Latin proverbs

B

• Beatus, qui prodest, quibus potest.
  • Translation: "He is lucky who helps everyone he can." or, very differently, "He is lucky the one who gets an advantage from those on which he has some power."

• Bene diagnoscitur, bene curatur.
  • Translation: "Something that is well diagnosed can be cured well."

• Bis dat, qui cito dat.
  • Translation: "He who gives quickly gives twice."

• Bona diagnosis, bona curatio.
  • Translation: "Good diagnosis, good cure."

• Bona valetudo melior est quam maximae divitiae.
  • Translation: "Good health is worth more than the greatest wealth."

C

• Cibi condimentum est fames.
  • Translation: "Hunger is a spice for any meal."

• Concordia civium murus urbium.
  • Translation: "Harmony of citizens is the wall of cities."

• Consuetudinis vis magna est.
  • Translation: "The power of habit is great."

• Consuetudo altera natura est.
  • Translation: "Habit is second nature."

• Contraria contrariis curantur.
  • Translation: "Opposites are cured by their opposites."

• Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis.
  • Translation: "There's no herb against the power of death."

• Cura, ut valeas!
  • Translation: "Take Care, that you may be well!"

D

E

• E fructu arbor cognoscitur.
  • Translation: "The tree can be recognized by its fruits."

• Errare humanum est. Perseverare diabolicum.
  • Translation: "To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil."

F

• Festina lente !
  • Translation: "Make haste slowly" - proceed quickly but with caution, a motto of Augustus Caesar.

• Fide, sed qui, vide.
  • Translation: "Trust but take care whom."

• Fortes fortuna uvat. or Audaces fortuna juvat.
  • Translation: "Fortune favors the brave."

G

• Gloria victis.
  • Translation: "Glory to the defeated."

• Gutta cavat lapidem non vi, sed saepe cadendo.
  • Translation: "A drop drills the rock not with force but by falling repeatedly."

H

I

L

• Laborare est orare.
  • Translation: "To work is to pray."

• Laborare omnia vincit.
  • Translation: "Labor conquers all."

M

• Manus manum lavat.
  • Translation: "One hand washes the other."

• Medicus curat, natura sanat.
  • Translation: "The doctor cares [for his patient], nature heals [him]."

• Memento mori.
  • Translation: "Remember your mortality." Also, ironically, "Remember to die." it is the motto of the Friars of Trappa.

• Mens sana in corpore sano.
  • Translation: "A healthy spirit in a healthy body." (This quotation is out of context: As quoted here, it appears to say that a healthy body is the prerequisite for a healthy spirit, but that's not how it was meant initially. The complete quote is Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano, which means "Let's hope that there is a healthy spirit in a healthy body.")

• Munit haec et altera vincit.
  • Translation: "One defends and the other conquers" (motto of .)

N

• Naturo abhorret a vacuo.
  • Translation: "Nature abhors a vacuum."

• Nec Hercules contra plures.
• Nemo me impune lacessit.
  • Translation: "No-one attacks me with impunity," the Scots national motto.

• Neque ignorare medicum oportet quae sit aegri natura.
• Nihil lacrima citius arescit.
  • Translation: "Nothing dries more quickly than a tear."

• Nil sine numini.
  • Translation: "Nothing without Providence."

• Nomen est omen.
  • Translation: "A name is an omen."

• Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo.
  • Translation: "I was not, I was, I am not, I don't care." (found on tombstones abbreviated NFFNSNC)

• \Non omnia possumus omnes.
  • Translation: "All of us cannot do everything."

• Non scholae, sed vitae discimus.
  • Translation: "We don't learn from school but from life."

• Non ut edam vivo, sed ut vivam edo.
  • Translation: "I don't live to eat, but I eat to live."

• Non vestimentum virum ornat, sed vir vestimentum.
  • Translation: "Not the raiment graces the man, but the man the raiment."

• Non vini vi no, sed vi no aquae.
• Nondum amabam, et amare amabam.
  • Translation: "I did not love, even if I yearned to love."

• Nosce te ipsum!
  • Translation: "Know thyself!"

• Nulla dies sine linea.
  • Translation: "No day without a line."

• Nulla est medicina sine lingua Latina.
  • Translation: "No medicine without Latin."

• Nulla regula sine exceptione.
  • Translation: "No rule without exception."

• Nulla res tam necessaria est quam medicina.
  • Translation: "Nothing is so necessary as medicine."

O

• Oculi plus vident quam oculus.
  • Translation: "Several eyes see more than only one."

• Omne ignotum pro magnifico.
  • Translation: "Everything unknown passes for miraculous."

• Omnes homines sibi sanitatem cupiunt, saepe autem omnia, quae valetudini contraria sunt, faciunt.
  • Translation: "All men wish to be healthy, but often they do everything that's disadvantageous to their health."

• Omnia mea mecum porto.
  • Translation: "All that's mine I carry with me."

• Omnia vincit amor.
  • Translation: "Love conquers all."

• Omnium artium medicina nobilissima est.
  • Translation: "Medicine is the noblest of all arts."

