Annex: Latin proverbs

The Latin proverbs are a type of paremia (sententious statement, such as the proverb, the adage, the maxim, the sentence, and the aphorism) used by the Romans, and which have been maintained in use without translation for more than two millennia. They should not be confused with Latin locutions, which are non-paremic expressions in Latin that are used in Spanish maintaining a meaning close to the original Latin.

• Note: Diacritical signs, such as tilde or diéresis, in the Latin phrases, indicative of their pronunciation, should only be written in those expressions that have taken nature letter in the Castilian language, but not in the rest, since they did not exist in the original Latin.

The following list features Latin locutions.

A

• A calvo ad calvum: ‘from bald to bald’. First to last. The emperor Caligula when, according to Suetonius, being very expensive the flesh to feed the captive beasts, offered some criminals. Visiting the prison to decide, putting the prisoners in line, saw that both the first and the last were bald, and employed the phrase meaning that all were thrown into the beasts as food.
• Ab æterno: ‘for all eternity’.
• Ab imo pectore: ‘from the bottom of the chest’. With all sincerity, uncovered chest.
• Ab initio: ‘from the beginning’, since time immemorial.
• Ab irato: ‘for anger’, moved by anger.
• Ab origine: ‘from the origin’, aboriginal.
• Ab ovo: ‘from the egg’; from the beginning.
• Ad absurdum: ‘to the absurd’ (demonstrate something to the absurd).
• Ad astra: ‘to the stars’ (equivalent to the greatest challenge of overcoming).
• Ad augusta per angusta: ‘Toward the great through difficulties’.
• Ad hoc: ‘for this’, made specifically for a certain purpose.
• Alea jacta est: ‘lucky is cast’, attributed to Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon.
• Aquila non capit muscas: ‘The eagle does not hunt flies’, Who is important does not deal with small things.
• Ars longa vita brevis: ‘Life is short, the trade (medical) is extensive.’ Hypocrates quote, used by doctors to mean how short life was compared to her study, which is medicine.
• Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant: ‘Have Caesar, those who are going to die greet you’, gladiator salutes the emperor before fighting.

B

• Beati hispani, quibus bibere vivere est: “Blessed are the Hispanics, for whom to live is to drink.” -- literal (Game of words indicating the taste for drinking of the Spanish based on their inability to differentiate in their bibere pronunciation (beber) and vivare (live).
• Beati pauperes spiritu: “Blessed are the poor of spirit” (Biblical text).
• Beati qui non viderunt et crediderunt: ‘Blessed are those who believed without seeing’. Biblical text.
• Beati possidentes: ‘happy those who possess’. Locution occupied by Bismarck.
• Beatus ille qui procul negotiis: ‘Happy that away from business’. First verse of the second time of Horatio.
• Bellum omnium contra omnes: ‘War of all against all’, referring to the state of nature that preceded the social pact. (Hobbes).
• Bis dat qui cito dat: ‘who gives soon gives twice’. Whoever does a favor promptly deserves double thanks for the favored.
• Bis repetita placent: ‘repeated things like’.
• Bona diagnosis, bona curatio: ‘good diagnosis: a good healing’ (to be cured you need to know what is sick).
• Bona fides contra est fraudi et dolo: ‘Good faith is contrary to fraud and deception’.
• Bonum vinum laetificat cor hominis: ‘Good wine rejoices the heart of man’.
• Brevior jumpe cum defurmibus mulieribus est vita: ‘Life is short to dance with ugly women’.

