Latin Proverbs II

D

* Damnant quod non intellegunt.
o Translation: "They condemn what they do not understand." often quoted "People fear what they do not understand."

* De gustibus non est disputandum.
o Translation: "In matters of taste there is no dispute."
o Commonly rendered as "There's no accounting for taste."
o Alternative form:
* De gustibus et coloribus non est disputandum.
o Translation: “There’s no arguing about tastes and colors.”

* De minimis non curat praetor. (or rex or lex)
o Translation: "The authority" (or "king", or "law") "does not care about trivial things."

* De mortuis nihil nisi bonum.
o Translation: "Of the dead, nothing but good." i.e., "Say only good things about the dead." Probably a translation from a Greek sentence by Chilon

* Deliriant isti Romani.
o Translation: "They are mad, those Romans!"; — René Goscinny, Asterix and Obelix comic
o Probably a reprise of an italian game of words "S.P.Q.R. - Sono Pazzi Questi Romani!" ("They are mad, those Romans")

* Deo Vindice.
o Translation: "[With] God as [our] protector" — motto of the Confederate States of America.

* Deo volente
o Translation: "God willing"

* Deorum iniuriae Diis curae.
o Translation: "Offences to the gods are the concern of the gods."

* Deserta faciunt et pacem appellant.
o Translation: "They create a desolation and they call it peace." - Tacitus

* Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne.
o Translation: "The woman, beautiful above, ends in a fish tail." - Horace, Ars poetica

* Deus ex machina.
o Translation: "God out of a machine."

* Deus [lo] vult!
o Translation: "God wills it!," slogan of the Crusades.

* Dic, hospes, Spartae nos te hic vidisse iacentes, dum sanctis patriae legibus obsequimur.
o Translation: "Traveller, tell in Sparta that you saw us here where we rest, abiding by the sacred laws of the homeland." (Simonides of Ceos, translated by Cicero)

* Dictum sapienti sat est.
o "The said is enough for the wise" — understandable for a wise one without the need for explanations. Commonly "A word to the wise is sufficient." (Plautus), also as: sat sapienti and sapienti sat.

* Diem perdidi.
o Translation: "I lost the day" (Emperor Titus, passed down in Suetonius's biography (8))

* Difficile est saturam non scribere
o Translation: "It is hard not to write satire." (Juvenal)

* Dis volentibus (diis volentibus)
o Translation: Gods willing, if the gods are willing

* Divide et impera.
o Translation: "Divide and govern." Attributed to Julius Caesar.

* Do ut des
o Translation: I give, that you may give

* Docendo discimus.
o Translation: "We learn by teaching" (Seneca)

* Dominus Illuminatio Mea.
o Translation: "The Lord is my light," motto of Oxford University; Psalm 27.

* Donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos. / Tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris.
o Translation: "As long as you are happy, you will have many friends. / If times are becoming moggy you will be alone." (Ovid, Tristia I,9,5-6)

* Donec eris sospes, multos numerabis amicos. Tempora si fuerint nubila, solus eris.
o Translation: "As long as you are wealthy, you will have many friends. When the tough times come, you will be left alone."

* Dosis facit venenum.
o Translation: "It is the dose that makes the poison."

* Ductus Exemplo
o Translation: "Lead by Example."

* Dulce enim etiam nomen est pacis.
o Translation: "The name 'peace' is sweet itself."

* Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
o Translation: "It is sweet and honorable to die for the fatherland." By Horace, Odes III, 2, 13, frequently quoted on war memorials, and notably in the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, who calls it "the old lie".

* Dum spiro, spero.
o Translation: "As long as I breathe, I hope." Translated as "While I breathe, I hope" the motto of the State of South Carolina [[1]]

* Dum vivimus, vivamus!
o Translation: "While we live, let us live!"

* Dum vita est, spes est.
o Translation: "While life is, hope is. / While there is life, there is hope."

* Dum vixi tacui, mortua dulce cano.
o Translation: "Living, I was mute, dead, I sweetly sing." (Found written on some musical instruments - especially keyboard ones. Refers to the tree the wood of which was used to make the instrument.)

