List of Latin proverbs

     From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The following is a list of some Latin and Roman proverbs and sayings, in alphabetical order, with English translations.
For shorter phrases, see: List of Latin phrases.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

• A mari usque ad mare -- "From sea to sea," motto of Canada.
• Absentem laedit, qui cum ebrio litigat -- "He who quarrels with a drunk hurts an absentee."
• Acta est fabula -- "What happened is a fable," or "The fable is ended" (Augustus' last words)
• Ad astra per aspera -- "To the stars through difficulties," motto of Kansas. (More frequently as per aspera ad astra.)
• Adde parvum parvo manus acervus erit. -- "Add little to little and there will be a big pile" -- Ovid.
• Aegroto dum anima est, spes est -- "As long as a sick person is conscious (or, has a good character, or reacts), there is still hope."
• Age quod agis - "Do what you do", in the sense of "Do well what you do" or "Be serious in what you do"
• Amor patriae nostra lex\ -- "Love of the fatherland is our law."
• Amor vincit omnia -- "Love conquers all." (See Omnia vincit amor).
• Ars gratia artis -- "Art for art's sake," motto of Metro Goldwin Mayer.
• Ars longa, vita brevis. -- "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.
• Audaces fortuna iuvat -- "Luck helps those who're brave." (Vergil, Æneis 10,284)
• Audi, vide, tace, si tu vis vivere. -- "Hear, see, be silent, if you wish to live."
• Audi alteram partem -- "Hear the other side."
• Audiatur et altera pars -- "Hear both sides."

B

• Beati pauperes spiritu -- "Lucky are those of a poor spirit" (Sermon on the Mount)
• Beatus, qui prodest, quibus potest. -- "He is lucky who helps everyone he can." or, very differently, "He is lucky the one who gets ad advantage from those on which he has some power."
• Bene diagnoscitur, bene curatur. -- "Something that is well diagnosed can be cured well."
• Bis dat, qui cito dat. -- "He who gives quickly gives twice."
• Bis repetita non placent -- "Repetitions are not well-received." (Horace, Ars Poetica 365)
• Bona diagnosis, bona curatio. -- "Good diagnosis, good cure."
• Bona valetudo melior est quam maximae divitiae. -- "Good health is worth more than the greatest wealth."

C

• Carpe diem -- "Seize 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 morrow").
• Carthago delenda est -- "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.
• Cibi condimentum est fames -- "Hunger is a spice for any meal."
• Cogito ergo sum -- "I think, therefore I am." Argument used by Rene Descartes as proof of his own existence.
• Concordia civium murus urbium. -- "Harmony of citizens is the wall of cities."
• Consuetudinis vis magna est -- "The power of habit is great."
• Consuetudo altera natura est -- "Habit is second nature."
• Contraria contrariis curantur -- "Opposites are cured by their opposites."
• Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis -- "There's no herb against the power of death."
• Credo quia absurdum -- "I believe it because it is absurd." Attributed to Tertullian; see fideism.
• Cuius regio, eius religio -- "He who rules, his religion": the ancient privilege of a ruler to choose the religion of his subjects.
• Cuiusvis hominis est errare -- "Every human can err." (Cicero)
• Cura te ipsum -- "Cure thyself." An exhortation to medical doctors or experts in general.
• Cura, ut valeas! -- "Take Care!"

D

• De gustibus non est disputandum. -- "Matters of taste ought not to be disputed."
• De minimis non curat praetor (or rex or lex) -- "The authority" (or "king", or "law") "does not care about trivial things."
• De mortuis nihil nisi bene. -- "Of the dead, nothing but good." I.e., "Say only good things about the dead."
• Deliriant isti Romani. -- "They are mad, those Romans"; -- Rene Goscinny, Asterix and Obelix comic
• Deo Vindice -- "God will vindicate," motto of the Confederate States of America.
• Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne - "The beautiful woman ends in a fish tail." (Horace, Ars poetica)
• Deus vult! -- "God wills it!," slogan of the Crusades.
• Diem perdidi -- "I lost the day" (Emperor Titus, passed down in Suetonius's biography (8))
• Divide et impera -- "Divide and govern" Attributed to Philip II of Macedonia.
• Dominus Illuminatio Mea -- "The Lord is my light," motto of Oxford University.
• Donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos. -- "As long as you're happy, you'll have many friends." (Ovid, Tristia I,9,5)
• Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus -- "Never tickle a sleeping dragon," motto of Hogwarts School in the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling.
• Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. "It is sweet and honorable to die for the fatherland." By Horace, Odes III, 2, 13, used in the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen.
• Dum spiro, spero. -- "As long as I breathe, I hope."
• Dura lex, sed lex. -- "The law is harsh, but it is the law."
• Dura necessitas. -- "Necessity is harsh."

