Latin Proverbs III

O

* O fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint, agricolas
o Translation: "Oh fortunate farmers [i.e., non-mariners], if only they would see their luck" (Virgil, Georgica 2, 458ff.)

* O sancta simplicitas!
o Translation: "O sacred simplicity" (attributed to Jan Hus as he was burned at the stake)

* O tempora, o mores
o Translation: Oh, the times! Oh, the morals! (Spoken by Cicero during his denunciation of the Conspiracy of Catilina in 63 BC)

* Obscuris vera involvens
o Translation: "Obscurity envelops truth" (Virgil).

* Occasio aegre offertur, facile amittitur.
o Translation: "Opportunity is offered with difficulty, lost with ease." (Publius Syrus)

* Occasio facit furem.
o Translation: "Opportunity makes a thief."

* Oculi plus vident quam oculus.
o Translation: "Several eyes see more than only one."

* Oderint dum metuant
o "Let them hate, so long as they fear" — attributed by Seneca to the playwright Lucius Accius, and said to be a favourite saying of Caligula.

* Omne ignotum pro magnifico.
o Translation: "Everything unknown passes for miraculous."

* Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci
o Translation: "He has gained every point who has mixed the useful and the agreeable." (Horace)

* Omne vivum ex ovo
o Translation: "Everything living comes from the egg"

* Omnes homines sibi sanitatem cupiunt, saepe autem omnia, quae valetudini contraria sunt, faciunt.
o Translation: "All men wish to be healthy, but often they do everything that's disadvantageous to their health."

* Omnes hore vulnerant, Ultima Hore Necat
o Translation: "Every passing hour wounds; the last hour kills" (Unknown Posted under medieval sundials to remind people to enjoy life)

* Omnes viae Romam ducunt
o Translation: "All roads lead to Rome."

* Omnia mea mecum porto.
o Translation: "All that's mine I carry with me."

* Omnia munda mundis.
o Translation: "Everything is pure for the one who is pure"

* Omnia vincit amor
o Translation: "Love conquers all" More fully, Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori: "Love conquers all, let us too yield to love" (Virgil, Eclogues 10:69).

* Omnium artium medicina nobilissima est.
o Translation: "Medicine is the noblest of all arts."

* Optimum medicamentum quies est.
o Translation: "Peace is the best medicine."

* Ora et labora.
o Translation: "Pray and work." (Benedictine motto)

* Orbis non sufficit.
o Translation: "The world is not enough" - James Bond's family motto.

P

* Pacem in Terris
o Translation: "Peace on Earth"

* Pacta sunt servanda
o Translation: "Agreements must be honoured."

* Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus
o Translation: "The mountains are in labour, and a ridiculous mouse shall be born" — i.e. "much ado about nothing"; from Horace, Ars Poetica.
o Often quoted in the present tense (parturiunt), but likely to have been in the future tense (parturient) in the original (see Horace page).

* Parva scintilla saepe magnam flamam excitat.
o Translation: "A small spark often initiates a large flame."

* Parvus numero - magnus merito.
o Translation: "Small in number - Great in merit."; motto of the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

* Pax (Romain language, not pure latin)
o Translation: "Peace" (in common, not specified).

* Pax melior est quam iustissimum bellum.
o Translation: "Peace is better than the most just war."

* Pecunia non olet.
o Translation: "Money does not smell." (Remark by Roman emperor Vespasian on the plan to tax public urinals.)

* Pede poena claudo.
o Translation: "Punishment comes limping." Retribution comes slowly, but surely.

* Peior est bello timor ipse belli.
o Translation: "Worse is the fear of war than war itself."

* Per ardua ad astra.
o Translation: "Through adversity to the stars" also "Through the heights or difficult places, to the stars or heaven or immortality" (motto of the Royal Air Force). The Latin words offer shades of meaning so that each translation colours the others.

* Per ardua ad alta.
o Translation: "Through hard work to the heights". Motto of Birmingham University.

