Latin Via Proverbs: Home - Previous - Next

 

Group 148: Latin

 

1899. Imbrem tonitrus antecedit.

1900. Habitus non facit monachum.

1901. Exitus ostendit quo mundi gloria tendit.

1902. Successus improborum plures allicit.

1903. Si manus est vacua, non accipitrem capit illa.

1904. Familiaritas nimia contemptum parit.

1905. Arcum nimia frangit intensio.

1906. Nec semper arcum tendit Apollo.

1907. Bos currum trahit, non bovem currus.

1908. Abusus non tollit usum.

1909. Morsus morsum ducit.

1910. Abluit manus manum.

 

Proverbs 1891-1900

Proverbs 1901-1910

 

 

Study Guide

 

1899. The thunder precedes the storm. (Metaphorically speaking, it means that threats come first, but they will be followed by blows!)

 

1900. The habit does not make the monk. (Compare the similar saying, Barba non facit philosophum, "The beard does not make the philosopher.")

 

1901. The final exit shows where the glory of the world is headed. (I like this rhyming medieval proverb very much. It is part of that large group of Latin proverbs on the theme of sic transit gloria mundi.)

 

1902. The success of wicked men is alluring to many. (This is the moral for the Aesop's fable about Aesop and the man bitten by the dog.) Successus improborum plures allicit.

 

1903. If the hand is empty, it does not catch the hawk. (This is a medieval saying from the discipline of keeping hawks for hunting. There is an English equivalent: "Empty hands no hawks allure.")

 

1904. Too much familiarity breeds contempt. (You can see this saying illustrated in the Aesop's fable about the lion and the fox.)

 

1905. Too much tension breaks the bow. (Compare the Aesop's fable about Aesop and the bow.) Arcum nimia frangit intensio.

 

1906. Apollo does not always keep his bow stretched. (You will find this saying in Horace.)

 

1907. The ox pulls the cart, not the cart the ox. (In other words, don't put your cart before the horse!)

 

1908. Abuse does not do away with use. (This is an item of Latin legal vocabulary, meaning that an argument against the abuse of something is not an argument against the thing used rightly.)

 

1909. One bite leads to another. (Lay's potato chips could adopt this as their motto: you never can eat just one!)

 

1910. One hand washes another. (You can find many variations on this saying, including this one that explains what this might mean metaphorically: Abluit manus manum: da aliquid et accipe, "one hand washes another: give something, and receive.")