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

[edit] AA lasso rixa quaeritur

Translation: "Weariness loves a wrangle", "It is the weary one who picks a quarr
el". Seneca
A mari usque ad mare
Translation: "From sea to sea," national motto of Canada.
A bove maiore discit arare minor
Translation: "From the old ox, the young one learns to plow."; "A good example m
akes a good job."
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.
Ab amicis honesta petamus
Translation: "One should only ask from a friend what he is capable of." Cicero
Ab esse ad posse valet, a posse ad esse non valet consequentia.
Translation: "From a thing's reality one can be certain of its possibility, from
its possibility one cannot be certain of its reality."
Ab igne ignem capere
Translation: "To light a fire with a fire." Cicero
Ab obice saevior ibit
Translation: "The resistance only makes him attack more ferociously."
Ab ovo (usque ad mala)
Translation: "From the egg to the apples."; "From the beginning to the end." (Th
e Roman meal usually started with eggs and ended with fruit.)
Ab urbe condita
Translation: "From the founding of the city", 'city' meaning Rome
Abeunt studia in mores
Translation: "What one trains frequently, will become part of his character" Ovi
dius
Abiistis, dulces caricae
Translation: "You're finished, sweet figs" Petronius
Abiit iam et reverti debet
Translation: "He has been gone for long and must once return." Tertullianus
Absens haeres non erit
Translation: "The absent will not be an heir.", "Out of sight, out of mind"
Absentem laedit, qui cum ebrio litigat.
Translation: "He who fights with a drunken person hurts an absentee." (I.e., the
"sober" version of the drunken person)
Absint offensae, cum fit celebratio mensae.
Translation: "Insults shouldn't be made when people are celebrating."
Absit inuiria verbis.
Translation: "Let injury by words be absent."
Absit invidia (verbo).
Translation: "Don't take this the wrong way."
Absit omen.
Translation: "May this not be an omen."
Absit reverentia vero
Translation: "The truth shouldn't be silenced to spare someone."
Absque argento omnia vana
Translation: "Without money, all efforts are in vain."
Abstulit qui dedit
Translation: "He who gave it, took it."
Ab uno disce omnes
Translation: "Judge all by this one"
Abusus non tollit usum
Translation: "Abuse is no argument against proper use", legal phrase meaning tha
t just because something can be abused there is no reason for putting an end to
its legitimate use
Abyssus abyssum invocat
Translation: Literally, "Hell invokes Hell"; more commonly known as, "One misdee
d precedes another"; or more colloquially known as, "Two wrongs do not make a ri
ght".
A cane non magno saepe tenetur aper.
Literally: "A boar is often held by quite a small dog."
A capite ad calcem
Translation: "From head to heel"
Accipe quam primum, brevis est occasio lucri.
Translation, Literally: "Act now, the chance on profit is short." ; more commonl
y known as: "Strike while the iron is hot"
Acquiris quodcumque rapis
Lit.: "You acquire what you reap (or take by force)", often mistranslated as: "y
ou reap what you sow"
Acquirit qui tuetur
Translation, Literally: "He who preserves something, will have something"; more
commonly known as: "Sparing is the first gaining"
Acta est fabula
(Caesar Augustus's last words) Translation: "So ends the story." or "The story h
as been completed." (perhaps with the meaning of "What has happened was a story/
fable.")
Acta Non Verba
Translations: "Deeds, not words" - motto of the United States Merchant Marine Ac
ademy, at Kings Point, New York, USA.
Actum est de republica
Translation: "It is all over with the state/republic"
Ad astra per aspera
Translation: "To the stars through adversity" - motto of Kansas (more frequently
as "per ardua ad astra", which is the motto of the Royal Air Force)
Ad augusta per angusta
Translation: "To high places by narrow roads."
Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est
Translation, Literally: "It is very important to be well trained in your youth";
more commonly known as: "Who learns young, forgets not when he is old."
Adaequatio rei et intellectus
Traslation: "The intellect (of the knower) must be adequate to the thing (known)
", also meaning the thought must be based on the thing. From St. Thomas Aquinas
Adhuc tua messis in herba est
Translation, Literally: "Your crops are still in grass", equivalent to: "There i
s still a lot to be done"
Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur
Translation: "No one is obliged to do the impossible." (Literally, "No one is he
ld to impossible [things].")
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam
Translation: "For the greater glory of God." Motto of the Jesuits / St. Ignatius
of Loyola
Adde parvum parvo magnus acervus erit.
Translation: "Add little to little and there will be a big pile" Ovid.
Adsum, qui feci
Translation: "Here I am who did it"
Aegroto dum anima est, spes est.
Translation: "As long as a sick person is conscious, there is still hope." Commo
nly "While there's life there's hope."
Aevo rarissima nostro simplicitas
Translation: "These days (lit.: in our days) simplicity is very rare"
Age quod agis
Translation: "Do what you do", in the sense of "Do well what you do", "Do well i
n whatever you do" or "Be serious in what you do"
Age si quid agis
Translation: "Do when you do something", "If you do something, do it well" see a
lso "Age quod agis"
Alea iacta est.
Translation: "The die is cast!" (said by Julius Caesar when he crossed the Rubic
on, contrary to law.)
Apparently said in Greek, not in Latin as is commonly thought, according to Tom
Holland's Rubicon.
Aliam vitam, alio mores
Translation: "Another life, other values", more commonly known as: "Other times,
other manners"
Aliis si licet, tibi non licet
Translation: "If others are allowed to, that does not mean you are"
Aliquando et insanire jucundum est
Translation: "It is fun to do something foolish every now and then"
Alius et idem
Translation: "Something else, yet still the same"
Alta alatis patent
Translation: "The sky is open to those who have wings"
Alter ego est amicus
Translation: "A friend is another me", originally in Greek by either Zeno or Pla
to, see also 'Alter ipse amicus'
Alter ipse amicus
Translation: "A friend is another self.", see also 'Alter ego est amicus'
Alterius non sit, qui potest esse sui
Translation: "Don't depend on someone else if you can be your own master"
Ama nesciri
Translation: "Love the obscurity" in the sense of "Do not seek fame"
Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur
Translation: "Even a god can barely love and still have all his wits about him"
Amat Victoria Curam
Translation: "Victory loves preparation"
Amici, diem perdidi.
Translation: "Friends, I lost a day.", spoken by Titus in the context that he ha
s 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)
Amicus optima vitae possessio.
Translation: "A friend is the greatest treasure in life"
Amor patriae nostra lex.
Translation: "Love of the fatherland is our law." Motto of the Polish Winged Hus
sars.
Amor vincit omnia.
Translation: "Love conquers all". Often quoted in this form, but originally Omni
a vincit amor (same translation) ((Virgil, Eclogues 10:69).
Amore, more, ore, re
Translation: (with) "love, behaviour, words, actions" from "Verus amicus amore m
ore ore re cognoscitur" Virgilius (Latin for : True friend becomes known in the
love, the disposition, the speeches, the deeds.)
Amor mundum fecit
Translation: "Love created the earth."
Amor omnibus idem
Translation: "Love is equal to all"
Amor patitur moras
Translation: "Love is patient"
Amor tussisque non celatur
Translation: "Love, and a cough, cannot be concealed"
A mundo condito
Translation: "From the creation of the world"
Anguis in herba (latet)
Translation: "A snake (is hidden) in the grass." There is something malevolent h
idden. (Virgil)
Animo deliberato
Translation: "Deliberately"
Animus imperat
Translation: "The mind rules"
An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia regatur orbis?
Translation: "Don't you know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is govern
ed?
Aquila non capit muscas.
Translation: "The eagle does not hunt flies."
Aqua et igne interdictus
Translation: "To be denied water and fire" in the sense of "banished"
Arma potentius aequum
Translation: "Justice is more powerful than weapons"
Ars Amandi
Translation: The Art of Love.
Ars celare artem
Translation: "The greatest art is to hide art"
Ars est celare artem
Translation: "Art is to conceal art" or "The art is in concealing the art"
Ars gratia artis
Translation: "Art for art's sake"
Motto of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
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 o
riginal aphorism was the craft of medicine, which took a lifetime to acquire. Ha
s been used recently to mean a person's artistic creations will long outlive the
m.
Atqui, e lotio est.
Translation: Yet it comes from urine.
Emperor Vespasian to his son Titus, when the latter, complaining about the forme
r's urine tax, acknowledged a coin collected had no odor.
Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius (9 December 2003) [121 CE]. "Divus Vespasianus". Un
iversity of Chicago. pp. section 23.3, page 317. Retrieved on 2006-09-09.
English translation: "The Life of Vespasian". University of Chicago. 9 December
2003. Retrieved on 2006-09-09.
At spes non fracta
Translation: "But hope has not been broken yet"
Audaces fortuna iuvat
Translation: "Fortune favors the brave."(Virgil, Aeneid 10,284)
Audentes fortuna juvat
Translation: "Fortune favors the bold." (Motto of the 366th Fighter Wing at Moun
tain Home AFB, ID)
Audere est facere
Translation: "To dare is to do." (Motto of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club)