* Duo cum faciunt idem, non est idem.
o Translation: "When two do the same, it isn't the same." (Terence)

* Duobus litigantibus, tertius gaudet.
o Translation: "While two men argue, the third one rejoices."

* Dura lex, sed lex.
o Translation: "The law is harsh, but it is the law."

* Dura necessitas.
o Translation: "Necessity is harsh."

E

* E fructu arbor cognoscitur.
o Translation: "The tree can be recognized by its fruits."
o St. Ignatius of Loyola, paraphrasing Jesus Christ

* E mare libertas
o Translation: "From the sea, freedom"
o The motto of the self-proclaimed Principality of Sealand.

* E pluribus unum
o Translation: "Out of many, one"
o The motto of the United States of America, see wikipedia e pluribus unum on the origin of the phrase.

* Ego sum qui sum.
o Translation: "I am who I am."
o Holy Bible; Exodus 3:14

* Errare humanum est. Perseverare diabolicum.
o Translation: "To err is human. To repeat error is of the Devil." (Seneca)

* Esse est percipi
o Translation: "To be is to be perceived", the doctrine of the Idealists, said by George Berkeley.

* Esse quam videri
o Translation: "To be, rather than to seem" (state motto of North Carolina)

* Estote parati
o Translation: "Be prepared" (Scout motto in Italy)

* "Et in perpetuum, frater, ave et vale."
o Translation: "And into eternity, brother, hail and farewell.", written by Catullus, mourning the death of his brother

* Et ipsa scientia potestas est.
o Translation: "And knowledge itself, is power" (Francis Bacon, Meditationes sacrae)

* Et nunc reges, intellegite erudimini qui iudicatis terram...
o Translation: "And now kings, be warned, you who judge on earth..." (Vulgate, Psalms 2:10)

* Eventus stultorum magister.
o Translation: "Events are the teacher of stupid persons." Stupid people learn by experience, bright people calculate what to do.

* Ex abundancia cordis, enim os loquitor.
o Translation: "From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34.

* Ex astris, Scientia
o Translation: "From the stars, Knowledge" (the motto of Starfleet Academy in Star Trek, a variation on the motto of the Apollo 13, Ex luna, Scientia, "from the moon, knowledge".)

* Ex fructu arbor agnoscitur.
o Translation: "The tree is recognized by its fruit."
o Jesus Christ, translated by St. Jerome (Matthew 12:33, Vulgate)

* Ex Imperiis, Veritas
o Translation: "From Power, Truth" (the motto of the Scorpio Research Institute)

* Ex nihilo nihil fit
o Translation: "Nothing comes from nothing" (you need to work for something; also the Conservation Law in philosophy and modern science) (Lucretius). This is also a famous Shakespeare quote in King Lear.

* Ex oriente lux
o Translation: "Light from the east", i.e. 'From the East comes the light [i.e. culture]'

* Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta
o Translation: "Unwanted excuse implies/means manifest accusation"

* Excretus ex fortuna
o Translation: "Shit out of luck", Beggars' Guild motto in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series
* Exegi monumentum aere perennius
o Translation: "I have built a monument more durable than bronze." (Horace, Odes III, 30, 1, of his poetry).

* Exitus acta probat
o Translation: "The results justify the deed", or "The ends justify the means".
o Ovid, Heroides (c. 10 BC). See also: Means and ends.

* Experto credite
o Translation: "Believe me, for I have experienced" (Virgil)

* Ex Sciencia Tridens
o Translation: "From knowledge, comes (sea) power." Motto of the United States Naval Academy

* Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus
o Translation: "Outside the Church there is no salvation"

F

* "Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora"
o Translation: "It's a bad choice, to make with a lot of facilities, what can be made with less" . Ockham's razor
* Faber est suae quisque fortunae
o Translation: "Each is the maker (smith) of his own fortune." (Appius Claudius Caecus)

* Fabricando fit faber.
o Translation: "Practice makes perfect."

* Facilis descensus Averno
o Translation: "The descent to hell is easy."

* Fama crescit eundo
o Translation: "Rumors grow through circulation."

* Felicitas est parvus canis calidus."
o Translation: "Happiness is a warm puppy." from an early 1960's Peanuts comic strip by the late Charles Schultz

* Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere
o Translation: "Lucky [is the person] who could realize things" (variant of Virgil, Georgica 2, 490).

