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Home  »  Dictionary of Quotations  »  Terence

James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899.

Terence

A man can be so changed by love as to be unrecognisable as the same person.

Æternum inter se discordant—They are eternally at variance with each other.

Alieno more vivendum est mihi—I must live according to another’s humour.

Aliud legunt pueri, aliud viri, aliud senes—Boys read books one way, men another, old men another.

Amantes, amentes—In love, in delirium.

Amantium iræ amoris redintegratio est—The quarrels of lovers bring about a renewal of love.

Aquilæ senectus—The old age of the eagle.

Bellum, pax rursus—A war, and again a peace.

Cantilenam eandem canis—You are always singing the same tune, i.e., harping on one theme.

Communia esse amicorum inter se omnia—All things are common among friends.

Da locum melioribus—Make way for your betters.

Davus sum, non Œdipus—I am a plain man, and no Œdipus (who solved the riddle of the Sphinx).

Deteriores omnes sumus licentia—We are all the worse for the license.

Dictum factum—No sooner said than done.

Dum in dubio est animus, paulo momento huc illuc impellitur—While the mind is in suspense, a very little sways it one way or other.

Duo quum faciunt idem non est idem—When two do the same thing, it is not the same.

Ego ero post principia—I will get out of harm’s way (lit. I will keep behind the first rank).

Ego meorum solus sum meus—I am myself the only friend I have.

Ego spem pretio non emo—I do not purchase hope with money, i.e., I do not spend my resources upon vain hopes.

Est genus hominum qui esse primos se omnium rerum volunt, / Nec sunt—There is a class of men who wish to be first in everything, and are not.

Excessit ex ephebis—He has come to the age of manhood.

Facile omnes cum valemus recta consilia / Ægrotis damus—We can all, when we are well, easily give good advice to the sick.

Faciunt næ intelligendo, ut nihil intelligant—They are so knowing that they know nothing.

Fallacia / Alia aliam trudit—One falsehood begets another (lit. thrusts aside another).

Fortes fortuna adjuvat—Fortune assists the brave.

Hæc perinde sunt, ut illius animus, qui ea possidet. / Qui uti scit, ei bona, illi qui non utitur recte, mala—These things are exactly according to the disposition of him who possesses them. To him who knows how to use them, they are blessings; to him who does not use them aright, they are evils.

He is wrong who thinks that authority based on force is more weighty and more lasting than that which rests on kindness.

Heu! totum triduum!—What! three whole days of waiting!

His nunc præmium est, qui recta prava faciunt—Nowadays those are rewarded who make right appear wrong.

Hoc patrium est, potius consuefacere filium / Sua sponte recte facere, quam alieno metu—It is a father’s duty to accustom his son to act rightly of his own free-will rather than from fear of the consequences.

Hoc pretium ob stultitiam fero—This reward I gain for my folly.

Homine imperito nunquam quidquam injustius / Qui, nisi quod ipse fecit, nihil rectum putat—Nothing so unjust as your ignorant man, who thinks nothing right but what he himself has done.

Homo antiqua virtute ac fide—A man of the old-fashioned virtue and loyalty.

Homo sum, et nihil humani a me alienum puto—I am a man, and I reckon nothing human alien to me.

How many things, just and unjust, have no higher sanction than custom!

I take it to be a principal rule of life not to be too much addicted to any one thing.

Id arbitror / Adprime in vitâ esse utile, ne quid nimis—This I consider to be a valuable principle in life, not to do anything in excess.

Id mutavit, quoniam me immutatum videt—He has changed His mind because he sees me unchanged.

Immo id, quod aiunt, auribus teneo lupum / Nam neque quomodo a me amittam, invenio: neque, uti retineam scio—It is true they say I have caught a wolf by the ears; for I know not either how to get rid of him or keep him in restraint.

Incerta hæc si tu postules / Ratione certa facere, nihilo plus agas, / Quam si des operam ut cum ratione insanias—If you require reason to make that certain which is uncertain, you are simply attempting to go mad by the rules of reason.

Infecta pace—Without effecting a peace.

Inspicere, tanquam in speculum, in vitas omnium / Jubeo, atque ex aliis sumere exemplum sibi—I would have you to look into the lives of all, as into a mirror, and draw from others an example for yourself.

Interim fit aliquid—Something is going on meanwhile.

Istæc in me cudetur faba—I shall have to smart for it (lit. that bean will hit me).

Istuc est sapere, non quod ante pedes modo est / Videre, sed etiam illa quæ futura sunt / Prospicere—That is wisdom, not merely to see what is immediately before one’s eyes, but to forecast what is going to happen.