Audi, vide, tace, si tu vis vivere (in pace).
Translation: "Hear, see, be silent, if you wish to live (in peace)." Roman prove
rb, 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
Aurum est potestas.
Translation: "Gold is power." (Motto of the Fowl Family)
Aut agere aut mori
Translation: "Either act or die"
Aut amat aut odit mulier, nil est tertium
Translation: "A woman either loves or hates, she does not know a third alternati
ve"
Aut bibat aut abeat
Translation: "Let him either drink or leave"
Aut disce aut discede
Translation: "Either learn or leave."
Aut dosce, aut disce, aut discede
Translation: "Either teach, or learn, or leave." Inscription in St. Paul's Schoo
l according to the Diaries of Samuel Pepys.
Aut nunc, aut numquam
Translation:"Now or never"
Aut omnia, aut nihil
Translation: "All or none"
Aut pati, aut mori
Translation: "Either tolerate or die"
Aut viam inveniam aut faciam.
Translation: "I will either find a way or I will make one."
Aut vincere, aut mori
Translation: "Either conquer or die"
Avarus nisi cum moritur, nil recte facit
Translation: "The only good thing a miser does, is dying"
Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant!
Translation: "Hail Caesar! Those who are about to die salute you!" - Said by gla
diators before they fought during the reign of Claudius I (10 BC- AD 54). Often
cited with "salutamus" ("we . . . salute") in place of "salutant.", cited by Sue
tonius as "Ave Imperator!..."
Avaritia facit Bardus
Translation: "Greed makes you stupid."
[edit] BBeati hispani, quibus vivere bibere est
traducere: "Happy [are] the Spaniards, for whom to live is to drink" - A referen
ce to the Latin accent of the Spanish, in which "v" was pronounced as "b".
Beati pauperes spiritu
Translation: "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Vulgate, Matthew 5:3)
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 alii, tu felix Austria nube.
Translation: "Others may lead wars, you, happy Austria, marry." Referring to Aus
tria's cunning policy in early modern times to marry into all important royal ho
uses.
Bellum se ipsum alet
Translation: "War will feed on 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 gives twice who gives promptly." (Publilius Syrus)
quoted in E. Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898)
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 maximae divitiae.
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
[edit] CCaedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.
Translation: "Kill them all. The Lord 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 th
e Albigensian Crusade, recorded 30 years later, according to Caesar of Heisterba
ch.
Cited in The Perfect Heresy by Stephen O'Shea
Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris
Translation: "If Caesar were alive, you'd be chained to an oar."
Carpe diem
Translation: "Seize the day." By Horace, Odes I,11,8, to Leuconoe: carpe diem, q
uam minimum credula postero ("take hold of the day, believing as little as possi
ble in the next"). The verb "carpere" has the literal meaning "to pick, pluck,"
particularly in reference to the picking of fruits and flowers, and was used fig
uratively by the Roman poets to mean "to enjoy, use, make use of."
Carthago delenda est
Translation: "Carthage must be destroyed." Actually, ceterum censeo Carthaginem
esse delendam ("Apart from that, I conclude that Carthage must be destroyed") Ca
to the Elder used to end every speech of his to the Senate, on any subject whats
oever, 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."
Cedo nulli
Translation: "I yield to no one."
Ceteris paribus
Translation: "Other things being equal."
Cibi condimentum est fames
Translation: "Hunger is a spice for any meal."
Circumornatae ut similitudo templi
Translation: "To be as the polished cornerstones of the temple."
Citius Altius Fortius
Translation: "Faster, Higher, Stronger" (Olympic Games motto)
Civis Romanus sum.
Translation: "I am a Roman" (Cicero)
Clara pacta, boni amici.
Translation: "Clear agreements, good friends."
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 o
f his own existence. Descartes actually meant it in the sense of "I am thinking,
therefore I am."
Concordia civium murus urbium.
Translation: "Harmony of citizens is the wall of cities."
Concordia salus.
Translation: "Well-being through harmony."
Conf?teor Deo omnipoténti, be?t? Mar?? semper V?rgini, be?to Michaéli Arch?ngelo, sa
nctis Ap?stolis, ?mnibus Sanctis.
Translation: "I confess to God Almighty, and to the Holy Eternal Virgin Maria, t
o the Holy Apostles and to Almighty Christ./ "I confess to God Almighty, to Sain
t Mary always Virgin, to Saint Michael the Archangel, to the Holy Apostles, to a
ll Saints."
part of the Confiteor, Roman Catholic confession, used in the hunchback of Notre
 Dame song Hellfire
Consilio et Animis
Translation: "By wisdom and courage"
Motto of the Virginia Military Institute
Consuetudinis magna vis est
Translation: "The power of habit is great."
Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, 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 plurimae 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.
Crucis in Signo Vinces
Translation: Conquer in the Sign of the Cross motto of Cardinal Dougherty High S
chool in Philadelphia, PA
Crudelius est quam mori semper timere mortem.
Translation: "It is crueller to be always afraid of dying than to die. (Seneca)
Cuius regio, eius religio
Translation: "He who rules, his religion": the privilege of a ruler to choose th
e religion of his subjects, established at the Peace of Augsburg in 1555.
Cuiusvis hominis est errare
Translation: "Every human can make a mistake." (Cicero)
Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare. ? M
arcus Tullius Cicero, Philippica XII, ii, 5
English Translation: "Any man can make a mistake; only a fool keeps making the s
ame one."
English Equivalent Proverb: "Fool me once and shame on you, fool me twice and sh
ame on me."
Cuivis dolori remedium est patientia.
Translation: "Patience is the cure for all suffering."
Cum grano salis.
Translation: "With a grain of salt." Take something not literally, but with due
consideration. (Pliny the Elder)
Cum recte vivis, ne cures verba malorum
Translation: "If you live properly, don't worry about what the evil ones say" (C
ato the younger)
Cura te ipsum
Translation: "Cure thyself." An exhortation to medical doctors or experts in gen
eral.
Cura Omnia Potest
Translation: "Determination is omnipotent."
Curae pii Diis sunt
Translation: "The pious are [in] the care of the gods."
[edit] DDamnant quod non intellegunt.
Translation: "They condemn what they do not understand." often quoted "People fe
ar 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."
Alternative form:
De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum.
Translation: ?There?s no arguing about tastes and colors.?
De minimis non curat praetor. (or rex or lex)
Translation: "The authority" (or "king", or "law") "does not care about trivial
things."
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum.
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
Deliriant isti Romani.
Translation: "They are mad, those Romans!"; René Goscinny, Asterix and Obelix comi
c
Probably a reprise of an italian game of words "S.P.Q.R. - Sono Pazzi Questi Rom
ani!" ("They are mad, those Romans")
Deo Vindice.
Translation: "[With] God as [our] protector" motto of the Confederate States of
America.
Deo volente
Translation: "God willing"
Deorum iniuriae Diis curae.
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 po
etica
Deus ex machina.
Translation: "God out of a machine."
Deus [lo] vult!
Translation: "God wills it!," slogan of the Crusades.
Dic, hospes, Spartae nos te hic vidisse iacentes, dum sanctis patriae legibus ob
sequimur.
Translation: "Traveller, tell in Sparta that you saw us here where we rest, abid
ing by the sacred laws of the homeland." (Simonides of Ceos, translated by Cicer
o)
Dictum sapienti sat est.
"The said is enough for the wise" understandable for a wise one without the need
for explanations. Commonly "A word to the wise is sufficient." (Plautus), also
as: sat sapienti and sapienti sat.
Diem perdidi.
Translation: "I lost the day" (Emperor Titus, passed down in Suetonius's biograp
hy (8))
Difficile est saturam non scribere
Translation: "It is hard not to write satire." (Juvenal)
Dis volentibus (diis volentibus)
Translation: Gods willing, if the gods are willing
Divide et impera.
Translation: "Divide and govern." Attributed to Julius Caesar.
Do ut des
Translation: I give, that you may give
Docendo discimus.
Translation: "We learn by teaching" (Seneca)
Dominus Illuminatio Mea.
Translation: "The Lord is my light," motto of Oxford University; Psalm 27.
Donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos. / Tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris
.
Translation: "As long as you are happy, you will have many friends. / If times a
re becoming moggy you will be alone." (Ovid, Tristia I,9,5-6)
Donec eris sospes, multos numerabis amicos. Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eri
s.
Translation: "As long as you are wealthy, you will have many friends. When the t
ough times come, you will be left alone."
Dosis facit venenum.
Translation: "It is the dose that makes the poison."
Ductus Exemplo
Translation: "Lead by Example."
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, O
des III, 2, 13, frequently quoted on war memorials, and notably in the poem Dulc
e Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, who calls it "the old lie".
Dum spiro, spero.
Translation: "As long as I breathe, I hope." Translated as "While I breathe, I h
ope" the motto of the State of South Carolina [[1]]
Dum vivimus, vivamus!