* Festina lente !
o Translation: "Make haste slowly" (i.e. proceed quickly but with caution, a motto of Augustus Caesar).

* Fiat iustitia et pereat mundus
o Translation: "Let justice be done, though the world perish" (Ferdinand I)

* Fiat iustitia ruat caelum
o Translation: "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."

* Fiat lux
o Translation: "Let there be light."

* Fide, sed qui, vide.
o Translation: "Trust but take care whom."

* Finis coronat opus.
o Translation: "The end crowns the work."

* Flet victus, victor interiit.
o Translation: "The conquered moans, the conqueror is undone."

* Floreat Etona!
o Translation: "May Eton Flourish!" Motto of Eton College.

* Flores curat Deus.
o Translation: "God takes care of the flowers."

* Fluctuat nec mergitur
o Translation: "Shaken by the waves, but it will not sink" (inscription on Paris' coat of arms).

* Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit
o Translation: "Perhaps even this will one day be pleasant to look back on" from Virgil's Aeneid, possibly a translation from Aesop.

* Fortasse erit, fortasse non erit
o Translation: "Maybe it will be, maybe it will not"

* Fortes fortuna iuvat
o Translation: "Fortune favors the brave." (cf. Audaces fortuna iuvat.) (Terence)

* Fortis cadere, cedere non potest
o Translation: "A brave man may fall, but he cannot yield."

* Fortiter in re, suaviter in modo
o Translation: "Resolutely in deed, sweetly in manner"

* Fortuna est caeca
o Translation: "Fortune is blind." (Cicero)

* Fortuna amicos parat, inopia amicos probat.
o Translation: "Fortune is preparing friends, scarcity is in testing them."

G

* Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres
o Translation: "The whole of Gaul is divided into three parts." (First sentence of C. Julius Caesar in "Commentarii de Bello Gallico")

* Gaudeamus igitur iuvenes dum sumus
o Translation: "Thus let us enjoy ourselves as long as we are young." (From an old German student's song. It is now regularely used in many different Universities, for example St-Andrews in Scotland)

* Gloria victis.
o Translation: "Glory to the defeated."

* Gloriosum est iniurias oblivisci.
o Translation: "It is glorious to forget injustice."

* Graeca fides, nulla fides
o Translation: "No one trusts a Greek (Greek honesty is no honesty)".

* Graeca sunt, non leguntur
o Translation: "They are Greek, and are not read". Similar to the expression "It's Greek to me"

* Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes intulit agresti Latio
o Translation: "Captive Greece captured her ferocious victor, and brought the arts into the rustic Latium" (Horace's "Epistulae")

* Gutta cavat lapidem
o Translation: "A drop hollows out the stone" (Ovid, Epistles)

* Gutta cavat lapidem non bis, sed saepe cadendo; sic homo fit sapiens non bis, sed saepe legendo.
o Translation: "A drop hollows out the stone by falling not twice, but many times; so too is a person made wise by reading not two, but many books." (Giordano Bruno, Il Candelaio)

* "Gutta cavat lapidem; consumitur annulus usu"
o Translation: A drop of water hollows out a stone; a ring is worn away by use. --Ovid

H

* Habent sua fata libelli.
o Translation: "Books have their fate." (Terentianus Maurus)

* Habitus non facit monachum
o Translation: "A habit does not make a monk"

* Hannibal ad portas!
o Translations: "Hannibal before the gates!" Refers to the threat to Rome imposed by Hannibal's Italian campaign. Conveys a sense of greater distress than Hannibal ante portas, for ad suggests, unlike ante, a movement towards the gates. Cicero, Philippica I; Livius, Ab urbe condita XXIII It is used to refer to those who dither in times of great peril.

* Hannibal ante portas.
o Translation: "Hannibal before the gates." See above.

* Hic Rhodus, hic salta.
o Translation: "Here is Rhodos, jump here." Aesop (referring to someone who bragged about jumping a long distance "on Rhodos") in Greek: "?d?? ? ??d??, ?d?? ?a? t? p?d?µa"

* Hinc illae lacrimae.
o Translation: "Therefore these tears."

