55 Quotes About Latin

Latin quotes are heartfelt words of wisdom which have been passed on through generations of Latin speakers. While the language is no longer spoken or written in Latin, these timeless quotes are still full of life. Whether you're looking for a new way to look at life or just need some inspiration, check out this collection of Latin quotes about life, love, and more.

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Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'. Ronald Reagan
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What do you think that fish is?' Sam asked Astrid., ' she said.' Yeah?' Sam made a face. 'Do you think it's okay to eat?'? Inedible? Joke, duh. Try to keep up, Sam, I made that really easy for you.' Sam smiled. 'You know, a real genius would have known I wouldn't get it. Ergo, you are not a real genius. Hah. That's right. I threw down an 'ergo.''She gave him a pitying look. 'That's very impressive, Sam. Especially from a boy who has twenty-two different uses for the word 'dude. . Michael Grant
I totally carpe-d the snot out of this diem!
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I totally carpe-d the snot out of this diem! Jerry Scott
Fas est ab hoste doceri. One should learn even from...
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Fas est ab hoste doceri. One should learn even from one's enemies. Ovid
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A man leaves his great house because he's bored With life at home, and suddenly returns, Finding himself no happier abroad. He rushes off to his villa driving like mad, You'ld think he's going to a house on fire, And yawns before he's put his foot inside, Or falls asleep and seeks oblivion, Or even rushes back to town again. So each man flies from himself (vain hope, because It clings to him the more closely against his will) And hates himself because he is sick in mind And does not know the cause of his disease. Titus Lucretius Carus
Pactum serva
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Pactum serva" - "Keep the faith Horace
7
I started studying law, but this I could stand just for one semester. I couldn't stand more. Then I studied languages and literature for two years. After two years I passed an examination with the result I have a teaching certificate for Latin and Hungarian for the lower classes of the gymnasium, for kids from 10 to 14. I never made use of this teaching certificate. And then I came to philosophy, physics, and mathematics. In fact, I came to mathematics indirectly. I was really more interested in physics and philosophy and thought about those. It is a little shortened but not quite wrong to say: I thought I am not good enough for physics and I am too good for philosophy. Mathematics is in between. . Unknown
Science is only a Latin word for knowledge
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Science is only a Latin word for knowledge Carl Sagan
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle. And so we...
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E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle. And so we came forth, and once again beheld the stars. William Styron
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The difficulty of learning the dead languages does not arise from any superior abstruseness in the languages themselves, but in their being dead, and the pronunciation entirely lost. It would be the same thing with any other language when it becomes dead. The best Greek linguist that now exists does not understand Greek so well as a Grecian plowman did, or a Grecian milkmaid; and the same for the Latin, compared with a plowman or a milkmaid of the Romans; and with respect to pronunciation and idiom, not so well as the cows that she milked. It would therefore be advantageous to the state of learning to abolish the study of the dead languages, and to make learning consist, as it originally did, in scientific knowledge. . Thomas Paine
The success of my rule does not rely on my...
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The success of my rule does not rely on my ability to recite obscure Latin verse. Sherry Thomas
Motto for latin countries: If you're not late, you're not...
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Motto for latin countries: If you're not late, you're not on time Bogdan Vaida
Can't you see that I'm only advising you to beg...
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Can't you see that I'm only advising you to beg yourself not to be so dumb? Petronius Arbiter
Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit. 'Everything changes, but nothing is truly...
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Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit. 'Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost. Neil Gaiman
It sounds to me, dear, as if your satirist is...
