It is the curse of talent, that, though it works more surely and persistently than genius, it reaches no goal; while genius, hovering for long on the summit (Spitze) of the ideal, looks round, smiling, far above. Schumann.
It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit. Rivarole.
It is the fate of a woman / Long to be patient and silent, to wait like a ghost that is speechless, / Till some questioning voice dissolves the spell of its silence. Longfellow.
It is the fate of the great ones of the earth to 10 begin to be appreciated by us only after they are gone. Old Ger. saying.
It is the first of all problems for a man to find out what kind of work he is to do in this universe. Carlyle.
It is the first principle of economy to make use of available vital power first, then the inexpensive natural forces, and only at last to have recourse to artificial power. Ruskin.
It is the flash that murders; the poor thunder never harm'd head. Tennyson.
It is the frog's own croak that betrays him. Pr.
It is the glistening and softly-spoken lie, ... 15 the patriotic lie of the historian, the provident lie of the politician, the zealous lie of the partisan, the merciful lie of the friend, and the careless lie of each man to himself, that cast the black mystery over humanity, through which we thank any man who pierces, as we would thank one who had dug a well in the desert. Ruskin.
It is the glorious doom of literature that the evil perishes and the good remains. Bulwer Lytton.
It is the great error of reformers and philanthropists in our time to nibble at the consequences of unjust power, instead of redressing the injustice itself. J. S. Mill.
It is the greatest invention man has ever made, this of marking down the unseen thought that is in him by written characters. Carlyle.
It is the heart that makes the critic, not the nose. Max Muller.
It is the height of folly to throw up attempting 20 because you have failed. Failures are wonderful elements in developing the character. Anon.
It is the inspiration of the Almighty that giveth man understanding. Job.
It is the law of fate that we shall live in part by our own efforts, but in the greater part by the help of others; and that we shall also die in part for our own faults, but in the greater part for the faults of others. Ruskin.
It is the life in literature that acts upon life. J. G. Holland.
It is the little rift within the lute / That by and by will make the music mute, / And, ever widening, slowly silence all. Tennyson.
It is the lot of man to suffer. Disraeli. 25
It is the mark of a great man to treat trifles as trifles, and important matters as important. Lessing.
It is the master-wheel which makes the mill go round. Pr.
It is the monotony of his own nature that makes solitude intolerable to a man. Schiller.
It is the music in the ear that finds and interprets the music of the orchestra. C. H. Parkhurst.
It is the nature of despair to blind us to all 30 means of safety. Fielding.
It is the nature of extreme self-lovers, as they will set an house on fire, an it were but to roast their eggs. Bacon.
It is the nature of parties to retain their original enmities far more firmly than their original principles. Macaulay.
It is the office of the Church to teach, not to train. Ward Beecher.
It is the ordinary way of the world to keep folly at the helm, and wisdom under the hatches. Pr.
It is the part of a good man to do great and 35 noble deeds, though he risks everything. Plutarch.
It is the part of a wise man to resist pleasures, but of a foolish one to be a slave to them. Epictetus.
It is the poet's function to keep before the minds of the people not only the underlying truths and beauties of all Nature, but the high and pure ideal of humanity which all should strive to attain. C. Fitzhugh.
It is the possession of a great heart or a great head, and not the mere fame of it, which is of worth and conducive to happiness. Schopenhauer.
It is the power of thought which gives man the mastery over Nature, the thoughts go forth into the world. Hans Andersen.
It is the privilege of every human work which 40 is well done, to invest the doer with a certain haughtiness. Emerson.
It is the privilege of genius that to it life never grows common-place, as to the rest of us. Lowell.
It is the property of every hero to come back to reality; to stand upon things, not shows of things. Carlyle.
It is the secret of the world that all things subsist, and do not die, but only retire a little from sight, and afterwards return again. Emerson.
It is the setting up of a claim to happiness that ruins everything in the world. Merck to Goethe.
It is the strange fate of man that even in the 45 greatest evils the fear of worse continues to haunt him. Goethe.
It is the temper of the highest hearts, like the palm-tree, to strive most upwards when it is most burdened. Sir P. Sidney.
