Latin quotes

Latin quotes with translation | page 16

“Everything must have in it a sharp seasoning of truth.”
Nisi quod in se habet mordacis aliquid veritatis.

“I am not so enamored of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them. I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavor to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. Yet I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned.”
Neque enim ita mihi mea placent, ut non perpendam, quid alii de illis iudicaturi sint. Et quamvis sciam, hominis philosophi cogitationes esse remotas à iudicio vulgi, propterea quòd illius studium sit veritatem omnibus in rebus, quatenus id à Deo rationi humanæ permissum est, inquirere, tamen alienas prorsus à rectitudine opiniones fugiendas censeo. Itaque cum mecum ipse cogitarem, quàm absurdum ἀκρόαμα existimaturi essent illi, qui multorum seculorum iudiciis hanc opinionem confirmatam norunt, quòd terra immobilis in medio cœli, tanquam centrum illius posita sit, si ego contra assererem terram moveri...

“The deepest rivers flow with the least sound.”
Altissima quæque flumina minimo sono labuntur.

“Your honor, your name, your praise will live forever.”
Semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt.

“Don't be afraid.”
Noli timere.

“He is a fool who looks at the fruit of lofty trees, but does not measure their height.”
Stultus est qui fructus magnarum arborum spectat, altitudinem non metitur.

“If there is but little water in the stream, it is the fault, not of the channel, but of the source.”
Si rivus tenuiter fluit, non est alvei culpa, sed fontis.

“Hunger that persuades to evil.”
Malesuada Fames.

“Blessings on your young courage, boy; that's the way to the stars.”
Macte nova virtute, puer, sic itur ad astra.

“Love never abandons hope.”
Non umquam spem ponit amor.

“If only Jupiter would give me back
The past years and the man I was…”
O mihi praeteritos referat si Iuppiter annos.

“Even brute beasts and wandering birds do not fall into the same traps or nets twice.”
Bruta quoque animalia et vagae aves, in easdem pedicas retiaque non incidunt.

“Let us go singing as far as we go: the road will be less tedious.”
Cantantes licet usque (minus via laedit) eamus.

“Some day, perhaps, remembering even this
Will be a pleasure.”
Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit.

“For no fact is so simple we believe it at first sight,
And there is nothing that exists so great or marvellous
That over time mankind does not admire it less and less.”
Sed neque tam facilis res ulla est, quin ea primum difficilis magis ad credendum constet, itemque nil adeo magnum neque tam mirabile quicquam, quod non paulatim minuant mirarier omnes.

“Who can deceive a lover?”
Quis fallere possit amantem?

“Amid the friendly silence of the peaceful moon.”
Tacitae per amica silentia lunae.

“Friends and companions,
Have we not known hard hours before this?
My men, who have endured still greater dangers,
God will grant us an end to these as well.”
O socii—neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum— O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem.

“Rumor, swiftest of all the evils in the world.”
Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum.

“Who could tell such things and still refrain from tears?”
Quis talia fando Temperet a lacrimis?

“It is easier to steal the club of Hercules than a line from Homer.”
Facilius esse Herculi clavam quam Homero versum subripere.

“Necessity when threatening is more powerful than device of man.”
Efficacior omni arte imminens necessitas.

“Mind moves matter.”
Mens agitat molem.

“Plenty of eloquence, not enough wisdom”
Satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parum.

“Give lilies with full hands.”
Manibus date lilia plenis.

“Suns may set and rise again. For us, when the short light has once set, remains to be slept the sleep of one unbroken night.”
Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus<br/>rumoresque senum severiorum<br/>omnes unius aestimemus assis soles occidere et redire possunt: nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux, nox est perpetua una dormienda.

“Fear is the proof of a degenerate mind.”
Degeneres animos timor arguit.

“I am a Roman citizen.”
Civis Romanus sum.

“Fear gave wings to his feet.”
Pedibus timor addidit alas.

“Blessed is he who has been able to win knowledge of the causes of things.”
Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

“The scars of others should teach us caution.”
Alius vulnus, nostra sit cautio.

“Repute is never transmitted with certainty; all things that she reports are exaggerated. Even our glory, although it rests on a solid foundation, is greater in name than in fact.”
Numquam ad liquidum fama perducitur; omnia illa tradente maiora sunt vero. Nostra quoque gloria, cum sit ex solido, plus tamen habet nominis quam operis.

“To none is life given in freehold; to all on lease.”
Vitaque mancipio, nulli datur, omnibus usu.

“Practice and thought might gradually forge many an art.”
Ut varias usus meditando extunderet artis paulatim.

“For fear is but a poor safeguard of lasting power; while affection, on the other hand, may be trusted to keep it safe for ever.”
Multorum autem odiis nullas opes posse obsistere, si antea fuit ignotum, nuper est cognitum. Nec vero huius tyranni solum, quem armis oppressa pertulit civitas ac paret cum maxime mortuo interitus declarat, quantum odium hominum valeat ad pestem, sed reliquorum similes exitus tyrannorum, quorum haud fere quisquam talem interitum effugit. Malus enim est custos diuturnitatis metus contraque benivolentia fidelis vel ad perpetuitatem.

