Latin Via Proverbs: Home - Previous - Next
52. Rarum carum.
53. Medium certum.
54. Nocumentum documentum.
55. Nullum gratuitum prandium.
56. Nullum malum impunitum.
57. Cito maturum, cito putridum.
58. Lignum curvum numquam rectum.
59. Magnus liber magnum malum.
60. Si satis est, multum est.
61. Multum, non multa.
62. Non nova sed nove.
63. Pauca sed bona.
64. Antiqua sunt optima.
65. Primordia cuncta pavida sunt.
66. Humana cuncta sic vana.
67. Sic cuncta caduca.
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Study Guide
52. A rare thing is valuable. (Notice the sound-play in the Latin: it rhymes! Rhyme is commonly found in Latin proverbs, especially in medieval Latin proverbs.)
53. The middle way is certain. (This is another of many Latin proverbs praising the "golden mean.")
54. An injury is a lesson. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)
55. There is no free lunch. (Although the English word "gratuitous" is derived from the Latin gratuitus, the English word has quite different connotations! The Latin word for "lunch," prandium shows up in the admittedly obscure English word "post-prandial.")
56. No bad deed is unpunished. (One of my favorite sayings in English is "no GOOD deed goes unpunished," which in Latin would be: nullum beneficium impunitum.)
57. Quickly ripe, quickly rotten. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)
58. A crooked branch will never be straight. (In addition to supply a present tense of the verb "to be" if needed, you can also supply a future tense verb if that suits the context best, as it probably does here. And yes, the Latin adjective gives us the English word "rectum," which is the terminal portion of the large intestine, the part that is more or less straight compared to the more parts of the intestive that are all twisting and turning.)
59. A big book is a big evil. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)
60. If there is enough, that is plenty. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)
61. Much, not many. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)
62. Not new things but in a new way. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)
63. Few, but good. (In its full form, this would be: [There are[ few [things], but [they are] good. Notice a recurring pattern?)
64. The old things are best. (This saying expresses the typical Roman preference for old things that are tried and true as opposed to anything new-fangled.)
65. All beginnings are panicky. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)
66. Thus are all human things futile. (The literal meaning of the Latin adjective vanus is "empty." You can see this meaning of the Latin root at work in the English word "vanish.")
67. So all things are unsteady. (The underlying root in the Latin adjective caducus means "fall," as in the English word "deciduous," for trees whose leaves fall in the fall.)