It is the thought writ down we want, / Not its effect, not likenesses of likenesses; / And such descriptions are not, more than gloves / Instead of hands to shake, enough for us. J. Bailey.
It is the treating of the common-place with the feeling of the sublime that gives to art its true power. J. F. Millet.
It is the unseen and spiritual in man that determines the outward and actual. Carlyle.
It is the vain endeavour to make ourselves 5 what we are not that has strewn history with so many broken purposes and lives left in the rough. Lowell.
It is the wise alone who are capable of discerning that impartial justice is the truest mercy. Goldsmith.
It is the witness still of excellency / To put a strange face on his own perfection. Much Ado, ii. 3.
It is the work of a philosopher to be every day subduing his passions and laying aside his prejudices. Addison.
It is through the feeling of wonder that men philosophise. Arist.
It is time enough to answer questions when 10 they are asked. Emerson.
It is time enough to doff your hat when you see the man. Dan. Pr.
It is time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss. Pericles, i. 2.
It is to be doubted whether he will ever find the way to heaven who desires to go thither alone. Feltham.
It is too late to husband when all is spent. Pr.
It is too late to spare when the bottom is bare. 15 Pr.
It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god. Sen.
It is truth that makes a man angry. Pr.
It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into. Swift.
It is useless to deny with the tongue that which man gives credence to with the heart. Johnson.
It is very easy to obey a noble ruler who convinces 20 (überzeugt) while he commands us. Goethe.
It is very good to be left alone with the truth sometimes, to hear with all its sternness what it will say to one. Carlyle.
It is very little that we can ever know of the ways of Providence or the laws of existence; but that little is enough, and exactly enough. Ruskin.
It is war's prize to take all advantages, / And ten to one is no impeach of valour. 3 Hen. VI., i. 4.
It is we that are blind, not Fortune. Sir T. Browne.
It is well that there is no one without a fault, 25 for he would not have a friend in the world. He would seem to belong to a different species. Hazlitt.
It is well to go for a light to another man's fire, but by no means to tarry by it. Plutarch.
It is when the hour of conflict is over, that history comes to a right understanding of the strife, and is ready to exclaim: "Lo! God is here, and we knew it not." Bancroft.
It is wholesomer for the moral nature to be restrained, even by arbitrary power, than to be allowed to exercise arbitrary power. J. S. Mill.
It is wisdom alone that can recognise wisdom. Carlyle.
It is wise not to know a secret, and honest 30 not to reveal it. Pr.
It is with a fine genius as with a fine fashion; all those are displeased at it who are not able to follow it. Warton.
It is with diseases of the mind as with those of the body; we are half dead before we understand our disorders, and half cured when we do. Colton.
It is with history as it is with nature, as it is with everything profound, past, present, or future; the deeper we earnestly search into them, the more difficult are the problems that arise. He who does not fear these, but boldly confronts them, will, with every step or advance, feel himself both more at his ease and more highly educated. Goethe.
It is with ideas as with pieces of money; those of least value generally circulate the best. Punch.
It is with narrow-soul'd people as with narrow-neck'd 35 bottles; the less they have in them the more noise they make in pouring it out. Swift.
It is with our thoughts as with flowers. Those whose expression is simple carry their seed with them; those that are double, by their richness and pomp charm the mind, but produce nothing. Joubert.
It is with words as with sunbeams; the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. Southey.
It makes a great difference to the force of any sentence whether there be a man behind it or no. In the learned journal, in the influential newspaper, I discern no form; only some irresponsible shadow; oftener some moneyed corporation, or some dangler, who hopes, in the mask and robes of his paragraph, to pass for somebody. Emerson.
It matters less to a man where he is born than where he can live. Turk. Pr.
It matters little whether a man be mathematically, 40 or philologically, or artistically cultivated, so he be cultivated. Goethe.
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. Johnson.
It matters not that a woman is well dressed if her manners be bad; ill-breeding mars a fine dress more than dirt. Plaut.
It matters not whether our good-humour be construed by others into insensibility, or even idiotism; it is happiness to ourselves. Goldsmith.
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, / And see the great Achilles whom we knew. Tennyson.
