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Latin Sayings:
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"Musica delenit bestiam feram." (Music soothes the savage beast.)
"Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?" (How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?)
"Nihil est--in vita priore ego imperator Romanus fui." (That's nothing--in a previous life I was a Roman Emperor.)
"Aio, quantitas magna frumentorum est." (Yes, that is a very large amount of corn.)
"Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!" (Stand aside plebians! I am on imperial business.)
"Oblitus sum perpolire clepsydras!" (I forgot to polish the clocks!)
"Sic faciunt omnes." (Everyone is doing it.)
"Fac ut vivas." (Get a life.)
"Anulos qui animum ostendunt omnes gestemus!" (Let's all wear mood rings!)
"Insula Gilliganis." (Gilligan's Island.)
"Exterioris pagina puella." (Cover Girl.)
"Coruscantes disci per convexa caeli volantes." (Flying saucers.)
"Escariorium lavator." (Dishwashing machine.)
"Instrumentum aeri temperando." (Airconditioner.)
"Aeronavis abstractio a prestituto cursu." (Hijacking.)
"Nummus americanus." (Greenback ($US)
"Latine loqui coactus sum." (I have this compulsion to speak Latin.)
"Qui vir odiosus!" (What a bore!)
"Heu! Tintinnuntius meus sonat!" (Darn! There goes my beeper!)
"Labra lege." (Read my lips.)
"Non erravi perniciose!" (I did not commit a fatal error!)
"Fortunatus sum! Pila mea de gramine horrido modo in pratum lene recta
volvit!" (Isn't that lucky! My ball just rolled out of the rough and
onto the fairway!)
"Haec trutina errat." (There is something wrong with this scale.)
"Si Non Oscillas Noli Tintinnare" (If you don't swing, don't ring (Plaque on the Playboy mansion in Chicago.))
Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europe vincendarum. (Sometimes
I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe.)
Eheu, litteras istas reperire non possum. (Unfortunately, I can't find
those particular documents.)
Scio cur summae inter se dissentiant! Numeris Romanis utor! (I know
why the numbers don't agree! I use Roman numerals!)
Estne tibi forte magna feles fulva et planissima? (Do you by chance
happen to own a large, yellowish, very flat cat?)
Prescriptio in manibus tabellariorium est. (The check is in the mail.)
Braccae tuae aperiuntur. (Your fly is open.)
In dentibus acticis frustrum magnum spinaciae habes. (You have a big
piece of spinach in your teeth.)
Prospice tibi--ut Gallia, tu quoque in tres partes dividareis. (Watch
out--you might end up divided into three parts, like Gaul.)
Bene, cum Latine nescias, nolo manus meas in te maculare. (Well, if you
don't understand plain Latin, I'm not going to dirty my hands on you.)
Sane ego te vocavi. Forsitan capedictum tuum desit. (I did call.
Maybe your answering machine is broken.)
Vinum bellum iucunumque est, sed animo corporeque caret. (It's a nice
little wine, but it lacks character and depth.)
"Exempli Gratia." (Acronym "EG" - For Example)
"Id Est." (Acronym "IE" - That Is)
"Ad Libitum." (Acronym "AD LIB" - Freely)
"Ad Interim." (For the Time Being)
"Ad Libitur." (As Desired)
"Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam." (to the greater glory of God - motto of the Society of Jesus)
"Dei Gratia." (By the Grace of God)
"In Dei Nomine." (In the name of God)
"Soli Deo Gloria." (To God Alone the Glory)
Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat.
(It's not the heat, it's the humidity.)
Di! Ecce hora! Uxor mea me necabit!
(God, look at the time! My wife will kill me!)
Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum.
(Garbage in, garbage out.)
Credo nos in fluctu eodem esse.
(I think we're on the same wavelength.)
Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.
(The designated hitter rule has got to go.)
Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis
exponebantur ad necem.
(In the good old days, children like you were left to perish on windswept
crags.)
Quomodo cogis comas tuas sic videri?
(How do you get your hair to do that?)
Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui.
(Bad kitty! Why don't you use the cat box? I put new litter in it.)
(At a barbeque)
Animadvertistine, ubicumque stes, fumum recta in faciem ferri?
(Ever noticed how wherever you stand, the smoke goes right into your face?)
Neutiquam erro.
(I am not lost.)
Hocine bibo aut in eum digitos insero?
(Do I drink this or stick my fingers in it?)
Vah! Denuone Latine loquebar? Me ineptum. Interdum modo elabitur.
(Oh! Was I speaking Latin again? Silly me. Sometimes it just sort of slips out.)