* Per aspera ad astra
o Translation: "Through hardships to the stars" (motto of NASA) from Seneca

* Per fas et nefas
o Translation: "With right and wrong" by any means necessary, cited by William James in Pragmatism second paragraph

* Per scientiam ad salutem aegroti.
o Translation: "To heal the sick through knowledge."

* Perge modo - (Vergil, Aeneid 1.389)
o Translation: "Only go on." - the equivalent of the colloquial 'suck it up'

* Periculum in mora
o Translation: "[There's] danger in delay" (Livy)

* Philosophum non facit barba.
o Translation: "A beard doesn't make a philosopher." (Plutarch)

* Pietate et doctrina tuta libertas.
o Translation: "Religion and learning, the bulwark of liberty" (motto of Dickinson College)

* Piscem natare doces
o Translation: "You teach a fish to swim."

* Piscis primum a capite foetet
o Translation: "Fish stinks from the head first"

* Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est.
o Translation: Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over. (Said by Ludwig van Beethoven on his deathbed.)

* Plenus venter non studet libenter.
o Translation: "A full belly doesn't like studying."

* Plures crapula quam gladius perdidit.
o Translation: "Drunkenness takes more lives than the sword."

* Plus ultra.(motto of Spain)
o Translation: "Further beyond." (With reference to nec plus ultra, "no further beyond", referring to Finisterre as the limit of exploration. It is a translation of King Charles I of Spain's French motto plus oultre; the adjective is ulterior).

* Poeta nascitur, non fit.
o Translation: A poet is born, not made.

* Post cenam non stare sed mille passus meare.
o Translation: "Do not rest after dinner, but walk a mile."

* Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
o Translation: "'After this, therefore because of this.'"
o Meaning: Encapsulates the logical fallacy that, because one event follows another, the first must have caused the second.

* Post mortem nihil est, ipsaque mors nihil.
o Translation: "' After death, nothing, and death itself is nothing'."

* Post Tenebras Lux
o Translation: "After the darkness the light" (motto of the canton Geneva, Switzerland)

* Potius sero quam numquam
o Translation: "Better late then never" (Livy)

* Praemonitus, praemunitus
o Translation: "Forewarned (is) forearmed"

* Praesente medico nihil nocet.
o Translation: "In the presence of a doctor nothing can harm."

* Praevenire melius est quam praeveniri.
o Translation: "It is better to precede than to be preceded."

* Primum ego, tum ego, deinde ego.
o Translation: "First I, then I, thereafter I." (The author of this confident statement, a Roman emperor, will be added soon!)

* Primum non nocere
o Translation: "First, do no harm" (often falsely attributed to the Hippocratic Oath).

* Principiis obsta
o Translation: "Resist the beginnings" (i.e. undesirable trends should be nipped in the bud).

* Pro aris et focis
o Translation: "For altar and hearth" i.e. for our homes (Cicero)

* Pro Deo et patria
o Translation: "For God and Country" (Unknown)

* Progressio et Concordia
o Translation: Progression and High Flying (Michael H)

* Proximus sum egomet mihi
o Translation: "I am closest to myself" (Terence)

* Prudens quaestio dimidium scientiae
o Translation: "to know what to ask is already to know half", cited by Will Durant, "The Story of Philosophy", ch.II

* Pulvis et umbra sumus
o Translation: "We are dust and shadow" (Horace, Carmina, Book IV, 7, 16).

Q

* Quae communiter possidentur communiter negliguntur
o Translation: "(Things) which are possessed in community are neglected in community."

* Quaecumque sunt vera
o Translation: "Whatsoever things are true." Northwestern University's motto.

* Qualis rex, talis grex
o Translation: "Like king, like people"

* Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu.
o Translation: "How well you live makes a difference, not how long." (Seneca)

* Quantum Satis
o Translation: "As much as needed, enough."

* Quem di diligunt, adulescens moritur
o Translation: "Whom the gods love dies young" (Plautus, Bacchides, IV, 7, 18). In the comic play, a sarcastic servant says this to his aging master. The rest of the sentence reads: dum valet, sentit, sapit, "while he is full of health, perception and judgement."

