701. Omnis lupus magnus.
As a fuller version of the saying explains: Omnis lupus magnus; hoc est: timor omnia maiora fingit - Every wolf is big; that is: fear imagines all things as bigger (than they are).
702. Homo homini lupus.
[homo: person, human being, man] For a history of his phrase, see the Wikipedia article.
703. Homo homini aut deus aut lupus.
Erasmus cited two different sayings in his Adagia - he included "homo homini lupus" (see previous saying) along with "homo homini deus," thus providing a more optimistic perspective on the human condition. The saying "Homo homini aut deus aut lupus" is widely attributed to Erasmus, but I do not have a citation for that - if anybody can provide a specific Erasmus citation, that would be great!
704. Fata regunt homines.
You will find this observation in Juvenal's Satirae, 9.
705. Fortuna hominibus plus quam consilium valet.
This is one of the sayings collected by Publilius Syrus.
706. Homo semper aliud, fortuna aliud cogitat.
This is another one of those aliud...aliud type of sayings: It always happens that a person has one thing in mind, and luck has something else in mind.
707. In hominum vita nihil est certi.
Or, to put it more succinctly: Nil homini certum.
708. Natus es homo, moriturus es.
You can find these reflections in Saint Augustine: Natus es homo, moriturus es. Quo ibis, ut non moriaris? quid facies ut non moriaris?
709. Omnia homini, dum vivit, speranda sunt.
Here you have a gerundive, this time with a subject: omnia, all things. The agent of the gerundive is expressed with a dative: homini. You might render this in English as, "So long as he is alive, a person should keep hope for all things."
710. Alii homines, alii mores.
This is another one of those alii...alii type of sayings: Some people act one way, other people act a different way (although Latin manages to say all that with just four words, of course!).
711. Non semper homo talis est, qualis dicitur.
Note the implied verb here: qualis (esse) dicitur, "as he is said (to be)."
712. Hoc facias homini quod cupis esse tibi.
Note the use of the subjunctive expressing the idea of a command or obligation: You should do...
713. Homo tacere qui nescit, nescit loqui.
Here you see that the verb nescire can take an infinitive complement: nescit tacere, "he does not know (how) to keep quiet."
714. ad hominem
Also found in the form "argumentum ad hominem," this is a logical fallacy that bases the attack on the personal qualities of the opponent, not on the topic in question. You can read more about this fallacy at Wikipedia.
715. Homo ad laborem natus, et avis ad volatum.
The words are adapted from the Biblical book of Job, 7.
716. Nescit homo finem suum.
The words are from the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, 9.
717. Homo a suo socio cognoscitur.
[socius: ally, associate, comrade] For an Aesop's fable about this topic, see the fable of the stork and the farmer.
718. Ad mala facta malus socius socium trahit.
Such elegant word play here: mala-malus-socius-socium, with "malus socius" as a noun phrase that is the subject of the sentence.
719. Dulce est socios habuisse malorum.
Note the use of the perfect infinitive: habuisse, "to have had." The infinitive is being used as a noun here, the subject of "dulce est."
720. Iuvat socios habuisse dolorum.
[iuvo: help, aid, serve] Here the infinitive habuisse is the subject of the verb iuvat.
721. Spes iuvat.
This is the motto of the Rolland family.
722. Audacem iuvant fata.
This is a motto of the Somerville family.
723. Fortuna audaces iuvat.
You can read more about this saying and its traditional variants at Wikipedia.
724. Fortes Fortuna iuvat.
Note that this variation has a nice sound play with "fortes" and "Fortuna."
725. Non iuvat Fortuna pigros.
As this saying shows, Fortuna not only has her favorites (audaces, audentes, fortes, etc.) - there are also those whom she declines to help, like the pigri here.
726. Audentes Fortuna iuvat.
This is the form of the saying adopted as a motto by the McKinnon family.
727. Audentes deus ipse iuvat.
You can find this saying in the story of Hippomenes as told by Ovid in Metamorphoses, 10.
728. Fors iuvat audentes.
[fors: chance, luck] You can find these words in Claudianus's poem Ad Probinum (42).
729. Audentes forsque deusque iuvat.
For these words, see Ovid's Fasti, 2.
730. Audentem forsque Venusque iuvant.
[Venus: Venus, goddess of love, love] For this variation on the saying, see Ovid's Art of Love, 1.
731. Audendum est: fortes adiuvat ipsa Venus.
This can find this advice in Tibullus's Elegiae, 1.2. Note the impersonal use of the gerundive: audendum est, "Dare to do it!"
732. Venus otia amat.
[otium: leisure, spare time, rest, ease] Note that the Latin here has the plural otia, but in English, it is hard to find a plural equivalent: Venus loves leisure. These words come from Ovid's advice to putting an end to love (Remedium Amoris): Tam Venus otia amat; qui finem quaeris amoris, / Cedit amor rebus: res age, tutus eris.
733. Otium post negotium.
[negotium: activity, business] This proverb depends on the wordplay of otium and negotium - which is itself "not-otium," nec-otium.
734. Negotium ante voluptatem.
[ante: before] Compare the English saying, "Business before pleasure."
735. ante Christum
This Latin phrase is often abbreviated: A.C. (Compare the English abbreviation, B.C., "Before Christ.") For its use in the calendars of Europe, see this Wikipedia article.
736. Ne sis miser ante tempus.
[miser: poor, wretched, unfortunate] You can find this advice in the Moralium Dogma Philosophorum of William of Conches.
737. Miserum noli ridere.
[nolo: refuse, be unwilling, don't] This is one of the pieces of advice attributed to the so-called Cato in his Monostichs.
738. Nolenti omnia difficilia.
Note the dative participle: nolenti, "for the person who is unwilling."
739. Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt.
The proverb is built on a parallelism: ducunt/trahunt and volentem/nolentem, with a chiastic inversion. Fata is the subject of both verbs.
740. Noli vinci a malo, sed vince in bono malum.
Note the passive infinitive with noli: do not be conquered, refuse to be defeated. The words come from Paul's letter to the Romans, 12.
741. Plus aliis de te, quam tu tibi, credere noli.
This is from one of the distichs of the so-called Cato: Cum te aliquis laudat, iudex tuus esse memento; / Plus aliis de te, quam tu tibi, credere noli.
742. Aliena noli curare.
[alienus: another's, foreign] Here aliena is neuter plural, object of the infinitive, curare: Don't worry about other people's things (in other words: cura tua!).
743. Vita est nobis aliena magistra.
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.
744. Felix, quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum.
You can find this advice quoted in Poor Richard's Almanack of 1743, written by Benjamin Franklin.
745. Alienis malis discimus.
[disco: learn] The phrase alienis malis is in the ablative: "We learn by means of other people's mistakes" (which is better than having to make the mistakes yourself... and suffer the consequences!).
746. Dum vivimus, discamus.
Note the subjunctive, discamus: let us learn!
747. Vivere disce; cogita mori.
Proverbs are fond of paradox, and the paradox of living while we are dying and dying even as we are living is a favorite topic.
748. Disce gaudere.
This is advice from Seneca, in one of his letters to Lucilius, 3.23: Hoc ante omnia fac, mi Lucili: disce gaudere.
749. Ad discendum nulla aetas sera.
Here you can see a gerund used in the accusative, ad discendum, "for learning" - No time of life is too late for learning.
750. Praestat sero quam numquam discere.
Recall that the verb praestare introduces a comparison, hence the use of quam: It is better to learn late than never.
Scala 16 (751-800)
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