Latin Via Proverbs: Home - Previous - Next

 

Group 125: Latin

 

1622. Fata trahunt.

1623. Cotidiana vilescunt.

1624. Numeri regunt mundum.

1625. Bona bonis contingunt.

1626. Malis mala succedunt.

1627. Nubilo serena succedunt.

1628. Insperata saepe contingunt.

1629. Stultus puerque vera dicunt.

1630. Bonos boni, malos mali diligunt.

1631. Pira, dum sunt matura, sponte cadunt.

1632. Sua multi amittunt cum aliena appetunt.

1633. Argentum et aurum faciunt recta curva.

 

Proverbs 1621-1630

Proverbs 1631-1640

 

Study Guide

 

1622. The fates pull. (A fuller form of this phrase in Seneca is Fata volentem ducunt, nolentem trahunt, "The fates lead the willing, and drag the unwilling.")

 

1623. Everyday things lose their appeal. (Compare the English saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt." You can find variations in the Latin saying: assueta vilescunt, "familiar things lose thei rappeal," assiduum mirabile non est, "the familiar is not surprising," etc.)

 

1624. Numbers rule the world. (This phrase was made famous by its use by Proudhon.)

 

1625. Good things happen to good people. (Notice that bona is a neuter substantive, while bonis is masculine.)

 

1626. Bad things come one after another. (You can find this saying in Erasmus's Adagia, 3.9.97.)

 

1627. Fair skies follow the cloudy sky. (You can find this saying in Seneca.)

 

1628. Unhoped-for things often happen. (Compare this saying in Petrarch: Saepe praemeditata destituunt, insperata contingunt, "often planned things fail, and un-hoped things happen.")

 

1629. A fool and a child speak the truth. (Sometimes wine and/or drunkards are credited with the same tendency: Pueri ac vinum vera profantur, "children and wine speak the truth.")

 

1630. Good people cherish good people, wicked people cherish wicked people. (Both bonos...malos and boni...mali are substantive uses of the adjective, masculine plural.)

 

1631. Pears, when they are ripe, fall down by themselves. (You can find this saying in various forms, including this rhyming version: Dum sunt matura, pira sunt breviter ruitura, "When they are ripe, pears are shortly about-to-fall.")

 

1632. Many lose thir own things when they seek other people's things. (Compare a similar moral in the Aesopic fable of the dog and his shadow.)

 

1633. Silver and gold make crooked things straight. (In other words, money has the power to make things be something other than what they are; you can buy yourself a good reputation if you want.)