Latin proverbs
A A lasso rixa quaeritur
Translation: "Weariness loves a wrangle", "It is the weary one who picks a quarrel". Seneca
A mari usque ad mare
Translation: "From sea to sea," national motto of Canada.
A bove maiore discit arare minor
Translation: "From the old ox, the young one learns to plow."; "A good example makes a good job."
A Deo rex, a rege lex
Translation: "The king is from God, the law from the king". Attributed to James I of England
A posse ad esse non valet consequentia
Translation: "From a thing's possibility one cannot be certain of its reality." See also Ab esse ad posse.
Ab amicis honesta petamus
Translation: "One should only ask from a friend what he is capable of." Cicero
Ab esse ad posse valet, a posse ad esse non valet consequentia.
Translation: "From a thing's reality one can be certain of its possibility, from its possibility one cannot be certain of its reality."
Ab igne ignem capere
Translation: "To take fire from fire or To fight fire with fire." Cicero
Ab obice saevior ibit
Translation: "The resistance only makes him attack more ferociously."
Ab ovo (usque ad mala)
Translation: "From the egg to the apples."; "From the beginning to the end." (The Roman meal usually started with eggs and ended with fruit.)
Ab urbe condita
Translation: "From the founding of the city", 'city' meaning Rome
Abeunt studia in mores
Translation: "What one trains frequently, will become part of his character" Ovidius
Abiistis, dulces caricae
Translation: "You're finished, sweet figs" Petronius
Abiit iam et reverti debet
Translation: "He has been gone for long and must once return." Tertullianus
Absens haeres non erit
Translation: "The absent will not be an heir.", "Out of sight, out of mind"
Absentem laedit, qui cum ebrio litigat.
Translation: "He who fights with a drunken person hurts an absentee." (I.e., the "sober" version of the drunken person)
Absint offensae, cum fit celebratio mensae.
Translation: "Insults shouldn't be made when people are celebrating."
Absit iniuria verbis.
Translation: "Let injury by words be absent."
Absit invidia (verbo).
Translation: "Don't take this the wrong way."
Absit omen.
Translation: "May this not be an omen."
Absit reverentia vero
Translation: "The truth shouldn't be silenced to spare someone."
Absque argento omnia vana
Translation: "Without money, all efforts are in vain."
Abstulit qui dedit
Translation: "He who gave it, took it."
Ab uno disce omnes
Translation: "Judge all by this one"
Abusus non tollit usum
Translation: "Abuse is no argument against proper use", legal phrase meaning that just because something can be abused there is no reason for putting an end to its legitimate use
Abyssus abyssum invocat
Translation: "Deep calleth unto deep" (Psalm 42:7)
A cane non magno saepe tenetur aper.
Literally: "A boar is often held by quite a small dog."
A capite ad calcem
Translation: "From head to heel"
Accipe quam primum, brevis est occasio lucri.
Translation, Literally: "Act now, the chance on profit is short." ; more commonly known as: "Strike while the iron is hot"
Acquiris quodcumque rapis
Lit.: "You acquire what you reap (or take by force)", often mistranslated as: "you reap what you sow"
Acquirit qui tuetur
Translation, Literally: "He who preserves something, will have something"; more commonly known as: "Sparing is the first gaining"
Acta est fabula
(Caesar Augustus's last words) Translation: "So ends the story." or "The story has been completed." (perhaps with the meaning of "What has happened was a story/fable.")
Acta Non Verba
Translations: "Deeds, not words" - motto of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, at Kings Point, New York, USA.
Actum est de republica
Translation: "It is all over with the state/republic"
Ad astra per aspera
Translation: "To the stars through adversity" - motto of Kansas (more frequently as "per ardua ad astra", which is the motto of the Royal Air Force)
Ad augusta per angusta
Translation: "To high places by narrow roads."
Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est
Translation, Literally: "It is very important to be well trained in your youth"; more commonly known as: "Who learns young, forgets not when he is old."
Adaequatio rei et intellectus
Traslation: "The intellect (of the knower) must be adequate to the thing (known)", also meaning the thought must be based on the thing. From St. Thomas Aquinas
Adhuc tua messis in herba est
Translation, Literally: "Your crops are still in grass", equivalent to: "There is still a lot to be done"
Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur
Translation: "No one is obliged to do the impossible." (Literally, "No one is held to impossible [things].")
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam
Translation: "For the greater glory of God." Motto of the Jesuits / St. Ignatius of Loyola
Adde parvum parvo magnus acervus erit.
Translation: "Add little to little and there will be a big pile" — Ovid.
Adsum, qui feci
Translation: "Here I am who did it"
Aegroto dum anima est, spes est.
Translation: "As long as a sick person is conscious, there is still hope." Commonly "While there's life there's hope."
Aevo rarissima nostro simplicitas
Translation: "These days (lit.: in our days) simplicity is very rare"
Age quod agis
Translation: "Do what you do", in the sense of "Do well what you do", "Do well in whatever you do" or "Be serious in what you do"
Age si quid agis
Translation: "Do when you do something", "If you do something, do it well" see also "Age quod agis"
Alea iacta est.
Translation: "The die is cast!" (said by Julius Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon, contrary to law.)
Apparently said in Greek, not in Latin as is commonly thought, according to Tom Holland's Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic.
Aliam vitam, alio mores
Translation: "Another life, other values", more commonly known as: "Other times, other manners"
Aliis si licet, tibi non licet
Translation: "If others are allowed to, that does not mean you are"
Aliquando et insanire jucundum est
Translation: "It is fun to do something foolish every now and then"
Alius et idem
Translation: "Something else, yet still the same"
Alta alatis patent
Translation: "The sky is open to those who have wings"
Alter ego est amicus
Translation: "A friend is another me", originally in Greek by either Zeno or Plato, see also 'Alter ipse amicus'
Alter ipse amicus
Translation: "A friend is another self.", see also 'Alter ego est amicus'
Alterius non sit, qui potest esse sui
Translation: "Don't depend on someone else if you can be your own master"
Altus Quinque
Translation: "High Five."