* Historia est vitae magistra.
o Translation: "History is the tutor of life."

* Hodie mihi, cras tibi.
o Translation: "What's to me today, tomorrow to you."

* Hominem, memento te.
o Translation: "[You are] a man, I remind you." Said by the slave holding the laurel leaves over the general's head in a Roman triumph. Its basic meaning was, "Don't presume, merely because you are dressed as an image of Mars and processing through the streets like the deity of a religious festival, that you really are a god."

* Homines quod volunt credunt.
o Translation: "Men believe what they want to." (Julius Caesar)

* Homo homini lupus est.
o Translation: "Man is a wolf to man." (Plautus)

* Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit
o Translation: "Man proposes, God disposes." (Thomas à Kempis)

* Homo sui iuris.
o Translation: "Man his own judge."

* Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.
o Translation: "I am human, so nothing that is human is foreign to me." (Terence)

* Honores mutant mores.
o Translation: "Honors change behavior"

* Hora incerta, mors certa
o Translation: "Hour uncertain, death certain"

* Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae
o Translation: "Of all of those [the Gauls] the Belgians are the bravest" (Julius Caesar)

* Hypotheses non fingo.
o Translation: "I feign no hypotheses" (I do not assert that any hypotheses are true). Newton, Principia

I

Note: I and J are the same letter in Latin.

* Iactura poucorum serva multos
o Translation: "Offer some to save many"

* Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (INRI)
o Translation: "Jesus from Nazareth, King of Jews"

* Igitur si vis pacem, para bellum.
o Translation: "If you want peace prepare for war" (Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris)
o Generally paraphrased as: Si vis pacem, para bellum

* Ignorantia iuris nocet
o Translation: "Being ignorant of law harms."

* Ignorantia legis non excusat
o Translation: "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."

* Ignoti nulla cupido
o Translation: "The unknown does not tempt."

* Imperare sibi maximum imperium est.
o Translation: "To rule yourself is the ultimate power." (Seneca) the older or the younger as not sure about who of the Seneca's I quote

* In Fidem
o Translation:"For confirmation, such as attestation" ( used in protocolls, juris diction)

* In Nuce
o Translation: "In a nutshell"

* INRI -Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum-
o Translation:Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews

*
o Translation: "The poison is in the tail" (as in a scorpion) commonly said "Beware of which you cannot see.".

* In diem vivere
o Translation: "To live for the day"

* In dubio pro reo
o Translation: "When in doubt, in favour of the accused". (Corpus Juris Civilis)

* In hoc signo vinces
o Translation: "By this sign you will conquer" (Constantine's vision before the Battle of Milvian Bridge).

* In magnis voluisse sat est
o Translation: "In big things it's enough to just have the will."

* In medio stat virtus.
o Translation: "Virtue stands in the middle." Virtue is in the moderate, not the extreme position.

* In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas
o Translation: "In necessary things unity, in doubtful things liberty, in all things charity" (often misattributed to St Augustine).

* In omnia paratus
o Translation: "Ready for all things."

* In vino veritas.
o Translation: "Truth is in wine" That is, "Wine will bring out truth."

* In vitium ducit culpae fuga, si caret arte.
o Translation: "Fleeing from error leads into fault if skill is lacking." Horace, De Arte Poetica

* Infinitus est numerus stultorum
o Translation: "Infinite is the number of fools" (Vulgate, Ecclesiastes 1:15).

* Inter arma enim silent leges (Musae).
o Translation: "During wars laws" (or "arts") "are silent." Cicero, Oratio Pro Annio Milone (IV)

* Inter caecos regnat strabo
o Translation: "Among blind people the squinting one rules." (Erasmus)

* Interdum dormitat bonus Homerus
o Translation: "Sometimes even the good Homer slumbers" (i.e. even the best of us makes mistakes); originally quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus, Horace, Ars Poetica

* Ira furor brevis est.
o Translation: "Anger is brief insanity" (Horace, epistles I, 2, 62).

* Is fecit, cui prodest.
o Translation: "Done by the one who profits from it."

* Iura novat curia.
o Translation: "The law is known to the court." This is the principle that it is the court's job to interpret the law, and the constitution.

