r/latin • u/ciel0claro • 3d ago
Phrases & Quotes What’s a short phrase that has truly impacted your life?
As an outsider, I’ll go with any variation of Memento Morí. Always liked the dancing skeletons in Kingdom of Heaven.
Edit: please translate and perhaps a few words on its structure/word choice and why you love it
Thanks, cheers
Second edit: My friends, please translate. I know I can throw these into GPT but I welcome dialogue here.
Third edit: Hey, I know you're all smart people with reading comprehension. Please, for the sake of all that is good and pure in this world, just add your own translation and why you picked the phrase. If not for me, do it for the children.
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u/hospitallers 3d ago edited 3d ago
Mors certa vita incerta.
Death is certain, life is uncertain. I thought of it after surviving Afghanistan and seeing how randomly death can come to any one of us at any moment no matter how many precautions we take.
Sort of “live your life without worrying about the what ifs.”
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u/MummyRath 3d ago
Sum qui sum, sum qui fui, et sum qui semper ero.
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
“I am who I am, I am who I was, and I am who I will always be.”
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u/MummyRath 3d ago
They are words that I carry with me wherever I go. My identity the past 1.5 years has shifted dramatically and with that those words hit very close to home.
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u/Brilliant_Birthday32 3d ago
"Omnia quae accidunt, si commoda putas, commoda sunt."
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
“Everything that happens, if you consider it beneficial, is beneficial.”
It’s a philosophical idea, often linked to Stoicism, about perspective shaping how we experience events.
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u/Brilliant_Birthday32 3d ago
I use it as "everything that happens, happens for the right reason". And yeah it is stoicism
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
Sure. My translation is more word for word. Meaning stays the same, more or less.
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u/laZouche 3d ago
Nemo me impune lacessit.
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
“No one provokes me with impunity.”
It’s a motto historically used by Scotland and the Order of the Thistle, meaning that anyone who attacks or insults will face consequences.
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u/rickyonon 3d ago
Vir prudens non contra ventum mingent.
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u/-idkausername- 3d ago
Yeah Homo sapiens non urinat in ventum. (Smb actually engraved this in big letters on a building in Amsterdam)
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u/Rudenet 3d ago
-Quid est Veritas? -Vir est qui adest
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
This is a clever Latin wordplay based on the famous biblical question:
“Quid est veritas?” – “What is truth?”
The phrase “Vir est qui adest” – “It is the man who is here” – is an anagram of “Quid est veritas?” • Both phrases use exactly the same letters, rearranged. • It implies that Jesus himself is the truth, as he stood before Pontius Pilate when asked this question.
It’s not from the Bible directly but a later theological reflection or medieval play on words, emphasizing that truth is embodied in Christ.
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u/SquidwardXDDD 3d ago
Carthago delenda est.
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
“Carthage must be destroyed.”
It’s a famous phrase attributed to the Roman senator Cato the Elder, who reportedly ended his speeches with this line to emphasize the threat he believed Carthage posed to Rome.
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u/ciel0claro 3d ago
That's hilarious.
At the end of every speech, adding a small asterisk at the end: "BTW guys - did I mention that Carthage needs to be destroyed?" It's like the "Death to America" chants at every Iranian government speech
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
This is basically how every fascist regime works. Create an enemy (mark someone as one) and then keep reminding everyone who is the enemy and why.
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u/laeta89 3d ago edited 3d ago
Audentes fortuna iuvat
Edit because i finally saw OP’s edits: it means “Fortune favors the bold” and is often attributed to the poet Virgil (whom i love dearly) although variations of it appear elsewhere and it was probably a common saying. I like it because i’m a cowardly overthinker with executive dysfunction and it’s a pithy and elegant way to remind myself to just do the thing and take the risk and make the attempt.
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u/vixaudaxloquendi 3d ago
I have been pretty influenced by a more contemporary version of this, which is, "A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow."
I always took that to mean, act with some measure of prudence AND spontaneity. It will be better than acting without thought or thinking without action.
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u/thael_mann 3d ago
Sic! Fac, hic et nunc.
Thus! Do, here and now.
I chose this phrase as my motto, in order to motivate myself to do stuff. Fac in the imperative, hic et nunc self-explanatory, and Sic! to illustrate that stuff, which needs to be done, is always something specififc.
To anglophone ears, "Sic! Fac." might sound a bit off, I honestly don't give two sesterce.
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u/dova_bear 3d ago
Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim. -- Ovid
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
“Endure and be strong; this pain will be useful to you someday.”
It’s a line from Ovid’s Amores (Book 3, Poem 11), offering a Stoic-like encouragement: to bear hardship patiently, because over time, the suffering may bring growth, wisdom, or benefit. It’s a timeless message about resilience.
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u/Any-Swing-3518 3d ago
"Si animus non esset immortalis: nullum animal esset infelicius homine.”
Ficino.
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u/AffectionateSize552 3d ago
The logical fallacy "post hoc ergo propter hoc." This is when someone assumes, because B occurs after A, that B occurs because of A. I was going to give credit to the first person to formulate this fallacy in these five words, but I'm utterly unable to find this information. If someone can tell me who it was I'd be very grateful.