Ama nesciri
Translation: "Love the obscurity" in the sense of "Do not seek fame"
Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur
Translation: "Even a god can barely love and still have all his wits about him"
Amat Victoria Curam
Translation: "Victory loves preparation"
Amici, diem perdidi.
Translation: "Friends, I lost a day.", spoken by Titus in the context that he has done no good deed during that day. Source: Suetonius Life of Titus 8.1
Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur.
Translation: "A true friend is discerned during an uncertain matter" (Cicero)
Amicus optima vitae possessio.
Translation: "A friend is the greatest treasure in life"
Amor patriae nostra lex.
Translation: "Love of the fatherland is our law." Motto of the Polish Winged Hussars.
Amor vincit omnia.
Translation: "Love conquers all". Often quoted in this form, but originally Omnia vincit amor (same translation) ((Virgil, Eclogues 10:69).
Amore, more, ore, re
Translation: (with) "love, behaviour, words, actions" from "Verus amicus amore more ore re cognoscitur" Virgilius (Latin for : True friend becomes known in the love, the disposition, the speeches, the deeds.)
Amor mundum fecit
Translation: "Love created the earth."
Amor omnibus idem
Translation: "Love is equal to all"
Amor patitur moras
Translation: "Love is patient"
Amor tussisque non celatur
Translation: "Love, and a cough, cannot be concealed"
A mundo condito
Translation: "From the creation of the world"
Anguis in herba (latet)
Translation: "A snake (is hidden) in the grass." There is something malevolent hidden. (Virgil)
Animo deliberato
Translation: "Deliberately"
Animus imperat
Translation: "The mind rules"
An nescis, mi fili, quantilla prudentia mundus regatur? (alternatively: regatur orbis)
Translation: "Don't you know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed?
Axel Oxenstierna (1583 – 1654), 1648 letter to son, who was involved in negotiating the Peace of Westphalia[1]
Sometimes attributed to Cardinal Richelieu. Variant form due to John Selden
Aquila non capit muscas.
Translation: "The eagle does not hunt flies."
Aqua et igne interdictus
Translation: "To be denied water and fire" in the sense of "banished"
Arma potentius aequum
Translation: "Justice is more powerful than weapons"
Ars Amandi
Translation: The Art of Love.
Ars celare artem
Translation: "The greatest art is to hide art"
Ars est celare artem
Translation: "Art is to conceal art" or "The art is in concealing the art"
Ars gratia artis
Translation: "Art for art's sake"
Motto of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Ars longa, vita brevis.
Translation: "Art is long, life is short." The Latin translation by Horace of a phrase from Hippocrates, often used out of context. The art referred to in the original aphorism was the craft of medicine, which took a lifetime to acquire. Has been used recently to mean a person's artistic creations will long outlive them.
Atqui, e lotio est.
Translation: Yet it comes from urine.
Emperor Vespasian to his son Titus, when the latter, complaining about the former's urine tax, acknowledged a coin collected had no odor.
Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius (9 December 2003) [121 CE]. "Divus Vespasianus". University of Chicago. pp. section 23.3, page 317. Retrieved on 2006-09-09.
English translation: "The Life of Vespasian". University of Chicago. 9 December 2003. Retrieved on 2006-09-09.
At spes non fracta
Translation: "But hope has not been broken yet"
Audaces fortuna iuvat
Translation: "Fortune favors the brave."(Virgil, Aeneid 10,284)
Audentes fortuna juvat
Translation: "Fortune favors the bold." (Motto of the 366th Fighter Wing at Mountain Home AFB, ID)
Audere est facere
Translation: "To dare is to do." (Motto of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club)
Audi, vide, tace, si tu vis vivere (in pace).
Translation: "Hear, see, be silent, if you wish to live (in peace)." Roman proverb, according to this.
Audiatur et altera pars.
Translation: "The other part should be heard as well."
Auri sacra fames.
Translation: "The accursed hunger for gold." - Seneca
Aurum est potestas.
Translation: "Gold is power." (Motto of the Fowl Family)
Aut agere aut mori
Translation: "Either act or die"
Aut amat aut odit mulier, nil est tertium
Translation: "A woman either loves or hates, she does not know a third alternative"
Aut bibat aut abeat
Translation: "Let him either drink or leave"
Aut disce aut discede
Translation: "Either learn or leave."
Aut dosce, aut disce, aut discede
Translation: "Either teach, or learn, or leave." Inscription in St. Paul's School according to the Diaries of Samuel Pepys.
Aut nunc, aut numquam
Translation:"Now or never"
Aut omnia, aut nihil
Translation: "All or none"
Aut pati, aut mori
Translation: "Either tolerate or die"
Aut viam inveniam aut faciam.
Translation: "I will either find a way or I will make one."
Aut vincere, aut mori
Translation: "Either conquer or die"
Avarus nisi cum moritur, nil recte facit
Translation: "The only good thing a miser does, is dying"
Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant!
Translation: "Hail Caesar! Those who are about to die salute you!" - Said by gladiators before they fought during the reign of Claudius I (10 BC- AD 54). Often cited with "salutamus" ("we . . . salute") in place of "salutant.", cited by Suetonius as "Ave Imperator!..."
Avaritia facit bardos
Translation: "Greed makes you stupid."
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Latin_proverbs