VITA

The notes here are taken from the actual Scala, so be warned that references to the "previous" proverb refer to its order in the Scala, not its order here. You can read more about the word at the Verbosum blog: VITA.

Ita vita. ~ Note: Compare the English saying, "Such is life."

Qui nihil amat, quid ei homini opus vita est? ~ Note: Once again you have both the dative (ei homini) and ablative (vita) complements of the phrase opus est.

In hominum vita nihil est certi. ~ Note: Or, to put it more succinctly: Nil homini certum.

Non vivere, sed valere vera vita est. ~ Note: This is a variation of a saying you saw earlier - Non vivere, sed valere, vita est - but with even more alliteration: vera vita est.

Vita non est vivere, sed valere vita est. ~ Note: The infinitives vivere and valere are being used as nouns, the predicates of the sentences, with an elegant chiastic word order: vita (non) est - vivere | sed | valere - vita est.

Non vivere, sed valere, vita est. ~ Note: The infinitives here are used like nouns: "Life means not just to live, but to be well." (Of course, the English loses out on all the great alliteration in the Latin!)

Mors sequitur; vita fugit. ~ Note: Robert Burton includes this grim proverb in his Anatomy of Melancholy.

Vita sine litteris mors est. ~ Note: Here is a paradoxical proverb about life and death: without education, vita mors est, "life is death."

Sicut vita, finis ita. ~ Note: The charm of this saying depends on the nice rhyme: vita-ita.

Dux vitae ratio. ~ Note: This is the Bennett family motto.

Quam bene valere, melius in vita nihil. ~ Note: Notice that the expression of the comparison (quam) comes before the actual comparative word (melius), which is a word order we really cannot manage in English. Also, the indeclinable word "nihil" is regarded as a neuter noun, hence the neuter form "melius."

Longa est vita, si plena est. ~ Note: The words are from one of Seneca's letters, 93.

Tempus est vitae magister. ~ Note: You need to know where to separate subject and predicate here: tempus (time) is the vitae magister (life's teacher). Or, as we say in English, "Live and learn."

Qualis vita, mors est ita. ~ Note: This is a variation on the preceding proverb; now instead of the euphemistic "finis" there is "mors."

Qualis vita, finis ita. ~ Note: This is a variation on the preceding proverb; both "sicut" and "qualis" can be used to introduce comparisons.

Ventus est vita mea. ~ Note: You can find these words in the Biblical book of Job, 7: Memento quia ventus est vita mea, et non revertetur oculus meus ut videat bona.

Vita beatior non fit, si longior. ~ Note: Note the comparative forms, beatior and longior, agreeing with vita.

In corde spes, vis et vita. ~ Note: You can see this motto on a memorial medallion here: image.

Varia vita est. ~ Note: You can find this sentiment in Plautus's play Truculentus.

Vita data est utenda. ~ Note: Here is a fuller form of the saying: "Vita data est utenda; data est sine faenore nobis / Mutua, nec certa persolvenda die" - "Life is given to use to be used; it is given to use without interest, as a loan, to be repaid on a day not known to us" (a fragment of Albinovanus Pedo preserved by Seneca the Elder.)

Brevis ipsa vita est, sed malis fit longior. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.

O vita misero longa, felici brevis! ~ Note: This is another of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus. It is built on a parallelism: misero/felici and longa/brevis.

Vita brevis, gloria aeterna. ~ Note: This is a motto of the Pryce family.

Brevis hominum vita. ~ Note: For the phrase in context, consider these words of St. Augustine (In Psalmum 72): Iniquus cogitet quam sit brevis hominum vita, "Let the wicked man think how short human life is."

Ars longa, vita brevis. ~ Note: For a discussion of this famous saying, see the Wikipedia article.

Vita mortalium brevis. ~ Note: This is included by Erasmus in his Adages, 3.10.63.

Nil sine magno vita labore dedit mortalibus. ~ Note: These words come from Horace's Satires, 1.9.

Dux atque imperator vitae mortalium animus est. ~ Note: The words are from Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum.

Ubi omnis vita metus est, mors est optima. ~ Note: This is another one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.

Vita hominis cursus est ad mortem. ~ Note: You have seen other proverbs about the entanglement of life and death, such as "Nascentes morimur" and "Vita morti propior cotidie." Here is another version of this same saying: Vita ipsa cursus ad mortem est.

Vita est nobis aliena magistra. ~ Note: This bit of advice comes from the distichs of Cato (so-called): Multorum disce exemplis, quae facta sequaris, / Quae fugias; vita est nobis aliena magistra.

Talis hominum oratio, qualis vita. ~ Note: This expresses the same idea as "Qualis vir, talis oratio," but now with the parallel between oratio and vita.

Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia. ~ Note: Just how much power luck (Fortuna) really has is much debated in the world of proverbs, and this saying is firmly in the Fortuna camp as it were. The topic is debated in Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, 5.

Scientia lumen vitae. ~ Note: This is the motto of Texas Women's University.

Scientia maximum vitae decus. ~ Note: The is the motto adopted by the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Research.

Dies imago vitae, nox mortis est. ~ Note: This proverb is built on a nice parallelism: dies/nox and vitae/mortis. The genitives are both complements of the word image.

Sine amicitia vita est nulla. ~ Note: This is another way of stating the essential value of friendship: without it, life is nothing!

Vita perpetuum proelium. ~ Note: Note the nice alliteration in perpetuum-proelium.

Sanctorum vitas legere et non vivere frusta est. ~ Note: Here is a fuller form of the saying, from an epigram by John Owen, 3.80: Sanctorum vitas legere et non vivere frusta est; / sanctorum vitas degite, non legite.

