Professional Documents
Culture Documents
"Exegi monumentum aere perennius." I have erected a monument more lasting than
bronze. (Horace)
"nonne amicus certus in re incerta cernitur?" (a friend in need is a friend in deed (our
equivalent))
"Nihil Sine Labore" (Nothing without work)
"Veni, Vidi, Dormivi" (I came, I saw, I slept)
"Corripe Cervisiam" (Seize the beer!)
"Taurus excreta cerebrum vincit" (Bullshit baffles brains)
"Homo praesumitur bonus donec probetur malus" (One is innocent until proven guilty.)
"Roma locuta est. Causa finita est" (Rome has spoken. The cause is finished.)
"Mors ultima linea rerum est" (Death is everything's final limit)
Cogita ante salis. (Think before you leap (or roughly - Look before you leap.) )
Ante bellum- before the war
terra firma- solid ground
Carpe Diem! Seize the day (Horace)
Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered. (Caesar)
Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat.(Horace, Satires) What prevents me fromspeaking the
truth with a smile?
Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur. It is a wise man who speaks little.
Cogito Ergo Sum. I think Therefore I am.
Non Gradus Anus Rodentum! Not Worth A Rats Ass!
Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinis alacribus et fructuosis potiri
potes! If you can read this sign, you can get a good job in the fast-paced, high-paying
world of Latin!)
Sona si Latine loqueris. (Honk if you speak Latin.)
Illiud Latine dici non potest. (You can't say that in Latin.)
Vidistine nuper imagines moventes bonas? (Seen any good movies lately?)
Nullo metro compositum est. (It doesn't rhyme.)
Non curo. Si metrum non habet, non est poema. (I don't care. If it doesn't rhyme, it isn't a
poem.)
Fac ut gaudeam. (Make my day.)
Braccae illae virides cum subucula rosea et tunica Caledonia-quam elenganter
concinnatur! (Those green pants go so well with that pink shirt and the plaid jacket!)
Visne saltare? Viam Latam Fungosam scio. (Do you want to dance? I know the Funky
Broadway.)
Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant! (May barbarians invade your personal
space!)
Utinam coniurati te in foro interficiant! (May conspirators assassinate you in the mall!)
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant! (May faulty logic undermine
your entire philosophy!)
Radix lecti. (Couch potato.)
Quo signo nata es? (What's your sign?)
O! Plus! Perge! Aio! Hui! Hem! (Oh! More! Go on! Yes! Ooh! Ummm!)
Spero nos familiares mansuros. (I hope we'll still be friends.)
Tam exanimis quam tunica nehru fio. (I am as dead as the nehru jacket.)
Ventis secundis, tene cursum. (Go with the flow.)
Totum dependeat. (Let it all hang out.)
Te precor dulcissime supplex! (Pretty please with a cherry on top!)
Fac me cocleario vomere! (Gag me with a spoon!)
Te audire non possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure. (I can't hear you. I have a banana
in my ear.)
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.)
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.)
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.)
"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." Ther'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.)