Latin quotes

Latin quotes with translation | page 14

“I say, then, that the universe and all its parts both received their first order from divine providence, and are at all times administered by it.”
Dico igitur providentia deorum mundum et omnes mundi partes et initio constitutas esse et omni tempore administrari.

“There is something beyond the grave; death does not end all, and the pale ghost escapes from the vanquished pyre.”
Sunt aliquid Manes: letum non omnia finit, Luridaque evictos effugit umbra rogos.

“By protracting life, we do not deduct one jot from the duration of death.”
Nec prorsum vitam ducendo demimus hilum tempore de mortis nec delibare valemus.

“This law cannot be contradicted by any other law, and is not liable either to derogation or abrogation. Neither the senate nor the people can give us any dispensation for not obeying this universal law of justice. It needs no other expositor and interpreter than our own conscience.”
Est quidem vera lex recta ratio naturae congruens, diffusa in omnes, constans, sempiterna, quae vocet ad officium iubendo, vetando a fraude deterreat; quae tamen neque probos frustra iubet aut vetat nec improbos iubendo aut vetando movet. Huic legi nec obrogari fas est neque derogari ex hac aliquid licet neque tota abrogari potest, nec vero aut per senatum aut per populum solvi hac lege possumus, neque est quaerendus explanator aut interpres eius alius, nec erit alia lex Romae, alia Athenis, alia nunc, alia posthac, sed et omnes gentes et omni tempore una lex et sempiterna et immutabilis continebit, unusque erit communis quasi magister et imperator omnium deus, ille legis huius inventor, disceptator, lator; cui qui non parebit, ipse se fugiet ac naturam hominis aspernatus hoc ipso luet maximas poenas, etiamsi cetera supplicia, quae putantur, effugerit.

“Thus the sum of things is ever being renewed, and mortal creatures live dependent one upon another. Some species increase, others diminish, and in a short space the generations of living creatures are changed and, like runners, pass on the torch of life.”
Sic rerum summa novatur semper, et inter se mortales mutua vivunt. augescunt aliae gentes, aliae minuuntur, inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animantum et quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt.

“I am told that your mother is a religious woman, a widow of many years' standing; and that when you were a child she reared and taught you herself. Afterwards when you had spent some time in the flourishing schools of Gaul she sent you to Rome, sparing no expense and consoling herself for your absence by the thought of the future that lay before you. She hoped to see the exuberance and glitter of your Gallic eloquence toned down by Roman sobriety, for she saw that you required the rein more than the spur. So we are told of the greatest orators of Greece that they seasoned the bombast of Asia with the salt of Athens and pruned their vines when they grew too fast. For they wished to fill the wine-press of eloquence not with the tendrils of mere words but with the rich grape-juice of good sense.”
Audio religiosam habere te matrem, multorum annorum viduam, quae aluit, quae erudivit infantem et post studia Galliarum, quae vel florentissima sunt, misit Romam non parcens sumptibus et absentiam filii spe sustinens futurorum, ut ubertatem Gallici nitoremque sermonis gravitas Romana condiret nec calcaribus in te sed frenis uteretur, quod et in disertissimis viris Graeciae legimus, qui Asianum tumorem Attico siccabat sale et luxuriantes flagellis vineas falcibus reprimebant, ut eloquentiae toreularia non verborum pampinis, sed sensuum quasi uvarum expressionibus redundarent.

“If we may compare small things with great.”
Si parva licet componere magnis.

“Wars, horrid wars.”
Bella, horrida bella.

“Euryalus
In death went reeling down,
And blood streamed on his handsome length, his neck
Collapsing let his head fall on his shoulder—
As a bright flower cut by a passing plow
Will droop and wither slowly, or a poppy
Bow its head upon its tired stalk
When overborne by a passing rain.”
Volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus It cruor inque umeros cervix conlapsa recumbit: Purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro Languescit moriens; lassove papavera collo Demisere caput, pluvia cum forte gravantur.

“We find that the Romans owed the conquest of the world to no other cause than continual military training, exact observance of discipline in their camps and unwearied cultivation of the other arts of war.”
Nulla enim alia re uidemus populum Romanum orbem subegisse terrarum nisi armorum exercitio, disciplina castrorum usuque militiae.