* Quem dii odere, paedagogum fecere (also Quem dii oderunt, paedagogum fecerunt)
o Translation: "Whom the gods hated, they made them pedagogues"

* Qui audet vincit.
o Translation: "Who dares wins"

* Qui dormit non peccat.
o Translation: "He who sleeps does not sin"

* Qui habet aures audiendi audiat
o Translation: "Those who have ears to hear, hear!" (Vulgate, Matthew 11:15)

* Qui multum habet, plus cupit.
o Translation: "He who has much desires more." (Seneca)

* Qui non proficit, deficit.
o Translation: "He who does not go forward, loses ground." or "He who does not accomplish anything, is a failure/has shortcomings."

* Qui pro innocente dicit, satis est eloquens.
o Translation: "He who speaks for the innocent is eloquent enough." (Publius Syrus)

* Qui rogat, non errat.
o Translation: "(One) who asks, doesn't err."

* Qui scribit, bis legit.
o Translation: "Who writes, reads twice."

* Qui tacet consentire videtur, ubi loqui debuit ac potuit.
o Translation: "Who is silent, when he ought to and might have spoken, is seen to agree."

* Qui transtulit sustinet.
o Translation: "He who transplanted still sustains." (motto of Connecticut referring to the transplantation of settlers from England to the New World.)

* Qui vult dare parva non debet magna rogare.
o Translation: "He who wishes to give little shouldn't ask for much."

* Quia suam uxorem etiam suspiciore vacare vellet.
o Translation: "Caesar's wife may not be suspected" (Plutarch, Caesar 10)
+ Caesar's second wife Pompeia was attending a women-only celebration at the home of the Vestal Virgins. Clodius attended this event in disguise, and was accused of having an affair with Pompeia. In the following trial, Caesar claimed that though she had done no wrong, he still had to divorce her.

* Quid est veritas?
o Translation: "What is truth?" Pontius Pilate to Jesus.

* Quid me nutrit, me destruit.
o Translation: "That which nourishes me, also destroys me."

* Quid pro quo
o Translation: "Do for me and I will do for you"

* Quid Saulus inter prophetas?
o Translation: "What is Saul doing among the prophets?" (a fifth wheel)

* Quidquid agis, prudenter agas, et respice finem!
o Translation: "Whatever you do, may you do it prudently, and look to the end!"

* Quidquid discis, tibi discis
o Translation: "Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself."

* Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
o Translation: "Everything said in Latin, seems deep."

* Quieta non movere
o Translation: "Don't move settled things" (i.e. "Don't rock the boat", "Let sleeping dogs lie.")

* Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
o Translation: "Who will watch the watchers themselves?" or "Who will guard the guardians themselves?" (Juvenal)

* Quo vadis?" - Acts of Peter
o Translation: Where are you going?

* Quod erat demonstrandum.
o Translation: QED "Which was to be demonstrated." Commonly translated as: "That has been demonstrated."

* Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi.
o Translation: "All that is allowed to Jupiter is not necessarily allowed to an ox."

* Quod me nutrit me destruit.
o Translation: "What nourishes me, destroys me."

* Quod medicina aliis, aliis est acre venenum.
o Translation: "What is medicine to some, is bitter poison to others."

* Quod natura non dat, Salmantica non praestat
o Translation: Literally,"What Nature does not give, Salamanca won't provide".
+ Explanation: It means that if you are not naturally intelligent, Salamanca (a famous university, i.e. a symbol for education) won't make you intelligent.

* Quod nocet, saepe docet
o Translation: "That which harms, often teaches"

* Quod non est in actis, non est in mundo
o Translation: "What is not in the documents does not exist" (From Roman Law)

* Quos amor verus tenuit, tenebit.
o Translation: "Those whom true love has held, it will go on holding." - Seneca

* Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat.
o Translation: "Those whom God wills to destroy he first deprives of their senses." - (Euripides); more colloquially, "Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad."

* Quot capita, tot sententiae.
o Translation: "As many opinions as people."

* Quot linguas calles, tot homines vales.
o Translation: "You are worth as many people as the languages that you speak."

R

* Radix malorum est cupiditas
o Translation: "Greed is the root of all evil." ( Vulgate 1 Timothy 6:10) (theme of the Pardoner's Tale from the Canterbury Tales)
* Rara Avis
o Translation: A very rare bird.

