Latin quotes with translation (page 15)

“Nay, had I a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, and voice of iron, I could not sum up all the forms of crime, or rehearse all the tale of torments.”
Non, mihi si linguae centum sunt oraque centum Ferrea vox, omnis scelerum comprendere formas, Omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 625–627 (tr. H. R. Fairclough); the punishments of the Inferno.

“Fickle and changeable always is woman.”
Varium et mutabile semper Femina.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Lines 569–570

“Philosophers conceive of the passions which harass us as vices into which men fall by their own fault, and, therefore, generally deride, bewail, or blame them, or execrate them, if they wish to seem unusually pious.”
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.

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Source: Political Treatise (1677), Ch. 1, Introduction; section 1
Context: Philosophers conceive of the passions which harass us as vices into which men fall by their own fault, and, therefore, generally deride, bewail, or blame them, or execrate them, if they wish to seem unusually pious. And so they think they are doing something wonderful, and reaching the pinnacle of learning, when they are clever enough to bestow manifold praise on such human nature, as is nowhere to be found, and to make verbal attacks on that which, in fact, exists. For they conceive of men, not as they are, but as they themselves would like them to be. Whence it has come to pass that, instead of ethics, they have generally written satire, and that they have never conceived a theory of politics, which could be turned to use, but such as might be taken for a chimera, or might have been formed in Utopia, or in that golden age of the poets when, to be sure, there was least need of it. Accordingly, as in all sciences, which have a useful application, so especially in that of politics, theory is supposed to be at variance with practice; and no men are esteemed less fit to direct public affairs than theorists or philosophers.

“From one learn all.”
Ab uno disce omnes.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Lines 65–66 (tr. Fairclough)

“They can because they think they can.”
Possunt, quia posse videntur.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book V, Line 231 (tr. John Conington)

“Therefore the wise man is always happy.”
Atque cum perturbationes animi miseriam, sedationes autem vitam efficiant beatam, duplexque ratio perturbationis sit, quod aegritudo et metus in malis opinatis, in bonorum autem errore laetitia gestiens libidoque versetur, quae omnia cum consilio et ratione pugnent, his tu tam gravibus concitationibus tamque ipsis inter se dissentientibus atque distractis quem vacuum solutum liberum videris, hunc dubitabis beatum dicere? atqui sapiens semper ita adfectus est; semper igitur sapiens beatus est.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

Book V, chapter 15, section 43; translated by Andrew P. Peabody
Tusculanae Disputationes – Tusculan Disputations (45 BC)
Context: Now since perturbations of mind create misery, while quietness of mind makes life happy, and since there are two kinds of perturbations, grief and fear having their scope in imagined evils, inordinate joy and desire in mistaken notions of the good, all being repugnant to wise counsel and reason, will you hesitate to call him happy whom you see relieved, released, free from these excitements so oppressive, and so at variance and divided among themselves? Indeed one thus disposed is always happy. Therefore the wise man is always happy.

“What a woman can do in frenzy.”
Furens quid Femina possit.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book V, Line 6 (tr. Fairclough)

“The first-beginnings of things cannot be seen by the eyes.”
Nequeunt oculis rerum primordia cerni.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book I, line 268 (tr. Munro)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“Death twitches my ear. "Live," he says. "I am coming."”
Mors aurem vellens, "vivite," ait, "venio."

Virgil (-70–-19 BC) Ancient Roman poet

Appendix Virgiliana, Copa 38.
Attributed

“In youth alone, unhappy mortals live;
But, ah! the mighty bliss is fugitive:
Discolored sickness, anxious labor, come,
And age, and death's inexorable doom.”
Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi Prima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis.

Virgil Georgics

Book III, lines 66–68 (tr. John Dryden).
Georgics (29 BC)

“At [Nero's] hands [Peter] received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.”
A quo et affixus cruci, martyrio coronatus est, capite ad terram verso, et in sublime pedibus elevatis: asserens se indignum qui sic crucifigeretur ut Dominus suus.

