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Group 118: Latin

1532. Festinare nocet.

1533. Pisces natare oportet.

1534. Oportet adiuvare amicos.

1535. Iuvat indulgere dolori.

1536. Sol omnia videt et revelat.

1537. Ad omnia trepidat, licet vel mus movet.

1538. Bis peccare in bello non licet.

1539. Qui timide rogat, docet negare.

1540. Cum nocet amicus, nihil ab hoste discrepat.

1541. Vacca, quae multum boat, parum lactis habet.

1542. Non laudo florem qui nullum praebet odorem.

1543. Frustra laborat vir qui consilio caret.

1544. Frustra laborat qui omnibus placere studet.

1545. Nihil a deo vacat, opus suum ipse implet.

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Study Guide

1532. To hurry does harm. (Much better instead to follow the advice of this saying: festina lente, "make haste slowly.")

1533. It is for fish to swim. (You can find this saying in Erasmus's Adagia, 3.6.19.)

1534. You should help your friends. (Compare this similar saying: amicus amicum adiuvat, "one friend helps another.")

1535. It is pleasing to indulge one's sorrow. (You can find this phrase from Vergil illustrated in Vaenius's Amorum emblemata of 1608.)

1536. The sun sees all, and reveals it. (The theme of the "all-seeing sun" is a familiar motif in classical mythology; see, for example, Ovid's Metamorphoses.)

1537. He trembles at everything, if even so much as a mouse moves. (Someone might also be afraid of a mere fly: Muscas metuit praetervolantes, "he fears the flies who fly by.")

1538. It is not allowed to err twice in war. (You can find this saying expressed in many forms, e.g., Non in bello peccare licet bis, In bello non licet bis peccare, etc.)

1539. He who asks hesitantly teaches the other to refuse. (You can find this saying in Seneca's Phaedra.)

1540. When a friend hurts you, he is no different from an enemy. (Compare this similar saying, built on the same basic sentence structure: Amare inepte nil ab odio discrepat, "To love ineptly is no different from hatred.")

1541. A cow who moos a lot has little milk. (In English the cow goes "moo" but in Latin she goes "boo" - boat.)

1542. I do not praise the flower which offers no scent.(The rhyme betrays the medieval origin of this saying.) Non laudo florem qui nullum praebet odorem.

1543. The man who lacks a plan labors in vain. (Note the use of the adverbial frustra. From the related verb frustrare we get the English verb "frustrated.")

1544. The man who strives to please everyone labors in vain. (You can find this saying expressed in many ways, e.g. In vanum laborat qui omnibus placere contendit, "The man who attempts to please everybody labors in vain," etc.)

1545. Nothing is empty of god; he himself fills his work. (This sentiment is found in Seneca's De Beneficiis.)