* Recta linea brevissima, recta via tutissima
o Translation: "Straight line is the shortest, straight road is the most safe."

* Reddite ergo quae sunt Caesaris, Caesari
o Translation: "Then give Caesar what's Caesar's" (w:Vulgate:, Matthew 22:21 as well as Luke 20:25)

* Repetita iuvant.
o Translation: "Repetition is useful", or "Repeating things helps".

* Repetitio est mater studiorum.
o Translation: "Repetition is the mother of study."

* Repetitio mater memoriae est.
o Translation: "Repetition is the mother of memory."

* Requiescat in pace (R.I.P.)
o Translation: "rest in peace" — a benediction for the dead, often inscribed on tombstones or other gravestones.

* Rete non tenditur milvio
o Translation: "The net is not extended to the kite" (i.e. things (of the air) fall where they may).

* Ridendo castigat mores
o Translation: "laugh corrects customs", or "satire corrects habits."

* Ridendo dicere verum
o Translation: "To tell the truth while laughing (i.e., joking)"

* Roma die uno non aedificata est
o Translation: "Rome wasn't built in a day."

* Roma locuta, causa finita est
o Translation: "Rome (i.e. the Pope) has spoken, the cause (i.e. discussion) is finished."

* Roma traditoribus non premia
o Translation: "Rome does not reward traitors" (Told by Scipio to the lieutenaunts of Viriato, a Lusitan rebel leader, after they assasinated him in hopes of getting a reward)

* Risus abundat in ore stultorum
o Translation: "Laughs are plentiful in the mouth of the foolish."

* Rustica progenies semper villana fuit.
o Translation: "A rustic ancestry will always remain field-slaves." "Villana" in Roman times meant the slaves attached to an estate (villa), and is the root of the term villein (and by extension, villain). Villa is also the root of "village," because the descendants of estate-slaves tended to stay near the estate through the Dark Ages, though by the time of Charlemagne they had proven this saying false by changing from slaves to serfs.

S

* Saepe morborum gravium exitus incerti sunt.
o Translation: "The effects of serious illnesses are often unknown."

* Salus aegroti suprema lex.
o Translation: "The well-being of the patient is the most important law."

* Salus populi suprema lex esto.
o Translation: "Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law." (motto of the U.S. state of Missouri).

* Sapere aude.
o Translation: "Dare to be wise." (Horace) (Motto of the University of New Brunswick)

* Sapiens dominabitur astris.
o Translation: "A wise (man) will rule (or possibly, be ruled by) the stars."
o Alt. Translation "A Wise Man Is Limited By The Stars"

* Sapiens omnia sua secum portat
o Translation: "A wise man takes everything he owns with himself" (i.e. in his head, his wealth is his wisdom)

* Sapientia est potentia.
o Translation: "Wisdom is power."

* Scientia non habet inimicum nisi ignorantem.
o Translation: "Knowledge has no enemies but the ignorant."

* Scio me nihil scire
o Translation: "I know that I know nothing" (Socrates)

* Scire aliquid laus est, pudor est nihil discere velle.
o Translation: "It is commendable to know some things, it is disgraceful to refuse to learn." (Seneca)

* Semper fidelis
o Translation: "Always faithful", motto of the United States Marine Corps & Serviciul de Protectie si Paza

* Semper inops quicumque cupit.
o Translation: "Whoever desires is always poor." (Claudian)

* "Semper Paratus."
o Translation: "Always Ready", motto of the United States Coast Guard

* Senatores boni viri, senatus autem mala bestia
o Translation: Senators are good men, however Senate is a malicious animal

* Sero venientibus ossa.
o Translation: "The bones for those who come late."