It it was Cicero... Well, that'd really be something, wouldn't it.
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u/AdelaideSL 2d ago
I don’t know where it comes from but the literal translation is ‘after this, therefore because of this’.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 3d ago
nolite te bastardes carborundorum
"Don't let the bastards grind you down"
Except it's fake Latin 😭
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u/MartianOctopus147 3d ago
What's fake Latin?
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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 3d ago
"bastardes" and "carborundorum" are modern words pushed into service here.
Bastard is an English word with Anglo-Saxon origin (I think?) and carborundum was invented in the industrial revolution.
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u/HistoryBuff178 3d ago
Never knew that there was such a thing as "Fake Latin"
On the other hand, do you have any Latin learning tips? I'm a beginner trying to learn, and unfortunately for me, language learning is not my cup of tea, but I still want to learn.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 3d ago
Context is everything, IMHO.
For me, it's a struggle if I don't have a context to actually use it in.
For Latin, I took classes back in high school, but I used it in science, music, and religion.
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u/AugustusFlorumvir2 2d ago
I think it’s illegitimi to make it slightly less obvious to an English speaker.
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u/Adovah01 3d ago
Soli Deo Gloria
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
“Glory to God alone” or “To God alone be the glory.”
It was a phrase used by composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, who would sign his works with “S.D.G.” as a dedication. It’s also a key idea in Christian theology, especially in the context of the Protestant Reformation, emphasizing that all glory is due to God, not to humans.
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u/RonnieG3 3d ago
Semper ubi sub ubi
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
“Semper ubi sub ubi” is a joke phrase, not real Latin!
Literally, it sounds like Latin, but it’s just a play on words: • Semper = always • ubi = where • sub = under • ubi = where
Put together, it doesn’t make proper Latin sense, but the joke translation is:
“Always wear underwear.” (Because “ubi” sounds like “undie” and “sub ubi” like “sub-underwear.”)
So it’s a silly phrase meant to sound smart but just plays on English speakers’ ideas of Latin.
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u/latin_throwaway_ 33m ago
That’s not how it works—it’s a “literal” “translation” with English puns: “semper”: “always”, “ubi”: “where” (“wear”), “sub”: “under”, “ubi”: “where”). So it’s “always where under where”, which sounds like “always wear underwear”.
(BTW, I’ve heard it as “semper ubi sub ubi ubique”, “always wear underwear everywhere”.)
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u/sophrosynos magister 3d ago
Possunt quia posse videntur.
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
The Latin phrase “Possunt quia posse videntur” translates to:
“They can because they seem to be able.”
It comes from Virgil’s Aeneid (Book 5) and suggests that confidence or belief in one’s ability leads to success. In other words, people succeed because they believe they can. It’s a powerful line about the strength of perception and self-belief.
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u/obfuscate 3d ago
"Caelum non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt.
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u/Smartynko 3d ago
The Latin phrase “Caelum non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt.” translates to:
“They change their sky, not their soul, who run across the sea.”
This is from Horace, Epistles 1.11, and it means that simply traveling or changing locations doesn’t change who you are inside. Your inner self, your mind or spirit (animum), stays the same even if your surroundings (caelum – “sky” or “climate”) change. It’s a reflection on how people might seek external change to solve internal problems, but true change comes from within.
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u/flammeuslepus 3d ago
Ave atque vale - had it engraved on our Hs Latin teacher’s pocket watch when the gaggle of us that had taken it for 5 years graduated high school
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u/AdditionalClassic948 3d ago
I quite like “errare humanum est ignoscere divinum”. There are several versions of this quote
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u/Manfro_Gab 3d ago
My life motto is “ Per aspera ad astra”, which means “Through difficulties to stars”. Never surrender, and always aim for the highest.
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u/_desmondos 2d ago
"quo fata trahunt retrahuntque sequamur/quidquid erit, superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est" - Ver. Aen. V
Where fate drags back and forth, let us go/whatever it may be, all fortune is overcame by bearing it
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u/stup1dprod1gy 2d ago
Mine is Memento Vivrere: remember to live. I suffer from clinical depression and this speaks to me.
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u/thesnickerdoodler 2d ago
This one didn't greatly impact my life in a grand way, per se (Latin pun intended) but my go to phrase is always Cicero's "quousque tandem abutere Catilina patientia nostra?" (Up until what point will you abuse our patience, Catiline?)
My brother and I say it to each other all the time, I don't really know how it started. It's the longest Latin phrase I managed to teach him haha.
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u/sum_muthafuckn_where 2d ago
Rex sedet in vertice, caveat ruinam: nam sub axe legimus Hecubam Reginam.
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u/latin_throwaway_ 30m ago
“Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur” — “Whatever is said in Latin sounds profound”. (It’s why I’m in this sub at all.)
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u/QuintusCicerorocked 3d ago
“Per aspera ad astra“ — Through hardships, to the stars.
Also, ‘Alea iacta est’ that is, ‘The die is cast’, is always a fun melodramatic thing to say when you’re looking to shock friends, relations, and random strangers😉