Translation: "While we live, let us live!"
Dum vita est, spes est.
Translation: "While life is, hope is. / While there is life, there is 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 w
hich 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."
[edit] EE fructu arbor cognoscitur.
Translation: "The tree can be recognized by its fruits."
St. Ignatius of Loyola, paraphrasing Jesus Christ
E mare libertas
Translation: "From the sea, freedom"
The motto of the self-proclaimed Principality of Sealand.
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.
Ego sum qui sum.
Translation: "I am who I am."
Holy Bible; Exodus 3:14
Errare humanum est. Perseverare diabolicum.
Translation: "To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil." (Seneca)
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)
Estote parati
Translation: "Be prepared" (Scout motto in Italy)
"Et in perpetuum, frater, ave et vale."
Translation: "And into eternity, brother, hail and farewell.", written by Catull
us, mourning the death of his brother
Et ipsa scientia potestas est.
Translation: "And knowledge itself, is power" (Francis Bacon, Meditationes sacra
e)
Et nunc reges, intellegite erudimini qui iudicatis terram...
Translation: "And now kings, be warned, you who judge on earth..." (Vulgate, Psa
lms 2:10)
Eventus stultorum magister.
Translation: "Events are the teacher of stupid persons." Stupid people learn by
experience, bright people calculate what to do.
Ex abundancia cordis, enim os loquitor.
Translation: "From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34.
Ex astris, Scientia
Translation: "From the stars, Knowledge" (the motto of Starfleet Academy in Star
Trek, a variation on the motto of the Apollo 13, Ex luna, Scientia, "from the m
oon, knowledge".)
Ex fructu arbor agnoscitur.
Translation: "The tree is recognized by its fruit."
Jesus Christ, translated by St. Jerome (Matthew 12:33, Vulgate)
Ex Imperiis, Veritas
Translation: "From 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). This is also
a famous Shakespeare quote in King Lear.
Ex oriente lux
Translation: "Light from the east", i.e. 'From the East comes the light [i.e. cu
lture]'
Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta
Translation: "Unwanted excuse implies/means manifest accusation"
Excretus ex fortuna
Translation: "Shit out of luck", Beggars' Guild motto in Terry Pratchett's Discw
orld series
Exegi monumentum aere perennius
Translation: "I have built a monument more durable than bronze." (Horace, Odes I
II, 30, 1, of his poetry).
Exitus acta probat
Translation: "The results justify the deed", or "The ends justify the means".
Ovid, Heroides (c. 10 BC). See also: Means and ends.
Experto credite
Translation: "Believe me, for I have experienced" (Virgil)
Ex Sciencia Tridens
Translation: "From knowledge, comes (sea) power." Motto of the United States Nav
al Academy
Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus
Translation: "Outside the Church there is no salvation"
[edit] F"Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora"
Translation: "It's a bad choice, to make with a lot of facilities, what can be m
ade with less" . Ockham's razor
Faber est suae quisque fortunae
Translation: "Each is the maker (smith) of his own fortune." (Appius Claudius Ca
ecus)
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 str
ip by the late Charles Schultz
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 caelum
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: "The end crowns the work."
Flet victus, victor interiit.
Translation: "The conquered moans, the conqueror is undone."
Floreat Etona!
Translation: "May Eton Flourish!" Motto of Eton College.
Flores curat Deus.
Translation: "God takes care of the flowers."
Fluctuat nec mergitur
Translation: "Shaken by the waves, but it will not sink" (inscription on Paris'
coat of arms).
Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit
Translation: "Perhaps even this will one day be pleasant to look back on" from V
irgil's Aeneid, possibly a translation from Aesop.
Fortasse erit, fortasse non erit
Translation: "Maybe it will be, maybe it will not"
Fortes fortuna iuvat
Translation: "Fortune favors the brave." (cf. Audaces fortuna iuvat.) (Terence)
Fortis cadere, cedere non potest
Translation: "A brave man may fall, but he cannot yield."
Fortiter in re, suaviter in modo
Translation: "Resolutely in deed, sweetly in manner"
Fortuna est caeca
Translation: "Fortune is blind." (Cicero)
Fortuna amicos parat, inopia amicos probat.
Translation: "Fortune is preparing friends, scarcity is in testing them."
[edit] GGallia est omnis divisa in partes tres
Translation: "The whole of Gaul is divided into three parts." (First sentence of
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."
Gloriosum est iniurias oblivisci.
Translation: "It is glorious to forget injustice."
Graeca fides, nulla fides
Translation: "No one trusts a Greek (Greek honesty is no honesty)".
Graeca sunt, non leguntur
Translation: "They are Greek, and are not read". Similar to the expression "It's
Greek to me"
Graecia 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 "Epistulae")
Gutta cavat lapidem
Translation: "A drop hollows out the stone" (Ovid, Epistles)
Gutta cavat lapidem non bis, sed saepe cadendo; sic homo fit sapiens non bis, se
d saepe legendo.
Translation: "A drop hollows out the stone by falling not twice, but many times;
so too is a person made wise by reading not two, but many books." (Giordano Bru
no, Il Candelaio)
"Gutta cavat lapidem; consumitur annulus usu"
Translation: A drop of water hollows out a stone; a ring is worn away by use. --
Ovid
[edit] HHabent sua fata libelli.
Translation: "Books have their fate." (Terentianus Maurus)
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 Italian campaign. Conveys a sense of greater distress than Hanniba
l ante portas, for ad suggests, unlike ante, a movement towards the gates. Cicer
o, 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 bragge
d about jumping a long distance "on Rhodos") in Greek: "?d?? ? ??d??, ?d?? ?a? t
? p?d?µa"
Hinc illae lacrimae.
Translation: "Therefore these tears."
Historia est vitae magistra.
Translation: "History is the tutor of life."
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 laur
el leaves over the general's head in a Roman triumph. Its basic meaning was, "Do
n't presume, merely because you are dressed as an image of Mars and processing t
hrough the streets like the deity of a religious festival, that you really are a
god."
Homines quod volunt credunt.
Translation: "Men believe what they want to." (Julius Caesar)
Homo homini lupus est.
Translation: "Man is a wolf to man." (Plautus)
Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit
Translation: "Man proposes, God disposes." (Thomas à Kempis)
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"
Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae
Translation: "Of all of those [the Gauls] the Belgians are the bravest" (Julius
Caesar)
Hypotheses non fingo.
Translation: "I feign no hypotheses" (I do not assert that any hypotheses are tr
ue). Newton, Principia
[edit] INote: I and J are the same letter in Latin.
Iactura poucorum serva multos
Translation: "Offer some to save many"
Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (INRI)
Translation: "Jesus from Nazareth, King of Jews"
Igitur si vis pacem, para bellum.
Translation: "If you want peace prepare for war" (Vegetius, Epitoma rei militari
s)
Generally paraphrased as: Si vis pacem, para bellum
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."
Imperare sibi maximum imperium est.
Translation: "To rule yourself is the ultimate power." (Seneca) the older or the
younger as not sure about who of the Seneca's I quote
In Fidem
Translation:"For confirmation, such as attestation" ( used in protocolls, juris
diction)
In Nuce
Translation: "In a nutshell"
INRI -Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum-
Translation:Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews
Translation: "The poison is in the tail" (as in a scorpion) commonly said "Bewar
e of which you cannot see.".
In diem vivere
Translation: "To live for the day"
In dubio pro reo
Translation: "When in doubt, in favour of the accused". (Corpus Juris Civilis)
In hoc signo vinces
Translation: "By this sign you will conquer" (Constantine's vision before the Ba
ttle of Milvian Bridge).
In magnis voluisse sat est
Translation: "In big things it's enough to just have the will."
In medio stat virtus.
Translation: "Virtue stands in the middle." Virtue is in the moderate, not the e
xtreme position.
In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas
Translation: "In necessary things unity, in doubtful things liberty, in all thin
gs 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 culpae fuga, si caret arte.
Translation: "Fleeing from error leads into fault if skill is lacking." Horace,
De Arte Poetica
Infinitus est numerus stultorum
Translation: "Infinite is the number of fools" (Vulgate, Ecclesiastes 1:15).
Inter arma enim silent leges (Musae).
Translation: "During wars laws" (or "arts") "are silent." Cicero, Oratio Pro Ann
io Milone (IV)
Inter caecos regnat strabo
Translation: "Among blind people the squinting one rules." (Erasmus)
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 Poetic
a
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 t
he 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."
Iustitia omnibus.
Translation: "Justice for all.", motto of the District of Columbia.
In lumine tuo, videbimus lumen.
Translation: "In your light, we shall see light.", motto of Columbia University.
[edit] KThe letter "k" was not commonly used in Classical Latin.
[edit] L"Latet enim veritas, sed nihil pretiosius veritate" Francisco Sanchez de
las Brozas (Minerva I, 1, 40, 16).