“When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”
errant consilia nostra, quia non habent quo derigantur; ignoranti quem portum petat nullus suus ventus est.

“Peace is the best thing that man may know; peace alone is better than a thousand triumphs”
Pax optima rerum quas homini novisse datum est, pax una triumphis innumeris potior, pax custodire salutem et civis aequare potens revocetur in arcis tandem Sidonias, et fama fugetur ab urbe perfidiae, Phoenissa, tua.

“But in times of tumult haste is even slow.”
Sed in tumultu festinatio quoque tarda est

“So far as it goes, a small thing may give an analogy of great things, and show the tracks of knowledge.”
Dum taxat, rerum magnarum parva potest res exemplare dare et vestigia notitiai.

“A greater history opens before my eyes,
A greater task awaits me.”
Major rerum mihi nascitur ordo; Majus opus moveo.

“So potent was Religion in persuading to do wrong.”
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.

“Wars worse than civil.”
Bella...plus quam civilia.

“Never look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Noli equi dentes inspicere donati.

“Begin, baby boy, to recognize your mother with a smile.”
Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem.

“Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation: not because any man's troubles are a delectable joy, but because to perceive from what ills you are free yourself is pleasant.”
Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem; non quia vexari quemquamst jucunda voluptas, sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est.

“The gods thought otherwise.”
Dis<!--Diis?--> aliter visum.

“Above all, worship the gods.”
In primis venerare Deos.

“I sing of arms and a man.”
Arma virumque cano.

“Wonderful to tell.”
Mirabile dictu.

“The attempts to heal enflame the fever more.”
Aegrescitque medendo.

“So hard and huge a task it was to found the Roman people.”
Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!

“Custom renders love attractive; for that which is struck by oft-repeated blows however lightly, yet after long course of time is overpowered and gives way. See you not too that drops of water falling on rocks after long course of time scoop a hole through these rocks?”
Consuetudo concinnat amorem; nam leviter quamvis quod crebro tunditur ictu, vincitur in longo spatio tamen atque labascit. Nonne vides etiam guttas in saxa cadentis umoris longo in spatio pertundere saxa?

“Superstition is now in her turn cast down and trampled underfoot, whilst we by the victory are exalted high as heaven.”
Quare religio pedibus subiecta vicissim opteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo.

“When the truth cannot be clearly made out, what is false is increased through fear.”
Ubi explorari vera non possunt, falsa per metum augentur.

“Nay, even suppose when we have suffered fate,
The soul could feel in her divided state,
What's that to us? for we are only we,
While souls and bodies in one frame agree.
Nay, though our atoms should revolve by chance,
And matter leap into the former dance;
Though time our life and motion could restore,
And make our bodies what they were before,
What gain to us would all this bustle bring?
The new-made man would be another thing;
When once an interrupting pause is made,
That individual being is decayed.
We, who are dead and gone, shall bear no part
In all the pleasures, nor shall feel the smart,
Which to that other mortal shall accrue,
Whom of our matter, time shall mould anew.
For backward if you look, on that long space
Of ages past, and view the changing face
Of matter, tossed and variously combined
In sundry shapes, ’tis easy for the mind
From thence t' infer that seeds of things have been
In the same order as they now are seen:
Which yet our dark remembrance cannot trace,
Because a pause of life, a gaping space
Has come betwixt, where memory lies dead,
And all the wandering motions from the sense are fled.”
Et si iam nostro sentit de corpore postquam distractast animi natura animaeque potestas, tamen est ad nos, qui comptu coniugioque corporis atque animae consistimus uniter apti. nec, si materiem nostram collegerit aetas post obitum rursumque redegerit ut sita nunc est, atque iterum nobis fuerint data lumina vitae, quicquam tamen ad nos id quoque factum, interrupta semel cum sit repetentia nostri. et nunc nil ad nos de nobis attinet, ante qui fuimus, [neque] iam de illis nos adficit angor. nam cum respicias inmensi temporis omne praeteritum spatium, tum motus materiai quam sint, facile hoc adcredere possis, saepe in eodem, ut nunc sunt, ordine posta haec eadem, quibus e nunc nos sumus, ante fuisse. nec memori tamen id quimus reprehendere mente; inter enim iectast vitai pausa vageque deerrarunt passim motus ab sensibus omnes.

“I prefer nothing but that they act like themselves, and I like myself.”
Nihil enim malo quam et me mei similem esse et illos sui.

“The Son of God was crucified: I am not ashamed--because it is shameful. The Son of God died: it is immediately credible--because it is silly. He was buried, and rose again: it is certain--because it is impossible. (Evans translation). z Tertullianus - De carne Christi”
Crucifixus est dei filius; non pudet, quia pudendum est. Et mortuus est dei filius; credibile prorsus est, quia ineptum est. Et sepultus resurrexit; certum est, quia impossibile.

“Let your desires be governed by reason.”
Appetitus rationi pareat.