Latin

Explore 353 quotes originally in Latin

What a woman says to her ardent lover should be written in wind and running water.

Catullus

Carmina

Buy The Poems of Catullus at Amazon Buy The Poems of Catullus at Amazon
Read Carmina at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Trustworthiness of women

Author

Catullus

Source

Carmina

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

54 BC 50s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Catullus, Gaius Valerius. Carmina. c. 1481, no. 70, l. 3.

Current Citation

Cattulus, Gaius Valerius. The Poems of Catullus, translated by Guy Lee. Oxford University Press, 2009, no. 70, l. 3.

Not Heaven itself upon the past has power;
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

John Dryden

More information about this quote

Topic

Changing the past What's done is done

Author

John Dryden

Source

Imitation of Horace

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

1685 1680s 17th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Dryden, John. Imitation of Horace. c. 1685, bk. 3, ode 29, stanza 8.

Current Citation

Dryden, John. "Translations from Horace: Book 3, Ode 29." Selected Poems, edited by Steven N. Zwicker and David Bywaters. Penguin Classics, 2002, stanza 8.

That all things are changed, and that nothing really perishes, and that the sum of matter remains exactly the same, is sufficiently certain.

Francis Bacon

More information about this quote

Topic

Laws of physics The only constant is change Physics

Author

Francis Bacon

Source

Thoughts on the Nature of Things

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1604 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bacon, Francis. Cogitationes de Natura Rerum [Thought on the Nature of Things]. c. 1604.

The end justifies the means.

Hermann Busenbaum

More information about this quote

Topic

End justifies the means Justifications and rationales Moral relativism Moral theory Morality

Author

Hermann Busenbaum

Source

Medulla Theologiae Moralis

Genre

Religious literature Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1650 1650s 17th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Busenbaum, Hermann. Medulla Theologiae Moralis. 1650.

Man is one name belonging to every nation upon earth. In them all is one soul though many tongues. Every country has its own language; yet the subjects of which the untutored soul speaks are the same everywhere.

Tertullian

On the Testimony of the Soul

More information about this quote

Topic

Interconnectedness of all people Language

Author

Tertullian

Source

On the Testimony of the Soul

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

198 190s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Tertullian. De Testimonio Animae [The Testimony of the Soul]. c. 198, ch. 6.

We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples?

Seneca the Younger

Buy Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius at Amazon Buy Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius at Amazon
Read this quote at stoics.com

More information about this quote

Topic

Genocide Anti-war War

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Epistles (Seneca the Younger)

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.

Seneca the Younger

More information about this quote

Topic

Simple living Materialism

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Moral Letters to Lucilius

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 0

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

The new philosophy proceeds from the world, the book of God.

Tommaso Campanella

More information about this quote

Topic

Science and religion

Author

Tommaso Campanella

Source

The Defense of Galileo

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

Latin

Time

1622 1620s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Campanella, Tommaso. Apologia pro Galileo [In Defense of Galileo]. Frankfurt am Main: Gottfried Tampach, 1622, ch. 4.

Current Citation

Campanella, Thomas. Defense of Galileo, translated by Richard J. Blackwell. University of Notre Dame Press, 1994, ch. 4.

It was divine nature which gave us the country, and man's skill that built the cities.

Marcus Terentius Varro

More information about this quote

Topic

Rural vs. urban Cities

Author

Marcus Terentius Varro

Source

On Agriculture (Varro)

Language

Latin

Time

27 BC 20s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Varro, Marcus Terentius. Rerum rusticarum libri tres [Three Books on Agriculture]. 1st century BC, bk. 3.

Those new regions which we found and explored with the fleet... We may rightly call a New World... A continent more densely peopled and abounding in animals other than our Europe or Asia or Africa; and, in addition, a climate milder than in any other region known to us.

Amerigo Vespucci

On the discovery of America.

More information about this quote

Topic

The new world Discovery of America

Author

Amerigo Vespucci

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

1503 1500s 16th century

Era

Age of Exploration

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Vespucci, Amerigo. Letter to Lorenzo Pietro Francesco di Medici. c. Mar. 1503.

Current Citation

Vespucci, Amerigo. "From Mundus Novus (Letter on His Third Voyage to Lorenzo Pietro Francesco di Medici, 1503)." Early American Writing, edited by Giles Gunn. Penguin Classics, 1994.

Happy the man who, far away from business, like the race of men of old, tills his ancestral fields with his own oxen, unbound by any interest to pay.

Horace

Epodes

Buy the Epistles at Amazon Buy the Epistles at Amazon
Read the Epistles at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Farming Agriculture Simple living

Author

Horace

Source

Epodes

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

30 BC 30s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Horace. Epodi [Epodes]. 30 BC, epode 2, l. 1.

Current Citation

Horace. "Epodes." The Complete Odes and Epodes, translated by David West. Oxford University Press, 2008, epode 2, l. 1.