* Iurare in verba magistri.
o Translation: "Swear by the words of the teacher."

* Iustitia omni auro carior.
o Translation: "Justice is more precious than all gold."

* Iustitia omnibus.
o Translation: "Justice for all.", motto of the District of Columbia.

* In lumine tuo, videbimus lumen.
o Translation: "In your light, we shall see light.", motto of Columbia University.


L

"Latet enim veritas, sed nihil pretiosius veritate" Francisco Sanchez de las Brozas (Minerva I, 1, 40, 16).

*
o Translation: " Truth is hidden, anything its most beautiful that the truth"
* Labor omnia vincit.
o Translation: "Work conquers all things." Motto of the State of Oklahoma; Motto of Sydney Girls High School, Sydney, Australia; and Motto of Dannhauser Primary, Kwazulu Natal, Republic of South Africa, Motto of St. Xavier's Institution, Penang; Motto of Malanda State High School, Malanda, Queensland, Australia; and Motto of St. Jago High School, Spanish Town, St. Catherine, Jamaica.

* Laborare est orare.
o Translation: "To work is to pray." A common school motto.

* Lex et honor.
o Translation: "Law and honour." Motto of the Romanian police.

* Libertati viam facere.
o Translation: "Making a road to freedom."

* Licet volare si in tergo aquilae volat.
o Translation: "A man can fly if he wishes, if he rides on the back of an eagle."

* Lucus a non lucendo
o Translation: "The word for grove is lucus because it is not light [non lucet] in a grove." Used as an example of absurd etymology.

* Luctor et emergo
o Translation: "I struggle and arise." Motto of the Dutch province Zeeland.

* Lupus in fabula.
o Translation: "A wolf in the story." Said about someone who has just appeared and it was talked about him.

* Lux et veritas.
o Translation: "Light and truth." School motto of [Yale University],Indiana University.

* Lux sit.
o Translation: "Let there be light." School motto of University of Washington.

M

* Macte animo! Generose puer sic itur ad astra!
o Translation: "Be strong, young man! Through this way one gets to the stars." (Motto of the Brazilian Air Force Academy)

* Major e longinquo reverentia
o Translation: "Viewed from a distance, everything is beautiful." Tacitus, annals 1,47

* Mala herba cito crescit
o Translation: "Weeds grow fast."

* Mala malus mala mala dat
o Translation: "A bad apple tree gives bad apples" ("Evil begets evil")

* Mali principii malus finis.
o Translation: "The bad end of a bad beginning."
* Malum consilium quod mutari non potest.
o Translation: "It is a bad plan that cannot be changed (A plan that cannot be changed is a bad one)."

* Malum quidem nullum esse sine aliquo bono.
o Translation: "There is, to be sure, no evil without something good."

* Manus manum lavat
o Translation: "One hand washes the other."

* Mater artium necessitas.
o Translation: "Necessity is the mother of invention" (Apuleius)

* Maxima debetur puero reverentia
o Translation: "One owes the greatest possible care for the child" (Juvenal)
* Mea Culpa
o Translation: "My fault" /"I am the one to blame"

* Medicus curat, natura sanat
o Translation: "The doctor cares [for his patient], nature heals [him]." or "Doctor cures, nature saves"

* Medio tutissimus ibis
o Translation: "In the middle shall you walk the safest" i.e. the middle path is the safest one (Ovid)

* Melior morior bellator, quam ago profugus.
o Translation: "Better to die fighting man, how to spend time fleeing", meaning "Better to die fighting, than live fleeing." often quoted as "Better to die on your feet, than to live on your knees."

* Memento audere semper.
o Translation: "remember to be always daring", meaning that you should make an effort and do not mind that you make a mistake.

* Memento mori.
o Translation: "Remember you will die".
* Memento Vivere
o Translation: "Remember to live."

* Mens sana in corpore sano.
o Translation: "A sound mind in a sound body" (Juvenal)

* Montani Semper Liberi
o Translation: "Mountaineers are Always Free" — Motto of the U.S. State of West Virginia

* Morituri te salutant
o Translation: "Those who are about to die greet you." (traditional greeting of the gladiators prior to battle; passed on by Suetonius, Claudius 21). (Morituri te salutamus would express "We who are about to die greet you.")
o See also: Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant!