Translation: " Truth is hidden, anything its most beautiful that the truth"
Labor omnia vincit.
Translation: "Work conquers all things." Motto of the State of Oklahoma; Motto o
f Sydney Girls High School, Sydney, Australia; and Motto of Dannhauser Primary,
Kwazulu Natal, Republic of South Africa, Motto of St. Xavier's Institution, Pena
ng; Motto of Malanda State High School, Malanda, Queensland, Australia; and Mott
o of St. Jago High School, Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Jamaica.
Laborare est orare.
Translation: "To work is to pray." A common school motto.
Lex et honor.
Translation: "Law and honour." Motto of the Romanian police.
Libertati viam facere.
Translation: "Making a road to freedom."
Licet volare si in tergo aquilae 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.
Lux et veritas.
Translation: "Light and truth." School motto of [Yale University],Indiana Univer
sity.
Lux sit.
Translation: "Let there be light." School motto of University of Washington.
[edit] MMacte animo! Generose puer sic itur ad astra!
Translation: "Be strong, young man! Through this way one gets to the stars." (Mo
tto of the Brazilian Air Force Academy)
Major e longinquo reverentia
Translation: "Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful." Tacitus, annals
1,47
Mala herba cito crescit
Translation: "Weeds grow fast."
Mala malus mala mala dat
Translation: "A bad apple tree gives bad apples" ("Evil begets evil")
Mali principii malus finis.
Translation: "The bad end of a bad beginning."
Malum consilium quod mutari non potest.
Translation: "It is a bad plan that cannot be changed (A plan that cannot be cha
nged is a bad one)."
Malum quidem nullum esse sine aliquo bono.
Translation: "There is, to be sure, no evil without something good."
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)
Mea Culpa
Translation: "My fault" /"I am the one to blame"
Medicus curat, natura sanat
Translation: "The doctor cares [for his patient], nature heals [him]." or "Docto
r cures, nature saves"
Medio tutissimus ibis
Translation: "In the middle shall you walk the safest" i.e. the middle path is t
he safest one (Ovid)
Melior morior bellator, quam ago profugus.
Translation: "Better to die fighting man, how to spend time fleeing", meaning "B
etter to die fighting, than live fleeing." often quoted as "Better to die on you
r feet, than to live on your knees."
Memento audere semper.
Translation: "remember to be always daring", meaning that you should make an eff
ort and do not mind that you make a mistake.
Memento mori.
Translation: "Remember you will die".
Memento Vivere
Translation: "Remember to live."
Mens sana in corpore sano.
Translation: "A sound mind in a sound body" (Juvenal)
Montani Semper Liberi
Translation: "Mountaineers are Always Free" Motto of the U.S. State of West Virg
inia
Morituri te salutant
Translation: "Those who are about to die greet you." (traditional greeting of th
e gladiators prior to battle; passed on by Suetonius, Claudius 21). (Morituri te
salutamus would express "We who are about to die greet you.")
See also: Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant!
Mors Certa, Vita Incerta
Translation: "Death is certain, life is not."
Mortui vivos docent
Translation: "The dead teach the living."
Mulier est hominis confusio.
Translation: "Woman is man's ruin."
"Part of a comic definition of woman" from the Altercatio Hadriani Augusti et Se
cundi.[1] Famously quoted by Chauntecleer in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
.
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
Translation: "The world desires to be deceived; therefore it is" (Attributed to
Petronius)
Munit haec et altera vincit.
Translation: "One defends and the other conquers" (motto of Nova Scotia.)
[edit] NNatura 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."
Natura in minima maxima.
Translation: "Nature is the greatest in the smallest things."
Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse.
Translation: "To sail is necessary, to live is not necessary," Attributed by Plu
tarch to Gnaeus Pompeius who, during a severe storm, commanded sailors to bring
food from Africa to Rome
Ne Cede Malis.
Translation: "Do not yield to evil" or "Do not give way to evil."
Ne Jupiter quidem omnibus placet.
Translation: "Not even Jupiter (supreme God) can please everyone."
Ne nuntium necare
Translation: "Don't kill the messenger"
Ne quid nimis
Translation: "Nothing 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 ha
d asked a cobbler to view a painting he was working on to help him (Apelles) pai
nt 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 a
t making shoes, he was not qualified to offer opinions as to anything else---par
ticularly art.)
Nec Hercules contra duos.
Translation: "Even Hercules [can't] against two"
Nemo ante mortem beatus dicendus
Translation: "No one should be considered truly happy before his death."
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 motto
s.
Nemo saltat sobrius
Translation: "Nobody dances sober" (Cicero)
Nemo sine vitio est.
Translation: "No one is without fault." (Seneca the Elder)
Nemo solus satis sapit
Translation: "Nobody [alone] is clever enough".
Neque ignorare [medicum] oportet quae sit aegri natura.
Translation: "Nor does it behoove [the doctor] to ignore the sick man's temperam
ent." 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 Hohenzollern r
oyal family-Sigmaringen dynasty. The *Nihil Sine Deo formula was the motto of th
e Kingdom of Romania as ruled by the Hohenzollern Sigmaringen (1878 - 1947).
Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit.
Translation: "Nothing is so fortified that it can't be conquered with money." (C
icero)
Nil admirari
Translation: "To not admire anything" you shouldn't let yourself be taken away b
y anything (Horace)
Nil desperandum
Translation: "Never give up", motto of Conway House (Marist College Canberra)
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 Sunder
land (UK) motto since 1849 [2].
Nil satis nisi optimum
Translation: "Nothing but the best is good enough." The motto of Everton footbal
l club.
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.
Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro.
Translation: "Freedom is not sold for all the gold in the world."
Non ducor, duco.
Translation: "I am not lead, I lead." the motto of the city of S?o Paulo.
Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.
Translation: "There is no smooth way from the earth to the stars." (Seneca Maior
)
Non plus ultra
Translation: "There is no more beyond this", the uttermost point that can be att
ained.
Nolens Volens
Transaltion: With or without against ones will ( no choice)
Nomen Nescio (N.N.)
Translation:" The Name is not known to me"
Nomina Sunt Odiosa
Translation: Names are to be hated, hateful, No Names! (Cicero - 43 B.C.)
Noli turbare circulos meos
Translation: "Don't move my circles" commonly attributed last words of Archimede
s
Nomen est omen.
Literally "Name is omen." Implies that the name is fitting for the object or per
son.
Nomina stultorum scribuntur ubique locorum
Translation: "Fools have the habit of writing their names everywhere"
Nomina sunt odiosa
Translation: "Names are odious" (Cicero, Pro Roscio Amerino)
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 ti
me known for its many and lavish brothels
Non fecit taliter omni nationi.
Translation: " He [God] has not done this for any other nation" Psalm 147, verse
20 (Virgin of Guadalupe [Mexico])
Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo.
Translation: "I was not, I was, I am not, I don't care." (found on tombstones ab
breviated 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" (Hor
ace, epistles I, 17, 36)
Non multae 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 Vespasi
an 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 quia difficilia sunt non audemus, sed quia non audemus, difficilia sunt.
Translation: "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, but be
cause we do not dare, things are difficult." (Seneca, Letter to Lucilius, letter
104, section 26, line 5 )
Non scholae, sed vitae discimus.
Translation: "We learn not for school but for life." (Seneca's original quotatio
n is "Non vitae, sed scholae 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 aquae.
Translation: "I swim not thanks to the wine, but thanks to the water."
Non semper erit aestas.
Translation: "It will not always be summer." (be prepared for hard times)
Nondum amabam, et amare amabam.
Translation: "I did not love, even if I yearned to love."
Nosce te ipsum!
Translation: "Know thyself!" (Cicero, from the Greek gnothi seauton, on the Temp
le of Apollo at Delphi). See also: Temet nosce
Novus Ordo Seclorum.
Translation: "A new order for the ages."
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."
Nulli Secundus.
Translation: "Second to none."
Nunc aut numquam
Translation: "Now or never"
Nunc est bibendum
Translation: "Now it's time to drink" (Horace, Odes I, 37, 1)
Nihil verum nisil mors
Translation:"nothing is true but death"
[edit] OO 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 simplicity" (attributed to Jan Hus as he was burned at th
e stake)
O tempora, o mores
Translation: Oh, the times! Oh, the morals! (Spoken by Cicero during his denunci
ation of the Conspiracy of Catilina in 63 BC)
Obscuris vera involvens
Translation: "Obscurity envelops truth" (Virgil).
Occasio aegre offertur, facile amittitur.
Translation: "Opportunity is offered with difficulty, lost with ease." (Publius
Syrus)
Occasio facit furem.
Translation: "Opportunity makes a thief."
Oculi plus vident quam oculus.
Translation: "Several eyes see more than only one."
Oderint dum metuant
"Let them hate, so long as they fear" attributed by Seneca to the playwright Luc
ius Accius, and said to be a favourite saying of Caligula.
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 agreeab
le." (Horace)
Omne vivum ex ovo
Translation: "Everything living comes from the egg"
Omnes homines sibi sanitatem cupiunt, saepe autem omnia, quae valetudini contrar
ia sunt, faciunt.
Translation: "All men wish to be healthy, but often they do everything that's di
sadvantageous to their health."
Omnes hore vulnerant, Ultima Hore Necat
Translation: "Every passing hour wounds; the last hour kills" (Unknown Posted un
der medieval sundials to remind people to enjoy life)
Omnes viae 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 a
mori: "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.
Translation: "Pray and work." (Benedictine motto)
Orbis non sufficit.
Translation: "The world is not enough" - James Bond's family motto.
[edit] PPacem 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 f
uture tense (parturient) in the original (see Horace page).
Parva scintilla saepe magnam flamam excitat.
Translation: "A small spark often initiates a large flame."
Parvus numero - magnus merito.
Translation: "Small in number - Great in merit."; motto of the Royal Netherlands
Air Force.
Pax (Romain language, not pure latin)
Translation: "Peace" (in common, not specified).
Pax melior est quam iustissimum bellum.
Translation: "Peace is better than the most just war."