* Serpens, nisi serpentem comederit, non fit draco.
o Translation: "A serpent, if it does not devour a serpent, does not become a dragon."
o Francis Bacon, Essays (1612), apparently translating a Greek proverb.[2]
o Michael Apostolius, Proverbs (15th century), translates the Greek proverb: Serpens nisi serpentem edat, non fiet draco.[3]
o Erasmus, Adages (16th century), translates the Greek proverb: Serpens ni edat serpentem, draco non fiet.[4]
o Attributed to Pliny the Elder (Natural History, c. 77-79 AD) by Richard Brathwaite,[5] but Robert Nares believes Brathwaite is mistaken.[2] A search of the text returns many remarks on dragons and serpents, but nothing like this statement.

* Servo Fidem
o Translation: "I keep the faith", motto of Marist College Canberra

* Si decem habeas linguas, mutum esse addecet.
o Translation: "Even if you had ten tongues, you should hold them all."

* Si Deus pro nobis, quis contra nos?
o Translation: "If God is with us, who can be against us", (Vulgate, Romans 8:31)

* Sidere mens eadem mutato
o Translation: "Though the stars may change, our spirits remain the same" (motto of Sydney University).

* Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more, si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi.
o Translation: "If you are in Rome, live in the Roman way, if you are somewhere else, live like there." (attributed to Ambrose of Milan)

* Silent leges inter arma.
o Translation: "During war, laws are silent." (Cicero)

* Sine scientia ars nihil est.
o Translation: "Art without knowledge is nothing." (An art or skill is nothing without knowledge; specifically, architecture depends on knowing physics, or structural engineering. Source: [Jean Mignot, 14th century])

* Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice
o Translation: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you" (the motto of the U.S. state of Michigan).

* Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.
o Translation: "If you had kept your silence, you would have stayed a philosopher." Can be used as a trap for those who don't know Latin, as was demonstrated in TV sitcom Yes, Prime Minister.

* Si uno adhuc proelio Romanos vincemus, funditus peribimus!
o Translation: "Another victory like that, and I'm done for!" (literally, "If we defeat the Romans in a battle like this, we will completely perish.") (Plutarch, Pyrrhus 21, 14) Attributed to King Pyrrhus of Epirus after a victory with heavy casualties. See Pyrrhic victory

* Si vales, valeo
o Translation: "If you are well, I am well"

* Si vis amari, ama
o Translation: "If you want to be loved, love" (Seneca)

* SIC! (medical termology.)
o Translation: "Read the words exatly as they are written! = *Do AS told/It is an ultimate order* (the exclamtion sign is obligate)

* Si vis pacem, para bellum.
o Translation: "If you want peace, prepare for war."
o Paraphrase of Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris)
o Origin of the name parabellum for some ammunition and firearms, e.g. Luger parabellum

* Si vis pacem, para iustitiam.
o Translation: "If you want peace, prepare justice."

* Sic Itur Ad Astra
o Translation: "Thus do we reach the stars" (motto of the Canadian Air Force)

* Sic semper tyrannis
o Translation: "Thus always[ever] to tyrants" (motto of, and on the seal of, the U.S. state of Virginia; attributed to assassin Brutus, George Wythe, and perhaps John Wilkes Booth also).

* Sic transit gloria mundi.
o Translation: "Thus passes the glory of the world." Repeated during the coronation of the Pope.

* Silent enim leges inter arma
o Translation: "Laws are silent in times of war"

* Similia similibus curantur.
o Translation: "Like cures like." - Samuel Hahnemann

* Sine labore non erit panis in ore.
o Translation: "Without work there won't be any bread in your mouth."

* Sine sole sileo
o Translation: "Without sun I am silent." (inscription on sundials)

* Sit tibi terra levitas (S.T.T.L.)
o Translation: "May the earth rest lightly on you" — a benediction for the dead, often inscribed on tombstones or other gravestones.

* Sol lucet omnibus
o Translation: "The sun shines for everyone" (Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Satyricon 100)

* Soli Deo gloria
o Translation: "Glory to God alone"

* Splendor sine occasu
o Translation: "Splendour without diminishment." (motto of British Columbia)

* Stat crux dum volvitur orbis
o Translation: "The Cross stands firm while the world is turning" (motto of the order of Carthusians)

* Stat sua cuique dies
o Translation: "The date is set for each and everyone" (Virgil)

* Studiosus sine studio sus
o Translation: "A student without work is a pig"

* Sub Cruce Lumen
o Translation: "the light (of learning) under the (Southern) Cross" (Motto of the University of Adelaide, Australia)

* Sudetia non cantat.
o Translation: "One doesn't sing on the Sudeten Mountains." (Saying from Haná region)

* Sum quod eris; fui quod es.
o Translation: "As you are, I was. As I am, you will be." (used on Roman tombstones).

