group169


 

Latin Via Proverbs: Home - Previous - Next

 

Group 169: Latin

 

2176. Fit via vi.

2177. Ex vitulo bos fit.

2178. Vulpes aetati fit astutior.

2179. Fit fastidium copia.

2180. Bonum ex malo non fit.

2181. Dies nihil est; dum versas te, nox fit.

2182. Nihil fit sine causa.

2183. Quod cito fit, cito perit.

2184. Nemo repente fit turpissimus.

2185. Blanditia, non imperio, fit dulcis Venus.

2186. Omnis doloris tempus fit medicus.

2187. Momento fit cinis, diu silva.

2188. Tandem fit surculus arbor.

2189. De glande fit ardua quercus.

2190. Ex comoedia saepe fit tragoedia.

2191. Vita beatior non fit si longior.

2192. Brevis ipsa vita est sed malis fit longior.

 

Study Guide

 

2176. The way is made by force. (You can find this saying in Vergil's Aeneid.)

 

2177. From the calf comes an ox. (This is a proverb based on size: something that starts out small can end up unexpectedly large!)

 

2178. With age, the fox grows more clever. (NB: There is a typo in the first edition of the book: aetati should read instead aetate.)

 

2179. Abundance turns into disgust. (This saying is adapted from Livy.)

 

2180. Good does not come of evil. (You can find this sentiment in a letter of Seneca.)

 

2181. The day is nothing; as you turn around, it is night. (You can find this saying in Petronius's Satyricon.)

 

2182. Nothing happens without a reason. (This phrase is adapted from the Book of Job.)

 

2183. What comes into being quickly, perishes quickly. (Compare this nice Italian parallel: "Presto finito, presto perito." You can find this popular saying cited by Spinoza.)

 

2184. No one becomes completely vile all of a sudden. (The saying is adapted from Juvenal.)

 

2185. Love grows sweet with coaxing, not commands.

2186.  Time is the doctor of every pain.

2187.  In a moment it becomes ashes, having been a forest for so long.

 

2188. At last the stripling becomes a tree. (Compare this similar saying: sub qua nunc recubas arbore, virga fuit.)

 

2189. From the acorn comes the lofty oak tree. (A fuller form of the phrase is de nuce fit corylus, de glande fit arduce quercus. This item from Alanus de Insulis, Liber Parabolarum, is quoted by Chaucer in Troilus and Criseyde: "as an ook cometh of a litel spyr.")

 

2190. From comedy often comes tragedy. (Compare an opposite sentiment in Plautus's Amphitruo: faciam ex tragoedia comoedia. Compare also this interesting observation in Cicero: Itaque et in tragoedia comicum vitiosum est et in comoedia turpe tragicum.)

Ex comoedia saepe fit tragoedia.

 

2191. Life does not grow happier if it grows longer. (You can find this saying in Seneca.)

Vita beatior non fit si longior.

 

2192. Life itself is short, but with troubles it becomes longer. (This is another one of the sayings of Publilius Syrus.)