Jerome book De Viris Illustribus

Source: De Viris Illustribus, Chapter 1

“The fashions of human affairs are brief and changeable, and fortune never remains long indulgent.”
Breves et mutabiles vices rerum sunt, et fortuna nunquam simpliciter indulget.

Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian

IV, 14, 20.
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book IV

“Our lack of confidence is not the result of difficulty. The difficulty comes from our lack of confidence.”
At quanto ego de illis melius existimo! ipsi quoque haec possunt facere, sed nolunt. Denique quem umquam ista destituere temptantem? cui non faciliora apparuere in actu? Non quia difficilia sunt non audemus, sed quia non audemus difficilia sunt.

Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

Also translated as: It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, but because we do not dare, things are difficult.
Letter CIV, verse 26
Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius)
Context: But how much more highly do I think of these men! They can do these things, but decline to do them. To whom that ever tried have these tasks proved false? To what man did they not seem easier in the doing? Our lack of confidence is not the result of difficulty. The difficulty comes from our lack of confidence.

“What madness has seized you?”
Quae te dementia cepit!

Virgil book Eclogues

Book II, line 69
Eclogues (37 BC)

“But there is nothing sweeter than to dwell in towers that rise
On high, serene and fortified with teachings of the wise,
From which you may peer down upon the others as they stray
This way and that, seeking the path of life, losing their way:
The skirmishing of wits, the scramble for renown, the fight,
Each striving harder than the next, and struggling day and night,
To climb atop a heap of riches and lay claim to might.”
Sed nihil dulcius est, bene quam munita tenere edita doctrina sapientum templa serena, despicere unde queas alios passimque videre errare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae, certare ingenio, contendere nobilitate, noctes atque dies niti praestante labore ad summas emergere opes rerumque potiri.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book II, lines 7–13 (tr. Stallings)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“At times the world sees straight, but many times the world goes astray.”
Interdum volgus rectum videt, est ubi peccat.

Virgil (-70–-19 BC) Ancient Roman poet

Horace, Epistles, Book II, epistle i, line 63
Misattributed

“I have freed my soul.”
Liberavi animam meam.

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) French abbot, theologian

Letter to Abbot Suger, Epistles no. 371 (c. 1147)

“Roman, remember by your strength to rule
Earth's people—for your arts are to be these:
To pacify, to impose the rule of law,
To spare the conquered, battle down the proud.”
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento (Hae tibi erunt artes), pacique imponere morem, Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 851–853 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)

“Let someone arise from my bones as an Avenger.”
Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Line 625

“Bernard of Chartres used to say that we were like dwarfs seated on the shoulders of giants. If we see more and further than they, it is not due to our own clear eyes or tall bodies, but because we are raised on high and upborne by their gigantic bigness.”
Dicebat Bernardus Carnotensis nos esse quasi nanos gigantium humeris insidentes, ut possimus plura eis et remotiora videre, non utique proprii visus acumine, aut eminentia corporis, sed quia in altum subvehimur et extollimur magnitudine gigantea

John of Salisbury book Metalogicon

Metalogicon (1159) bk. 3, ch. 4. Translation from Henry Osborn Taylor The Mediaeval Mind ([1911] 1919) vol. 2, p. 159; such similes were available to Isaac Newton, when he humbly made use of them in comparing his progress in scientific ideas to those whose ideas he drew upon, in his famous statement to Robert Hooke in a letter of 15 February 1676: If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.

“He who obeys it not, flies from himself, and does violence to the very nature of man. For his crime he must endure the severest penalties hereafter, even if he avoid the usual misfortunes of the present life.”
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.