* Summum ius summa inuria.
o Translation: "More law, less justice." (Cicero, De officiis I, 10, 33)

* Sunt facta verbis difficiliora
o Translation: "Works are harder than words." i.e. "Easier said than done."

* Sunt pueri pueri pueri puerilia tractant
o Translation: "Boys are boys and boys will act like boys."

* Sursum corda!
o Translation: "Lift up your hearts!"

* Sutor, ne ultra crepidam!
o Translation: "Cobbler, no further than the sandal!" I.e. don't offer your opinion on things that are outside your competence. It is said that the Greek painter Apelles once asked the advice of a cobbler on how to render the sandals of a soldier he was painting. When the cobbler started offering advice on other parts of the painting, Apelles rebuked him with this phrase (but in Greek).

* Suum cuique
o Translation: "To each what he deserves"
o Literally: "To each his own"

T

* Tarde venientibus ossa.
o Translation: "For those who come late, only the bones."

* Teneas simium meum.
o Translation: "Hold my monkey!"
* Temet nosce
o Translation: "Know yourself" (Rendering in the movie The Matrix of the Greek gnothi seauton, from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Traditionally rendered in Latin as: Nosce te ipsum!)

* Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis.
o Translation: "The times are changed, and we are changed in them." -- Cicero

* Tempori parce!
o Translation: "Save time!"

* Tempus fugit
o Translation: "Time flees" (i.e., "time flies"). Originally as Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus - translation: "Meanwhile the irreplaceable time flees" (Virgil)

* Tempus fugit, aeternitas manet
o Translation: "Time flees, eternity dwells"

* Tempus fugit, amor manet
o Translation: "Time flees, love stays"

* Teneo te, Africa!
o Translation: "I have you, Africa!" Svetonius attributes this to Caesar, when the emperor was on the African coast.

* Testis unus, testis nullus.
o Translation: "A single witness is no witness."

* Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
o Translation: "I fear the Danaens even if they bring presents" (Virgil, Aeneid, 2, 49) Uttered by Laocoön as he warns his fellow Trojans against accepting the Trojan Horse.

* Timendi causa est nescire.
o Translation: "The cause of fear is ignorance." (Seneca)

* Timendo tutus
o Tranlsation: "Fear makes you safe"

* Tres faciunt collegium.
o Translation: "Three makes a company."

* Tolle, lege; Tolle, lege!
o Translation: "Take up and read; take up and read!" (Augustinus)

* Tu quoque Brute, fili mi?
o Translation: "Even you Brutus, my son?" attributed to Julius Caesar on the 15th of March after being fatally wounded.

* Tunc tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet
o Translation: "It also concerns you when the nearest wall is burning"

U

* Ubi bene, ibi patria
o Translation: "Where one feels good, there is one's country."

* Ubi concordia, ibi victoria.
o Translation: "Where there is harmony, there is victory."

* Ubi dubium, ibi libertas.
o Translation: "Where there is doubt, there is freedom." legal, meaning when in doubt the prisoner has to be freed.

* Ubi fumus, ibi ignis.
o Translation: "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

* Ubi maior, minor cessat.
o Translation: "When the bigger (greater, older) speaks, the less (younger) quits (speaking)"

* Ubi mel ibi apes
o Translation: "Where there's honey, there are bees."

* Ubicumque Felix
o Translation: "Always happy" (Has been motto of Napoleon, in times of despair and loss)

* Ubi tu Gaius, ibi ego Gaia.
o Translation: "Where you are, Gaius, there I, Gaia, will be. (This is said to have been a nuptial formula, but it is only known from Greek sources.)