E

• E fructu arbor cognoscitur. -- "The tree can be recognized by its fruits."
• Errare humanum est. Perseverare diabolicum. -- "To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil." (Seneca)
• Et nunc reges, intelligite erudimini qui judicatis terram... -- "And now kings, be warned, you who judge on earth..." (Bible)
• Exegi monumentum aere perennius -- "I have built a monument more durable than bronze." (Horace, Odes III, 30, 1, of his poetry).
• Ex astris, Scientia -- "From the stars, Knowledge" (the motto of Starfleet Academy in Star Trek)
• Ex nihilo nihil fit -- "Nothing comes from nothing" (you need to work for something; also the Conservation Law in philosophy and modern science).
• Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus -- "Outside the Church [there is] No Salvation" (a disputed thesis of Roman Catholic theology).

F

• Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere -- "Lucky [is the person] who could realize things" (variant of Vergil, Georgica 2, 490).
• Festina lente ! "Make haste slowly" (i.e. proceed quickly but with caution, a motto of Augustus Caesar).
• Fiat iustitia, ruat coelum -- "Let justice be done, though Heaven fall."
• Fide, sed qui, vide. -- "Trust but take care whom."
• Fluctuat nec mergitur -- "Shaken by the waves, but it will not sink" (inscription on Paris' coat of arms).
• Fortes fortuna iuvat -- "Fortune favors the strong." (cf. Audaces fortuna iuvat.)

G

• Gloria victis. -- "Glory to the defeated."
• Gutta cavat lapidem non bis, sed saepe cadendo; sic homo fit sapiens bis non, sed saepe legendo. -- "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).
• Gutta cavat lapidem non vi, sed saepe cadendo. -- "A drop drills the rock not with force but by falling repeatedly."

H

• Habent sua fata libelli. -- "Books have their fate."
• Hannibal ante portas. -- "Hannibal before the gates," i.e. wasting time while the enemy is already here.
• Hic Rhodus, hic salta. -- "It's Rhodos, jump here." Aesop
• Hodie mihi, cras tibi. -- "What's to me today, tomorrow to you."
• Homines quod volunt credunt. -- "Men believe what they want to." (Julius Caesar)
• Homo homini lupus est. -- "Man is a wolf to man." Hobbes
• Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto. "I am human, so nothing that is human is foreign to me."
• Hypotheses non fingo. -- "I feign no hypotheses" (I do not assert that any hypotheses are true). Newton, Principia

I

• Ignorantia iuris nocet -- "Being ignorant of law harms."
• Ignorantia legis non excusat -- "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."
• Ignoti nulla cupido -- "The unknown does not tempt."
• Illegitimis non carborundum -- pseudo-Latin for "Don't let the bastards grind you down" (Carborundum is a commercial abrasive).
• In cauda venenum -- "The poison is in the tail" (as in a scorpion).
• In dubio pro reo -- "When in doubt, in favour of the accused".
• In hoc signo vinces -- "By this sign you will conquer" (Constantine's vision before the Battle of Milvian Bridge).
• In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas -- "In necessary things unity, in doubtful things liberty, in all things charity" (often misattributed to St Augustine).
• In vino veritas. -- "There is truth in wine." That is, "Wine will bring out truth."
• Infinitus est numerus stultorum -- "Infinite is the number of fools" (Vulgate, Ecclesiastes 1:15).
• Inter arma enim silent leges (or Musae) -- "During wars the laws" (or "arts") "are silent" (Cicero, Oratio Pro Annio Milone IV).
• Ira furor brevis est -- "Anger is a short rage" (Horace, epistles I, 2, 62).
• Is fecit, cui prodest. -- "Done by the one who profits from it."
• Iurare in verba magistri. -- "Swear by teacher's words."
• Iustitia omnibus. -- "Justice for all."