It may indeed be that man is frightfully threshed at times by public and domestic ill-fortune, but the ruthless destiny, if it smites the rich sheaves, only crumples the straw; the grains feel nothing of it, and bound merrily hither and thither on the threshing-floor, unconcerned whether they wander into the mill or the cornfield. Goethe.
It must be bad indeed if a book has a more demoralising effect than life itself. Goethe.
It needs a man to perceive a man. A. B. Alcott.
It ne'er was wealth, it ne'er was wealth, / That coft contentment, peace, or pleasure; / The bands and bliss o' mutual love, / O that's the chiefest warld's treasure! Burns.
It never occurs to fools that merit and good 5 fortune are closely united. Goethe.
It never rains but it pours. Pr.
It never smokes but there's fire. Pr.
It offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb show and noise. Ham., ii. 2.
It oft falls out to have what we would have; we speak not what we mean. Meas. for Meas., ii. 4.
It requires a great deal of boldness and a 10 great deal of caution to make a great fortune, and when you have got it, it requires ten times as much wit to keep it. Emerson.
It requires a great deal of poetry to gild the pill of poverty. Mme. Deluzy.
It requires a long time to know any one. Cervantes.
It requires more than mere genius to be an author. La Bruyère.
It requires much courage not to be down-hearted in the world. Goethe.
It requires no preterhuman force of will in any 15 young man or woman ... to get at least half an hour out of a solid busy day for good and disinterested reading. John Morley.
It seems a law of society to despise a man who looks discontented because its requirements have compelled him to part with all he values in his life. Goethe.
It seems as if them as aren't wanted here are th' only ones as aren't wanted i' the other world. George Eliot.
It should not be suspected of a man, whose life hath been spent in noble deeds, that his reason is lost, when he is only involved in trouble. A fire may be overturned, but its flames will never descend. Hitopadesa.
It so falls out, / That what we have we prize not to the worth / Whiles we enjoy it; but being lack'd and lost, / Why then we rack the value. Much Ado, iv. 1.
It takes a good many spadefuls of earth to 20 bury the truth. Ger. Pr.
It takes a great deal of living to get a little deal of learning. Ruskin.
It takes a great man to make a good listener. Helps.
It takes much more penetration to discover a fool than a clever man. Cato.
It takes ten pounds of common-sense to carry one pound of learning. Persian Pr.
It was a stroke / Brought the stream from the 25 flinty rock. Dr. W. Smith.
It was alway yet the trick of our English nation, if they have a good thing, to make it too common. 2 Hen. IV., i. 2.
It was always the aim of the artists as well as the wise men of antiquity, to mean much though they might say little. Winkelmann.
It was for beauty that the world was made. Quoted by Emerson.
It was the nightingale, and not the lark / That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear. Rom. and Jul., iii. 5.
It was the wisdom of the ancients to regard 30 the most useful as the most illustrious. Sen.
It were better to be of no church than bitter for any. W. Penn.
It were easier to stop Euphrates at its source than one tear of a true and tender heart. Byron.
It were good for a man to have some anchorage deeper than the quicksands of this world; for these drift to and fro so as to baffle all conjecture. Carlyle.
It were no virtue to bear calamities if we did not feel them. Mme. Necker.
It will be all the same a hundred years hence. 35 Pr.
It will be an ill web to bleach. Pr.
It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood; / Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak. Macb., iii. 4.
It will never out of the flesh that's bred in the bone. Ben Jonson.
It would be better that we should not exist, than that we should guiltily disappoint the purposes of existence. Ruskin.
It would be some advantage to live a primitive 40 and frontier life, though in the midst of an outward civilisation, if only to learn what are the gross necessaries of life, and what methods have been taken to obtain them. Thoreau.
It's a gude heart that says nae ill, but a better that thinks nane. Sc. Pr.
It's a poor man that always counts his sheep. Pr.
It's a poor sport that's not worth the candle. George Herbert.
It's a sair field where a's slain. Sc. Pr.
It's a small joke sets men laughing when they 45 sit a-staring at one another wi' a pipe i' their mouths. George Eliot.