C

• Caesar Fallsaris, Deus dei "To Caesar what is Caesar's, to God what is God's."
• Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt" ‘cambian of heaven, not of spirit, those who flee to the other side of the sea’.
• Caesar, non super grammatics: ‘César, you are not on the grammar’. It is said that the Emperor Tiberius used on some occasion a non-Latin word. The linguist Ateio Capitón made him notice, to what the regio character replied “From now on it will become,” so the philologist replied with the quoted phrase. See also Ego sum rex romanus et super grammarmmarm.
• Canes timidi vehementius latrant: ‘The most cowardly dogs are the ones who bark the most’, ‘nooze bark’.
• Caret initio et fine: ‘It has no beginning or end’, ‘it has neither feet nor head’.
• Carpe diem: ‘Enjoy the day’, live the moment.
• Carpe noctem: ‘Enjoy the night’.
• Castigat ridendo mores: ‘correct by laughing habits’. It refers to satire and comedy, employed on not a few occasions to denounce the vices of society. This phrase was adopted as a slogan by two Parisian theatres.
• Casus belli: ‘war case’, a war motive.
• Caveant consules ne qüid detrimenti respublica capiat: “Let the consuls be careful, so that the republic will suffer no harm.” Beginning of the call senatus consultum ultimuminviting to appoint a dictator in case of danger to the State.
• Cave ne cadas: ‘Beware of not falling’ or ‘care, do not fall’. Phrase that was repeated to the victorious generals of Rome in the triumphus (successful parade) by the same slave holding the crown of laurels over his head. It is used so that we do not forget the ephemeral of triumph and do not fall into arrogance, pride and other defects products of the moment and keep our feet on the ground.
• Cedant arma togae: ‘Let the weapons yield to the toga’. Words that Cicero wrote in praise of his own consulate. It is used to affirm the preeminence of civil power over the military.
• Ceteris paribus: ‘the constant rest’. Method of analysis that consists in maintaining all the constant variables, except that which is intended to be analyzed.
• Cogitationis poenam nemo patitur: ‘With thought does not delinquen’
• Cogito ergo sum: ‘I think, therefore I am’ (“I think, then I exist”). Basic principle of Cartesian thought.
• Cogitationis poena nemo patitur: ‘he thinking not delinquency’.
• Conditio sine qua non ‘condition without which it is not possible, inexcusable condition’, is used to refer to something that is not possible without a particular condition, because it is that without which one thing will not be done or will be taken for not. It must be pronounced: sinekuanón and no: sinekuánon.
• Consensus facit nuptias: ‘Consensus makes the clouds’. Principle of law whereby the fundamental basis of marriage is the free and joint will of the two persons who decide to marry it.
• Constantia fundamentum est omnium virtutum: 'Consistency is the foundation of all virtues'.
• Consumatum est: ‘everything is finished’. Latin translation of the last words of Jesus of Nazareth on the cross. These words are used for a disaster, a great pain, etc.
• Conticuere omnes, tryique ora tenebant: “They all stood, and looked carefully.” So begins the second book of the Eneidaand used to indicate a great expectation.
• Corruptio optimi péssima: ‘The corruption of the best is the worst of all’
• Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges: ‘the most corrupt republic is the one with the most laws’.
• Credo quia absurdum: ‘I believe because it is absurd’. Falsely attributed Tertullian, the father of the Church, to the existence of God.
• What prodest?“Who does it benefit?”
• Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad caelum et usque ad inferos: The owner of the ground is also of the sky above, and of the subsoil below.
• Cum finis est tenderus, etiam media sunt tendera: “When the end is lawful, so are the means.” Phrase of a moral manual written in 1650 by Jesuit Busenbaum.
• Cum fovet fortune, cave, rotunda broken namque: ‘when fortune favors you, be careful, because the wheel turns.’
• Cum lupus addiscit psalmos desiderat agnos: “When the wolf learns we go out, he misses the lambs.”
• Cum Romae fueritis, Romano vivite more: ‘If you go to Rome, lived according to Roman custom’. Wherever you go, do what you see.
• Cum tacent, clamant: ‘When they shut up, they yell.’ Ciceron words addressed to your enemy Catilina, wanting to highlight the expressive value of silence.
• Curriculum vitae: ‘carrera de la vida’. Document containing professional experience, as well as studies of a person.
• Cursus honorum: the political race during the Roman Republic.

D

• Da mihi factum, dabo tibi ius: ‘Give me the facts and I will give you the Law’ is attributed to the activity of the judge.
• Damnatio memoriae: ‘condemn of memory’, It was a practice of ancient Rome consisting of, as its own name indicates, condemning the memory of an enemy of the state after his death. When the Roman Senate officially decreed the disaster memory, it proceeded to eliminate all that reminded the condemned person: images, monuments, inscriptions, and even the prohibition of using his name was reached. Many emperors were also affected by this practice.
• De facto: ‘in fact’, on the plane of reality.
• From iure: ‘law’, at the level of legal norms.
• Delenda est Carthago: ‘We must destroy Cartago’. Frase with which he always ended his speeches Cato the Censor.
• Deo ignoto: ‘To the unknown God’ (Acts 17:23).
• Dei fortioribus Adsunt: The gods are with the strong
• Deus creavit, Linnaeus diposuit: ‘God created, Linnaeus qualified’. The famous phrase that his contemporaries dedicated to the illustrious naturalist.
• Deus ex machina: ‘gods from the machine’. It was used by the Romans, referring, in the theater, to the artilugio that brought down the actor who interpreted Jupiter as if he came down from heaven.
• Diem says consumere: ‘consummate the day talking’. Formerly, the senators who opposed any law took the floor and occupied the entire session, to prevent their voting, as these judges could not be interrupted.
• Divide et impera: ‘divide and defeat’.
• Divine natura dedit agros, human ars aedificavit urbes. ‘The divine nature gave us the fields, human art built the cities’.
• Docendo discimus: ‘Learning’. Seneca, in Epistulae morales ad Lucilium (7-8).
• Dominium ex iure Qüiritium: domain from the law of the ancients.
• Donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos: ‘while you are happy, you will have many friends’. Verses of Ovid, which continue tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris (‘If time becomes reverse, you will find yourself alone’).
• Do ut des: ‘doy and das’, I give you to give me.
• Dulcius Ex Asperis: ‘Sweet after difficulties’. It reminds you that nothing good comes easily. To achieve your dreams, you need to go through difficult times. It's nothing bad. It's actually what makes your success taste sweeter at the end.
• Dum Romae consulitur, Saguntum expugnatur: “While in Rome it is deliberate, Sagunto is assaulted.” He refers to the abandonment in which he left Rome to his ally Sagunto, while he was attacked by Aníbal. It applies to the one who wastes time talking about what should be done, rather than acting.
• Dum spiro, spero: ‘While I Breathe I Wait’. Equivalent to “while there is life, there is hope”.
• Dura lex sed lex: ‘the law is tough, but it is the law’.
• From mortuis nil nisi bonum: ‘Of the dead, nothing that is not good’. Referring to the fact of not saying anything pejorative about deceased people.