L

• Labor omnia vincit. -- "Work conquers all."
• Laborare est orare. -- "To work is to pray."
• Laborare omnia vincit. -- "Work conquers all."

M

• Major e longinquo reverentia -- "Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful." Cornelius Tacitus, annals 1,47
• Manus manum lavat -- "One hand washes the other."
• Medicus curat, natura sanat -- "The doctor cares [for his patient], nature heals [him]."
• Memento mori. -- "Remember your mortality." Also, ironically, "Remember to die." it is the motto of the Friars of Trappa.
• Mens sana in corpore sano -- "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).
• Mens agitat molem -- "Minds move mountains" (The University of Oregon Motto).
• Morituri te salutamus -- "We who are doomed to die greet you" (traditional greeting of the gladiators prior to battle; passed on by Suetonius, Claudius 21).

N

• Natura abhorret vacuum. -- "Nature abhors a vacuum."
• Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse. -- "To sail is necessary, to live is not necessary," by Gnaeus Pompeius, according to Plutarch
• Nec Hercules contra plures.
• Nemo me impune lacessit. -- "No-one attacks me with impunity," the Scots national motto.
• Neque ignorare [medicum] oportet quae sit aegri natura. -- "Nor does it behoove [the doctor] to ignore the sick man's temperament." A. Cornelius Celsus, 'De Medicina', Prooemium.
• Nihil lacrima citius arescit. -- "Nothing dries more quickly than a tear."
• Nil sine numini. -- "Nothing without Providence."
• Nomen est omen. -- "A name is an omen."
• Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo. -- "I was not, I was, I am not, I don't care." (found on tombstoness abbreviated NFFNSNC)
• Non licet omnibus adire Corinthum -- "Not everybody is granted [the privilege of] going to Corinth" (Horace, epistles I, 17, 36)
• Non nobis solum nati sumus -- "We are not born for ourselves alone"
• Non omnia possumus omnes. -- "All of us cannot do everything." (Vergil)
• Non scholae, sed vitae discimus. -- "We don't learn from school but from life." (Original quotation Seneca's is "Non vitae, sed scholae discimus")
• Non ut edam vivo, sed ut vivam edo. -- "I don't live to eat, but I eat to live."
• Non vestimentum virum ornat, sed vir vestimentum. -- "Not the raiment graces the man, but the man the raiment."

• Nondum amabam, et amare amabam. -- "I did not love, even if I yearned to love."
• Nosce te ipsum! -- "Know thyself!" (from the Greek gnothi seauton, on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi). See also: Temet nosce
• Nulla dies sine linea. -- "No day without a line."
• Nulla est medicina sine lingua Latina. -- "No medicine without Latin."
• Nulla poena sine lege -- "No punishment without a law."
• Nulla regula sine exceptione. -- "No rule without exception."
• Nulla res tam necessaria est quam medicina. -- "Nothing is so necessary as medicine."
• Nunc est bibendum -- "Now it's time to drink" (Horace, Odes I, 37, 1)

O

• O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint, agricolas -- "Oh fortunate farmers [i.e., non-mariners], if only they would see their luck" (Vergil, Georgica 2, 458ff.)
• Obscuris vera involvens -- "Obscurity envelops truth" (Vergil).
• Oculi plus vident quam oculus. -- "Several eyes see more than only one."
• Omnes homines sibi sanitatem cupiunt, saepe autem omnia, quae valetudini contraria sunt, faciunt. -- "All men wish to be healthy, but often they do everything that's disadvantageous to their health."
• Omnia mea mecum porto. -- "All that's mine I carry with me."
• Omnia vincit amor -- "Love conquers all" More fully, Omnia vincit amor, nos et cedamus amori: "Love conquers all, let us too yield to love" (Vergil, Eclogues 10:69).
• Omnium artium medicina nobilissima est. -- "Medicine is the noblest of all arts."
• Optimum medicamentum quies est. -- "Peace is the best medicine."
• Ora et labora. -- "Pray and work." (Motto of Benedictine Order)