“In the midst of the fountain of wit there arises something bitter, which stings in the very flowers.”
Medio de fonte leporum surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat.

“O death that dividest brothers knit together in love, how cruel, how ruthless you are so to sunder them!”
O mors quae fratres dividis, et amore societos, crudelis ac dura dissocias.

“What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.”
Ut quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum.

“Unconscionable Love,
To what extremes will you not drive our hearts!”
Improbe Amor, quid non mortalia pectora cogis!

“Yes, to seek power that's vain and never granted
and for it to suffer hardship and endless pain:
this is to heave and strain to push uphill
a boulder, that still from the very top rolls back
and bounds and bounces down to the bare, broad field.”
Nam petere imperium quod inanest nec datur umquam, atque in eo semper durum sufferre laborem, hoc est adverso nixantem trudere monte saxa quod tamen e summo iam vertice rursum volvitur et plani raptim petit aequora campi.

“O farmers, pray that your summers be wet and your winters clear.”
Umida<!--Humida?--> solstitia atque hiemes orate serenas, agricolae.

“But Caesar had more than a mere name and military reputation: his energy could never rest, and his one disgrace was to conquer without war.”
Sed non in Caesare tantum<br/>nomen erat nec fama ducis, sed nescia virtus<br/>stare loco, solusque pudor non vincere bello.

“For they conceive of men, not as they are, but as they themselves would like them to be.”
Affectus, quibus conflictamur, concipiunt philosophi veluti vitia, in quae homines sua culpa labuntur; quos propterea ridere, flere, carpere vel (qui sanctiores videri volunt) detestari solent. Sic ergo se rem divinam facere, et sapientiae culmen attingere credunt, quando humanam naturam, quae nullibi est, multis modis laudare et eam, quae revera est, dictis lacessere norunt. Homines namque non ut sunt, sed ut eosdem esse vellent, concipiunt; unde factum est, ut plerumque pro e t h i c a satyram scripserint, et ut nunquam p o l i t i c a m conceperint, quae possit ad usum revocari; sed quae pro chimaera haberetur, vel quae in Utopia vel in illo poëtarum aureo saeculo, ubi scilicet minime necesse erat, institui potuisset. Cum igitur omnium scientiarum, quae usum habent, tum maxime p o l i t i c e s t h e o r i a ab ipsius p r a x i discrepare creditur, et regendae reipublicae nulli minus idonei aestimantur, quam theoretici seu philosophi.

“Every field, every tree is now budding; now the woods are green, now the year is at its loveliest.”
Nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbor; Nunc frondent sylvae, nunc formosissimus annus.

“Why dost thou not retire like a guest sated with the banquet of life, and with calm mind embrace, thou fool, a rest that knows no care?”
Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis aequo animoque capis securam, stulte, quietem?

“We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much-vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples?”
Non privatim solum sed publice furimus. Homicidia conpescimus et singulas caedes: quid bella et occisarum gentium gloriosum scelus? Non avaritia, non crudelitas modum novit. Et ista quamdiu furtim et a singulis fiunt minus noxia minusque monstrosa sunt: ex senatus consultis plebisque scitis saeva exercentur et publice iubentur vetata privatim. Quae clam commissa capite luerent, tum quia paludati fecere laudamus. Non pudet homines, mitissimum genus, gaudere sanguine alterno et bella gerere gerendaque liberis tradere, cum inter se etiam mutis ac feris pax sit. Adversus tam potentem explicitumque late furorem operosior philosophia facta est et tantum sibi virium sumpsit quantum iis adversus quae parabatur acceserat.

“But if one should guide his life by true principles, man's greatest riches is to live on a little with contented mind; for a little is never lacking.”
Quod siquis vera vitam ratione gubernet, divitiae grandes homini sunt vivere parvo aequo animo; neque enim est umquam penuria parvi.

“It is come—the last day and inevitable hour for Troy.”
Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus Dardaniae.

“A cowardly cur barks more fiercely than it bites.”
Canis timidus vehementius latrat quam mordet.

“Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may say to himself, "Why do you not practice what you preach?"”
Non confundant opera tua sermonem tuum: ne cum in Ecclesia loqueris, tacitus quilibet respondeat, cur ergo haec quae dicis, ipse non facis?