E

• E pluribus únum: ‘from many, one’. One of the three Latin phrases on the U.S. shield.
• Ecce homo: ‘Here’s the man.’ Legendary phrase of Pilate when he presents Jesus of Nazareth to the crowd. It applies when you find someone who's been missing for a while.
• Ego primam tollo, nominor qüía leo: ‘I take the first because I call myself a lion’. Verse of a fable of Fedro. It refers to the fact that in nature, and sometimes also in society, what prevails is the law of the strongest. In this verse is the origin of the term contract leonin.
• Ego sum rex Romanus et super grammaticam: ‘I am the Roman king and I am above the grammar’. Phrase pronounced by King Segismundo I during the Council of Constance. At that time, referring to the schism of Bohemia, he said: «Date operam ut illa nefanda schisma erradicátur» (‘Beware that this nefanda schism is eradicated (sic.)’). Then the Braule cardenar whispered «Dómine, schisma est géneris neutris (‘Lord, schism is neutral’), to which the emperor replied with the quoted phrase.
• Entia multiplinda non sunt sine necessitate: ‘the entities should not be multiplied without need’. It is the famous “Ockham shrimp”, according to which, once a satisfactory response has been found, there is no reason to continue to seek solutions to the problem.
• Epicuri de grege pórcum: ‘near Epicuro’s piara.
• Et in domo iterum:‘One and For Home’ no one believes it.
• Erga omnes: It has effects for everyone.
• Ex abrupto: ‘abrupt’, tone output with no reason.
• Ex aequo: ‘alike’.
• Ex cathedra: when you're talking about making a chair.
• Excusatio non petita, accusatio manifesta: Unsolicited excuse, manifest accusation or when someone gives an excuse that has not been asked, he is accusing himself.
• Ex lege: by law.
• Ex libris: ‘from among the books of’, that is, book from among the books of...
• Ex omnia nihilo: ‘from nothing, everything’. It refers to the act in which God created everything from nothing.
• Ex novo: Start from zero.
• Ex nunc: from now on; to the future
• Former profess: You bet, intentionally.
• Ex tempore: Out of the way.
• Ex tunc: from the past

F

• Bill, non verba: ‘facts, not words’.
• Fama volat: ‘fame flies’. Virgilio's expression that expresses the speed with which news spreads.
• Felix blames!: ‘happy sin!’ Words of Saint Augustine that allude to the sin of Adam and Eve.
• Felix qüi potuit rerum cognoscere causes: ‘happy who could know the causes of things’. Verse of Virgilio (Georges, II, 480).
• Ferre quam sortem patiuntur omnes / nemo recusat: ‘no one refuses to endure what everyone else endures’.
• Fertur in arva furens cumulo ‘It is precipitated by the enraged fields’. In these verses of Eneida is compared to the Greek army with a flooded river. It is used to refer to a blind and unstoppable force.
• Fervet opus: ‘work boils’. Description of bees work.
• Festina lens!: ‘Prepare slowly’. Words attributed to Augustus, according to Suetonio: ‘ Walk slowly if you want to get to a well done job.’ Napoleon paraphrased her by saying to her ujier, "Look at me slowly that I am in a hurry."
• Fiat iustitia et pereat mundus: ‘Justice [although] the world dies.’
• Fiat iustitia, ruat caelum: ‘Justice be done and the sky be filled.’
• Fiat lux: ‘get the light’.
• Fiat voluntas tua: ‘Do your will.’
• Fides immota manet: ‘faith remains unmovable’. Lema that appeared in a medal by Alfonso de Valdés, secretary of Carlos V.
• Finis coronat opus: ‘the end crowns the work’. The end of one thing is in relation to its beginning.
• Fluctuat nec mergitur: ‘it is beaten by the waves, but it does not sink’. Divisa of the city of Paris, which has as emblem a ship.
• Fortes fortune iuvat: ‘F fortune helps the strong.’
• Fugit irreparabile tempus: ‘Stop the irreparable time’. Expresses the fleetingness of time.
• Fumus persecutionis: ‘humo de persecution’. Evidence or signs of persecution, especially for political reasons.

G

• Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus: ‘Let us therefore rejoice while we are young.’
• Genus dei: ‘God’s generation’.
• Genus irritabile vatum: ‘the irritable race of the poets’. Expression of Horatio (Epistles2, 2, 102) which serves to characterize the great susceptibility of poets and literate.
• Gloria in excelsis Deo: ‘glory to God in the heights’, biblical words (Luke 2:14).
• Gloria victis!: ‘glory to the defeated!’
• Graecia captures ferum victorem cepit: ‘Greece defeated her victorious fierce.’ Versos de Horacio, referring to the cultural domain of the Greeks over the Latins, even though these had the military primacy. The continuation says et artis intulit agresti Latio (‘and brought the arts to the rustic Lacio’).
• Grammatici certant: ‘The grammars discuss’. Beginning of a verse by Horatio.
• Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo: ‘The drop sharpens the stone, not by force, but by constancy’.
• Gross mode: 'to great traits', not to confuse with the wrong form although widely diffused 'in gross way': "The lieutenant is, grossly, the command to coordinate the troops"