* Mors Certa, Vita Incerta
o Translation: "Death is certain, life is not."

* Mortui vivos docent
o Translation: "The dead teach the living."

* Mulier est hominis confusio.
o Translation: "Woman is man's ruin."
o "Part of a comic definition of woman" from the Altercatio Hadriani Augusti et Secundi.[1] Famously quoted by Chauntecleer in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

* Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
o Translation: "The world desires to be deceived; therefore it is" (Attributed to Petronius)

* Munit haec et altera vincit.
o Translation: "One defends and the other conquers" (motto of Nova Scotia.)

N

* Natura non facit saltum (saltus)

*
o Translation: "Nature makes no leaps" i.e. the development of nature is gradual (Maximus Tyrius)

* Naturalia non sunt turpia
o Translation: "Natural things are not shameful"

* Natura abhorret a vacuo.
o Translation: "Nature abhors a vacuum."

* Natura in minima maxima.
o Translation: "Nature is the greatest in the smallest things."

* Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse.
o Translation: "To sail is necessary, to live is not necessary," Attributed by Plutarch to Gnaeus Pompeius who, during a severe storm, commanded sailors to bring food from Africa to Rome

* Ne Cede Malis.
o Translation: "Do not yield to evil" or "Do not give way to evil."

* Ne Jupiter quidem omnibus placet.
o Translation: "Not even Jupiter (supreme God) can please everyone."

* Ne nuntium necare
o Translation: "Don't kill the messenger"

* Ne quid nimis
o Translation: "Nothing too much", moderation in all thing (Terence)

* Ne sutor supra crepidam
o Translation: "Shoemaker, not above the sandal", do not criticise things you know nothing of (attributed to Apelles (352-308 BC), the famous Greek painter. He had asked a cobbler to view a painting he was working on to help him (Apelles) paint the sandals correctly. The cobbler explained what was wrong with the sandals, but then began to criticize other aspects of the painting. Apelles stopped him with this famous line, meaning that, while the cobbler was certainly an expert at making shoes, he was not qualified to offer opinions as to anything else---particularly art.)

* Nec Hercules contra duos.
o Translation: "Even Hercules [can't] against two"

* Nemo ante mortem beatus dicendus
o Translation: "No one should be considered truly happy before his death."

* Nemo iudex in causa sua.
o Translation: "No-one is a judge in his own case".

* Nemo me impune lacessit.
o Translation: "No-one attacks me with impunity," the Scottish and Montresor mottos.

* Nemo saltat sobrius
o Translation: "Nobody dances sober" (Cicero)

* Nemo sine vitio est.
o Translation: "No one is without fault." (Seneca the Elder)

* Nemo solus satis sapit
o Translation: "Nobody [alone] is clever enough".

* Neque ignorare [medicum] oportet quae sit aegri natura.
o Translation: "Nor does it behoove [the doctor] to ignore the sick man's temperament." A. Cornelius Celsus, 'De Medicina', Prooemium.

* Nihil lacrima citius arescit.
o Translation: "Nothing dries more quickly than a tear."

* Nihil Sine Deus.
o Translation: "Nothing without God." used as a motto by the German Hohenzollern royal family-Sigmaringen dynasty. The *Nihil Sine Deo formula was the motto of the Kingdom of Romania as ruled by the Hohenzollern Sigmaringen (1878 - 1947).

* Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit.
o Translation: "Nothing is so fortified that it can't be conquered with money." (Cicero)

* Nil admirari
o Translation: "To not admire anything" you shouldn't let yourself be taken away by anything (Horace)

* Nil desperandum
o Translation: "Never give up", motto of Conway House (Marist College Canberra)

* Nil desperandum auspice deo.
o Translation: "When God is on our side there is no cause for despair." or "Do not despair, have faith in God" or "Don’t despair, in God we trust". City of Sunderland (UK) motto since 1849 [2].

* Nil satis nisi optimum
o Translation: "Nothing but the best is good enough." The motto of Everton football club.

* Nil sine magno labore vita dedit mortalibus
o Translation: "life does not give mortals anything but hard labor" (Horace)

* Nil sine numine.
o Translation: "Nothing without Providence," the motto of Colorado.

* Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro.
o Translation: "Freedom is not sold for all the gold in the world."

* Non ducor, duco.
o Translation: "I am not lead, I lead." the motto of the city of São Paulo.

* Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.
o Translation: "There is no smooth way from the earth to the stars." (Seneca Maior)

* Non plus ultra
o Translation: "There is no more beyond this", the uttermost point that can be attained.

* Nolens Volens
o Transaltion: With or without against ones will ( no choice)

* Nomen Nescio (N.N.)
o Translation:" The Name is not known to me"

* Nomina Sunt Odiosa
o Translation: Names are to be hated, hateful, No Names! (Cicero - 43 B.C.)

* Noli turbare circulos meos
o Translation: "Don't move my circles" commonly attributed last words of Archimedes

* Nomen est omen.
o Literally "Name is omen." Implies that the name is fitting for the object or person.

* Nomina stultorum scribuntur ubique locorum
o Translation: "Fools have the habit of writing their names everywhere"

* Nomina sunt odiosa
o Translation: "Names are odious" (Cicero, Pro Roscio Amerino)

* Non bis in idem.
o Translation: "Not twice in the same (matter)." Legal principle forbidding Double jeopardy.

* Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum.
o Translation: "It is not every man's lot to go to Corinth" Corinth was at this time known for its many and lavish brothels

* Non fecit taliter omni nationi.
o Translation: " He [God] has not done this for any other nation" Psalm 147, verse 20 (Virgin of Guadalupe [Mexico])

* Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo.
o Translation: "I was not, I was, I am not, I don't care." (found on tombstones abbreviated NFFNSNC)

* Non habes iure provocare mihi.
o Translation: "You don't have the right to provoke me."

* Non licet omnibus adire Corinthum
o Translation: "Not everybody is granted [the privilege of] going to Corinth" (Horace, epistles I, 17, 36)

* Non multae sed multum.
o Translation: "Not many, but much."

* Non nobis solum nati sumus
o Translation: "We are not born for ourselves alone"

* Non olet
o Translation: "It [money] doesn't smell" (according to Suetonius, Emperor Vespasian was challenged by his son Titus for taxing the public lavatories, the emperor held up a coin before his son and asked whether it smelled)

* Non omnia possumus omnes.
o Translation: "All of us cannot do everything." (Virgil)

* Non quia difficilia sunt non audemus, sed quia non audemus, difficilia sunt.
o Translation: "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, but because we do not dare, things are difficult." (Seneca, Letter to Lucilius, letter 104, section 26, line 5 )

* Non scholae, sed vitae discimus.
o Translation: "We learn not for school but for life." (Seneca's original quotation is "Non vitae, sed scholae discimus.")

* Non ut edam vivo, sed ut vivam edo.
o Translation: "I don't live to eat, but I eat to live."

* Non vestimentum virum ornat, sed vir vestimentum.
o Translation: "Not the raiment graces the man, but the man the raiment."

* Non vini vi no, sed vi no aquae.
o Translation: "I swim not thanks to the wine, but thanks to the water."

* Non semper erit aestas.
o Translation: "It will not always be summer." (be prepared for hard times)

* Nondum amabam, et amare amabam.
o Translation: "I did not love, even if I yearned to love."

* Nosce te ipsum!
o Translation: "Know thyself!" (Cicero, from the Greek gnothi seauton, on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi). See also: Temet nosce

* Novus Ordo Seclorum.
o Translation: "A new order for the ages."

* Nulla dies sine linea.
o Translation: "No day without a line."

* Nulla est medicina sine lingua Latina.
o Translation: "Medicine is nothing without Latin."

* Nulla poena sine lege
o Translation: "No punishment without a law."

* Nulla regula sine exceptione.
o Translation: "No rule without exception."

* Nulla res tam necessaria est quam medicina.
o Translation: "Nothing is so necessary as medicine."

* Nulli Secundus.
o Translation: "Second to none."

* Nunc aut numquam
o Translation: "Now or never"

* Nunc est bibendum
o Translation: "Now it's time to drink" (Horace, Odes I, 37, 1)

* Nihil verum nisil mors
o Translation:"nothing is true but death"