“I made these little verses, another took the honor.”
Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores.

“Every man's last day is fixed.
Lifetimes are brief and not to be regained,
For all mankind. But by their deeds to make
Their fame last: that is labor for the brave.”
Stat sua cuique dies, breve et inreparabile tempus Omnibus est vitae; sed famam extendere factis, Hoc virtutis opus.

“Nothing is ever gotten out of nothing by divine power.”
Nullam rem e nihilo gigni divinitus umquam.

“Obscure they went through dreary shades, that led
Along the waste dominions of the dead.”
Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram, Perque domos Ditis vacuas et inania regna.

“Despair is a great incentive to honorable death.”
Desperatio magnum ad honeste moriendum incitamentum.

“Just as in ailing bodies, my soldiers, physicians leave nothing which will do harm, so let us cut away whatever stands in the way of our rule. Often to have ignored a tiny spark has roused a great conflagration. Nothing is safely despised in an enemy; one whom you have scorned you make stronger by neglect.”
Sicut in corporibus aegris, milites, nihil quod nociturum est medici relinquunt, sic nos quidquid obstat imperio recidamus. Parva sæpe scintilla contempta magnum excitavit incendium. Nil tuto in hoste despicitur; quem spreveris, valentiorem neglentia facias.

“Be sure, from nature never to depart;
To copy nature is the task of art.”
Praeterea haud lateat te nil conarier artem, Naturam nisi ut assimulet, propiusque sequatur. Hanc unam vates sibi proposuere magistram: Quicquid agunt, hujus semper vestigia servant.

“How lucky, if they know their happiness,
Are farmers, more than lucky, they for whom,
Far from the clash of arms, the earth herself,
Most fair in dealing, freely lavishes
An easy livelihood.”
O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint Agricolas, quibus ipsa, procul discordibus armis, Fundit humo facilem victum justissima tellus!

“Men are eager to tread underfoot what they have once too much feared.”
Nam cupide conculcatur nimis ante metutum.

“The living force of his soul gained the day: on he passed far beyond the flaming walls of the world and traversed throughout in mind and spirit the immeasurable universe.”
Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit et extra processit longe flammantia moenia mundi atque omne immensum peragravit mente animoque.

“In fact we say that an intention is good, that is, right in itself, but that an action does not bear any good in itself but proceeds from a good intention.”
Bonam quippe intentionem, hoc est, rectam in se dicimus, operationem vero non quod boni aliquid in se suscipiat, sed quod ex bona intentione procedat. Unde et ab eodem homine cum in diversis temporibus idem fiat, pro diversitate tamen intentione eius operatio modo bono modo mala dicitur.

“I am the poet who once tuned his song
On a slender reed and then leaving the woods
Compelled the fields to obey the hungry farmer,
A pleasing work. But now War's grim and savage …”
Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena Carmen, et egressus silvis vicina coegi Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono, Gratum opus agricolis, at nunc horrentia Martis<!-- Arma virumque cano--> ...

“For every one feels to what purpose he can use his own powers. Before the horns of a calf appear and sprout from his forehead, he butts with them when angry, and pushes passionately.”
Sentit enim vis quisque suas quoad possit abuti. cornua nata prius vitulo quam frontibus extent, illis iratus petit atque infestus inurget.

“A thing therefore never returns to nothing.”
Haud igitur redit ad nihilum res ulla.

“Cease therefore to be dismayed by the mere novelty and so to reject reason from your mind with loathing: weigh the questions rather with keen judgment and if they seem to you to be true, surrender, or if the thing is false, gird yourself to the encounter.”
Desine qua propter novitate exterritus ipsa expuere ex animo rationem, sed magis acri iudicio perpende, et si tibi vera videntur, dede manus, aut, si falsum est, accingere contra.

“Conquered, we conquer”
Victi vicimus

“It is often a comfort in misfortune to know our own fate.”
Sæpe calamitas solatium est nosse sortem suam.

“All that we see is God; every motion we make is God also.”
Estque dei sedes nisi terra et pontus et aer et caelum et virtus? superos quid quaerimus ultra? Jupiter est quodcumque vides, quocumque moveris.