H

• Habeas corpus: ‘You can have your body’. Principle of Law, according to which someone who has been unlawfully detained has the right, within a specified period (usually 72 hours) to be released or made available to the courts.
• Habemus Papam: ‘We have Pope’.
• habet senectus pabulum studii: ‘What feeds old age is study’. Cicero Frase.
• Hannibal in front of portas or Hannibal ad portas. ‘Annibal is at the gates’. It refers to a near or imminent danger.
• Hic et nunc: ‘here and now’. According to the legend, it would be the answer given by Julius Caesar, to a galo that threatened him from the defeat that would violate him in coming contests, to which Caesar replied that his problems would fix them hic at nunc.
• Hic iácet... ‘Here lies...’.
• hoc non pereo habebo fortior me“What does not kill me, strengthens me.”
• Hoc volo, sic iubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas: ‘I want it, I command it, serve my will for reason’. Verse of Youth (Sátiras, 6, 223). Sit down when talking about an arbitrary will.
• Hodie mihi, cras tibi: ‘Today for me, tomorrow for you’. Epitaph.
• Homo hómini lupus: ‘Man is a wolf for man’. Plauto Thought (Asylum2, 4, 88), repeated by Bacon and Hobbes.
• Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit: ‘Man proposed, but God arranged. ’
• Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum fucking: ‘I am human, nothing human is alien to me.’ Verse of Terencio. It expresses a feeling of human solidarity.
• Honoris causa: ‘for the sake of honor or dignity’. Honorary titles granted by universities to someone who has earned it, not for their studies, but for their merits.
• Hoc signum vere regum est: ‘This is the true sign of kings’. It appears in the coat of arms of the city of Lima (Peru).

I

• Ignis aurum probat, misery forts viros: ‘The fire serves as proof to gold, misery to strong men’.
• Ignoramus et ignorebimus: ‘We ignore and ignore’. It refers to the limitations of science.
• Ignorantia iuris nocet: ‘the error of law hurts’. Legal doctrine, today in disuse, by which the lack of knowledge of a rule harms the one who claims it.
• Ignorantia legis non excussat (originally) ignorant iuris non excussat“Ignorance of the law does not excuse its compliance.” It is the basis of the previous precept, but this is currently valid.
• Illo tempore: 'At that time... ’
• Imperium in empire: ‘1. a group of people who owe allegiance to their leader/is, subordinate the interest of a larger group to the authority of the group’s internal leader/leader. 2. a “fifth column” organization operating against the organization within which they seem to reside. ’
• In diebus illis: ‘in those days...’ Frequent beginning of reading Old Testament. See Busilis.
• In dubio pro reo: ‘in doubt, the defendant is favored’. Legal principle that is at the basis of the presumption of innocence, whereby every person must be considered innocent until his guilt is proved.
• In illo tempore: ‘At that time...’ Frequent start in Gospels.
• In hoc vinces sign: ‘With this sign you will overcome’. The Roman emperor Constantine said that in a dream this phrase had appeared to him next to the image of the barn; he added it to the banners of his army, and soon afterwards made paganism cease to be the official religion of the empire. In the edict of Thessalonica the Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the state.
• In medias res: ‘in the middle of the thing’. Literary remedy you had to begin the story not by the first events, but at some later time in history.
• In medio stat virtus: ‘In the middle is virtue’. It invites the escape of extremism.
• In puris naturabilis: ‘in pure natural state’. Also used to indicate that it is completely naked.
• Intelligenti pauca: ‘the smart, little’. Latin phrase that equals the Spanish saying «A good understander, few words ».
• Inter arma enim silent leges: ‘Among the arms the laws are silent’. Attributed to Cicero, it refers to the fact that in times of violence where the position of the strongest prevails, Law has little or no effectiveness.
• Intra walls: ‘into the walls’. It is said of what occurs within a population, affecting only it.
• Intus Nero, foris Cato: ‘Inward Nero, outward Cathon’. It refers to the difference in some people between intentions and facts.
• Inventa lege, invent fraud: ‘made the law, cheated’.
• In Veritas wine: ‘In wine is the truth’. It refers to the oblation of the drunkards, which makes them tell truths that they would otherwise be silent.
• In vitro: ‘in glass’. In the lab.
• In péctore: In the chest. It refers to an idea that one keeps in his internal jurisdiction, without revealing it.
• Inaudita altera parte: ‘without hearing the other side’. Legal principle that judgement cannot be issued without the hearing of all parties involved.
• INRI: (Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum): ‘Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews’. Cartel that hung on the cross of Jesus of Nazareth, to ridicule him. It is used to refer to actions whose only motive is to cause scorn to someone.
• Interposite person: acting on behalf and representation of a third party.
• Ira furor brevis est: ‘The anger of anger is brief’.
• Iste locus sanctus est: ‘This place is holy’.
• Iura novit curia: ‘the judge knows the law’. Legal principle by which the judge is obliged to know the right, so that in a trial the parties are not obliged to prove the validity of the laws.

L

• Omnia vincit improbus labor: ‘a hard work all over.’
• Lato sensu: ‘in the Latin sense’, by extension. It opposes the expression: Strict sensu
• Lege, quaeso: ‘lee, I beg you.’
• Lex posterior derógat priori or lex posterior derógat anterior: ‘the subsequent law derogates from the former’.
• Libertas nullo venditur auro: ‘Freedom is not sold for any gold’ a Latin-colored phrase that appears in the prologue of Quixote and in the works of Bartolomé de las Casas, appeared in the process against Antonio Nariño for proclaiming the rights of man and citizen.
• Litterae non dant panem: ‘The letters don’t give bread.’
• Litterarum bitter, sweet fruits: ‘The roots of the study are bitter, its sweet fruits’ (Cicero).
• Loci communes: ‘common places’ or topics, employed in rhetoric.
• Lócus amoenus: ‘place ameno’. Referred to a beautiful, paradisiacal place.
• Lócus régit actum: ‘the place rules [the formalities of] the act.