Pecunia non olet.
Translation: "Money does not smell." (Remark by Roman emperor Vespasian on the p
lan to tax public urinals.)
Pede poena claudo.
Translation: "Punishment comes limping." Retribution comes slowly, but surely.
Peior est bello timor ipse belli.
Translation: "Worse is the fear of war than war itself."
Per ardua ad astra.
Translation: "Through adversity to the stars" also "Through the heights or diffi
cult places, to the stars or heaven or immortality" (motto of the Royal Air Forc
e). The Latin words offer shades of meaning so that each translation colours the
others.
Per ardua ad alta.
Translation: "Through hard work to the heights". Motto of Birmingham University.
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, cited by William Jam
es in Pragmatism second paragraph
Per scientiam ad salutem aegroti.
Translation: "To heal the sick through knowledge."
Perge modo - (Vergil, Aeneid 1.389)
Translation: "Only go on." - the equivalent of the colloquial 'suck it up'
Periculum in mora
Translation: "[There's] danger in delay" (Livy)
Philosophum non facit barba.
Translation: "A beard doesn't make a philosopher." (Plutarch)
Pietate et doctrina tuta libertas.
Translation: "Religion and learning, the bulwark of liberty" (motto of Dickinson
College)
Piscem natare doces
Translation: "You teach a fish to swim."
Piscis primum a capite foetet
Translation: "Fish stinks from the head first"
Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est.
Translation: Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over. (Said by Ludwig van Beetho
ven on his deathbed.)
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 be
yond", 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
).
Poeta nascitur, non fit.
Translation: A poet is born, not made.
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.'"
Meaning: Encapsulates the logical fallacy that, because one event follows anothe
r, the first must have caused the second.
Post mortem nihil est, ipsaque mors nihil.
Translation: "' After death, nothing, and death itself is nothing'."
Post Tenebras Lux
Translation: "After the darkness the light" (motto of the canton Geneva, Switzer
land)
Potius sero quam numquam
Translation: "Better late then never" (Livy)
Praemonitus, praemunitus
Translation: "Forewarned (is) forearmed"
Praesente medico nihil nocet.
Translation: "In the presence of a doctor nothing can harm."
Praevenire melius est quam praeveniri.
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 stat
ement, a Roman emperor, will be added soon!)
Primum non nocere
Translation: "First, do no harm" (often falsely attributed to the Hippocratic Oa
th).
Principiis obsta
Translation: "Resist the beginnings" (i.e. undesirable trends should be nipped i
n 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)
Progressio et Concordia
Translation: Progression and High Flying (Michael H)
Proximus sum egomet mihi
Translation: "I am closest to myself" (Terence)
Prudens quaestio dimidium scientiae
Translation: "to know what to ask is already to know half", cited by Will Durant
, "The Story of Philosophy", ch.II
Pulvis et umbra sumus
Translation: "We are dust and shadow" (Horace, Carmina, Book IV, 7, 16).
[edit] QQuae communiter possidentur communiter negliguntur
Translation: "(Things) which are possessed in community are neglected in communi
ty."
Qualis rex, talis grex
Translation: "Like king, like people"
Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu.
Translation: "How well you live makes a difference, not how long." (Seneca)
Quantum Satis
Translation: "As much as needed, enough."
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, perce
ption and judgement."
Quem dii odere, paedagogum fecere (also Quem dii oderunt, paedagogum fecerunt)
Translation: "Whom the gods hated, they made them pedagogues"
Qui audet vincit.
Translation: "Who dares wins"
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 multum habet, plus cupit.
Translation: "He who has much desires more." (Seneca)
Qui non proficit, deficit.
Translation: "He who does not go forward, loses ground." or "He who does not acc
omplish anything, is a failure/has shortcomings."
Qui pro innocente dicit, satis est eloquens.
Translation: "He who speaks for the innocent is eloquent enough." (Publius Syrus
)
Qui rogat, non errat.
Translation: "(One) who asks, doesn't err."
Qui scribit, bis legit.
Translation: "Who writes, reads twice."
Qui tacet consentire videtur, ubi loqui debuit ac potuit.
Translation: "Who is silent, when he ought to and might have spoken, is seen to
agree."
Qui transtulit sustinet.
Translation: "He who transplanted still sustains." (motto of Connecticut referri
ng 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)
Caesar's second wife Pompeia was attending a women-only celebration at the home
of the Vestal Virgins. Clodius attended this event in disguise, and was accused
of having an affair with Pompeia. In the following trial, Caesar claimed that th
ough she had done no wrong, he still had to divorce her.
Quid est veritas?
Translation: "What is truth?" Pontius Pilate to Jesus.
Quid me nutrit, me destruit.
Translation: "That which nourishes me, also destroys me."
Quid pro quo
Translation: "Do for me and I will do for you"
Quid Saulus inter prophetas?
Translation: "What is Saul doing among the prophets?" (a fifth wheel)
Quidquid agis, prudenter agas, et respice finem!
Translation: "Whatever you do, may you do it prudently, and look to the end!"
Quidquid discis, tibi discis
Translation: "Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself."
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
Translation: "Everything said in Latin, seems deep."
Quieta non movere
Translation: "Don't move settled things" (i.e. "Don't rock the boat", "Let sleep
ing dogs lie.")
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Translation: "Who will watch the watchers themselves?" or "Who will guard the gu
ardians themselves?" (Juvenal)
Quo vadis?" - Acts of Peter
Translation: Where are you going?
Quod erat demonstrandum.
Translation: QED "Which was to be demonstrated." Commonly translated as: "That h
as been demonstrated."
Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi.
Translation: "All that is allowed to Jupiter is not necessarily allowed to an ox
."
Quod me nutrit me destruit.
Translation: "What nourishes me, destroys me."
Quod medicina aliis, aliis est acre venenum.
Translation: "What is medicine to some, is bitter poison to others."
Quod natura non dat, Salmantica non praestat
Translation: Literally,"What Nature does not give, Salamanca won't provide".
Explanation: It means that if you are not naturally intelligent, Salamanca (a fa
mous university, i.e. a symbol for education) won't make you intelligent.
Quod nocet, saepe 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" (From Roman Law)
Quos amor verus tenuit, tenebit.
Translation: "Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding." - Seneca
Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat.
Translation: "Those whom God wills to destroy he first deprives of their senses.
" - (Euripides); more colloquially, "Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.
"
Quot capita, tot sententiae.
Translation: "As many opinions as people."
Quot linguas calles, tot homines vales.
Translation: "You are worth as many people as the languages that you speak."
[edit] RRadix malorum est cupiditas
Translation: "Greed is the root of all evil." ( Vulgate 1 Timothy 6:10) (theme o
f the Pardoner's Tale from the Canterbury Tales)
Rara Avis
Translation: A very rare bird.
Recta linea brevissima, recta via tutissima
Translation: "Straight line is the shortest, straight road is the most safe."
Reddite ergo quae sunt Caesaris, Caesari
Translation: "Then give Caesar what's Caesar's" (w:Vulgate:, Matthew 22:21 as we
ll as Luke 20:25)
Repetita iuvant.
Translation: "Repetition is useful", or "Repeating things helps".
Repetitio est mater studiorum.
Translation: "Repetition is the mother of study."
Repetitio mater memoriae est.
Translation: "Repetition is the mother of memory."
Requiescat in pace (R.I.P.)
Translation: "rest in peace" ? a benediction for the dead, often inscribed on to
mbstones or other gravestones.
Rete non tenditur milvio
Translation: "The net is not extended to the kite" (i.e. things (of the air) fal
l where they may).
Ridendo castigat mores
Translation: "laugh corrects customs", or "satire corrects habits."
Ridendo dicere verum
Translation: "To tell the truth while laughing (i.e., joking)"
Roma die uno non aedificata 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 fi
nished."
Roma traditoribus non premia
Translation: "Rome does not reward traitors" (Told by Scipio to the lieutenaunts
of Viriato, a Lusitan rebel leader, after they assasinated him in hopes of gett
ing 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 R
oman times meant the slaves attached to an estate (villa), and is the root of th
e 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 fa
lse by changing from slaves to serfs.
[edit] SSaepe morborum gravium exitus incerti sunt.
Translation: "The effects of serious illnesses are often unknown."
Salus aegroti 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 Brunswi
ck)
Sapiens dominabitur astris.
Translation: "A wise (man) will rule (or possibly, be ruled by) the stars."
Alt. Translation "A Wise Man Is Limited By The Stars"
Sapiens omnia sua secum portat
Translation: "A wise man takes everything he owns with himself" (i.e. in his hea
d, his wealth is his wisdom)
Sapientia est potentia.
Translation: "Wisdom is power."
Scientia non habet inimicum nisi ignorantem.
Translation: "Knowledge has no enemies but the ignorant."
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 & Servic
iul de Protectie si Paza
Semper inops quicumque cupit.
Translation: "Whoever desires is always poor." (Claudian)
"Semper Paratus."
Translation: "Always Ready", motto of the United States Coast Guard
Senatores boni viri, senatus autem mala bestia
Translation: Senators are good men, however Senate is a malicious animal
Sero venientibus ossa.
Translation: "The bones for those who come late."
Serpens, nisi serpentem comederit, non fit draco.
Translation: "A serpent, if it does not devour a serpent, does not become a drag
on."
Francis Bacon, Essays (1612), apparently translating a Greek proverb.[2]
Michael Apostolius, Proverbs (15th century), translates the Greek proverb: Serpe
ns nisi serpentem edat, non fiet draco.[3]
Erasmus, Adages (16th century), translates the Greek proverb: Serpens ni edat se
rpentem, draco non fiet.[4]
Attributed to Pliny the Elder (Natural History, c. 77-79 AD) by Richard Brathwai
te,[5] but Robert Nares believes Brathwaite is mistaken.[2] A search of the text
returns many remarks on dragons and serpents, but nothing like this statement.
Servo Fidem
Translation: "I keep the faith", motto of Marist College Canberra
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)
Sidere mens eadem mutato
Translation: "Though the stars may change, our spirits remain the same" (motto o
f Sydney University).
Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more, si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi.
Translation: "If you are in Rome, live in the Roman way, if you are somewhere el
se, live like there." (attributed to Ambrose of Milan)
Silent leges inter arma.
Translation: "During war, laws are silent." (Cicero)
Sine scientia ars nihil est.
Translation: "Art without knowledge is nothing." (An art or skill is nothing wit
hout knowledge; specifically, architecture depends on knowing physics, or struct
ural engineering. Source: [Jean Mignot, 14th century])
Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice
Translation: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you" (the motto of th
e 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 T
V 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 d
efeat 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, I am well"
Si vis amari, ama
Translation: "If you want to be loved, love" (Seneca)
SIC! (medical termology.)
Translation: "Read the words exatly as they are written! = *Do AS told/It is an
ultimate order* (the exclamtion sign is obligate)
Si vis pacem, para bellum.
Translation: "If you want peace, prepare for war."
Paraphrase of Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Vegetius, Epitoma re
i militaris)
Origin of the name parabellum for some ammunition and firearms, e.g. Luger parab
ellum
Si vis pacem, para iustitiam.
Translation: "If you want peace, prepare justice."
Sic Itur Ad Astra
Translation: "Thus do we reach the stars" (motto of the Canadian Air Force)
Sic semper tyrannis
Translation: "Thus always[ever] to tyrants" (motto of, and on the seal of, the U
.S. state of Virginia; attributed to assassin Brutus, George Wythe, and perhaps
John Wilkes Booth also).
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Translation: "Thus passes the glory of the world." Repeated during the coronatio
n of the Pope.
Silent enim leges inter arma
Translation: "Laws are silent in times of war"
Similia similibus curantur.
Translation: "Like cures like." - Samuel Hahnemann
Sine labore non erit panis in ore.
Translation: "Without work there won't be any bread in your mouth."
Sine sole sileo
Translation: "Without sun I am silent." (inscription on sundials)
Sit tibi terra levitas (S.T.T.L.)
Translation: "May the earth rest lightly on you" a benediction for the dead, oft
en inscribed on tombstones or other gravestones.
Sol lucet omnibus
Translation: "The sun shines for everyone" (Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Satyricon 1
00)
Soli Deo gloria
Translation: "Glory to God alone"
Splendor sine occasu
Translation: "Splendour without diminishment." (motto of British Columbia)
Stat crux dum volvitur orbis
Translation: "The Cross stands firm while the world is turning" (motto of the or
der of Carthusians)
Stat sua cuique dies
Translation: "The date is set for each and everyone" (Virgil)
Studiosus sine studio sus
Translation: "A student without work is a pig"
Sub Cruce Lumen
Translation: "the light (of learning) under the (Southern) Cross" (Motto of the
University of Adelaide, Australia)
Sudetia non cantat.
Translation: "One doesn't sing on the Sudeten Mountains." (Horace) (aying from H
an? region)
Sum quod eris; fui quod es.
Translation: "As you are, I was. As I am, you will be." (used on Roman tombstone
s).
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."
Sursum corda!
Translation: "Lift up your hearts!"
Sutor, ne ultra crepidam!
Translation: "Cobbler, no further than the sandal!" I.e. don't offer your opinio
n 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 sol
dier 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"
Literally: "To each his own"
[edit] TTarde venientibus ossa.
Translation: "For those who come late, only the bones."
Teneas simium meum.
Translation: "Hold my monkey!"
Temet nosce
Translation: "Know yourself" (Rendering in the movie The Matrix of the Greek gno
thi seauton, from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Traditionally rendered in Lati
n 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 flee
s" (Virgil)
Tempus fugit, aeternitas manet
Translation: "Time flees, eternity dwells"
Tempus fugit, amor manet
Translation: "Time flees, love stays"
Teneo te, Africa!
Translation: "I have you, Africa!" Svetonius attributes this to Caesar, when the
emperor was on the African coast.
Testis unus, testis nullus.
Translation: "A single witness is no witness."
Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
Translation: "I fear the Danaens even if they bring presents" (Virgil, Aeneid, 2
, 49) Uttered by Laoco?n as he warns his fellow Trojans against accepting the Tr
ojan Horse.
Timendi causa est nescire.
Translation: "The cause of fear is ignorance." (Seneca)
Tres faciunt collegium.
Translation: "Three makes a company."
Tolle, lege; Tolle, lege!
Translation: "Take up and read; take up and read!" (Augustinus)
Tu quoque Brute filii mihi?
Translation: "Even you Brutus, my son?" attributed to Julius Caesar on the 15th
of 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] UUbi 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 do
ubt 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."
Ubicumque Felix
Translation: "Always happy" (Has been motto of Napoleon, in times of despair and
loss)
Ubi tu Gaius, ibi ego Gaia.
Translation: "Where you are, Gaius, there I, Gaia, will be. (This is said to hav
e been a nuptial formula, but it is only known from Greek sources.)
Ubi uber, ibi tuber
Translation: "Where the soil is rich, you will find roots" (Apuleio)
Ultima forsan
Translation: "Perhaps the last" (inscribed on clocks as a reminder that this hou
r could be your last)
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 victus nullam sperare salutem
Translation: "The only [hope of ]safety for the defeated is to relinquish all ho
pe 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: "Experience is the best teacher." (i.e., "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.) (modern: Sleep hard, Sleep fast, Sleep well)
Uxor formosa et vinum sunt dulcia venena.
Translation: "Beautiful women and wine are sweet venom."
[edit] VVae Victis
Translation: "Woe to the conquered." Attributed by Livy to the chief of the Gaul
s (Brennus) as they sacked Rome in 390 BC.
"Vade retro !" !" (Terence, Formio In, 4, 203)
Translation: "Go back !"
"Vade retro satana !" (Matt. 16: 23)
Translation: "Go away from my mind and hand - vision of Satan!"
"Vade mecum!"
Translation: "Go with me!" - a vade-mecum is hence something that always accompa
nies one.
Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas
Translation: "Vanity of vanities and everything is vanity." (Vulgate, Ecclesiast
es 1:2)
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."
Veni, vidi, vici.
Translation: "I came , I saw, I conquered." (Julius Caesar, after defeating the
forces of Pompey)
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" (Gospel of John, 8:32)
Veritate et Virtute
Translation: "Truth and Virtue" (Motto of the Sydney High School)
Veritatem dies aperit.
Translation: "Time discloses the truth."
Verus amicus est alter ego.
Translation: "A true friend is another self."
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.
Via, Veritas, Vita
Translation: "The Way, the Truth and the Life". Motto of Glasgow University
Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici
Translation: "By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the univers
e."
Victoria Concordia Crescit
Translation: "Victory from Harmony". Motto of Arsenal F.C.
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 Confed
erate 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, Maharbal, told Hannibal this after the vict
ory at Cannae in 216 BC, meaning that Hannibal should have marched on Rome direc
tly.
Vincit omnia veritas.
Translation: "Truth conquers all."
Vincit qui patitur. - motto Berea College, Berea, KY
Translation: "He who perseveres, conquers."
Vincit qui se vincit
Translation: "He conquers who conquers himself"
Vinum et musica laetificant cor
Translation: "Wine and music delight the heart" - Vulgate, Ecclesiasticus 40:20
Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit.
Translation: "Wise man does not urinate towards the wind."
Virtus sola nobilitat
Translation: "Virtue alone ennobles" - motto of Waverley College NSW, Australia.
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: Life is short, art is longer
Vive Ut Vitas
Translation: "Live, so that you may live." or "Live life to the fullest."
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 clamantis in deserto
Translation: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness" - Vulgate, Matthew 3:3;
Motto of Dartmouth College
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
[edit] Mock LatinCarpe jugulum
Translation: "Go for the throat."
The title of a Terry Pratchett novel and the motto of the Von Magpyr family of v
ampires in that novel.
Carpe noctem.
Translation: "Seize the night."
Dean Koontz, Seize the Night (1998)
Also a title of a song in the Jim Steinman musical Tanz der Vampire
Carpe pugam.
Translation: "To pluck buttocks."
Carpe carpio.
Translation: "Seize the carp."
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules.
If I were you, I wouldn't walk in front of any catapults.
Da mihi sis bubulae frustrum assae, solana tuberosa in modo gallico fricta, ac q
uassum lactatum coagulatum crassum.
Translation: Give me a hamburger, french fries, and a thick shake.
E clunibus tractum
Translation: Pulled from the buttocks. (i.e. Pulled out of my arse.)
Nil illegitimi carborundum.
Translation: "Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Carborundum is a chemical used as an abrasive. See Wikipedia: Illegitimi non car
borundum.
Nil significat, nisi oscillat.
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
Nunc id vides, nunc ne vides
Translation: "Now you see it, now you don't."
The motto of Terry Pratchett's Unseen University.
Quantus il cannus in es fenestrum.
Translation: "How much is that doggy in the window" (Anom.)
Romanes eunt domus
Mistranslation: "Romans go home."
A slogan painted on a wall by Brian in Monty Python's Life of Brian. A Roman sol
dier 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 Ro
mani ite domum.
Si Non Oscillas, Noli Tintinnare
If you don't swing, don't ring.
(Inscription on the door of Hugh Hefner's Chicago mansion.)
Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
Translation: "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us" (motto of The Addams
Family).
Roccaturi te salutant!
We who are 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" fo
r "where".
Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.
I think some people in togas are plotting against me.
Henry Beard, Latin for All Occasions.
[edit] See alsoLatin Via Proverbs: 4000 Proverbs, Mottoes and Sayings for Studen
ts of Latin
Henry Beard (Latin for All Occasions)
Latin Proverbs Organized by Subject
Golden Proverbs - A nice collection of Latin proverbs
[edit] ReferencesO'Shea, Stephen (2000). The Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary L
ife and Death of the Medieval Cathars. ISBN 0-8027-1350-5.
Jenny's First Year Latin
====================
END OF LATIN QUOTES
PAGE 5