“Love is not to be purchased, and affection has no price.”
Caritas non potest conparari; dilectio pretium non habet.

“Vice thrives and lives by concealment.”
Alitur vitium, vivitque tegendo.

“It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance.”
Ne hoc quidem scire quod nescias.

“Many colors blend into one.”
Color est e pluribus unus.

“A clergyman who engages in business, and who rises from poverty to wealth, and from obscurity to a high position, avoid as you would the plague.”
Negotiatorem clericum, et ex inope divitem, ex ignobili gloriosum quasi quandam pestem fuge.

“Sometimes the character of the mistress is inferred from the dress of her maids.”
Interdum animus dominarum ex ancillarum habitu iudicatur.

“Can such resentment hold the minds of gods?”
Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?

“The great line of the centuries begins anew.”
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.

“Ye realms, yet unrevealed to human sight,
Ye gods who rule the regions of the night,
Ye gliding ghosts, permit me to relate
The mystic wonders of your silent state!”
Di, quibus imperium est animarum, umbraeque silentes, Et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca nocte tacentia late, Sit mihi fas audita loqui: sit numine vestro Pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas.

“An ornament and a safeguard.”
Decus et tutamen.

“Truth does not blush.”
Nihil veritas erubescit

“To learn in order to know is scandalous curiosity.”
Sunt qui scire volunt tantum, ut sciant, et turpis curiositas est.

“The only hope for the doomed is no hope at all.”
Una salus victis nullam sperare salutem.

“Kindly remember that he whom you call your slave sprang from the same stock, is smiled upon by the same skies, and on equal terms with yourself breathes, lives and dies.”
Vis tu cogitare istum quem servum tuum vocas ex isdem seminibus ortum eodem frui caelo, aeque spirare, aeque vivere, aeque mori! tam tu illum videre ingenuum potes quam ille te servum.

“I feel once more the scars of the old flame.”
Agnosco veteris vestigia flammae.

“Every misfortune is to be subdued by patience.”
Superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.

“Some might, but not you.”
Aliis si licet, tibi non licet.

“Small minds can never handle great themes.”
Grandes materias ingenia parva non sufferunt.

“Everyone is dragged on by their favorite pleasure.”
Trahit sua quemque voluptas.

“The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart.”
Speculum mentis est facies, et taciti oculi cordis fatentur arcana.

“By force and arms.”
Vi et armis.

“And with a groan for that indignity
His spirit fled into the gloom below.”
Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.

“To what extremes won't you compel our hearts,
you accursed lust for gold?”
Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, Auri sacra fames?

“Now I know what Love is.”
Nunc scio quid sit Amor.

“Paul then, in the fourteenth year of Nero on the same day with Peter, was beheaded at Rome for Christ's sake and was buried in the Ostian way, the twenty-seventh year after our Lord's passion.”
Hic ergo quarto decimo Neronis anno, eodem die quo Petrus Romae, pro Christo capite truncatur, sepultusque est in via Ostiensi, anno post passionem Domini tricesimo septimo.

“Toil conquered the world, unrelenting toil, and want that pinches when life is hard.”
Labor omnia vicit<!--uicit--> improbus et duris urgens in rebus egestas.

“Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and by sea are often overlooked and neglected if they lie under our eye.”
Ad quae noscenda iter ingredi, transmittere mare solemus, ea sub oculis posita neglegimu. ... Differimus tamquam saepe visuri, quod datur videre quotiens velis cernere.

“We are all sprung from a heavenly seed.”
Caelesti sumus omnes semine oriundi.

“If I cannot sway the heavens, I'll wake the powers of hell!”
Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo<!--mouebo?-->.

“Away, away, unhallowed ones!”
Procul, O procul este, profani!

“It is easier to mend neglect than to quicken love.”
Facilius enim neglegentia emendari potest quam amor nasci.

“The truth itself is made.”
Verum esse ipsum factum

“How changed from what he once was!”
Quantum mutatus ab illo.

