The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (14 page)
Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Online
Authors: Elizabeth Knowles
motto of the city of Edinburgh; see
Nullius in verba.In the word of none.
emphasizing reliance on experiment rather than authority
motto of the Royal Society
Per ardua ad astra.Through struggle to the stars.
motto of the Mulvany family, quoted and translated by Rider Haggard in
The People of the Mist
(1894) ch. 1; still in use as motto of the R.A.F., having been proposed by J. S. Yule in 1912 and approved by King George V in 1913
Post coitum omne animal triste.After coition every animal is sad.
post-classical saying
Quidquid agis, prudenter agas, et respice finem.Whatever you do, do cautiously, and look to the end.
Gesta Romanorum
no. 103
Semper eadem.Ever the same.
motto of Elizabeth I
Sic semper tyrannis.Thus always to tyrants.
motto of the State of Virginia.
Sic transit gloria mundi.Thus passes the glory of the world.
said during the coronation of a new Pope, while flax is burned to represent the transitoriness of earthly glory
used at the coronation of Alexander V in Pisa, 7 July 1409, but earlier in origin.
Similia similibus curantur.Like cures like.
motto of homeopathic medicine, although not found in this form in the writings of C. F. S. Hahnemann (1755–1843); the Latin appears as an anonymous side-note in Paracelsus
Opera Omnia
(
c.
1490–1541, ed. 1658) vol. 1
Si monumentum requiris, circumspice.If you seek a monument, gaze around.
inscription in St Paul's Cathedral, London, attributed to the son of Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723), its architect
Vox et praeterea nihil.A voice and nothing more.
describing a nightingale
Plutarch
Moralia
sect. 233a, no. 15
161
Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato.If it is not true, it is a happy invention.
common saying from the 16th century
162
Listen!
The fame of Danish kings
in days gone by, the daring feats
worked by those heroes are well known to us.
Beowulf
, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Thought shall be the harder, heart the keener, courage the greater, as our might lessens.
The Battle of Maldon
(tr R. K. Gordon, 1926)
Men said openly that Christ slept and His saints.
of England during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
for 1137
1910–87
God is on everyone's side…And, in the last analysis, he is on the side of those with plenty of money and large armies.
L'Alouette
(1953)
There is love of course. And then there's life, its enemy.
Ardèle
(1949)
1820–1906
Marriage, to women as to men, must be a luxury, not a necessity; an incident of life, not all of it.
speech, 1875
1880–1918
Les souvenirs sont cors de chasse
Dont meurt le bruit parmi le vent.
Memories are hunting horns
Whose sound dies on the wind.
"Cors de Chasse" (1912)
Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine.
Et nos amours, faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne?
La joie venait toujours après la peine.
Under Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine.
And our loves, must I remember them?
Joy always came after pain.
"Le Pont Mirabeau" (1912)
When man wanted to make a machine that would walk he created the wheel, which does not resemble a leg.
Les Mamelles de Tirésias
(1918)
1812–84
Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table
(1858) ch. 6.
A Boston man is the east wind made flesh.
attributed