mexican proverbs
"A caballo dado, no le busques el colmillo"
"You don't look a gift horse in the mouth"
Meaning, you don't inspect in detail that which was given.

"A donde fueres, haz lo que vieres"

"Wherever you go, do as you see"
Meaning,Do what you see they're doing.

"Agua que no has de beber, déjala correr"

"Water you are not going to drink, let it run"
Meaning, do not keep what you are not going to use. Mostly used in emotional con
flict, and says to let go of ill feelings.

"Al mal paso, darle prisa"

"To bad steps, make them quick"
Meaning, if you have to do something that you don't like, do it fast to forget a
bout it soon.

"Al mal tiempo, buena cara"

"To bad times, good face"
Meaning, be positive even in bad situations.

"Cr?a cuervos y te sacar?n los ojos"

"Breed crows and they will take out your eyes"
"You reap what you sow"
"Al que madruga, Dios lo ayuda"
"Who wakes up early, God will help"
Meaning, "if you start early, things will be easier or better." Also: "The early
bird catches the worm"

"?rbol que crece torcido jam?s su tronco endereza"

Alternatives:
"?rbol que nace torcido jam?s su tronco endereza"
"Rama que sale torcida jam?s su tronco endereza"
"Tree which grows bent will never get straight again"
Meaning, that which starts wrong will never get right.

"Camar?n que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente"

"Shrimp that sleeps gets carried by the tide"
Meaning, if you get distracted (or asleep), you will be left behind; or you snoo
ze you lose.

"Cuando el r?o suena es que agua lleva"

Alternatives:
"Si el r?o suena es que agua lleva"
"Si el r?o suena es porque piedras lleva"
"If the river sounds it is because it is carrying water"
Meaning, if there are rumors, there must be some truth behind them.

"Donde fuego hubo cenizas quedaran"

"Where there was fire, ashes remain"
Meaning, there is always something left of the events that happen. Usually this
"refr?n" is used in passional themes, where there was love, there is always some
left. Or talking about an old flame.

"Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres"

"Tell me who you are with and I will tell you who you are"
Meaning, you will be seen to be like the people you hang around with. Therefore,
if your hanging out with a bad crowd, people are going to think that you are ba
d.
"El burro trabaja doble"
"The donkey works twice as much"
"A jackass works twice as much"
Work smart; focus on quality and not quantity (donkey is considered a stupid ani
mal)

"El miedo no anda en burro"

"Fear does not travel by donkey"
Meaning, dumb people are usually not afraid.

"El indio no tiene la culpa sino el que lo hace compadre"

"It is not the indian's fault but of the one who befriends him"
Be careful no to assign responsibility to someone who does not have the proper q
ualifications to handle it.

"El muerto al pozo y el vivo al gozo"

Alternatives:
"El muerto al hoyo y el vivo al pollo"
"To the dead interrment and to the living enjoyment"
Meaning, to stop mourning the dead and keep going with life. Mostly it is used a
s a metaphor for continuing to enjoy life despite its problems.

"El muerto y el arrimado a los tres d?as apesta"

"Corpses and annoying guests stink by the third day"
Meaning, annoying guests quickly become a nuisance.

"El que calla otorga"

"Who is silent consents"

"El que no habla, Dios no lo oye"

Alternatives:
"El que no chilla no mama"
"Who does not speak, God does not hear"
Meaning, to be heard it is needed to speak or the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

"El que se fue a la villa perdi? su silla"

"Who leaves to (or goes to) his villa lost his seat"
Meaning, who leaves his chair may lose it. Used when someone leaves a chair and
someone else takes it or finders keepers.

"En boca cerrada, no entran moscas"

"In a closed mouth, flies do not enter"
Meaning, a person who does not judge will not get judged.
English equivalent: "Silence is golden"

"En la casa del herrero, azad?n de palo"

Alternatives:
"En casa del herrero, cucharas de palo"
"In house of the blacksmith, wooden hoe"
Meaning, that where the resources abound, those are not used. "The cobbler's chi
ldren have no shoes.".

"La mula no era arisca, la hicieron"

Alternatives:
"La mula no era arisca, la hicieron a palos"
"The mule was not easily frightened, it was made that way"
Meaning, that people (or animals, in this case) can acquire certain behaviors as
result of the actions of others. This "refr?n" is mainly to illustrate that an
animal can become permanently frigthtened by constantly abusing and hitting it,
and so too can a person.

"Las piedras rodando se encuentran"

"The stones keep rolling"
Meaning, events are moving along

"Matrimonio y mortaja del cielo bajan"

"Marriage and shroud, from heaven will come"
Meaning, both good and bad things come by themselves.

"M?s vale un p?jaro en mano que ver un ciento volar"

"A bird in hand is worth more than a hundred in flight"
Meaning, something certain is better than a lot of uncertain.

"M?s sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo"

"The devil knows more for being old than for being the devil"
Meaning, that experience means more than a name.

"Nadie escarmienta en cabeza ajena"

Alternatives:
"Nadie asienta en cabeza ajena"
"Nadie experimenta en cabeza ajena"
"Nobody learns in the head of someone else"
Meaning, nobody learns through the experience of someone else.

"Nadie tropieza dos veces con la misma piedra"

"Nobody trips twice with the same stone"
Meaning, nobody should commit the same error twice.
"Ni tanto que queme al santo, ni tanto que no lo alumbre"
"No so much that it burns the saint, nor so few that it does not light him"
Meaning, both extremes, much and few, are not useful.

"No por mucho madrugar amanece m?s temprano"

"No matter how early you rise the dawn comes no earlier"
Meaning, there are some things that we cannot hurry or accelerate, even if we tr
y.

"No todo lo que brilla es oro"

"Not everything that glimmers is gold"
Meaning, not everything that has a good appearance has good quality, or don't ta
ke anything for granted.

"No hay mal que por bien no venga"

"There is no bad that comes without a good"
Meaning, for everything bad that happens, there is also something good. Always l
ook for the positive on things

"No le pidas peras al olmo"

"Do not ask pears of the elm"
Meaning, do not ask something of someone that can not do it.

"Papelito habla"
"Little paper speaks"
Meaning, that you must have proof of what you talk.

