| LATIN APHORISMS |
| Metus improbos compescit, non clementia. Fear, not kindness, restrains the wicked. Syrus, Maxims Humanius est deridere vitam quam deplorare. Laugh at life; don't cry over it. Seneca the Younger, De Tranquilitate Animi, III, 8 Huic maxime putamus malo fuisse nimiam opinionem ingengii atque virtutis. What hurt him most was his outrageous opinion of his own worth. Nepos, Alcibiades, 7 Non pote non sapere qui se stultum intellegit. A man must have some wit to know he is a fool. Syrus, Maxims Stultus est qui stratum, non equum inspicit; stultissimus qui hominem aut veste aut condicione aestimat. The man who inspects the saddle blanket instead of the horse is stupid; most stupid is the man who judges another man by his clothes or his circumstances. Seneca the Younger, Epistulae Moralis, XVII, 23-25 Vivere commune est, sed non commune mereri. Everybody lives; not everybody deserves to. Prudentius, Contra Orationem Symmachi, II, 807 Non tu scis, quom et alto puteo sursum ad summum escenderis, maximum periclum inde esse ab semmo ne rursum cadas. When you have just climbed out of a deep well and are perched on top, you are in the greatest danger of falling in again. Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, 1150-1151 Vetus illud Catonis admodum scitum est, qui mirari se aiebat quod non rideret haruspex haruspicem cum vidisset. Old Cato always wondered how two fortune-tellers could look at each other without laughing. Cicero, De Divinatione, II, 51 Sero in periculis est consilium quaerere. It's too late to ask advice when the danger comes. Syrus, Maxims Fortis fortuna adiuvat Fortune favours the brave. Terence, Phormio, 203 |