Marcus Tullius Cicero book De Legibus

De Re Publica [Of The Republic], Book III Section 22; as translated by Francis Barham
Variant translations:
True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions. And it does not lay its commands or prohibitions upon good men in vain, though neither have any effect on the wicked. It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to attempt to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is, God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will suffer the worst penalties, even if he escapes what is commonly considered punishment.
As translated by Clinton W. Keyes (1928)
Context: There is a true law, a right reason, conformable to nature, universal, unchangeable, eternal, whose commands urge us to duty, and whose prohibitions restrain us from evil. Whether it enjoins or forbids, the good respect its injunctions, and the wicked treat them with indifference. 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. It is not one thing at Rome and another at Athens; one thing to–day and another to–morrow; but in all times and nations this universal law must for ever reign, eternal and imperishable. It is the sovereign master and emperor of all beings. God himself is its author,—its promulgator,—its enforcer. He who obeys it not, flies from himself, and does violence to the very nature of man. For his crime he must endure the severest penalties hereafter, even if he avoid the usual misfortunes of the present life.

“Discordant concord.”
Concordia discors.

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus book Pharsalia

Book I, line 98 (tr. Matthew Fox).
Pharsalia

“As for myself, I report more things than I believe; for I cannot bring myself to vouch for that which I am in doubt, nor to suppress what I have heard.”
Equidem plura transcribo quam credo; nam nec affirmare sustineo de quibus dubito, nec subducere quae accepi.

Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian

IX, 1, 34; translation by John Carew Rolfe
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book IX

“They who bettered life on earth by new-found mastery.”
Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 663 (tr. William Morris); the blessed in Elysium. A paraphrase of this is inscribed on the Nobel prize medals for Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, and Literature: Inventas vitam juvat excoluisse per artes ("inventions enhance life which is beautified through art").

“And yet it is hard to believe that anything
in nature could stand revealed as solid matter.
The lightning of heaven goes through the walls of houses,
like shouts and speech; iron glows white in fire;
red-hot rocks are shattered by savage steam;
hard gold is softened and melted down by heat;
chilly brass, defeated by heat, turns liquid;
heat seeps through silver, so does piercing cold;
by custom raising the cup, we feel them both
as water is poured in, drop by drop, above.”
Etsi difficiile esse videtur credere quicquam in rebus solido reperiri corpore posse. transit enim fulmen caeli per saepta domorum, clamor ut ad voces; flamen candescit in igni dissiliuntque ferre ferventi saxa vapore. tum labefactatus rigor auri solvitur aestu; tum glacies aeris flamma devicta liquescit; permanat calor argentum penetraleque frigus quando utrumque manu retinentes pocula rite sensimus infuso lympharum rore superne.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book I, lines 487–496 (Frank O. Copley)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“Do not trust the horse, Trojans.
Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts.”
Equo ne credite, Teucri. quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Lines 48–49; Trojan priest of Apollo warning against the wooden horse left by the Greeks.

“Hence these tears.”
Hinc illae lacrimae.

Terence Andria

Variant translation: Hence all those tears shed.
Source: Andria (The Lady of Andros), Line 126.

“Time removes distress.”
Diem adimere aegritudinem hominibus.

Terence Heauton Timorumenos

Act III, scene 1, line 12 (421).
Variant translations:
Time heal all wounds.
Time assuages sorrow.
Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor)

“A brave man's country is wherever he chooses his abode.”
Patria est ubicumque vir fortis sedem elegerit.

Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian

VI, 4, 13.
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book VI

“Prepared for either alternative.”
In utrumque paratus.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Line 61

“Now, Aeneas, is the hour for courage, now for a dauntless heart!”
Nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 261 (tr. Fairclough); Sibyl's words to Aeneas as they enter the underworld.

“I sing for maidens and boys.”
Virginibus puerisque canto.

Virgil (-70–-19 BC) Ancient Roman poet

Horace, Odes, Book III, ode i, line 4
Misattributed

“He is not poor who has enough of things to use. If it is well with your belly, chest and feet, the wealth of kings can give you nothing more.”
Pauper enim non est, cui rerum suppetit usus. si ventri bene, si lateri est pedibusque tuis, nil divitiae poterunt regales addere maius.

Horace book Epistles

Book I, epistle xii, line 4
Epistles (c. 20 BC and 14 BC)

“For my own part I am persuaded that everything advances by an unchangeable law through the eternal constitution and association of latent causes, which have been long before predestinated.”
Equidem æterna constitutione crediderim nexuque causarum latentium et multo ante destinatarum suum quemque ordinem immutabili lege percurrere.

Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian

V, 11, 10.
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book V

“That possession which we gain by the sword is not lasting; gratitude for benefits is eternal.”
Non est diuturna possessio in quam gladio ducimus; beneficiorum gratia sempiterna est.

Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian

VIII, 8, 11.
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book VIII

“I shall die unavenged, but I shall die,"
she says. "Thus, thus, I gladly go below
to shadows.”
‘Moriemur inultae, Sed moriamur’ ait. ‘sic, sic juvat ire sub umbras.’

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Lines 659–660 (tr. Allen Mandelbaum)

“Trust not too much to that enchanting face;
Beauty's a charm, but soon the charm will pass.”
O formose puer, nimium ne crede colori.

Virgil book Eclogues

Book II, line 17 (tr. John Dryden)
Eclogues (37 BC)

“How fortunate, both at once!
If my songs have any power, the day will never dawn
that wipes you from the memory of the ages, not while
the house of Aeneas stands by the Capitol's rock unshaken,
not while the Roman Father rules the world.”
Fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt, Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo, Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum Accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.

Virgil Aeneid

Fortunati ambo! si quid mea carmina possunt,
Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo,
Dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
Accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IX, Lines 446–449 (tr. Robert Fagles)

“We cannot all do everything.”
Non omnia possumus omnes.

Virgil book Eclogues

Book VIII, line 63 (tr. Fairclough)
Eclogues (37 BC)

“But physicians also cure more desperate maladies by harsh remedies, and a pilot, when he fears shipwreck, rescues by jettison whatever can be saved.”
Sed medici quoque graviores morbos asperis remediis curant, et gubernator, ubi nafraugium timet, iactura quidquid servari potest redimit.

Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian

V, 9, 3; translation by John Carew Rolfe
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book V

“Sweet it is to lay aside the weight of the body and to soar into the pure bright ether. Do you dread poverty? Christ calls the poor blessed. (Luke 6:20) Does toil frighten you? No athlete is crowned but in the sweat of his brow. Are you anxious as regards food? Faith fears no famine. Do you dread the bare ground for limbs wasted with fasting? The Lord lies there beside you. Do you recoil from an unwashed head and uncombed hair? Christ is your true head. Does the boundless solitude of the desert terrify you? In the spirit you may walk always in paradise. Do but turn your thoughts there and you will be no more in the desert.”
Libet, sarcina corporis abiecta, ad purum aetheris evolare fulgorem. Paupertatem times? sed beatos Christus pauperes appellat. Labore terreris? at nemo athleta sine sudore coronatur. De cibo cogitas? sed fides famem non timet. Super nudam metuis humum exesa ieiuniis membra collidere? sed Dominus tecum iacet. Squalidi capitis horret inculta caesaries? sed caput tuum Christus est. Infinita eremi vastitas te terret? sed tu paradisum mente deambula. Quotiescumque illuc cogitatione conscenderis, toties in eremo non eris.

Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church

Letter 14, 10; Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001.htm
Letters

“The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies.”
Facilis descensus Averno: Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est.

Virgil Aeneid

Facilis descensus Averno:
Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
Hoc opus, hic labor est.
Variant translation:
: It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air—
There's the rub, the task.
Compare:
Long is the way
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to Light.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, line 432
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Lines 126–129 (as translated by John Dryden)

“Never despair…”
Nil desperandum...

Horace book Odes

Book I, ode vii, line 27
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)

“In those days I, Virgil, was nursed of sweet Parthenope, and rejoiced in the arts of inglorious ease.”
Illo Vergilium me tempore dulcis alebat Parthenope studiis florentem ignobilis oti.

Virgil Georgics

Book IV, lines 563–564 (tr. Fairclough)
Georgics (29 BC)

“Sorrow too deep to tell, your majesty,
You order me to feel and tell once more.”
Infandum, regina, jubes renovare dolorem.

