More Latin Quotations

I started posting some of these quotes yesterday, but there were just too many good ones, so I split it up into two posts. So here are some more of my favorite Latin quotations that I came across in researching for my novel (some of which made it into my novel(s) and many which probably won't):

Non est ad astra mollis e terries via - There is no easy way from the Earth to the stars. (Seneca the Younger)

Non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici - We are not born, we do not live for ourselves alone; our country, our friends have a share in us. (Cicero)

Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati - We are but numbers, born to consume resources. (Horace)

Non omnia possumus omnes - We cannot all do everything. (Virgil, Eclogues)

Non qui parum habet, sed qui plus cupit, pauper est - It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. (Seneca the Younger)

Non satis est puris versum perscribere verbis - Tis not sufficient to combine well-chosen words in a well-ordered line. (Horace)

Nullum esse librum tam malum, ut non aliqua parte prodesset - No book was so bad but that some good might be got out of it. (Pliny the Younger, repeating what his father, Pliny the Elder, used to say)

Nullumst iam dictum quod non dictum sit prius - Nothing is said that has not been said before. (Terence, Eunuchus)

Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque - Time bears away all things, even our minds. (Virgil, Ecologues)

Otium et reges prius et beatas perdidit urbes - Often has leisure ruined great kings and fine cities. (Catullus)

Quae fuit furum pati, meminisse dulce est - Things that were hard to bear are pleasant to remember. (Seneca the Younger)

Qui e nuce nucleum esse vult, frangat nucem - He who would eat the kernel must crack the shell. (Plautus, Curculio, I.1)

Quidquid multis peccatur inultum est - The sin of thousands always goes unpunished. (Lucan)

Rarum id quidem nihil enim aeque gratum est adeptis quam concupiscentibus - An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit. (Pliny the Younger)

Sapiens vivit quantum debet, non quantum potest - The wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can. (Seneca the Younger)

Satius est supervacus acire quam nihil - It is better to know useless things than nothing at all. (Seneca the Younger)

Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim - Learned or not, we shall write poems without distinction ("Fools also write").

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What I love most about these quotes (and all of the research I ended up doing about Ancient Rome) is noting how little has changed between then and now, despite the passing of two millennia. Humans still ponder these same questions, repeat these same words, make the same mistakes, have the same insights, make the same arguments...

Even back then, they were saying that everything had already been said, that there was nothing new under the sun. And yet - it is new. Over and over again, it's new again. Just because someone already realized something two thousand years ago doesn't diminish the excitement we feel when we realize it again in our own lives in 2016.

I don't know - when I read quotes like this, it makes me feel really small/insignificant but at the same time an important, significant piece of a cyclical, multi-layered world. (Somehow those feelings aren't contradictory. They coexist rather peacefully.) And that's why I was drawn to do all this research in the first place.

Latin Quotations

As I mentioned before, I ended up doing a lot of research into Latin and famous Latin quotations in working on writing and editing my novel(s).

Here are some of my favorite quotations that I came across in that research (some of which made it into my novel(s) and many which probably won't):

Cedit item retro, de terra quod fuit ante, in terras - What once sprung from the earth sinks back into the earth. (Lucretius)

Collige virgo rosas dum flos novas et nova pubes - Pick the flowers, girl, while they are still fresh and youth is new. (Ausonius, Epigrammata Rosae 2:49)

Expedit esse deos, et, ut expedit, esse putemus - It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe that there are. (Ovid)

Homo sum humani nil a me alienum puto - I am human; I consider nothing human alien to me. (Terence, Heauton Timorumenos, I.1)

Homo unius libri timeo - I fear a man of one book. (Thomas Aquinas)

Idque apud imperitos humanitas vocabatur, cum pars servitutis esset - Because they didn't know better, they called it "civilization," when it was part of their slavery. (Tacitus)

Inter urinas et faeces nascimur - We are born between urine and feces. (St. Augustine)

Intret amicitiae nomine tectus amor - Let love steal in disguised as friendship. (Ovid)

Ita res accedent lumina rebus - Truths kindle light for truths. (Lucretius)

Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur - The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived. (Petronius)

Nec alii obest aut prodest alterius religio - One man's religion neither harms nor helps another man. (Tertullian)

Necessitas etiam timidos fortes facit - Necessity makes even the timid brave. (Sallust)

Nemo enim est tam senex qui se annum non putet posse vivere - No one is so old as to think that he cannot live one more year. (Cicero)

Nequam illud verbum'st, bene vult, nisi qui bene facit - That expression 'He means well' is useless unless he does well. (Plautus, Trinummus, II.4)

Nescire autem quid ante quam natus sis acciderit, id est semper esse puerum - To be ignorant of the past to be forever a child. (Cicero)

Nihil tam absurde dici potest, quod non dicatur ab aliquo philosophorum - There is nothing so ridiculous that some philosopher has not already said it. (Cicero)

Non aetate, verum ingenio apiscitur sapientiai - Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired. (Plautus, Trinummus, II.2)

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Please note that my posting these quotes is not necessarily an endorsement of the words. There are a few of these I find interesting enough to momentarily consider, but don't/can't ultimately agree with.

Ovid's argument for believing in god(s), for instance, is interesting but ultimately unsatisfying. I don't believe in things because it is convenient to do so; I believe in things (or don't) because I actually believe in them (or don't). It is in fact often inconvenient to believe the things I believe. I've found myself more than once thinking that it would have been so much easier/more convenient if I had continued believing in God - but that convenience alone is not enough to pursue me back to Christianity.

Similarly, Tertullian's assertion that "One man's religion neither harms nor helps another man" is ideal, but complete bullshit in practice. One man's religion shouldn't harm another, and yet - so often - they do.