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It sounds to me, dear, as if your satirist is a bit like a monk. They both take a rather dim view of the world, and both try to do something abou Tony Hendra
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Nescire autem quid antequam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum. (To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.) Marcus Tullius Cicero
17
Mister Cameron - I have read the unexpurgated Ovid, the love poems of Sappho, the Decameron in the original, and a great many texts in Greek and Latin histories that were not though fit for proper gentlemen to read, much less proper ladies. I know in precise detail what Caligula did to, and with, his sisters, and I can quote it to you in Latin or in my own translation if you wish. I am interested in historical truth, and truth in history is often unpleasant and distasteful to those of fine sensibility. I frankly doubt that you will produce anything to shock me. . Mercedes Lackey
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You Can't Replace A Star with A Lightbulb Latif Mercado
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My Friends I Will Always Remember, And My Enemies I Will Never Forget! Latif Mercado
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My Name Is Latif Mercado, And I Am... A Workaholic! Latif Mercado
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Failures Are The Cornerstones Of Success! Latif Mercado
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Aut viam inveniam aut faciam."" I shall either find away, or make one Latin Quote
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...to be able to enjoy the life you have spent, is to live it twice. Marcus Valerius Martialis
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[Giordano] Bruno died, despised and suffering, after eight years of agony. From that moment, his works have attracted interest, and he has long been recognized as an important figure in the development of modern thought. Nevertheless, few are familiar with the many and often bewildering pages of his writings. His Italian works have their place in the history of Italian literature. The Latin works in prose and verse are much more bulky and diffuse, but the few who grapple with them are rewarded by passages of great beauty and eloquence. Dorothea Singer
25
It was my first-year Latin teacher in high school who made me who made me discover I'd fallen in love with it (grammar). It took Latin to thrust me into bona fide alliance with words in their true meaning. Learning Latin fed my love for words upon words in continuation and modification, and the beautiful, sober, accretion of a sentence. I could see the achieved sentence finally standing there, as real, intact, and built to stay as the Mississippi State Capitol at the top of my street. . Eudora Welty
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Latin is a dead tongue And Romans made songs! Then no one disagree: It delighted them in theory Now it's "the Latin" in me. Ana Claudia Antunes
27
I don't know what I'm doing in Santa Teresa, " Amalfitano said to himself after he'd been living in the city for a week." Don't you? Don't you really?" he asked himself." Really I don't, " he said to himself. And that was as eloquent as he could be. Unknown
28
I have indeed lived and worked to my taste either in art or science. What more could a man desire? Knowledge has always been my goal. There is much that I shall leave behind undone…but something at least I was privileged to leave for the world to use, if it so intends… As the Latin poet said I will leave the table of the living like a guest who has eaten his fill. Yes, if I had another life to spend, I certainly would not waste it. But that cannot be, so why complain? . Unknown
29
Saepa stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint scripturas. (Turn the stylus [to erase] often if you would write something worthy of being reread.) Horace
30
He was thirty-six years old, and six foot three. He spoke English to people and French to cats, and Latin to the birds. He had once nearly killed himself trying to read and ride a horse at the same time. Katherine Rundell
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Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.( Pluck the day [for it is ripe], trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.) Horace
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Out in the field, any connection with home just makes you weaker. It reminds you that you were once civilized, soft; and that can get you killed faster than a bullet through the head. Henry Mosquera
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Latin is already a dead language, man... don't make it any deader. Jerry Scott
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The most satisfying of languages, Latin. Donna Tartt
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He called it potentia because there's nothing quite like Latin for disguising the fact you're making it up as you go along. Ben Aaronovitch
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I should think a dead language would be rather boring, sociallyspeaking. Sol Luckman
37