Virgil Aeneid

Infandum, regina, jubes renovare dolorem.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Line 3 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald); these are the opening words of Aeneas's narrative about the fall of Troy, addressed to Queen Dido of Carthage.

“Nothing can be lasting when reason does not rule.”
Nihil potest esse diuturnum cui non subest ratio.

Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian

IV, 14, 19.
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book IV

“So strong is habit in tender years.”
Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est.

Virgil Georgics

Book II, line 272 (tr. Fairclough)
Compare: "Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." Alexander Pope, Moral Essays: Epistle I (1734), line 150.
Georgics (29 BC)

“Time bears away all things, even our minds.”
Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque.

Virgil book Eclogues

Book IX, line 51
Eclogues (37 BC)

“When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting.”
Plenus venter facile de ieiuniis disputat.

Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church

Letter 58
Letters

“I sang of pastures, farms, and commanders.”
Cecini pascua, rura, duces.

Virgil (-70–-19 BC) Ancient Roman poet

Inscription on Virgil's tomb in Naples (tr. Bernard Knox).
Attributed

“I have laboured carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate human actions, but to understand them”
Sedulo curavi, humanas actiones non ridere, non lugere, neque detestari, sed intelligere; atque adeo humanos affectus, ut sunt amor, odium, ira, invidia, gloria, misericordia et reliquae animi commotiones non ut humanae naturae vitia, sed ut proprietates contemplatus sum, quae ad ipsam ita pertinent, ut ad naturam aëris aestus, frigus, tempestas, tonitru et alia huiusmodi, quae, tametsi incommoda sunt, necessaria tamen sunt, certasque habent causas, per quas eorum naturam intelligere conamur, et mens eorum vera contemplatione aeque gaudet, ac earum rerum cognitione, quae sensibus gratae sunt.

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Source: Political Treatise (1677), Ch. 1, Introduction; section 4
Context: I have laboured carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate human actions, but to understand them; and, to this end, I have looked upon passions, such as love, hatred, anger, envy, ambition, pity, and the other perturbations of the mind, not in the light of vices of human nature, but as properties, just as pertinent to it, as are heat, cold, storm, thunder, and the like to the nature of the atmosphere, which phenomena, though inconvenient, are yet necessary, and have fixed causes, by means of which we endeavour to understand their nature, and the mind has just as much pleasure in viewing them aright, as in knowing such things as flatter the senses

“I sail for Italy not of my own free will.”
Italiam non sponte sequor.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Line 361 (tr. Fitzgerald); Aeneas to Dido.

“The steady drip of water causes stone to hollow and yield.”
Stilicidi casus lapidem cavat.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book I, line 313 (tr. Stallings)
Variant translation: Continual dropping wears away a stone.
Compare: "The soft droppes of rain pierce the hard marble; many strokes overthrow the tallest oaks", John Lyly, Euphues, 1579 (Arber's reprint), p. 81
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“Habit is stronger than nature.”
Consuetudo natura potentior est.

Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian

V, 5, 21.
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book V

“As money grows, care follows it and the hunger for more.”
Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam, Maiorumque fames.

Virgil (-70–-19 BC) Ancient Roman poet

Horace, Odes, Book III, ode xvi, lines 17–18
Misattributed

“I cannot bear a mother's tears.”
Nequeam lacrimas perferre parentis.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IX, Line 289

“Were my protests against the downfall of our country wrong, because you might think they showed ingratitude?”
Quod est aliud, patres conscripti, beneficium latronum, nisi ut commemorare possint iis se dedisse vitam, quibus non ademerint? Quod si esset beneficium, numquam, qui illum interfecerunt, a quo erant conservati, quos tu clarissimos viros soles appellare, tantam essent gloriam consecuti. Quale autem beneficium est, quod te abstinueris nefario scelere? Qua in re non tam iucundum mihi videri debuit non interfectum me a te quam miserum te id impune facere potuisse. Sed sit beneficium, quandoquidem maius accipi a latrone nullum potuit; in quo potes me dicere ingratum? An de interitu rei publicae queri non debui, ne in te ingratus viderer?

Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman

Philippica II, Sections 5 & 6, as translated by Michael Grant, in Cicero : Selected Works (1960), Part One: Against Tyranny; Ch. 3: Attack on an Enemy of Freedom: The Second Philippic against Antony, p. 104
Variant translation:
What kind of favour is it to abstain from doing evil?
Philippicae – Philippics (44 BC)
Context: Nevertheless, let us imagine that you could have killed me. That, Senators, is what a favour from gangsters amounts to. They refrain from murdering someone; then they boast that they have spared him! If that is a true favour, then those who killed Caesar, after he had spared them, would never have been regarded as so glorious — and they are men whom you yourself habitually describe as noble. But the mere abstention from a dreadful crime is surely no sort of favour. In the situation in which this "favour" placed me, my dominant feelings ought not to have been pleasure because you did not kill me, but sorrow because you could have done so with impunity.
However, let us even assume that it was a favour; at any rate the best favour that a gangster could confer. Still, in what respect can you call me ungrateful? Were my protests against the downfall of our country wrong, because you might think they showed ingratitude?

“No stranger to trouble myself I am learning to care for the unhappy.”
Non ignara mali miseris succurrere disco.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book I, Line 630, as translated in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999); spoken by Dido.

“I shall never deny what you deserve, my queen,
never regret my memories of Dido, not while I
can recall myself and draw the breath of life.”
Numquam, regina, negabo Promeritam, nec me meminisse pigebit Elissae Dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IV, Lines 334–336 (tr. Fagles); Aeneas to Dido.

“For there is but one essential justice which cements society, and one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions.”
Est enim unum ius quo deuincta est hominum societas et quod lex constituit una, quae lex est recta ratio imperandi atque prohibendi. Quam qui ignorat, is est iniustus, siue est illa scripta uspiam siue nusquam.

Marcus Tullius Cicero book De Legibus

Book I, section 42; Translation by C.D. Yonge)
De Legibus (On the Laws)
Context: For there is but one essential justice which cements society, and one law which establishes this justice. This law is right reason, which is the true rule of all commandments and prohibitions. Whoever neglects this law, whether written or unwritten, is necessarily unjust and wicked.

“Violence and injury enclose in their net all that do such things, and generally return upon him who began.”
Circumretit enim vis atque iniuria quemque, atque, unde exortast, at eum plerumque revertit.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book V, lines 1152–1153 (tr. Rouse)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“Learn fortitude and toil from me, my son,
Ache of true toil. Good fortune learn from others.”
Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem, Fortunam ex aliis.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book XII, Lines 435–436 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)

“Fate will find a way.”
Fata viam invenient.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book X, Line 113

“Be warned; learn ye to be just and not to slight the gods!”
Discite justitiam moniti et non temnere divos.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 620 (H. Rushton Fairclough)

“This man sold his country for gold.”
Vendidit hic auro patriam.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book VI, Line 621

“An awful misshapen monster, huge, his eyelight lost.”
Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book III, Line 658 (tr. Mandelbaum); of Polyphemus.

“Now drown care in wine.”
Nunc vino pellite curas.

Horace book Odes

Book I, ode vii, line 32
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)

“To all, proportioned terms he must dispense,
And make the sound a picture of the sense.”
Haud satis est illis utcunque claudere versum, Et res verborum propria vi reddere claras; Omnia sed numeris vocum concordibus aptant, Atque sono, quaecunque canunt, imitantur.

Marco Girolamo Vida (1485–1566) Italian bishop

Book III, line 365. Compare:
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offense;
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, Part II, line 164
De Arte Poetica (1527)
Context: Tis not enough his verses to complete,
In measure, numbers, or determined feet;
Or render things, by clear expression bright,
And set each object in a proper light:
To all, proportioned terms he must dispense,
And make the sound a picture of the sense.

“Yet such is the order of nature. While truth is always bitter, pleasantness waits upon evildoing.”
Ita se natura habet, ut amara sit veritas, blanda vitia existimentur.

Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church

Letter 40
Letters

“Jove almighty,
nod assent to the daring work I have in hand!”
Iuppiter omnipotens, audacibus adnue coeptis.

Virgil Aeneid

Compare: Annuit cœptis ("[God] has favored our undertaking"), motto on the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States.
Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book IX, Line 625 (tr. Fagles)

“A pauper in the midst of wealth.”
Magnas inter opes inops.

Horace book Odes

Book III, ode xvi, line 28.
Conington's translation: "'Mid vast possessions poor."
Odes (c. 23 BC and 13 BC)

“The privileges of a few do not make common law.”
Privilegia paucorum non faciunt legem.

Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church

Exposition on Jona
Commentaries, Old Testament

“But meanwhile it is flying, irretrievable time is flying.”
Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus.

Virgil Georgics

Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus.
Book III, line 284; often quoted as tempus fugit ('time flies').
Compare Poor Richard's maxim of 1748: "Lost Time is never found again."
Georgics (29 BC)

“A little river seems to him, who has never seen a larger river, a mighty stream; and so with other things—a tree, a man—anything appears greatest to him that never knew a greater.”
Scilicet et fluvius qui visus maximus ei, Qui non ante aliquem majorem vidit; et ingens Arbor, homoque videtur, et omnia de genere omni Maxima quae vidit quisque, haec ingentia fingit.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Scilicet et fluvius qui visus maximus ei,
Qui non ante aliquem majorem vidit; et ingens
Arbor, homoque videtur, et omnia de genere omni
Maxima quae vidit quisque, haec ingentia fingit.

Book VI, lines 674–677 (quoted in The Essays of Michel de Montaigne, tr. W. C. Hazlitt)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“I shudder as I tell the tale.”
Horresco referens.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book II, Line 204 (tr. Fairclough)

“A handful of men, inured to war, proceed to certain victory, while on the contrary numerous armies of raw and undisciplined troops are but multitudes of men dragged to slaughter.”
Etenim in certamine bellorum exercitata paucitas ad uictoriam promptior est, rudis et indocta multitudo exposita semper ad caedem.

Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus book De re militari

Book 1
De Re Militari (also Epitoma Rei Militaris), Book I, "The Selection and Training of New Levies"

“We are always ready to imitate what is evil; and faults are quickly copied where virtues appear inattainable.”
Proclivis est enim malorum aemulatio, et quorum virtutes assequi nequeas, cito imitaris vitia.

Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church

Leter 107
Letters

“Force overcome by force.”
Vi victa vis.

Marcus Tullius Cicero Pro Milone

Pro Milone, Chapter XI, section 30
Variant translation: Violence conquered by violence.

“Besides we feel that mind to being comes
Along with body, with body grows and ages.
For just as children totter round about
With frames infirm and tender, so there follows
A weakling wisdom in their minds; and then,
Where years have ripened into robust powers,
Counsel is also greater, more increased
The power of mind; thereafter, where already
The body's shattered by master-powers of eld,
And fallen the frame with its enfeebled powers,
Thought hobbles, tongue wanders, and the mind gives way;
All fails, all's lacking at the selfsame time.
Therefore it suits that even the soul's dissolved,
Like smoke, into the lofty winds of air;
Since we behold the same to being come
Along with body and grow, and, as I've taught,
Crumble and crack, therewith outworn by eld.”
Praeterea gigni pariter cum corpore et una crescere sentimus pariterque senescere mentem. nam vel ut infirmo pueri teneroque vagantur corpore, sic animi sequitur sententia tenvis. inde ubi robustis adolevit viribus aetas, consilium quoque maius et auctior est animi vis. post ubi iam validis quassatum est viribus aevi corpus et obtusis ceciderunt viribus artus, claudicat ingenium, delirat lingua labat mens, omnia deficiunt atque uno tempore desunt. ergo dissolui quoque convenit omnem animai naturam, ceu fumus, in altas aëris auras; quando quidem gigni pariter pariterque videmus crescere et, ut docui, simul aevo fessa fatisci.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book III, lines 445–458 (tr. W. E. Leonard)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“Far from it that the King of Bohemia flee, but to get there lead me where there is greatest uproar of the fight in vigor; the Lord is with us, we must fear nothing, only keep my son diligently.”
Absit, ut rex Boemie fugeret, sed illuc me ducite, ubi maior strepitus certaminis vigeret, Dominus sit nobiscum, nil timeamus, tantum filium meum diligenter custodite.