* Ubi uber, ibi tuber
o Translation: "Where the soil is rich, you will find roots" (Apuleio)

* Ultima forsan
o Translation: "Perhaps the last" (inscribed on clocks as a reminder that this hour could be your last)

* Ultra posse nemo obligatur
o Translation: "Nobody is bound beyond ability"

* Ulula cum lupis, cum quibus esse cupis.
o Translation: "Who keeps company with wolves, will learn to howl."

* Una hirundo non facit ver
o Translation: "One swallow doesn't make spring"

* Una salus victus nullam sperare salutem
o Translation: "The only [hope of ]safety for the defeated is to relinquish all hope of safety." (Virgil, Aeneid, II, 354)

* Unum castigabis, centum emendabis.
o Translation: "If you reprove one error, you will correct a hundred."

* Usus magister est optimus.
o Translation: "Experience is the best teacher." (i.e., "Practice makes perfect.")

* Ut ameris, amabilis esto.
o Translation: "Be amiable, then you'll be loved."

* Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas
o Translation: "Even if the powers are missing, the will deserves praise" (Ovid)

* Ut incepit fidelis, sic permanet.
o Translation: "Loyal she began, and loyal she remains" (motto of Ontario).

* Ut sementem feceris, ita metes.
o Translation: "You'll reap what you sow." (Cicero, "De oratore")

* Ut sis nocte levis, sit cena brevis!
o Translation: "That your sleeping hour be peaceful, let your dining hour be brief!" (Sis is one hour before sunset.) (modern: Sleep hard, Sleep fast, Sleep well)

* Uxor formosa et vinum sunt dulcia venena.
o Translation: "Beautiful women and wine are sweet venom."

V

* Vae Victis
o Translation: "Woe to the conquered." Attributed by Livy to the chief of the Gauls (Brennus) as they sacked Rome in 390 BC.

* "Vade retro !" !" (Terence, Formio In, 4, 203)
o Translation: "Go back !"

* "Vade retro satana !" (Matt. 16: 23)
o Translation: "Go away from my mind and hand - vision of Satan!"

* "Vade mecum!"
o Translation: "Go with me!" - a vade-mecum is hence something that always accompanies one.

* Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas
o Translation: "Vanity of vanities and everything is vanity." (Vulgate, Ecclesiastes 1:2)

* Varitatio delectat
o Translation: "Change pleases."

* Varium et mutabile semper femina
o Translation: "Woman is always a changeable and capricious thing." (Aeneid 6:126)

* Vasa vana plurimum sonant
o Translation: "Empty pots make the most noise."

* Veni, vidi, vici.
o Translation: "I came , I saw, I conquered." (Julius Caesar, after defeating the forces of Pompey)

* Venies sub dentem
o Translation: "You will come under [my] tooth."

* Ventis secundis, tene cursum.
o Translation: "Go even against the flow."

* Verba docent, exempla trahunt.
o Translation: "Words instruct, illustrations lead."

* Verba volant, scripta manent.
o Translation: "Words fly, written stays."

* Veritas odium paret
o Translation: "Truth creates hatred" (Terence, Andria 68)

* Veritas vos liberabit
o Translation: "The truth will set you free" (Gospel of John, 8:32)

* Veritate et Virtute
o Translation: "Truth and Virtue" (Motto of the Sydney High School)

* Veritatem dies aperit.
o Translation: "Time discloses the truth."

* Verus amicus est alter ego.
o Translation: "A true friend is another self."

* Vestigia terrent
o Translation: "The traces deter" (Horace) Refers to the old fable of the wolf who refused an offer to enter the lion's den as he saw many traces leading into it, but none out.

* Via, Veritas, Vita
o Translation: "The Way, the Truth and the Life". Motto of Glasgow University

* Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici
o Translation: "By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe."

* Victoria Concordia Crescit
o Translation: "Victory from Harmony". Motto of Arsenal F.C.

* Victrix causa diis placuit sed victa Catoni
o Translation: "The victorious cause was pleasing to the Gods, but the lost cause to Cato" (Lucanus, Pharsalia 1, 128) (Dedication on the south side of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery)

* Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor
o Translation: "I see the better and acknowledge it, but I follow the worse (Ovid)

* Videre videnda
o Translation: "See what should be seen."

