Many Latin expressions are used in books and in everyday English speech, and you will certainly find most those phrases listed and translated on my site. However, the existing body of Latin literature, both Classical and Medieval is extremely vast. There are many undiscovered gems of wit and wisdom, so I encourage you to study Latin :) The source for a quote is sometimes indcated, but one must remember that Latin quotations are often used as if they were anonymous maxims of universal wisdom. Unlike the collections of quotes that you will find on some other websites, these lines have been actually looked at more than once by someone who knows Latin. I am sure, however, that some typos have not been fixed, so do not assume that anything you find here is safe and good enough to be tattooed on your person! Always ask a Latinist before using a Latin quote for any permanent purpose.
This site also hosts a plethora of imporant resources about Latin, as well as some other languages. Most notably, there a list of legal Latin maxims. Elsewhere on this site there are Latin phrases used in medicine, heraldry, jewelry engravings, sundials and Latin love poems. There is even a motto generator that lets you create Latin phrases without knowing Latin!
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V
Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas - The love of money is the root of all evil. Avarice is the problem, money itself is not evil
Rara avis - A rare bird, i.e. An extraodinary or unusual thing. (Juvenal)
Ratio decidendi - The reason for the decision
Ratio et consilium propriae ducis artes - Reason and deliberation are the proper skills of a general
Ratio legis est anima legis - The reason of the law is the soul of the law
Re - Concerning
Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem! - Stand aside plebians! I am on imperial business!
Recto - On the right
Redde Caesari quae sunt Caesaris - Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's
Redivivus - Come back to life
Redolet lucernam - [it] smells of the lamp
Reductio ad absurdum - Reduction to the absurd. (proving the truth of a proposition by proving the falsity of all its alternatives)
Referendum - Something to be referred
Regnat non regitur qui nihil nisi quod vult facit - He is a king and not a subject who does only what he wishes. (Syrus)
Regnat populus - Let the People rule
Relata refero - I tell what I have been told. (Herodotos)
Rem tene, verba sequentur - Keep to the subject and the words will follow. (Cato Senior)
Repetitio est mater memoriae/ studiorum/ - Repetition is the mother of memory/studies
Requiescat in pace (RIP) - May he/she rest in peace
Rerum concordia discors - The concord of things through discord. (Horace)
Res firma mitescere nescit - A firm resolve does not know how to weaken
Res gestae - Things done
Res in cardine est - The matter is on a door hinge things are balanced on a knife's edge
Res inter alios - A matter between others it's not our busines
Res ipsa loquitur - The thing speaks for itself
Res judicata - Thing already judged upon
Res publica - The public thing
Res severa est verum gaudium - True joy is a serious thing. (Seneca)
Res tantum valet quantum vendi potest - A thing is worth only what someone else will pay for it
Respice finem - Look to the end
Respice post te, mortalem te esse memento - Look around you, remember that you are mortal. (Tertullianus)
Respice, adspice, prospice - Examine the past, examine the present, examine the future (look to the past, the present, the future)
Respondeat superior - Let the superior answer (a supervisor must take responsibility for the quality of a subordinate's work)
Resurgam - I shall rise again
Rex non potest peccare - The king cannot sin
Rex regnant sed non gubernat - The king reigns but does not govern
Rident stolidi verba latina - Fools laugh at the Latin language. (Ovid)
Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat? - What forbids a laughing man from telling the truth? (Horace)
Rigor mortis - The rigidity of death
Risu inepto res ineptior nulla est - There is nothing more foolish than a foolish laugh. (Catullus)
Risus abundat in ore stultorum - Abundant laughs in the mouth of the foolish
Roma locuta est. Causa finita est - Rome has spoken. The cause is finished
Rosa rubicundior, lilio candidior, omnibus formosior, semper in te glorior - Redder than the rose, whiter than the lilies, fairer than everything, I will always glory in thee
Rumores volant. / Rumor volat - Rumors fly. / Rumor flies