John of Bohemia (1296–1346) Czech king and warrior

Statement at the Battle of Crécy (26 August 1346), as quoted in Chronicles of Prague (c. 1370) by Benessius of Weitmil http://www.clavmon.cz/clavis/FRRB/chronica/CRONICA%20ECCLESIAE%20PRAGENSIS.htm
Variants and paraphrases:
Let it never be the case that a Bohemian king runs from a fight.
As quoted in The Mammoth Book of Losers (2014) by Karl Shaw
Let it never be the case that a Bohemian king runs.
God willing, it will never happen that a Bohemian king runs from a fight!
With God's help it will never be that a Bohemian king would run from a fight!

“Every day we are changing, every day we are dying, and yet we fancy ourselves eternal.”
Quotidie morimur, quotidie commutamur, et tamen aternos nos esse credimus.

Jerome (345–420) Catholic saint and Doctor of the Church

Letter 60; Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001.htm
Letters

“A mind conscious of its own rectitude.”
Mens sibi conscia recti.

Virgil Aeneid

Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book I, Line 604

“There is no place for death.”
Nec morti esse locum.

Virgil Georgics

Book IV, line 226
Georgics (29 BC)

“Never trust her at any time, when the calm sea shows her false alluring smile.”
Infidi maris insidis virisque dolumque ut vitare velint, neve ullo tempore credant subdola cum ridet placidi pellacia ponti.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book II, lines 557–559 (tr. Rouse)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“Nothing is easier to say.”
Nil est dictu facilius.

Terence Phormio

Source: Phormio, Line 300.

“The noblest motive is the public good.”
Vincit amor patriae.

Virgil (-70–-19 BC) Ancient Roman poet

Richard Steele, in The Spectator. Compare Aeneid 6.823: Vincet amor patriae ("Love of country shall prevail").
"In The City of God Augustine quoted the line but changed the verb from the future to the present tense (vincet › vincit). That form became a traditional quotation, often reprinted and reproduced on medals, monuments, and family crests. [...] "Vincit amor patriae" appeared at the head of Spectator no. 200 (October 19, 1711) without translation. The essays from the Spectator were published and republished as books as early as 1713. To assist readers who lacked Latin or Greek, the editors of the 1744 edition provided English translations for its epigraphs; to "Vincit amor patriae" was added "The noblest Motive is the Publick Good." It stuck. The translation was modernized and made its way into innumerable texts and onto public buildings. It is inscribed on the ceiling of the south corridor of the Library of Congress and attributed to Virgil. A mistranslation became a quotation." —Willis Goth Regier, Quotology (2010), pp. 40–41.
Misattributed

“Prosperity can change man's nature; and seldom is any one cautious enough to resist the effects of good fortune.”
Res secundæ valent commutare naturam, et raro quisquam erga bona sua satis cautus est.

Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian

X, 1, 40.
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book X

“So rolling time changes the seasons of things. What was of value, becomes in turn of no worth.”
Sic volvenda aetas commutat tempora rerum. Quod fuit in pretio, fit nullo denique honore.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book V, lines 1276–1277 (tr. Bailey)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“Life is one long struggle in the dark.”
Omnis cum in tenebris praesertim vita laboret.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Book II, line 54 (tr. Rouse)
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)

“Nothing can be produced from nothing.”
Nil posse creari de nihilo.

Lucretius (-94–-55 BC) Roman poet and philosopher

Nil posse creari
de nihilo.
Book I, lines 156–157 (tr. Munro)
Variant translations:
Nothing can be created from nothing.
Nothing can be created out of nothing.
De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)