“They have but few laws, and such is their constitution that they need not many.”
leges habent perquam paucas. sufficiunt enim sic institutis paucissimae. quin hoc in primis apud alios improbant populos, quod legum interpretumque uolumina, non infinita sufficiunt. ipsi uero censent iniquissimum; ullos homines his obligari legibus; quae aut numerosiores sint, quam ut perlegi queant; aut obscuriores quam ut a quouis possint intelligi.

“Presence diminishes fame.”
Minuit praesentia famam.

“The flame-appointed pyre.”
Damnatus flammae torus.

“No one cares to speak to an unwilling listener. An arrow never lodges in a stone: often it recoils upon the sender of it.”
Nemo invito auditori libenter refert. Sagitta in lapidem nunquam figitur, interdum resiliens percutit dirigentem.

“Death's own brother Sleep.”
Consanguineus Leti Sopor.

“O pitiable minds of men, O blind intelligences! In what gloom of life, in how great perils is passed all your poor span of time! not to see that all nature barks for is this, that pain be removed away out of the body, and that the mind, kept away from care and fear, enjoy a feeling of delight!”
O miseras hominum mentes, o pectora caeca! qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisque periclis degitur hoc aevi quod cumquest! nonne videre nihil aliud sibi naturam latrare, nisi ut qui corpore seiunctus dolor absit, mente fruatur iucundo sensu cura semota metuque?

“So it is more useful to watch a man in times of peril, and in adversity to discern what kind of man he is; for then at last words of truth are drawn from the depths of his heart, and the mask is torn off, reality remains.”
Quo magis in dubiis hominem spectare periclis convenit adversisque in rebus noscere qui sit; nam verae voces tum demum pectore ab imo eliciuntur et eripitur persona, manet res.

“All things must needs be borne on through the calm void moving at equal rate with unequal weights.”
Omnia qua propter debent per inane quietum aeque ponderibus non aequis concita ferri.

“Go no further down the road of hatred.”
Ulterius ne tende odiis.

“A friend is long sought, hardly found, and with difficulty kept.”
Amicum qui diu quaeritur, vix invenitur, difficile servatur.

“There all stood begging to be first across
And reached out longing hands to the far shore.”
Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum Tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.

“Again and again our foe, religion, has given birth to deeds sinful and unholy.”
Saepius illa religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta.

“To avoid falling into the toils of love is not so hard as, after you are caught, to get out of the nets you are in and to break through the strong meshes of Venus.”
Vitare, plagas in amoris ne iaciamur, non ita difficile est quam captum retibus ipsis exire et validos Veneris perrumpere nodos.

“O three and four times blessed!”
O terque quaterque beati!

“Love is lord of all, and is in all the same.”
Amor omnibus idem.

“There are twin Gates of Sleep.
One, they say, is called the Gate of Horn
and it offers easy passage to all true shades.
The other glistens with ivory, radiant, flawless,
but through it the dead send false dreams up toward the sky.”
Sunt geminae Somni portae, quarum altera fertur Cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris, Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto, Sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia Manes.

“Early impressions are hard to eradicate from the mind. When once wool has been dyed purple, who can restore it to its previous whiteness?”
Difficulter eraditur, quod rudes animi praebiberunt. Lanarum conchylia quis in pristinum colorem revocet?

“Freedom is best, I tell thee true, of all things to be won.”
Dico Tibi Verum, Libertas Optima Rerum: Nunquam Servili Sub Nexu Vivito, Fili

“Your descendants shall gather your fruits.”
Carpent tua poma nepotes.

“When the young die I am reminded of a strong flame extinguished by a torrent; but when old men die it is as if a fire had gone out without the use of force and of its own accord, after the fuel had been consumed”
Itaque adulescentes mihi mori sic videntur, ut cum aquae multitudine flammae vis opprimitur, senes autem sic, ut cum sua sponte nulla adhibita vi consumptus ignis exstinguitur; et quasi poma ex arboribus, cruda si sunt, vix evelluntur, si matura et cocta, decidunt, sic vitam adulescentibus vis aufert, senibus maturitas; quae quidem mihi tam iucunda est, ut, quo propius ad mortem accedam, quasi terram videre videar aliquandoque in portum ex longa navigatione esse venturus.

“Over head and heels.”
Per caputque pedesque.

“To compare great things with small.”
Parvis componere magna.

“Endure, and keep yourselves for days of happiness.”
Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis.