Translation: "Even you Brutus, my son?" attributed to Julius Caesar at the 15th March after being fatally wounded.
  • Tunc tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet
    • Translation: "It also concerns you when the nearest wall is burning"
[edit]

U

  • Ubi bene, ibi patria
    • Translation: "Where one feels good, there is one's country."
  • Ubi concordia, ibi victoria.
    • Translation: "Where there is harmony, there is victory."
  • Ubi dubium, ibi libertas.
    • Translation: "Where there is doubt, there is freedom." legal, meaning when in doubt the prisoner has to be freed.
  • Ubi fumus, ibi ignis.
    • Translation: "Where there's smoke, there's fire."
  • Ubi maior, minor cessat.
    • Translation: "When the bigger (greater, older) speaks, the less (younger) quits (speaking)"
  • Ubi mel ibi apes
    • Translation: "Where there's honey, there are bees."
  • Ubi tu Gaius, ibi ego Gaia.
    • Translation: "Where you are, Gaius, there I, Gaia, will be. (This is said to have been a nuptial formula, but it is only known from Greek sources.)
  • Ultra posse nemo obligatur
    • Translation: "Nobody is bound beyond ability"
  • Ulula cum lupis, cum quibus esse cupis.
    • Translation: "Who keeps company with wolves, will learn to howl."
  • Una hirundo non facit ver
    • Translation: "One swallow doesn't make spring"
  • Una salus victis, nullam sperare salutem
    • Translation: "The only [hope of ]safety for the defeated is to relinquish all hope of safety." (Virgil, Aeneid, II, 354)
  • Unum castigabis, centum emendabis.
    • Translation: "If you reprove one error, you will correct a hundred."
  • Usus magister est optimus.
    • Translation: "Practice makes perfect."
  • Ut ameris, amabilis esto.
    • Translation: "Be amiable, then you'll be loved."
  • Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas
    • Translation: "Even if the powers are missing, the will deserves praise" (Ovid)
  • Ut incepit fidelis, sic permanet.
    • Translation: "Loyal she began, and loyal she remains" (motto of Ontario).
  • Ut sementem feceris, ita metes.
    • Translation: "You'll reap what you sow." (Cicero, "De oratore")
  • Ut sis nocte levis, sit cena brevis!
    • Translation: "That your sleeping hour be peaceful, let your dining hour be brief!" (Sis is one hour before sunset.)
[edit]

V

  • Væ Victis
    • Translation: "Woe to the conquered." Attributed by Livy to the chief of the Gauls as they sacked Rome in 390 BC.
  • Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas
  • Varitatio delectat
    • Translation: "Change pleases."
  • Varium et mutabile semper femina
    • Translation: "Woman is always a changeable and capricious thing."[Aeneid 6:126]
  • Vasa vana plurimum sonant
    • Translation: "Empty pots make the most noise"
  • Venies sub dentem
    • Translation: "You will come under [my] tooth."
  • Ventis secundis, tene cursum.
    • Translation: "Go even against the flow."
  • Verba docent, exempla trahunt.
    • Translation: "Words instruct, illustrations lead."
  • Verba volant, scripta manent.
    • Translation: "Words fly, written stays."
  • Veritas odium paret
    • Translation: "Truth creates hatred" (Terence, Andria 68)
  • Veritas vos liberabit
    • Translation: "The truth will set you free"
  • Veritatem dies aperit.
    • Translation: "Time discloses the truth."
  • Vestigia terrent
    • Translation: "The traces deter" (Horace) Refers to the old fable of the wolf who refused an offer to enter the lion's den as he saw many traces leading into it, but none out.
  • Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici
    • Translation: "By the power of truth, I, a living man, have conquered the universe."
  • Victrix causa diis placuit sed victa Catoni
    • Translation: "The victorious cause was pleasing to the Gods, but the lost cause to Cato" (Lucanus, Pharsalia 1, 128) (Dedication on the south side of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery)
  • Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor
    • Translation: "I see the better and acknowledge it, but I follow the worse (Ovid)
  • Videre videnda
    • Translation: "See what should be seen."
  • Vincere scis, Hannibal, victoria uti nescis.
    • Translation: "You know how to win victory, Hannibal, you do not how to use it." According to Livy a cavalry colonel told Hannibal this after the victory at Cannae in 216 BC, meaning that Hannibal should have marched on Rome directly
  • Vincit omnia veritas.
    • Translation: "Truth conquers all."
  • Vincit qui patitur.
    • Translation: "He who perseveres, conquers."
  • Vinum et musica lætificant cor
  • Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit.
    • Translation: "Wise man does not urinate towards the wind."
  • Virtus, non copia vincint
    • Translation: "Courage, not multitude, wins"
  • Virtus unita fortis agit
    • Translation: "United we act stronger" - motto of the Engineering College of the University of Porto (FEUP)
  • Vis Unita Fortior.
    • Translation: "United strength is stronger."
  • Vita brevis, ars longa
    • Translation: see Ars longa, vita brevis
  • Volenti non fit iniuria
    • Translation: "To a willing person one cannot do injustice."
  • Vox audita perit littera scripta manet.
    • Translation: "The spoken word perishes, the written words remain."
  • Vox populi, vox dei.
    • Translation: "The voice of the people is the voice of God."
  • Vulpes pilum mutat, non mores!
    • Translation: "A fox may change its skin but never its character" - Suetonius
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Mock Latin

See also Henry Beard for quotes from his book Latin for All Occasions.

  • Carpe noctem.
    • Translation: "Seize the night."
  • Carpe pugam.
    • Translation: "Grab ass."
  • Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules.
    • If I were you, I wouldn't walk in front of any catapults.
  • Da mihi sis bubulæ frustrum assæ, solana tuberosa in modo gallico fricta, ac quassum lactatum coagulatum crassum.
    • Translation: Give me a hamburger, french fries, and a thick shake.
  • Nil illegitimi carborundum.
    • Don't let the bastards grind you down.
    • Carborundum is the brand name of a commercial abrasive. See wikipedia Illegitimi non carborundum.
  • Nil significat, nil oscillat.
    • It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
  • Romanes eunt domus
    • Translation: A sentence scrawled on a wall by an Israelite in Monty Python's Life of Brian, intended to mean "Romans go home." A Roman soldier catches him at it, ridicules the bad grammar ("Some people called Romanes, they go, the house?!") and forces him, not to remove it, but to correct it to Romani ite domum.


  • Veni vidi velcro.
    • I came, I saw, I got stuck.
  • Veni vidi visa.
    • I came, I saw, I bought.
  • Veni, vidi, vegi.
    • I came, I saw, I had a salad.


  • Roccaturi te salutant!
    • Those about to rock salute you!
  • Semper ubi sub ubi,
    • Always wear underwear.
    • The Latin is literally "always where under where", the joke is to read "wear" for "where".
  • Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.
    • I think some people in togas are plotting against me.
    • Given in Henry Beard, Latin for All Occasions.
[edit]

References

  • O'Shea, Stephen (2000). The Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars. ISBN 0-8027-1350-5.


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