M

• Magna cum laude: ‘with great honor’, he refers to the one who finishes his studies with a brilliant trajectory.
• Magnes amoris love: ‘Love is magnet of love’
• Magni nominis umbra: ‘the shadow of a great name’. Words referred to Pompeyo, who lost his military ability when he devoted himself to politics. It applies to men who have enjoyed a great glory, of which there remains only the memory.
• Manu militari: ‘with military hand’, force the weapons.
• Manus manum lavat: ‘One hand washes the other’.
• Margaritas ante porcos: ‘show pearls to pigs’. In Latin, Margarita means ‘perla’.
• Memento mori: ‘Remember that you will die’.
• Memoria praeteritorum bonorum: ‘the past is always remembered as better’.
• Healthy mens in healthy córpore: ‘healthy body’.
• Morituri te salutant: ‘Those who are going to die greet you’. In the Roman circus, ritual phrase with which gladiators greeted the ruler who was present.
• Mors certa, thirsty hour incerta: ‘Death is safe, but the uncertain hour’.
• Mors certa, vita incerta: ‘Death is safe, life uncertain’.
• Motu proprio: ‘on its own initiative’.

• Multum praestat liber vitae labori scientiae: 'much lends the book of life to the work of science'.

N

• Ne bis in idem: ‘not twice in the same.’ Legal principle by which the same person cannot be judged twice by the same facts.
• Necéssitas non habet legem: ‘the need lacks law’. In extreme situations can be lawful reprobatable actions.
• Nec plus ultra (o) non plus ultra): ‘Not beyond’. According to the myth, a message that Heracles wrote in the Columns of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar) to signal the last end of the known world.
• Nemo ante mortem beatus: ‘No one is happy at his death’
• Nemo auditur qui propriam turpitúdinem alegans: ‘it will not be heard who claims his own clumsiness’. Legal principle by virtue of which no one can plead his own fault in trial.
• nemo casualetur nisi per legale iudicum: ‘no one can be punished but by virtue of legal judgment’.
• nemo iudex sine lege: ‘No judgment without law’.
• Nemo unites me lacessit: ‘no one hurts me unpunished’, Scottish national motto.
• Nemo propheta inland (sua): ‘no one is a prophet in his land.’ It is easier to succeed abroad than in the homeland itself.
• Nemo sua sorte contentus: ‘no one is happy with his luck’.
• Ne perdiderit, non cessat pérdere lussor: ‘not to lose, do not stop losing the player’.
• Ne sutor ultra crépidam: ‘The shoemaker should not go beyond the sandals’ (“shot to your shoes”). Said attributed to Apeles: having exposed a painting of his, he heard a shoemaker making a sensible critique about the paint shoes and fixed the error. But the shoemaker continued to make other criticisms that were not within reach.
• Nihil obstat (quominus printatur): ‘no one has to object (so you can print)’. Frase that, even today, employs ecclesiastical censorship to mean that it does not oppose the publication of a book.
• Nihil prius fide: ‘Nothing before faith’.
• Nihil sub sole novum or nihil novum sub sole: ‘no new under the Sun’ (attributed to King Solomon, in the Bible).
• Nóctuas Athenas afferre: ‘Take lettuce to Athens’. Point out how unnecessary to take something there where there is plenty.
• Noli turbare circles meos: ‘do not touch my circles’. Frase attributed to Archimedes, so acquitted in his studies, that he did not realize that to whom he was going was the soldier who came to kill him.
• Non fin, sed multum: ‘not many things, but much’. Say when you talk about results that are worth not for your number, but for their importance.
• Non olet: ‘They smell nothing’. Frase of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, who was recriminated by his son for taxing public latrines. When he raised the first rates, the emperor asked his son to smell the coins, to what he said: "They smell nothing." The father replied, "But they are the product of the urine."
• Non omnibus dórmio: ‘I do not sleep for all’. History of Plutarco about a certain citizen who had invited Mecenas to eat. Thinking that he was in love with his wife, he pretended to sleep to see what happened. But when he opened his eyes, he discovered that a slave stole wine from him, so he shouted, “Blessed! Don’t you know that I sleep only for Mecenas?”
• Nox fugit historiae lumen dum fulget iberis: ‘the night flees, as the light of history shines for the Iberians.’ Legend of the Royal Academy of History.
• Nulla dies sine line: ‘no day without a line’. This was said of the painter Apeles, who each day added at least one stroke to his works. Speaking of writers, they should not let a day go without writing even if it is a line.
• Nulla poena sine (praevia) lege and nullum crimen sine (praevia) lege: There is no penalty (or crime) without law [previous]’. Principle of criminal legality, according to which no one may be convicted of actions or omissions that at the time of the commission of the offence did not constitute a criminal offence, according to the laws in force at that time, nor shall any penalty be imposed more serious than that provided for at the time of the offence.
• Nulli certa domus: ‘no one has a safe home’.

OR

• Obiter dictum (or plural, obiter dictates): ‘Step’.
• Oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth’. The Talion Act.
• Omnia mea mecum porto: ‘I carry everything with me’. Answer by the philosopher Bías, one of the Seven Sages of Greece, to his fellow citizens of Priene, who, threatened by the army of Cyrus, abandoned the city loaded with all their riches and admired themselves when they saw that the philosopher did no preparation. Let them understand that true riches are those of wisdom.
• Omni tibi dabo or tibi dabo: ‘All this I will give you’ or ‘I will give you’. Frase with which according to Biblical legend Satan tried to tempt Jesus, offering him all the governments of the world in exchange for an act of worship.
• Omnia vincit love: ‘everything overcomes love’.
• On ego rem, on ego hominem: To every man what is appropriate.
• Premium Opera First work of an author.
• Best medicine nulla uti medicine: ‘The best medicine is not to use any medicine’.
• Ora et labora: ‘Pray and work’. Rector of the Rule of St. Benedict.
• Ora pro nobis: ‘Pray for us’. Very repeated phrase in Marian prayers.

