Latin Via Proverbs: Home - Previous - Next

 

Group 167: Latin

 

2146. Cura omnia potest.

2147. Caritas omnia potest.

2148. Omnia potest pecunia.

2149. Fortunam nemo vitare potest.

2150. Nullus omnia scire potest.

2151. Humilis nec alte cadere nec graviter potest.

2152. Uno nemo potest in pede stare diu.

2153. Duarum civitatum civis esse nemo potest.

2154. Nemo potest duobus dominis servire.

2155. Nummis atque deo servire potest bene nemo.

2156. Potest ex casa vir magnus exire.

2157. Gallus in sterquilinio suo plurimum potest.

2158. Mutare non potest pardus varietates suas.

2159. Qui asinum non potest, stratum caedit.

 

Study Guide

 

2146. Careful effort accomplishes everything. (This is cura in the sense of being careful and attentive, not in the sense of anxiety or worry.)

 

2147. Love can do all things. (This is a line from a letter of Saint Jerome.)

 

2148. Money can do all things. (You can find this saying in many variants, such as pecunia impetrat omnia, for example, or ,em>omnia pecunia effici posse.)

 

2149. No one can evade Fortune. (The inevitability of Fortune is expressed in many similar proverbs, such as this lovely line from Ovid's Tristia: Fortunam debet quisque manere suam.)

 

2150. Not any person can know everything. (Compare the similar saying: non omnia possumus omnes or, more elegantly, nec omnia nec semper, nec ab omnibus.)

 

2151. A humble person can neither fall far nor heavily. (This is one of the saying of Publilius Syrus.)

 

2152. Nobody can stand for a long time on one foot. (This is from one of the epigrams of John Owen. )

 

2153. Nobody can be a citizen of two cities. (You will find this in Cicero.)

 

2154. No one can serve two masters. (This saying is adapted from the Gospel of Luke.)

 

2155. No one can serve money and God. (This saying is also adapted from the Gospel of Luke.)

 

2156. A great man can emerge from a hut. (You will find this saying in Seneca.)

 

2157. A rooster in his dung heap can do a great deal. (You will find this saying in Publilius Syrus.)

 

2158. A leopard cannot change his spots. (This fable is adapted from the Book of Jeremiah.)

 

2159. He who cannot beat the donkey must beat the horse-blanket. (You will find this saying in Petronius.)