P

• Pacta sunt servanda -- "Agreements must be honoured."
• Pax melior est quam iustissimum bellum. -- "Peace is better than the most just war."
• Pecunia not olet. -- "Money does not smell" (Remark by Roman emperor Vespasian on the plan to tax public urinals.)
• Per ardua ad astra -- "Through hardship to the stars" (motto of the Royal Air Force and Royal New Zealand Air Force).
• Per aspera ad astra -- "Through hardships to the stars" (motto of NASA).
• Per scientiam ad salutem aegroti. -- "To heal the sick through knowledge."
• Plenus venter non studet libenter. -- "A full belly doesn't like studying."
• Plures crapula quam gladius perdidit. -- "Drunkenness takes more lives than the sword."
• Post cenam non stare sed mille passus meare. -- "Do not rest after dinner, but walk a mile."
• Post hoc non est propter hoc. -- "'After this' is not 'because of this'."
• Praesente medico nihil nocet. -- "In the presence of a doctor nothing can harm."
• Praevenire melius est quam praeveniri. -- "It is better to precede than to be preceded."
• Primum non nocere -- "First, do no harm" (from the Hippocratic Oath).
• Principiis obsta -- "Resist the beginnings" (i.e. undesirable trends should be nipped in the bud).
• Pulvis et umbra sumus -- "We are dust and shadow" (Horace, Carmina, Book IV, 7, 16).

Q

• Qui habet aures audiendi audiat -- "Those who have ears to hear, hear!" (Bible)
• Qui rogat, non errat. -- "Who asks isn't wrong."
• Qui scribit, bis legit. -- "Who writes, reads twice."
• Qui tacet, consentire videtur. -- "Who is silent seems to agree."
• Qui vult dare parva non debet magna rogare. -- "He who wishes to give little shouldn't ask for much."
• Quidquid agis, prudenter agas, et respice finem! -- "Whatever you do, may you do it prudently, and toe the line!"
• Quidquid discis, tibi discis -- "Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself."
• Quidquid id est timeo puellas et oscula dantes. -- "Whatever it is, I fear the girls, even when they kiss." (a variant on Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes).
• Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur. -- "Anything said in Latin sounds profound."
• Quieta non movere -- "Don't move settled things" (i.e. "Don't rock the boat").
• Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? -- "Who will watch the watchmen themselves?" (Juvenal).
• Quod licet Iovis, non licet bovis. -- "What is allowed to Jupiter is not necessarily allowed to an ox."
• Quod medicina aliis, aliis est acre venenum. -- "One person's medicine is another's foul poison."
• Quot capita, tot sententiae. -- "As many opinions as people."

R

• Radix malorum est cupiditas -- "Greed is the root of all evil." (theme of the Pardoner's Tale from the Canterbury Tales)
• Reddite ergo quae sunt Caesaris, Caesari -- "Then give Caesar what's Caesar's" (Bible)
• Repetitio est mater studiorum. -- "Repetition is the mother of study."
• Rete non tenditur milvio -- "The net is not extended to the kite" (i.e. things (of the air) fall where they may).
• Risus abundat in ore stultorum -- "Laughs are plentiful in the mouth of the foolish."
• Rustica progenies semper villana fuit. -- "A rustic (as in, provincial, peasant-like) ancestry will always remain rustic."