P

• Pacta sunt servanda (semper): “the covenants (always) must be respected.”
• Paete, non dólet: ‘Little, it doesn’t hurt.’ Arria's words addressed to her husband Peto after nailing herself a handful to encourage him to do the same. Peto had participated in a conjure against Emperor Claudio.
• Panem et circuses: ‘pan and circus’. Words of bitter contempt directed by Juvenal to the Romans of decay, which in the Forum only asked for free wheat and circus shows. In Spain there is the expression "bread and bulls".
• Páter Families: ‘Family Father’. Head of the Roman Agnaticia family, who had under his command and power the goods and even the people who formed the family.
• Patiens et fortis se ipsum felicem facit: ‘Patient and courageous men make themselves happy’.
• Patiens quia œternus: ‘patient because it is eternal’.
• Peccata minuta: ‘decreaseful sin’. It refers to a minor error or fault.
• Perinde ac cadaver: ‘disciplined as a corpse’. It refers to the requirement of the Jesuit Order, written in the Jesuit Constitutions of absolute abnegation and obedience to the Pope and superiors.
• Petrus in cunctis: ‘I stone in everything’. The locution with which the intruder is wet or the one who seems to know a lot, thinking of everything, but in reality he knows nothing.
• Piscem natare twelve: ‘teach to swim a fish’. It is said about the ignorant who intends to teach someone who knows more than him.
• Plus ultra: ‘beyond’. Registration that was added to the shield of Spain, in memory of that made by Hercules.
• Primum vivere, deinde philosophare: ‘first live, then philosophize’. It refers to the need, in certain circumstances of life, to stop thinking and begin acting.
• Primum non nocere: ‘first do not hurt’. One of the four fundamental principles of bioethics
• Poenam Tántali pati: ‘suffer the punishment of Tango’. By their insolence against the gods, the Greek Tango was punished to live surrounded by fruit trees and a river of crystal clear waters; however, when he approached to eat from the trees or to drink from the river, they went away from him, compelling him to suffer hunger and thirst for all eternity. It applies to those who can't get what they want, even though they see it and have it at hand.
• Post Christum natum: ‘After the birth of Christ (Jesus of Nazareth). After the first year of the common era (d. C.).
• Post hoc non est propter hoc: ‘After something’ does not mean ‘provoked by something’. Logical principle that the fact that two events occur consecutively does not mean that one is necessarily the cause of the other. Contraposes "corrrelation" to "causality"
• Post mórtem: ‘after death’.
• Potius sero quam Noquam: ‘better late than ever’.
• Next egomet mihi: ‘my closest relative is me’. Charity begins at home (Terencio).
• Pro domo sua: ‘for your house’. It applies when someone acts selfishly, for their own benefit.

Q

• Quae est domestica sede iucundior?: ‘What is more pleasant than home?’. Cicero, Ad family4.8.2.
• Qualis artifex pereo!: ‘What artist perishes with me!’ Words that Nero spoke on his deathbed, which he believed, the product of his megalomania, that the world of arts suffered a great loss to its end.
• Qui amat periculum, in illo peribet: ‘who loves the danger, in him will perish’ (from the Bible).
• Qui tam or qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in haec parte sequitur"who presents the action to the king also presents it for his own cause"
• Quid faciant leges, ubi sola pecúnia regnat?: ‘What can laws do where only money reigns?’
• Quid pro quo: ‘One thing for the other’.
• Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur: ‘anything said in Latin sounds deep’.
• Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur: 'What are you laughing at? Change names and history will talk about you’. Horatio, Serm., I.1.69.
• Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?: ‘Who guards the custodians themselves?’. It applies, for example, to the courts, who watch for others to comply with the law, but who can force them to comply with it? (Juvenal)
• Quod dixi dixi"What I said is said."
• Quod erat demonstrandum: ‘what had to be demonstrated’. Phrase that is usually pronounced after a demonstration and is reproduced in the books with the initials QED.
• Quod erat faciendum: ‘What you wanted to do’. Phrase that is usually pronounced after solving a problem
• Quod natura non dat, Salmantica non præstat: ‘What nature does not give, Salamanca does not lend.’ If you weren't born smart, for enrolling in college, you're not gonna change. It is also known to be the motto of the University of Salamanca.
• Quod Principi placuit legis habet vigorem: ‘what I plug the Prince has the force of law’. Principle of the absolute monarchy, which defines the law as the mere desire of the monarch.
• Quod me nourisht, I destroy: "what feeds me destroys me."
• What vadis?: ‘Where are you going?’.

R

• Rara avis or Rara avis in terris: ‘a rare bird on Earth’. Juvenal Verses, which apply to strange or extravagant people. See Rare aviation.
• Requiescat in peace (RIP): ‘unrest in peace’.
• Res non verba: ‘facts, not words’.
• Re, non verbis: ‘in fact, not word’.
• Res nullius: ‘Nobody’. What doesn't belong to anyone.
• Public res: ‘everything’. It refers to the State, whatever its form of government. By extension it is usually applied to the Public Treasury or the Fisco. From this locution derives the word republic.
• Rome caput mundi: ‘Rome, head of the world’. Verses, whose continuation prays: regis órbit frena rotundi (Rome, head of the world, rules the reins of the round orb), which were around the crown of Diocletian.
• Roma locuta, finite cause: ‘when Rome speaks, the cause ends.’ It refers to the Court ' s inapplicable decision.