* Vincere scis, Hannibal, victoria uti nescis.
o Translation: "You know how to win victory, Hannibal, you do not how to use it." According to Livy a cavalry colonel, Maharbal, told Hannibal this after the victory at Cannae in 216 BC, meaning that Hannibal should have marched on Rome directly.

* Vincit omnia veritas.
o Translation: "Truth conquers all."

* Vincit qui patitur. - motto Berea College, Berea, KY
o Translation: "He who perseveres, conquers."

* Vincit qui se vincit
o Translation: "He conquers who conquers himself"

* Vinum et musica laetificant cor
o Translation: "Wine and music delight the heart" - Vulgate, Ecclesiasticus 40:20

* Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit.
o Translation: "Wise man does not urinate towards the wind."

* Virtus sola nobilitat
o Translation: "Virtue alone ennobles" - motto of Waverley College NSW, Australia.

* Virtus, non copia vincint
o Translation: "Courage, not multitude, wins"

* Virtus unita fortis agit
o Translation: "United we act stronger" - motto of the Engineering College of the University of Porto (FEUP)

* Vis Unita Fortior.
o Translation: "United strength is stronger."

* Vita brevis, ars longa
o Translation: Life is short, art is longer

* Vive Ut Vitas
o Translation: "Live, so that you may live." or "Live life to the fullest."

* Volenti non fit iniuria
o Translation: "To a willing person one cannot do injustice."

* Vox audita perit littera scripta manet.
o Translation: "The spoken word perishes, the written words remain."

* Vox clamantis in deserto
o Translation: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness" - Vulgate, Matthew 3:3; Motto of Dartmouth College

* Vox populi, vox dei.
o Translation: "The voice of the people is the voice of God."

* Vulpes pilum mutat, non mores!
o Translation: "A fox may change its skin but never its character" - Suetonius

Mock Latin

* Carpe jugulum
o Translation: "Go for the throat."
o The title of a Terry Pratchett novel and the motto of the Von Magpyr family of vampires in that novel.

* Carpe noctem.
o Translation: "Seize the night."
o Dean Koontz, Seize the Night (1998)
o Also a title of a song in the Jim Steinman musical Tanz der Vampire

* Carpe pugam.
o Translation: "To pluck buttocks."

* Carpe carpionem.
o Translation: "Seize the carp."

* Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules.
o If I were you, I wouldn't walk in front of any catapults.

* Da mihi sis bubulae frustrum assae, solana tuberosa in modo gallico fricta, ac quassum lactatum coagulatum crassum.
o Translation: Give me a hamburger, french fries, and a thick shake.

* E clunibus tractum
o Translation: Pulled from the buttocks. (i.e. Pulled out of my arse.)

* Nil illegitimi carborundum.
o Translation: "Don't let the bastards grind you down."
o Carborundum is a chemical used as an abrasive. See Wikipedia: Illegitimi non carborundum.

* Nil significat, nisi oscillat.
o It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

* Nunc id vides, nunc ne vides
o Translation: "Now you see it, now you don't."
o The motto of Terry Pratchett's Unseen University.

* Quantus il cannus in es fenestrum.
o Translation: "How much is that doggy in the window" (Anom.)

* Romanes eunt domus
o Mistranslation: "Romans go home."
o A slogan painted on a wall by Brian in Monty Python's Life of Brian. A Roman soldier catches him at it, ridicules the bad grammar ("Some people called Romanes, they go, the house?!") and forces him, not to remove it, but to correct it to Romani ite domum.

* Si Non Oscillas, Noli Tintinnare
o If you don't swing, don't ring.
o (Inscription on the door of Hugh Hefner's Chicago mansion.)

* Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
o Translation: "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us" (motto of The Addams Family).

* Roccaturi te salutant!
o We who are about to rock salute you!

* Semper ubi sub ubi
o Always wear underwear.
o The Latin is literally "always where under where", the joke is to read "wear" for "where".

* Sentio aliquos togatos contra me conspirare.
o I think some people in togas are plotting against me.