"Si de tu vecino ves la barba cortar, pon la tuya a remojar"

"If you see your neighbor has shaved his beard, you do best start lathering your
s"
Meaning, if you see a change occur around you, prepare yourself for the change.
[edit] See alsoSpanish proverbs
Retrieved from "http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mexican_proverbs"
Categories: Pages with inadequate citations | Uncategorized article cleanup | Pr
overbsPersonal tools

page 6

english proverbs

In the name of Allah

May Allah blessing and greeting be up on his prophet Muhammad and his household
these are some of the English proverbs and wisdom and it's translation in Arabic

Be generous to those who need your help

ßä ßÑíãÇ ãÚ ÃæáÆß ÇáÐíä íÍÊÇÌæä ááãÓÇÚÏÉ
Be frugal with what you need yourself.
æßä ãÞÊÕÏÇ ÝíãÇ ÊÍÊÇÌå áäÝÓß
Be wise enough to know that you do not know everything.
ßä ÍßíãÇ ÈãÇ íßÝí áÊÚáã Çäß áÇ ÊÚáã ßá ÔÆ
Be faithful enough to believe in miracles.
ßä ãÄãäÇ ÈãÇ íßÝí áÊÕÏÞ ÈÇáãÚÌÒÇÊ
Be willing to share your joys.
ßä Úáì ÇÓÊÚÏÇÏ áíÔÇØÑß ÇáÂÎÑíä ÃÝÑÇÍß
Be willing to share the sorrows of others.
æßä Úáì ÇÓÊÚÏÇÏ áÊÔÇØÑ ÇáÂÎÑíä ÃÍÒÇäåã
Be a leader when you see a path others have missed.
ßä ÞÇÆÏÇ ÍíäãÇ ÊÑì ØÑíÞÇ Öáå ÇáÂÎÑæä
Be a follower when you are shrouded in the midst of uncertainty.
æßä ÊÇÈÚÇ ÍíäãÇ ÊÊíå Ýí ÛíÇåÈ ÇáÔß
Be the first to congratulate an opponent who succeeds.
ßä ÇáÃæá ÊåäÆÉ áÎÕãß ÇáÐí íäÌÍ
Be the last to criticize a colleague who fails.
æßä ÇáÃÎíÑ Ýí äÞÏ (äÞÏ ÓáÈí) Òãíá ÝÔá
Be sure where your next step will fall, so that you will not stumble.
ßä ãÊÃßÏÇ Ãíä ÓÊßæä ÎØæÊß ÇáÞÇÏãÉ, ßí áÇ ÊÊÚËÑ
Be sure of your final destination, in case you are going the wrong way.
æßä ãÊÃßÏÇ ãä ÛÇíÊß ÇáäåÇÆíÉ, ÝáÚáß ÊÓáß ÇáØÑíÞ ÇáÎØÃ
Be loving to those who love you.
ßä ãÍÈÇ áÃæáÆß ÇáÐíä íÍÈæäß
Be loving to those who do not love you, because they may change.
æßä ãÍÈÇ áÃæáÆß ÇáÐíä áÇ íÍÈæäß ÃíÖÇ, ÝÞÏ íÊÛíÑæä
Cowards die many times before their death
íãæÊ ÇáÌÈäÇÁ ÚÏÉ ãÑÇÊ ÞÈá ãæÊåã
.............................................
Charity begins at home
...............................
ÇáÅÍÓÇä íÈÏà ÈÇáÃåá
..................
Time will soon teach you what you were ignorant of
*~ ÓÊÚáøãß ÇáÃíÇã -Ãæ ÇáæÞÊ- ãÇ ßäÊ ÊÌåáå
.................
Actions speak louder than words
ÇáÃÝÚÇá ÃÚáì ÕæÊÇ ãä ÇáÃÞæÇá
........
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive
forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget."
ÇáÛÈí áÇ íÓÇãÍ æáÇ íäÓì, æÇáÓÇÐÌ íÓÇãÍ æíäÓì, ÇãÇ ÇáÍßíã ÝÅäå íÓÇãÍ æáßäå áÇ íäÓì
..........
Quality education is the best investment for your future
ÇáÊÚáíã ÇáããÊÇÒ åæ ÃÝÖá ÇÓÊËãÇÑ áãÓÊÞÈáß
Advice is ever in want>>>>áÇ ÎÇÈ ãä ÇÓÊÔÇÑ
Actions speak louder than words>>>>ÇáÚÈÑÉ ÈÇáÃÚãÇá æáíÓÊ ÈÇáÃÞæÇá
Add fuel to the fire>>>>íÒíÏ ÇáØíä ÈáÉ
After great effort, he explained that water is water
>>>>æÝÓøÑ ÇáãÇÁ ÈÚÏ ÇáÌåÏ ÈÇáãÇÁ
Address people in the ******** they can understand>>>>ÎÇØÈ ÇáäÇÓ Úáì ÞÏÑ ÚÞæáåã
The absent party is not faulty>>>>ÇáÛÇíÈ ÚÐÑå ãÚå
After black clouds, clear weather>>>>ßá ÔÏÉ æÊåæä¡ÇáÕÈÑ ãÝÊÇÍ ÇáÝÑÌ
Always has been, always will be>>>>ãä ÔÈø Úáì ÔíÁ ÔÇÈ Úáíå
A chip of the old block>>>>åÐÇ ÇáÔÈá ãä ÐÇß ÇáÃÓÏ
Birds of feather flock together>>>>ÇáØíæÑ Úáì ÃÔßÇáåÇ ÊÞÚ
Do as you would be done>>>>ÚÇãá ÇáäÇÓ ßÇ ÊÍÈ Ãä íÚÇãáæß
Charity begins at home>>>>ÇáÃÞÑÈæä Ãæáì ÈÇáãÚÑæÝ
Conciliation is the matter of the law>>>>ÇáÕáÍ ÓíÏ ÇáÃÍßÇã
Cut your coat according to your cloth>>>> Úáì ÞÏÑ áÍÇÝß ãÏ ÑÌáíß¡ ÑÍã Çááå ÅãÑÁÇð ÚÑÝ ÞÏÑ ä
Easy come, easy go>>>>ãÇ íÃÊí ÈÓåæáÉ íÐåÈ ÈÓåæáÉ¡ãÇ áÇ ÊÌáÈå ÇáÑíÇÍ ÊÃÎÐå ÇáÒæÇÈÚ
A creaking gate hangs long>>>>ÇáÈÇÈ Ðæ ÇáÕÑíÑ íÚíÔ ØæíáÇð
Do good and cast it into the sea>>>>ÇÚãá ÎíÑ æÇáÞå Ýí ÇáÈÍÑ
The end justifies the means>>>>ÇáÛÇíÉ ÊÈÑÑ ÇáæÓíáÉ
Every tide has its ebb>>>>( áßá ÓÍÇÈÉ ÈØÇäÉ) áßá ÌæÇÏ ßÈæÉ
A friend in need is a friend indeed>>>>ÇáÕÏíÞ æÞÊ ÇáÖíÞ
No gains without pains>>>>áÇ äÊíÌÉ ÈÏæä Ãáã¡áÇ ÍáÇæÉ ÈÏæä äÇÑ
To err is human>>>> ßá ÇÈä ÂÏã ÎØÇøÁ
Every cloud has a silver lining>>>>ÑÈ ÖÑÉ äÇÝÚÉ
Don t put your head in the lions mouth>>>>áÇ ÊáÞæÇ ÈÃíÏíßã Åáì ÇáÊåáßÉ
A flash in the pan>>>>ÑãíÉ ãä ÛíÑ ÑÇãí
It is the end that counts>>>>ÅäãÇ ÇáÚÈÑÉ ÈÇáäåÇíÉ -_- ((ÚÕÝæÑ Ýí ÇáíÏ íÓÇæí ÃËäíä Úáì ÇáÔÌÑ
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
-_-((íÚÑÝ ÇáØíÑ ãä ÊÛÑíÏå æÇáÑÌá ãä ßáÇãå))-_-
A bird is known by its note and a man by his talk
-_-((Ãä ÇáØíæÑ Úáì ÇÔãÇáåÇ ÊÞÚ))-_-
Birds of a feather flock together
-_-((äÍä Ýí ÇáÊÝßíÑ æÇááå Ýí ÇáÊÏÈíÑ))-_-
Man propose and god disposes.
-_-((ÇáÃãËÇá ÒíäÉ ÇáßáÇã))-_-
Proverbs are the adornment of speech
-_-((Óáã ÎÇÏÚ ÔÑ ãä ÍÑÈ ãßÔæÝÉ))-_-
A deceitful peace is more harmful than open war.
-_-((ÃÐÇ ÚÑÝ ÇáÏÇÁ Óåá ÇáÏæÇÁ))-_-
A disease known is half cured.
-_-((ÇáÛÑíÞ íÊÚáÞ ÈÍÈÇá ÇáåæÇÁ))-_-
A drowing man will catch at astraw.
-_-((ÇáÕÏíÞ ÚäÏ ÇáÖíÞ))-_-
A friend in need is friend indeed.

-_-((ÇáÑÌá ÇáÌæÚÇä ÑÌá ÛÖÈÇä))-_-

A hungry man is an angry man.

-_-((ÇáÓÑ Èíä ÇßËÑ ãä ÇËäíä áíÓ ÈÓÑ))-_-

A secret between more than two is no secret.
-_-((ÈÚÏ ÇáÃãÊÍÇä íßÑã ÇáãÑÁ Çæ íåÇä ))-_-
After a test men are honoured or disgraced
page 7