• Optimum medicamentum quies est.
  • Translation: "Peace is the best medicine."

• Ora et labora.
  • Translation: "Pray and work."

P

• Pax melior est quam iustissimum bellum.
  • Translation: "Peace is better than the most just war."

• Pecunia not olet.
  • Translation: "Money does not smell'' (Remark by Vespasian on the plan to tax public urinals.)

• Per ardua ad astra.
  • Translation: "Through struggle to the stars." (The motto of the Royal Air Force.

• Per aspera ad astra.
  • Translation: "Through hardships to the stars." (The motto of .)

• Per scientiam ad salutem aegroti.
  • Translation: "To heal the sick through knowledge."

• Perspecite potestatem caesi.
  • Translation: "Behold the power of cheese."

• Plenus venter non studet libenter.
  • Translation: "A full belly doesn't like studying."

• Plures crapula quam gladius perdidit.
  • Translation: "Drunkenness takes more lives than the sword."

• Post cenam non stare sed mille passus meare.
  • Translation: "Do not rest after dinner, but walk a mile."

• Post hoc non est propter hoc.
  • Translation: "'After this' is not 'because of this'."

• Praesente medico nihil nocet.
  • Translation: "In the presence of a doctor nothing can harm."

• Praevenire melius est quam praeveniri.
  • Translation: "It is better to precede than to be preceded."

• Primum non nocere.
  • Translation: "First, do no harm" (a physician's principle).

Q

• Quidquid agis, prudenter agas, et respice finem!
  • Translation: "Whatever you do, may you do it prudently, and toe the line!"

• Quidquid discis, tibi discis.
  • Translation: "Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself."

• Quidquid id est timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
  • Translation: "Whatever it is, I fear the girls, even when they kiss."

• Qui rogat, non errat.
  • Translation: "Who asks isn't wrong."

• Qui scribit, bis legit.
  • Translation: "Who writes, reads twice."

• Qui tacet, consentire videtur.
  • Translation: "Who is silent seems to agree."

• Qui transtulit sustinet.
  • Translation: "He who transplanted still sustains." (motto of - "He" refers to God, who transplanted them from England to the New World.)

• Qui vult dare parva non debet magna rogare.
  • Translation: "He who wishes to give little shouldn't ask for much."

• Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi.
  • Translation: "All that is allowed to Jupiter is not necessarily allowed to an ox."

• Quod medicina aliis, aliis est acre venenum.
  • Translation: "One person's medicine is another's foul poison."

• Quot capita, tot sententiae.
  • Translation: "As many opinions as people."

R

• Repetitio est mater studiorum.
  • Translation: "Repetition is the mother of study."

• Repetita iuvant.
  • Translation: "Repetition is useful", or "Repeating things helps".

S

• Saepe morborum gravium exitus incerti sunt.
  • Translation: "The effects of serious illnesses are often unknown."

• Salus aegroti suprema lex.
  • Translation: "The well-being of the patient is the most important law."

• Sic transit gloria mundi.
  • Translation: "Thus passes worldly glory." In Bible; repeated during the coronation of the Pope.

• Similia similibus curantur.
  • Translation: "Like cures like."

• Sine labore non erit panis in ore.
  • Translation: "Without work there won't be any bread in your mouth."

• Si decem habeas linguas, mutum esse addecet.
  • Translation: "Even if you had ten tongues, you should hold them all."

• Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.
  • Translation: "If you had kept your silence, you would have stayed a philosopher."

• Si vis pacem, para bellum.
  • Translation: "If you want peace, prepare war."

• Si vis pacem, para iustitiam.
  • Translation: "If you want peace, prepare justice."

• Summum ius summa inuria.
  • Translation: "More law, less justice."

T

• Tarde venientibus ossa.
  • Translation: "For those who come late, only the bones."

• Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis.
  • Translation: "The times are changed, and we are changed in them."

• Tempus Fugit.
  • Translation: "Time Flies."

• Tres faciunt collegium.
  • Translation: "Three makes a company."

U

• Ubi concordia, ibi victoria.
  • Translation: "Where there is harmony, there is victory."

• Ubi fumus, ibi ignis.
  • Translation: "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

• Ubi tu Gaius, ibi ego Gaia.
  • Translation: "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.)

• Unum castigabis, centum emendabis.
  • Translation: "If you reprove one error, you will correct a hundred."

• Usus magister est optimus.
  • Translation: "Practice makes perfect."

• Ut ameris, amabilis esto.
  • Translation: "Be amiable, then you'll be loved."

• Ut incepit fidelis, sic permanet.
  • Translation: "Loyal she began, and loyal she remains" (motto of ).

• Ut sis nocte levis, sit cena brevis!
  • Translation: "That your sleeping hour be peaceful, let your dining hour be brief!" (Sis is one hour before sunset.)

V

• Ventis secundis, tene cursum.
  • Translation: "Go with the flow."

• Verba docent, exempla trahunt.
  • Translation: "Words instruct, illustrations lead."

• Vox populi, vox dei.\
  • Translation: "The voice of the people is the voice of God."