S

• Saguntina fames: ‘hambre saguntina’. Extreme hunger. The sagunines, besieged by Hannibal, came to eat each other.
• Salvadorum paucitas, dammandorum crowd: ‘pocos are saved, many are condemned’.
• Salus Pópuli Suprema lex this: ‘Let the health of the people be the supreme law’.
• Sancta Sanctórum: ‘Holy of the Holy’. Inner and most sacred part of the tabernacle erected by the Hebrews in the desert (and then in the temple of Jerusalem), separated from the sanctity by a veil. Which for a person is of singular value.
• Sapere aude: ‘Return to know’.
• Sapientium eighth: ‘the eighth sage’. Ironic expression to criticize the one who boasts of wise, without being wise (the famous sages of Greece were only seven).
• Scientia est potentia ‘knowing is power’. Attributed to Sir Francis Bacon.
• Semper fidelis: ‘always faithful’.
• Senatus Populusque Romanus (SPQR): ‘the Senate and the people of Rome’.
• Servus erit qüi ducet pravam uxorem: ‘it will be a slave who marrys a bad woman’.
• Sic transits mundi glory: ‘So the glory of the world passes.’
• If vis pacem, to bellum: ‘If you want peace, prepare war’.
• If vis pacem, for iustitiam: ‘If you want peace, prepare [development] justice.’
• Sine die: ‘no day’, without a certain term date.
• Sine pecunia: ‘without payment’, without receiving any compession.
• Sine qua non: ‘without what not’, necessary. See ‘Conditio sine qua non’.
• Sint ut sunt, aut non sint: ‘Be as they are, or not.’ Use to imply that this is a substantial change, which cannot be accepted at any price.
• Sit divus, dum non sit vivus!: 'May he be divine, as long as he is not alive.' Words of the Roman emperor Caracalla about his brother Geta, in ordering his death, and referring to the supposed divinization of the emperors after his death.
• Sit tibi terra levis!: ‘Let the earth be mild to you!’
• Societas delinquere non potest: ‘Society can’t criminalize’.
• Sun lucet omnibus: ‘The sun shines for all’. Everyone has the right to enjoy certain natural advantages.
• Solvitur wandering: ‘We resolve it while we walk’. The problem can be solved experimentally. Judgement of Saint Augustine.
• Sponte sua: ‘for its own impulse’.
• Stultorum infinitus est numerus: ‘The number of fools is infinite’. The Bachelor Carrasco of El Quijote attributes, following the Latin Vulgate, to the Ecclesiastes to ponder the large number of fools that exist in all times.
• Sublata causa, tollitur effectus: ‘Without the cause, the effect disappears’. No effect without cause. Latin phrase that equals the Spanish saying "Death the dog, the anger is over".
• Súmmum ius summa iniuria: ‘maximum justice: maximum injustice’. It means that laws, taken to their last ends in compliance, can lead to very unfair situations.
• Sui géneris: ‘only in his type’.
• Suo tempore: ‘at your time’.
• Super flumine Babylonis: ‘in the rivers of Babylon’. It is remembered to regret the fate of the exiles and the captives. The full text is: "Together to the rivers of Babylon, we sat there and we we wept, remembering Zion."
• Supremum vale: ‘bye forever, supreme farewell’. Words spoken by Orpheus, when he loses for the second time to Eurydice (Virgilio, Metamorphosis10, 62).
• Sursum corda: ‘ Raise hearts’.
• Sustine et abstine: ‘support and abstain’. Maximum stoic.

T

• Tabula rasa: ‘white cover’. Psychological theory according to which humans would be born without any knowledge or genetic imprint.
• Táedium vitae: ‘a boredom of life’.
• Tantum possumus quantum scimus: ‘How much we know is what we possess.’ Lema University of Nariño. Pasto, Nariño, Colombia.
• Transire suum pectus mundoque potiri: ‘To overcome oneself and dominate the world’. Frase attributed to Archimedes, written in the Fields Medal.
• Tempora mutantur: times change.
• Tempus fugit: ‘time flee’ irreparably.
• Tempus regit actus: ‘Time rules the act’. (Compare with locus regit actum).
• Terrae potestas finitur ubi finitur armorum vis: 'The power of the earth ends where the power of their weapons ends.'
• Testis unus, testis nullus: ‘I testify alone, null witness’.
• Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes: ‘I trust the Greeks when they make offerings or present’. Words said by Laocoonte (Eneida, II, 49), They express the idea that we must distrust an enemy as generous as it seems to us.
• Tímeo hóminem uníus libri: ‘I fear the man of one book’ (Tomas de Aquino). He who knows a book, but knows it well, is a formidable enemy.
• Tolle, lege: ‘Take it, read’. Words that decided the conversion of St. Augustine, by reading a Epistle of St. Paul.
• Totus tuus: ‘All yours’; motto chosen by Pope John Paul II for his pontificate.
• Trahit sua quemque voluptas: ‘everything has a hobby that drags him’. Maximum of Virgil (Eglogues, II, 65) which means that each has its inclinations.
• Tune Márium audebis occídere?: ‘Will you dare kill Mario?’ Ordained her death by Sila, no soldier wanted to execute the sentence. Only a squatter warrior volunteered, but as he entered the dark room where Mario was, he seemed to have his eyes illuminated, and heard a voice asking him this phrase, so he stopped trying.
• Your Brute party fixed my: ‘You also Brutus, my son’. Last sentence attributed to Julius Caesar, discovering that among those who killed him was Brutus, his adopted son.