It's a weary warld, and naebody bides in't. J. M. Barrie.
It's all very well having a ready-made rich man, but it may happen he'll be a ready-made fool. George Eliot.
It's an ill wind that blaws naebody gude. Sc. Pr.
It's aye the cheapest lawyer's fee / To taste the barrel. Burns.
It's bad flesh that won't take salt; worse is 50 the body that won't take warning. Gael. Pr.
It's difficult to give sense to a fool. Gael. Pr.
It's good sheltering under an old hedge. Pr.
It's hard sailing when there is no wind. Pr.
It's hard to take the twist out of an oak that grew in the sapling. Gael.
It's hard to tell which is Old Harry when everybody's got boots on. George Eliot.
It's harder work getting to hell than to heaven. 5 Ger. Pr.
It's hardly in a body's power / To keep, at times, frae being sour, / To see how things are shared. Burns.
It's height makes Grantham steeple stand awry. Pr.
It's ill livin' in a hen-roost for them as doesn't like fleas. George Eliot.
It's ill living where everybody knows everybody. Pr.
It's ill talking between a full man and a fasting. 10 Sc. Pr.
It's ill wool that will take no dye. Pr.
It's lang ere the devil dee by the dyke-side. Sc. Pr.
It's never too late to learn. Pr.
It's no in titles nor in rank; / It's no in wealth like London bank, / To purchase peace and rest: / It's no in makin' muckle mair, / It's no in books, it's no in lear, / To mak' us truly blest. Burns.
It's no tint (lost) that a friend gets. Sc. 15 Pr.
It's no use filling your pocket full of money if you have got a hole in the corner. George Eliot.
It's no use killing nettles to grow docks. Pr.
It's no use pumping a dry well. Pr.
It's not "What has she?" but "What is she?" Pr.
It's poor eating where the flavour of the meat 20 lies in the cruets. George Eliot.
It's poor friendship that needs to be constantly bought. Gael. Pr.
It's pride that puts this country down; / Man, take thine old cloak about thee. Old ballad.
It's sin, and no poverty, that maks a man miserable. Sc. Pr.
It's them as take advantage that get advantage i' this world, I think; folks have to wait long enough before it's brought to 'em. George Eliot.
It's too late to cast anchor when the ship is 25 on the rocks. Pr.
It's wiser being good than bad; / It's safer being meek than fierce; / It's fitter being sane than mad. / My own hope is, a sun will pierce / The thickest cloud earth ever stretch'd; / That after last returns the first, / Though a wide compass round be fetch'd; / That what began best can't end worst, / Nor what God blessèd once prove accurst. Browning.
It's your dead chicks take the longest hatchin'. George Eliot.
Ita lex scripta—Thus the law is written.
Ivory does not come from a rat's mouth. Chinese Pr.
J'ai bonne cause—I have good cause or reason. 30 M.
J'ai en toujours pour principe de ne faire jamais par autrui ce que je pouvais faire par moi-même—I have ever held it as a maxim never to do that through another which it was possible for me to do myself. Montesquieu.
J'ai failli attendre—I was all but kept waiting. Louis XIV., as his carriage drove up just at the last moment.
J'ai graissé la patte au concierge—I have tipped the door-keeper (lit. greased his paw). Fr. Pr.
J'ai ris, me voilà désarmé—I was set a-laughing, and lo! I was at once disarmed. Piron.
J'ai toujours vu que, pour réussir dans le 35 monde, il fallait avoir l'air fou et être sage—I have always observed that to succeed in the world a man must seem simple but be wise. Montesquieu.
J'ai trouvé chaussure à mon pied—I have found a good berth (lit. shoes for my feet). Fr. Pr.
J'ai vécu—I existed through it all (the Reign of Terror). Siéyès.
J'ai voulu voir, j'ai vu—I wish to see, and have seen. Racine.
J'aime mieux ma mie—I love my lass better. A French Old Song.
J'appelle un chat un chat, et Rolet un fripon—I 40 call a cat a cat, and Rolet a knave. Boileau.
J'embrasse mon rival, mais c'est pour l'étouffer—I press my rival to my heart, but it is to smother him. Corneille.
