Latin Via Proverbs: Home - Previous - Next
Group 121: Latin
1572. Dicunt enim et non faciunt.
1573. Litterae non erubescunt.
1574. Divitiae pariunt curas.
1575. Crescit avaritia quantum crescit tua gaza.
1576. Vitam regit fortuna, non sapientia.
1577. Fortuna non addit sapientiam.
1578. Pecunia parit pecuniam.
1579. Herba mala cito crescit.
1580. Cito arescit lacrima.
1581. In cavea non canit luscinia.
Study Guide
1572. For they talk, and do nothing. (You can read a brief essay about this proverb at the AudioLatinProverbs.com blog.)
1573. Letters don't blush. (This is a saying that holds true for email nowadays: people say all kinds of things in the email they would never dare say in person!)
1574. Riches yields worries. (You can find this same notion expressed in many forms, e.g., Divitiae curas habent comites., "Riches have worries as their companions.")
1575. Greed grows as grows your treasure. (You can find this medieval saying discussed in Tosi 1809.)
1576. Luck rules life, not wisdom. (You can find this saying in Cicero.)
1577. Luck does not add wisdom. (In fact, sometimes Lady Luck makes people downright stupid, as this other famous saying informs us: Stultum facit Fortuna, quem vult perdere, "Luck makes the man who she wants to ruin into a fool.")
1578. Money yields money. (Or, as we say in English: "the rich get richer.")
1579. A weed grows quickly. (Literally, a "bad grass," herba mala.)
1580. A tear dries quickly. (The full form of the saying in Cicero: Cito enim arescit lacrima, praesertim in alienis malis, "a tear dries quickly, especially for other people's problems.") Cito arescit lacrima.
1581. In a cage, the nightingale does not sing. (This is found in the addeundum to Manuzio's edition of Erasmus's Adagia.)