Istuc est sapere, qui, ubicunque opus sit, animum possis flectere—You are a wise man if you can easily direct your attention to whatever I may require it.

Jus summum sæpe summa malitia est—Extreme law is often extreme wrong.

Laterem laves—You may as well wash a clay brick white.

Lupo ovem commisisti—You have put the sheep to the care of the wolf.

Magno conatu magnas nugas—By great efforts to obtain great trifles.

Mala mens, malus animus—Bad mind, bad heart.

Mali principii malus finis—Bad beginnings have bad endings (lit. a bad end of a bad beginning).

Melius, pejus, prosit, obsit, nil vident nisi quod libuerit—better or worse, for good or for harm, they see nothing but what they please.

Montes auri pollicens—Promising mountains of gold.

Munus ornare verbis—To enhance the value of a present by words.

Nam quæ inscitia est adversum stimulum calces—It is the height of folly to kick against the pricks (lit. the goad).

Nimia illæc licentia / Profecto evadet in aliquod magnum malum—This extreme licentiousness will assuredly develop into some dire disaster.

Noris quam elegans formarum spectator fiem—You shall see how nice a judge of beauty I am.

Nosse omnia hæc salus est adolescentulis—It is salutary for young men to know all these things.

Novi ingenium mulierum, / Nolunt ubi velis, ubi nolis cupiunt ultro—I know the nature of women: when you will, they won’t; when you won’t, they will.

Nullum est jam dictum quod non dictum sit prius—Nothing is said now that has not been said before.

Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit—Obsequiousness procures us friends; speaking the truth, enemies.

Omnes, quibus res sunt minus secundæ, magis sunt, nescio quomodo / Suspiciosi: ad contumeliam omnia accipiunt magis; / Propter suam impotentiam se credunt negligi—All those whose affairs are unprosperous are, somehow or other, extremely suspicious; they take every hint as an affront, and think the neglect with which they are treated is due to their humble position.

Omnia prius experiri, quam armis, sapientem decet—It becomes a wise man to try all methods before having recourse to arms.

Omnium rerum, heus, vicissitudo est—There are changes, mark ye, in all things.

Par pari referto—Give him back tit for tat.

Pecuniam in loco negligere / Interdum maximum est lucrum—To despise money on proper occasions is sometimes a very great gain.

Proximus sum egomet mihi—I am my own nearest of kin.

Quam inique comparatum est, hi qui minus habent / Ut semper aliquid addant divitioribus!—How unjust is the fate which ordains that those who have least should be always adding to the store of the more wealthy!

Quanti est sapere!—What a grand thing it is to be clever, or to have sense.

Qui mentiri aut fallere insuevit patrem, / Tanto magis is audebit cæteros—He who has made it a practice to lie to or deceive his father, the more daring will he be in deceiving others.

Qui quæ vult dicit, quod non vult audiet—He who says what he likes will hear what he does not like.

Qui uti scit, ei bona—Good to him who knows how to use it.

Quid si nunc cœlum ruat?—What if the sky should now fall?

Quo jure quaque injuria—Right or wrong.

Re ipsa repperi, / Facilitate nihil esse homini melius, neque clementia—I have learned by experience that nothing is more advantageous to a man than complaisance and clemency of temper.

Scio: tu coactus tua voluntate es—I know it; you are constrained by your inclination.

Sine Cerere et Baccho, friget Venus—Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus will starve to death, i.e., without sustenance and good cheer, love can’t last.

Spem pretio non emo—I do not give money for mere hopes.

Suffundere malis hominis sanguinem, quam offundere—Seek rather to make a man blush for his guilt than to shed his blood.

Suus cuique mos—Every man has his way.

Tacent, satis laudant—Their silence is praise enough.

Tangere ulcus—To touch a sore; to renew one’s grief.

Tot capita, tot sensus—So many heads, so many opinions.

Tu pol si sapis, quod scis nescis—You, if you are wise, will not know what you do know.

Tu si hic sis, aliter sentias—If you were in my place, you would think differently.

Ulcus tangere—To touch a sore.

Ut homo est, ita morem geras—As a man is, so must you humour him.

Ut quimus, quando ut volumus non licet—As we can, when we cannot as we wish.

Vehemens in utramque partem, aut largitate nimia aut parsimonia—Ready to rush to either extreme of lavish liberality or niggardly parsimony.

Vita est hominum quasi quum ludas tesseris—The life of man is like a game with dice.

Vitium commune omnium est, / Quod nimium ad rem in senecta attenti sumus—It is a fault common to us all, that in old age we become too much attached to worldly interests.