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Latin Via Proverbs: Home - Previous - Next

 

Group 139: Latin

 

1796. Hirundo una ver non facit.

1797. Unus flos non facit ver.

1798. Flos unus non facit hortum.

1799. Unus homo non facit choream.

1800. Fames pellit lupum e silvis.

1801. Paulum fellis disperdit multum mellis.

1802. Ieiunus raro stomachus vulgaria temnit.

1803. Bos lassus fortius figit pedem.

1804. Homo proponit sed deus disponit.

1805. Fortuna fortes metuit, ignavos premit.

1806. Mors optima rapit, deterrima relinquit.

 

Proverbs 1791-1800

Proverbs 1801-1810

 

 

Study Guide

 

1796. One swallow does not make it spring. (There is a witty Aesop's fable which takes this saying as the basis for its plot.)

 

1797. One flower does not make it spring. (This is a nice variation on the more famous saying about one swallow not making spring.)

 

1798. One flower does not make a garden. (Compare the English saying, "one flower makes no garland.")

 

1799. One man does not make a dance. (This is a medieval saying. Compare the variant pulchram solus homo nequit exornare choream, "a man by himself cannot furnish a pretty dance." )

 

1800. Hunger drives the wolf from the forest. (Compare also this similar saying: Summa est in silvis fames dum lupus lupum vorat, "It is the height of hunger in the forest when wolf eats wolf.")

 

1801. A little bit of bile ruins a whole lot of honey. (This is one of many Latin proverbs that play on the words mel and fel, honey and bile.)

 

1802. The stomach that rarely goes hungry scorns common food. (This saying is found in Horace.)

 

1803. The ox, when he is tired, digs in his hoof more strongly. (This saying is featured in one of Jerome's letters.)

 

1804. Man proposes, but God disposes. (You will find this in Thomas a Kempis.)

 

1805. Fortune fears the brave but she overwhelms the cowardly. (You will find this in Seneca's Medea.)

 

1806. Death seizes the best, and leaves the worst. (You will find this in Erasmus's Adagia, 3.9.43.)