Quam felix vita transit sine negotiis! ~ Note: This is a variation on the previous proverb, this time praising a life of leisure, sine negotiis.

Artes serviunt vitae; sapientia imperat. ~ Note: In other words, sapientia artibus imperat - it is wisdom who rules those arts. You can find this declaration in Seneca's Epistulae Morale, 85.

Alia vita alios mores postulat. ~ Note: This is another of those "aliud…aliud" sayings: Different lives demand different habits.

Ut amnis, vita labitur. ~ Note: You can see here how "ut" can be used to introduce a simile: ut amnis, "like a stream."

Finem vitae specta. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings that Erasmus included in his Adagia, 1.3.37.

Vita incerta, mors certissima. ~ Note: The independent use of the superlative here can mean "absolutely certain," "totally certain," etc.

Quae post vitam futura sunt, incerta. ~ Note: Note the use of the future passive participle here to express the idea of what is about to be, what is going to be.

Senectus vitae hiems. ~ Note: It is important here to find the correct break between subject, senectus, and predicate, vitae hiems.

Quam est felix vita, quae sine odiis transiit! ~ Note: The "quam" here is exclamatory; note also the past tense, transiit - How happy is that life which has passed without hatred! (In Latin, odium can easily be put into the plural, but that is not the case in English.)

Via, veritas, vita. ~ Note: You can also find the saying in this form: Veritas est via vitae. For more information, see the Wikipedia article dedicated to this motto.

Firmum in vita nihil. ~ Note: As you have seen before, the indeclinable noun nihil is regarded as a neuter noun, hence the neuter adjective firmum.

Melior est mors quam vita amara. ~ Note: Here amara is feminine singular, agreeing with vita. The words come from the Bibical book of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), 30: melior est mors quam vita amara et requies aeterna quam languor perseverans.

Avaro non est vita, sed mors, longior. ~ Note: This is another one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.

Sapienti non nocetur a paupertate, non a dolore, non ab aliis tempestatibus vitae. ~ Note: The words are from one of Seneca's letters to Lucilius, 85.

Vita mortalium cinis est et fumus. ~ Note: It is not the life of mortals that is ash and smoke, but rather their death, hence the paradox of this proverb ]like other proverbs about life and death that you have already seen (e.g. Nascentes morimus, etc.).

Mors lupi agnis vita. ~ Note: This is a motto of the Ouseley family, and a family legend connects it to how a member of that family supposedly rescued a woman named Agnes (!) from an attack by a wolf.

Piscium vita haec, minorem maior ut devoret. ~ Note: You can see this traditional proverb illustrated in a bizarre and fascinating engraving by Pieter Bruegel the Elder: image.

Vitae sal amicitia. ~ Note: In this sentence, salt has the sense of something that adds to the pleasure of something, an essential ingredient that is sadly missed when it is lacking. Compare the English saying, "Variety is the spice of life."

Amicitia sol et sal vitae. ~ Note: In Latin, there is a nice sound play between sol and sal - both of which are vital to life, too, of course!

Vita morti propior cotidie. ~ Note: The adjective prope takes a dative complement as you can see here: morti propior, "closer to death."

Discite non scholae, sed vitae. ~ Note: You can also find the saying in this form: Non scholae sed vitae discimus.

Felix qui meruit tranquillam ducere vitam. ~ Note: The verb meruit can take a complementary infinitive: ducere. Note also how the object phrase, tranquillam vitam, wraps nicely around the infinitive. The words are from the first elegy of Maximianus.

Debito soluto, tranquilla agitur vita. ~ Note: Note the ablative absolute: debito soluto, "once your debts have been paid."

In spe et labore transigo vitam. ~ Note: This is a motto of the Mack family.

Sanctorum vitas degite, non legite. ~ Note: Here is a fuller form of the saying, from an epigram by John Owen, 3.80: Sanctorum vitas legere et non vivere frusta est; / sanctorum vitas degite, non legite.

curriculum vitae ~ Note: This Latin phrase is often abbreviated: CV or C.V. For the different forms that a C.V. can take, see this Wikipedia article.

Spes anchora vitae. ~ Note: For an English poem with this motto as its title, see A. Parke Burgess's Songs in the Night.

Alia vita, alia diaeta. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, 1.9.6.

Vita hominis peregrinatio. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, 4.10.74.

Amicus fidelis, medicamentum vitae. ~ Note: These words are from the Biblical book of Sirach, 6.

Actutum fortunae solent mutari, varia vitast. ~ Note: You can find this saying in Plautus's play, Truculentus.

Nulla valet vita, nisi sit virtute polita. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings collected by Wegeler, 777.

Virtus basis vitae. ~ Note: This is a motto of the Stafford family.

Vita brevis, velut umbra levis sic annihilatur. ~ Note: Vita brevis, velut umbra levis sic annihilatur, / sic vadit subitoque cadit, dum stare putatur.

Vita quid est hominis, nisi mors vallata ruinis. ~ Note: Vita quid est hominis, nisi mors vallata ruinis, / est caro nostra cinis, modo principium, modo finis.

Dimidio vitae nihil differunt felices at infelicibus. ~ Note: This is one of the sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, 2.1.9.

Quidquid vita dedit, tollit, cum vita recedit. ~ Note: Quidquid vita dedit, tollit, cum vita recedit / nec tecum tolles plenos rubigine folles.

Arbor vitae Christus, fructus per fidem gustamus. ~ Note: This is the motto of the Fruiterers' Company.

Ad mortem sic vita fluit, velut ad mare flumen. ~ Note: An epigram by Owen: Ad mortem sic vita fluit, velut ad mare flumen: / vivere nam res est dulcis, amara mori.