In hoc signo vinces. (It reads: Under this sign (the cross of
God) thou shalt conquer. This Latin phrase was said to have been writen in
the sky before Consantine, with the sign of a burning cross, previous to
the battled at Milvian Bridge north of Rome in 312ad.)
Cave canem (Beware of the dog.)
Cave canem...te necet lingendo (Beware of the dog, he may lick you to death.)
Dei gratia (By the grace of God.)
De mortuis nil nisi bonum (Say nothing but good of the dead.)
Diis aliter visum (The Gods decided otherwise.)
Divide et impera (Divide and rule.)
Fax mentis incedium gloriae (The passion of glory is the torch of the mind.)
Docendo discimus (We learn by teaching.)
Ex nilhilo nihil fit (From, or out of, nothing, nothing comes; nothing begetes nothing.)
Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchmen? (Juvenal))
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur (Anything said in Latin sounds profound.)
"Homo homini lupus" ((lit.: Man is to another man a wolf.", i.e., People are wolves to each other). For the correct use of this tag from Plautus, see for example
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/killing/wolf.html )
"Quod omne animal post coitum est triste." Aristoteles
Every animal is sad after a copulation.
"Ars longa, vita brevis." Hypocrates
The work (art) is long, the life is short.
"De gustibus non est disputandum." (There's no accounting for tastes.)
"In his ordo est ordinem non servare." (In this case the only rule is not obeying any rules.)
"O diem praeclarum!" (Oh, what a beautiful day!)
"Astra non mentiuntur, sed astrologi bene mentiuntur de astris." (The stars never lie, but the astrologs lie about the stars.)
"si hoc legere scis nimium eruditiones habes." (essentially it says, "if you can read this, you're overeducated.")
"Cogito Ergo Doleo." (I think therefore I am depressed.)
"in flagrante delicto" (red-handed)
"Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum, Multa recedentes adimiunt"--Horace, Ars Poetica
(The years as they come bring may agreeable things with them; as they go, they take many away.)
"Exemplum de simia, quae, quando plus ascendit, plus apparent posteriora eius" --Saint Bonaventure (He doth like the ape, that the higher he clymbes the more he shows his ars. --Translation by Sir Francis Bacon)
"Anicularum lucubrationes" (Old wives' tales.)
"Sic transit gloria mundi" (thus passes the glory of the world)
"Errare humanun est - sed perseverare diabolicum" (mistakes are human, but to continue making mistakes is devilish)
"Vita luna" (crazy life)
"Re vera, potas bene." (Say, you sure are drinking a lot.)
"Primum viveri deinde philosophari" (Live before you philosophize. or Leap
before you look.)
"Quid pro quo?" (what for what?)
"a fronte praecipitium a tergo lupi" (The modern version would either be "between a rock and a hard place" lit: "a precipice in front, wolves behind"!)
"Nos morituri te salutant!" (which means "We, who are about to die, salute you" it was used when gladiatiors were about to undergo their punishment during the Roman Circus celebrations. They hailed Cesar with that saying.)
"Veni Vidi Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered)
"Absconde obesito illegitimo" (Get outta here you fat bastard (Buddy Hacket))
"Vincit omnia veritas" (The truth conquers all)
"tum podem extulit horridulum" (you are talking shit)
"Illegitimus non carborundum" (Don't let the bastards wear you down) (is equally ungrammatical; and "carborundum" is not Latin. It is a 20th-century joke, as far as IĘcan tell first spread about by Gen. "Vinegar" Joe Stilwell (of the Burmese campaign in WW II). See
and the page after it. )
"stercus tauri" (manure of the bull (Bull Shit) )
"Verbis defectis musica incipit" (Music springs from failing words)
"Quod me nutrit me destruit" (What nourishes me destroys me, kind of like the more you care about something the more potential it has to cause you pain)
"cacatne ursus in silvis?" (Does a bear shit in the woods?)
"Nemo saltat sorbius, nisi infanus est.' Nobody dances when sober, unless they are insane. (my personal favourite :) )
"Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse' It is necessary to sail/navigate, but not to live.
"Tempus fugit" (Time disappears)
"Do ut des" (Give when you receive)
"Bene est mihil" (I am well)
"Decisis pennis" (With disappointed hopes)
"Lupus in fabula" (Speak of the devil)
"Ut sementem feeceris" (You reap what you sow)
"Fiducia virorum in sinistra non in dextra est" (Real men don't attack)
"Sapienti sat" (Enough for the wise)
"Res ipsa Loquitur" (The thing speaks for itself)
"Derevaun seraun" (The end of pleasure is pain)
Latin Sayings -
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