U

• Ubi alium, ibi Rome: ‘where [bone a] garlic is Rome’. It refers to the abundant use of garlic made by the Romans.
• Ubi bene ibiland: ‘where it is well, there is the homeland’ (Cicero refers to this sentence in Tusculanas 5.37.108).
• Ubi fumus, ibi ignis: ‘where there is smoke, there is fire’ (the fire is where the smoke is seen).
• Ubi homo ibi societas, ubi societas ibi ius: ‘where the human being is there is society, where society is there is the right’ (Cicero).
• Ubi labor ibi virtus: ‘where there is work there is virtue’.
• Ubi Petrus ibi Ecclesia: ‘where Peter is there is the Church’. It refers to the power of the Pope over the Catholic Church
• Ubi societas, ibi ius: ‘where society is right’. Roman aphorism that is often followed Ubi ius, ibi societas (‘where there is a right, there is society’), to mean the intrinsic connection between both phenomena.
• Ubi solitúdinem fáciunt, pácem apéllant: “They create desolation, and call it peace.” Words that Tácito puts in the mouth of a rebel leader Breton, referring to the sadly famous pax Roman. It means that if the entire population of a city is killed, no one will have to resist or complain about the invasion.
• Ubi sunt“Where are they?” It refers to the fleetingness of worldly glories, of the elements of the earthly and sensory world. It is used to ask for personalities and goods already missing.
• Last ratio régum: ‘the last argument of kings’. Frase that Louis XIV of France made recording in his cannons, to indicate that war is the last and most extreme of the resources of a state.
• Urbem venalem et mature perituram, si emptorem inverit: ‘Veal city, and that would soon perish if I found a buyer’. Words that Salustio attributes to Yugurta, referring to Rome. They were famous already in Antiquity.
• Urbi et orbi: ‘to the city and the world’. Blessing the Pope does on Christmas and Holy Sunday.
• Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas: ‘although the forces are lacking, however, the will must be praised.’
• Uti, non abuti: ‘use, but do not abuse’.
• Ut plures corrigantur, rite unus perit: ‘To correct the majority, you get used to punishing one’.
• Ut qüéant laxis resonare fibris / Mira gesturerum fámuli tuorum / Solve polluti labii reatum / Sancte Iohannes: ‘so that your servants may resonate with broad ropes the admirable of your works, remove the stain of the unclean lip, O St John!’ Beginning of a liturgical hymn, from which Guido D'Arezzo extracted musical notes (the current do It was old. ut).

V

• Vacátio legis: time when a new law does not enter into force.
• Vade mécum: ‘Come with me’. Books that summarize the sciences, of constant consultation.
• Vade in peace: ‘Go in peace’.
• Go back, Satan! ‘retreat, Satan’. It applies to reject any, disposing their propositions.
• Vae soli: ‘ay of man alone!’ It points to the unfortunate position of the isolated man, abandoned to himself.
• Vae victis: ‘Woe to the Lost!’. Words directed by Breno to the Romans. It is often remembered to imply that the overcomer is at the mercy of the victor.
• Vánitas vanitatum, et omnia vánitas: ‘vanity of vanities and all vanity’. (Ecclesiastes). Used to deplore the void and nothing of the things of this life.
• Varium et mutabile: ‘variable and changing things’. Words of Virgil (Eneida, IV, 569).
• Velis nolis: ‘everyone or not.’
• Veni, vidi, vici: ‘I came, I saw, I came’. The famous words that Julius Caesar announced to the Senate the speed of victory that he had just won near Zela against Farnaces, king of the Pontus. Expresses the ease of any success.
• Verba volant, scripta manent: ‘The words fly, the written remains.’
• Veitas odium parit: ‘The truth engenders hatred’. Frase de Terencio. It denotes that telling the truth usually carries enmity.
• Video barbam et pallium, philósophum nondum video: ‘I see the beard and the mantle, but I don’t see the philosopher.’ It is applied to refer to those who, for wearing extravagant clothes, think big thinkers.
• Video meliora probóque, deteriorating sequor: ‘I see good and approve it, but I do evil’. Words said by Medea. It applies to man whom his right intelligence shows the way of duty and truth, but that his weakness drags him, however, into evil.
• Vincere scis, Hannibal, victory uti nescis: ‘You can win, Hannibal, but you can’t take advantage of victory.’ Words addressed to the famous Punic General for his local Maharbal, when, after the victory of Cannas, he did not march against Rome. It refers to those who, having the success at hand reach, stop at the last moment.
• Vir bonus, saydi peritus: ‘a good man, who knows how to speak’.
• Vis légibus inimica: “Violence is an enemy of the law.”
• Vis comica: ‘comic strength’ of certain situations, like when you see someone fall on the street.
• Vitam impéndere vero: ‘to consecrate your life to the truth’. Words of Youth (SátirasIV, 91).
• Live, memor mortis: ‘I live without forgetting death’.
• Vivere parvo: ‘live with little’.
• Vox clamantis in desert: ‘the voice of the one crying in the desert’ (referred in the Gospels a John the Baptist). The one who speaks without being heard.
• Vox populi, vox Dei: ‘voice of the people, voice of God’. The truth of a fact or the justice of one thing is established on the unanimous agreement of the opinions of the people.
• Vulnerant omnes, last necat: ‘all hurt, the last kill’ You mean hours. Expression that used to be recorded in the old European watches.