We are continually dying; I while I am writing these words, you while you are reading them, others when they hear them or fail to hear them. I shall be dying when you read this, you die while I write, we both are dying, we all are dying, we are dying forever.

Petrarch

More information about this quote

Topic

Dying Nature of death Death

Author

Petrarch

Source

Letters on Familiar Matters

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

1360 1360s 14th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Petrarch. Letter to Philippe, Biship of Cavaillon. c. 1360.

Current Citation

Petrarch. "To Philippe, Bishop of Cavaillon, concerning the incredible flight of time." Letters of Familiar Matters (Rerum Familiarum Libri), translated by Aldo Bernardo. Vol. 3, Italica Press, 2008.

Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man's power to live long.

Seneca the Younger

Buy Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius at Amazon Buy Letters on Ethics: To Lucilius at Amazon
Read this quote at stoics.com

More information about this quote

Topic

Length of life What we can control

Author

Seneca the Younger

Source

Epistles (Seneca the Younger)

Medium

Letter

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Seneca the Younger. Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium [Moral Letters to Lucilius]. c. 65 AD.

Current Citation

Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. Letters on Ethics, translated by Margaret Graver and A. A. Long. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Is the dwelling place of God anywhere but in the earth and sea, the air and sky, and virtue? Why seek we further for deities? Whatever you see, whatever you touch, that is Jupiter.

Lucan

Pharsalia

More information about this quote

Topic

Animism Nature of God God

Author

Lucan

Source

Pharsalia

Medium

Poem

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Latin

Time

65 60s 1st century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Lucan. Pharsalia, or De Bello Civili. c. 65, bk. 9, l. 578-580.

Current Citation

Lucan. Civil War, translated by Matthew Fox. Penguin Classics, 2012, bk. 9, l. 578-580.

In the discovery of secret things and in the investigation of hidden causes, stronger reasons are obtained from sure experiments and demonstrated arguments than from probable conjectures and the opinions of philosophical speculators of the common sort.

William Gilbert

De Magnete

Read De Magnete at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Scientific method

Author

William Gilbert

Source

De Magnete

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Latin

Time

1600 1600s 16th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Gilbert, William. De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure [On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on That Great Magnet the Earth]. London: Peter Short, 1600, preface.

Current Citation

Gilbert, William. De Magnete, translated by P. Fleury Mottelay. Dover Publications, 1991.

If all be true that I think,
There are five reasons we should drink;
Good wine-a friend-or being dry-
Or lest we should be by and by-
Or any other reason why.

Henry Aldrich

More information about this quote

Topic

Reasons to drink Alcohol

Author

Henry Aldrich

Source

Reasons for Drinking

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

1689 1680s 17th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Aldrich, Henry. Reasons for Drinking. c. 1689.

Her walk revealed her as a true goddess.

Virgil

Aeneid

Buy The Aeneid at Amazon Buy The Aeneid at Amazon
Read The Aeneid at MIT's classics department website

More information about this quote

Topic

Women's attractiveness

Author

Virgil

Source

Aeneid

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Latin

Time

19 BC 10s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Virgil. Aenē̆is [Aeneid]. 19 BC, bk. 1.

Current Citation

Virgil. The Aeneid, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2010, bk. 1.

Errors are not in the art, but in the artificers.

Isaac Newton

Principia

Buy The Principia at Amazon Buy The Principia at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Mistakes Human fallibility Science

Author

Isaac Newton

Source

Principia

Genre

Scientific literature

Language

Latin

Time

1687 1680s 17th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Newton, Isaac. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica [The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy], vol. 1. London: Josephi Streater, 1687, preface.

Current Citation

Newton, Isaac. The Principia, translated by Andrew Motte. Prometheus, 1995, the author's preface.

If thou follow thy star, thou canst not fail of a glorious haven.

Dante Alighieri

Inferno

Buy Inferno at Amazon Buy Inferno at Amazon
Read the Divine Comedy at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Destiny

Author

Dante Alighieri

Source

Inferno The Divine Comedy

Medium

Poem

Genre

Narrative poem Epic poem Religious literature

Language

Latin

Time

1321 1320s 14th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Inferno [Hell]." La Comedia di Dante Alleghieri [The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri]. Foligno: Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini da Trevi, 1472.

Current Citation

Alighieri, Dante. "Inferno." The Divine Comedy, edited by David H. Higgins, translated by C. H. Sisson. Oxford University Press, 2008.

To what do you not drive human hearts, cursed craving for gold!

Virgil

Aeneid

Buy The Aeneid at Amazon Buy The Aeneid at Amazon
Read The Aeneid at MIT's classics department website

More information about this quote

Topic

Greed Human nature

Author

Virgil

Source

Aeneid

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

Latin

Time

19 BC 10s BC 1st century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Virgil. Aenē̆is [Aeneid]. 19 BC, bk. 3.

Current Citation

Virgil. The Aeneid, translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Classics, 2010, bk. 3.