S

• Saepe morborum gravium exitus incerti sunt. -- "The effects of serious illnesses are often unknown."
• Salus aegroti suprema lex. -- "The well-being of the patient is the most important law."
• Salus populi suprema lex esto -- "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law" (motto of the U.S. state of Missouri).
• Sapere aude -- "Dare to be wise."
• Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice -- "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you" (the motto of the U.S. state of Michigan).
• Si vis pacem, para bellum -- "if you want peace, prepare for war" (origin of the name parabellum for some ammunition and firearms, e.g. Luger parabellum).
• Sic semper tyrannis -- "Thus always to tyrants" (motto of the U.S. state of Virginia; said to have been shouted by John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln).
• Sic transit gloria mundi -- "Thus passes the glory of the world." In Bible; also, during papal coronations, a barefoot monk interrupts the procession three times, holding a burning tow, and after it goes out says "Pater sancte (Holy Father), sic transit gloria mundi" — to remind the new Pope that, despite the grand procession, he is still a mortal man.
• Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc -- "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us" (motto of The Addams Family).
• Similia similibus curantur. -- "Like cures like."
• Sine labore non erit panis in ore. -- "Without work there won't be any bread in your mouth."
• Si decem habeas linguas, mutum esse addecet. -- "Even if you had ten tongues, you should hold them all."
• Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses. -- "If you had kept your silence, you would have stayed a philosopher."
• Si vis pacem, para bellum. -- "If you want peace, prepare for war." (Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris)
• Si vis pacem, para iustitiam. -- "If you want peace, prepare justice."
• Sol lucet omnibus -- "The sun shines for everyone" (Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Satyricon 100)
• Summum ius summa inuria. -- "More law, less justice." (Cicero, De officiis I, 10, 33)
• Sutor, ne ultra crepidam! -- "Cobbler, no further than the sandal!" I.e. don't offer your opinion on things that are outside your competence. It is said that 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).

T

• Tarde venientibus ossa. -- "For those who come late, only the bones."
• Temet nosce -- "Know yourself" (from the Greek gnothi seauton, on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi). See also: Nosce te ipsum!
• Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. -- "The times are changed, and we are changed in them."
• Tempus fugit -- "Time flees" (i.e., "time flies").
• Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes -- "I fear the Danaens [the Greeks] even if they bring presents" (Vergil, Æneis, 2, 49) Uttered by Laocooen as he warns his fellow Trojans against accepting the Trojan Horse.
• Tres faciunt collegium. -- "Three makes a company."

U

• Ubi bene, ibi patria -- "Where one feels good, there is one's country."
• Ubi concordia, ibi victoria. -- "Where there is harmony, there is victory."
• Ubi dubium, ibi libertas. -- "Where there is doubt, there is freedom."
• Ubi fumus, ibi ignis. -- "Where there's smoke, there's fire."
• Ubi mel ibi apes -- "Where honey, there bees."
• Ubi tu Gaius, ibi ego Gaia. -- "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.)
• Una salus victis, nullam sperare salutem --"The only [hope of ]safety for the defeated is to relinquish all hope of safety." (Vergil, Aeneid, II, 354)
• Unum castigabis, centum emendabis. -- "If you reprove one error, you will correct a hundred."
• Usus magister est optimus. -- "Practice makes perfect."
• Ut ameris, amabilis esto. -- "Be amiable, then you'll be loved."
• Ut sis nocte levis, sit cena brevis! -- "That your sleeping hour be peaceful, let your dining hour be brief!" (Sis is one hour before sunset.)

V

• Vae Victis -- "Woe to the conquered."
• Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas -- "Vanity of vanities and everything is vanity." (Ecclesiastes, Bible)
• Ventis secundis, tene cursum. -- "Go with the flow."
• Verba docent, exempla trahunt. -- "Words instruct, illustrations lead."
• Veritas odium paret -- "Truth creates hatred" (Terence, Andria 68)
• Victrix causa diis placuit sed victa Catoni -- "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 -- "I see the better and acknowledge it, but I follow the worse (Ovid)
• Vinum et musica laetificant cor -- "Wine and music delight the heart" (Bible)
• Volenti non fit iniuria -- "To a willing person one cannot do injustice."
• Vox populi, vox dei. -- "The voice of the people is the voice of God."

See also

• List of Latin phrases
• Brocards
• proverb
• Chinese proverbs
• English proverbs
• French proverbs
• German proverbs
• Japanese proverbs
• Polish proverbs
• Portuguese proverbs
• Spanish proverbs