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
Vade in pace - Go in peace
Vade mecum - Come with me. A constant companion
Vae victis! - Woe to the conquered! (vanquished) (Livy)
Vale - Farewell
Vanitas vanitatum, omnis vanitas - Vanity of vanities, all is vanity
Varia lecto (v.l.) - Variant reading
Variatio delectat - There's nothing like change! (Cicero)
Variorum - Of various people
Velle est posse - To be willing is to be able
Veni, vidi, vici - I came, I saw, I conquered. (Julius Caesar)
Veni, Vidi, volo in domum redire - I came, I saw, I want to go home
Venienti occurrite morbo - Meet the misfortune as it comes. (Persius)
Venire facias - You must come
Ventis secundis, tene cursum - Go with the flow
Ventis secundis, tene/tenete cursum - The winds being favorable, hold the course
Verba de futuro - Words about the future
Verba movent, exempla trahunt - Words move people, examples draw/compel them. Deeds, not words, give the example
Verba volant, (littera) scripta manet - Words fly away, the written (letter) remains
Verbatim et litteratim - Word for word and letter for letter
Verbatim - Exactly as said
Verbum sapienti satis est (verb. sap.) - A word to the wise is sufficient. Enough said
Veritas Lux Mea - The truth enlightens me / The truth is my light
Veritas numquam perit - Truth never perishes. (Seneca)
Veritas odit moras - Truth hates delay. (Seneca)
Veritas vincit - Truth conquers
Veritas vos liberabit - The truth will set you free
Verso - Reverse
Versus - Against
Verum et factum convertuntur - The true and the made are interchangeable. One can know with certainty only what he have created himself
Vesanum poetam qui sapiunt fugiunt - Anyone with a brain flees a versifying poet
Vestigia terrent - The footprints frighten me. (Horace)
Vestis virum reddit - The clothes make the man. (Quintilianus)
Veto - I forbid
Vi et armis - By force and arms
Via Crucis - The Way of the Cross
Via Dolorosa - The Way of Sorrow
Via Lactea - The Milky Way
Via media - A middle way or course
Via - By way of
Vice versa - In reverse order
Vice - In place of
Victis honor - Honour to the vanquished
Victoria Imperatrix Regina (VIR) - Victoria, Empress and Queen
Victoria Regina (VR) - Queen Victoria
Victoria Regina et Imperatrix (VRI) - Victoria, Queen and Empress
Victoria, non praeda - Victory, not loot
Victurus te saluto - He who is about to win salutes you
Vide et credere - See and believe
Vide ut supra - See the above
Vide - See
Videlicet (viz.) - That is to say; To wit; Namely
Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor - I see the better way and approve it, but I follow the worse way
Videre est credere - Seeing is believing
Videtis quantum scelus contra rem publicam vobis nuntiatum sit? - How great an evil do you see that may have been announced by you against the Republic? (Cicero)
Vidistine nuper imagines moventes bonas? - Seen any good movies lately?
Vigilando, agendo, bene consulendo, prospera omnia cedunt - By watching, by doing, by counsulting well, these things yield all things prosperous. (Sallust)
Vincere est totum - To win is everything
Vincit omnia amor - Love conquers all
Vincit omnia veritas - Truth conquers all
Vincit qui se vincit - He conquers who conquers himself
Vinculum unitatis - The bond of unity
Vinum bellum iucunumque est, sed animo corporeque caret - It's a nice little wine, but it lacks character and depth
Vinum et musica laetificant cor - Wine and music gladden the heart
Vir bonus, dicendi peritus - A good man, skilled in speaking. (definition of an orator) (Cato the Elder)
Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit - A wise man does not urinate against the wind
Vir sapit qui pauca loquitor - It is a wise man who speaks little
Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur - That man is wise who talks little (know when to hold your tongue)
Vires acquirit eundo - It gains strength by going / as it goes. (Virgil)
Virginibus puerisque - For maidens and youths
Virgo intacta - Intact virgin
Virtus in medio stat - Virtue stands in the middle
Virtus probata florescit - Manly excellence in trial flourished
Virtute et armis - By courage and by arms
Virtutis fortuna comes - Good luck is the companion of courage
Virum mihi, Camena, insece versutum - Tell me, O Muse, of the skillful man. (Livius Andronicus)
Vis consili expers mole ruit sua - Brute force bereft of wisdom falls to ruin by its own weight. (Discretion is the better part of valor) (Horace)
Vis inertiae - The power of inertia
Vis maior - Higher force
Vis medicatrix naturae - The healing power of nature
Visa - Things seen
Vita brevis, ars lunga - Life is short, art is long
Vita mutatur, non tollitur - Life is changed, not taken away
Vita non est vivere sed valere vita est - Life is more than merely staying alive
Vita sine libris mors est - Life without books is death
Vitam impendere vero - To risk one's life for the truth
Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia - Fortune, not wisdom, rules lives. (Cicero)
Vitanda est improba siren desidia - One must avoid that wicked temptress, Laziness. (Horace)
Vitiis nemo sine nascitur - No one is born without faults. (Horace)
Viva voce - With living voice
Vivat regina - Long live the queen
Vivat rex - Long live the king
Vivat, crescat, floreat! - May he/she/it live, grow, and flourish!
Vive hodie - Live today (not tomorrow)
Vive ut vivas - Live that you may live
Vivere commune est, sed non commune mereri - Everybody lives; not everybody deserves to
Vivere disce, cogita mori - Learn to live; Remember death. (sundial inscription)
Vivos voco, mortuos plango - I call the living, I mourn the dead. (church bell inscription)
Vix ulla tam iniqua pax, quin bello vel aequissimo sit potior - Scarcely is there any peace so unjust that it is better than even the fairest war. (Erasmus)
Vixere fortes ante agamemnona - Brave men lived before Agamemnon. (heroism exists even if it's not recorded)
Vixit - He/she has lived
Volens et potens - Willing and able
Volente Deo - God willing
Volenti non fit iniuria - A person who consents does not suffer injustice
Volo, non valeo - I am willing but unable
Voluptates commendat rarior usus - Infrequent use commends pleasure. (moderation in all things)
Vos vestros servate, meos mihi linquite mores - You cling to your own ways and leave mine to me. (Petrarch)
Vox clamantis in deserto - Voice crying in the desert. (voice in the wilderness unheeded warning, an opinion not in the mainstream
Vox populi - The voice of the people
Vox populi, vox Dei - The voice of the people is the voice of God. (Public opinion is obligatory)
Vulnerant omnes, ultima necat - Every (hour) wounds, the last kills. (sundial inscription)
Vulpem pilum mutat, non mores - A fox may change its hair, not its tricks. (People change behaviour but not their aims)
Vultus est index animi - The face is the index of the soul/mind