(on the word "fuck")'Oh, come on, Mum, ' I sighed at her protest. 'It's just an old Anglo-Saxon word for the female organ which has been adopted by an inherently misogynist language as a negative epithet. It's the same as "fuck", it basically means the same as copulate, but the latter is perfectly acceptable. Why? Because copulate has its roots in Latin and Latin reminds us that we are a sophisticated, learned species, not the rutting animals that these prehistoric grunts would have us appear to be, and isn't that really the issue here? We don't want to admit that we are essentially animals? We want to distinguish ourselves from the fauna with grand conceits and elaborate language; become angels worthy of salvation, not dumb creatures consigned to an earthly, terminal end. It's just a word, Mum; a sound meaning a thing; and your disgust is just denial of a greater horror: that our consciousness is not an indication of our specialness but the terrifying key to knowing how truly insignificant we are.' She told me to got fuck myself. Simon Pegg
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If the Romans had been obliged to learn Latin, they would never have found the time to conquer the world. Heinrich Heine
39
As Brother Francis readily admitted, his mastery of pre- Deluge English was far from masterful yet. The way nouns could sometimes modify other nouns in that tongue had always been one of his weak points. In Latin, as in most simple dialects of the region, a construction like servus puer meant about the same thing as puer servus, and even in English slave boy meant boy slave. But there the similarity ended. He had finally learned that house cat did not mean cat house, and that a dative of purpose or possession, as in mihi amicus, was somehow conveyed by dog food or sentry box even without inflection. But what of a triple appositive like fallout survival shelter? Brother Francis shook his head. The Warning on Inner Hatch mentioned food, water, and air; and yet surely these were not necessities for the fiends of Hell. At times, the novice found pre- Deluge English more perplexing than either Intermediate Angelology or Saint Leslie's theological calculus. Unknown
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I think we can all agree that the official language of the United States should be Latin. Michelle Templet
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Ira furor brevis est: animum rege: qui nisi paret imperat.( Anger is a brief madness: govern your mind [temper], for unless it obeys it commands.) Horace
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That was a good mark in Latin, and I am pleased with your steady improvement in it. Theodore Roosevelt
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A Memory Is Better Than A Phony! Latif Mercado
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If there's a password needed at the gates of heaven, only Latin will unlock it, he thinks. Kimberly Morgan
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Not Even The Greatest Sculptor Can Mold A Masterpiece Out Of Shit! Latif Mercado
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Is it not lack of faith that leads men to fear the scrutiny of reason? If the destination is doubtful, than the path must be fraught with fear. A robust faith need not fear, for if God exists, then reason cannot help but lead us to Him. Cogito, ergo Deus est, 'says St. Augustine, I think, therefore God is. Donna Woolfolk Cross
47
The spiritual muscles I hadn't used for decades began to acquire some tone, and since they were Catholic muscles too, it was natural to look for a church to work out in. It was hard. Appalling though the predations exacted on the monastic liturgy were, they were nothing compared to the desecration exacted on the secular. Latin was gone entirely, replaced by dull, oppressive, anchorman English, slavishly translated from its sonorous source to be as plain and "direct" as possible. It didn't seem to have occurred to the well-meaning vandals who'd thrown out baby, bath, and bathwater that all ritual is a reaching out to the unknowable and can be accomplished only by the noncognitive: evocation, allusion, metaphor, incantation–the tools of the poet. Tony Hendra
48
Per aspera ad astra, Papa, ' I whispered. Through hardship to the stars. Ruta Sepetys
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All hope abandon, ye who enter here. Dante Alighieri
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Facilis descensus Averno:Noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;Sed revocare gradium superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus, hic labor est.( 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 task and mighty labor lies.) Virgil
51
Do you know who 'twas that first knew our Lord had caused Himself to be born? 'Twas the cock; he saw the star, and so he said—all the beasts could talk Latin in those days; he cried: 'Christus natus est! ' " He crowed these words so like a cock that Kristin fell to laughing heartily. And it did her good to laugh, for all the strange things Brother Edvin had just been saying had laid a burden of awe on her heart. The monk laughed himself: "Ay, and when the ox heard that, he began to low: 'Ubi, ubi, ubi.' "But the goat bleated, and said: 'Betlem, Betlem, Betlem.' "And the sheep so longed to see Our Lady and her Son that she baa-ed out at once: 'Eamus, eamus! ' "And the new-born calf that lay in the straw, raised itself and stood upon its feet. 'Volo, volo, volo! ' it said. . Sigrid Undset
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On the third, directly before me, were embedded more polished letters: PER OMNIA SAECULA SAECULORUM.For ever and ever. In the red light, the brushed steel glowed softly, like embers. The polish letters blazed. Without a hiss, For ever and ever slid aside, as though inviting me to eternity. Dean Koontz
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Mathemata mathematicis scribuntur. Nicolaus Copernicus
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A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up the details... George Orwell