J'en passe et des meilleurs—I pass by them, and better than they. Victor Hugo.
J'étais poète, historien, / Et maintenant je ne suis rien—I was once a poet and a historian, and now I am nothing. Boudier, for his epitaph.
J'étais pour Ovide à quinze ans, / Mais je suis pour Horace à trente—I was for Ovid at fifteen, but I am for Horace at thirty. Ducerceau.
J'évite d'être long, et je deviens obscur—In 45 avoiding to be diffuse, I become obscure. Boileau, after Horace.
J'y suis, et j'y reste—Here I am, and here I remain. MacMahon in the trenches before the Malakoff.
Ja, das Gold ist nur Chimäre—Yes, gold is but a chimæra. Scribe-Meyerbeer.
Ja, der Krieg verschlingt die Besten!—Yes, war swallows up the best people! Schiller.
Ja, grosse Männer werden stets verfolgt, / Und kommen immer in Verlegenheiten—Yes, great men are always subject to persecution, and always getting into straits. Schiller.
Ja, so schätzt der Mensch das Leben, als 50 heiliges Kleinod, / Dass er jenen am meisten verehrt, der es trotzig verschmähet—Yes, man values life as a sacred jewel in such a way that he reveres him most who haughtily scorns it. Platen.
Jacet ecce Tibullus, / Vix manet e toto parva quod urna capit—See, here Tibullus lies; of all that he was there hardly remains enough to fill a little urn. Ovid.
Jack at a pinch. Pr.
Jack is as good as Jill. Pr.
Jack-o'-both sides is, before long, trusted by nobody, and abused by both parties. Pr.
Jack of all trades and master of none. Pr.
Jack shall pipe and Jill shall dance. G. 5 Wither.
Jack will never be a gentleman. Pr.
Jack's as good as his master. Pr.
Jacta alea est—The die is cast. Cæsar, when he passed the Rubicon.
Jactitatio—A boasting. Jactitation of marriage is cognizable in the Ecclesiastical Courts. L.
Jam nunc minaci murmure cornuum / Perstringis 10 aures; jam litui strepunt—Even now you stun our ears with the threatening murmur of horns; already I hear the clarions sound. Hor.
Jam pauca aratro jugera regiæ / Moles relinquent—Soon will regal piles leave but few acres to the plough. Hor.
Jam portum inveni, Spes et Fortuna valete! / Nil mihi vobiscum est, ludite nunc alios—Now I have gained the port, hope and fortune, farewell! I have nothing more to do with you; go now and make sport of others. A Greek epitaph.
Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna—Now the Virgin goddess of justice returns; now the reign of Saturn and age of gold returns. Virg.
Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit, resecandaque falce / Luxuriat Phrygio sanguine pinguis humus—New fields of corn wave where Troy once stood, and the ground enriched with Trojan blood is luxuriant with grain ready for the sickle. Ovid.
Jam summa procul villarum culmina fumant—Now 15 the high tops of the far-off villas send forth their smoke. Virg.
Jamais abattu—Never cast down. M.
Jamais arrière—Never behind. M.
Jamais l'innocence et le mystère n'habitèrent long tems ensemble—Innocence and mystery never dwelt any length of time together. Fr.
Jamais la cornemuse ne dit mot si elle n'a le ventre plein—The bagpipe never utters a word till its belly is full. Fr. Pr.
Jamais long nez n'a gâté beau visage—A big 20 nose never disfigured a handsome face, i.e., it is disfigured already. Fr. Pr.
Jamais nous ne goûtons de parfaite allégresse; / Nos plus heureux succès sont mêlés de tristesse—We never taste happiness in perfection; our most fortunate successes are mixed with sadness. Corneille.
Jamais on ne vaincra les Romains que dans Rome—The Romans will never be conquered except in Rome. Fr.
Jamque opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignis, / Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas—And now I have completed what neither the wrath of Jove, nor fire, nor the sword, nor the corroding tooth of time will be able to destroy. Ovid.
Januæ mentis—Inlets of knowledge (lit. gates of the mind).
Januis clausis—With closed doors. 25
Jardin des plantes—A botanical garden. Fr.
Jasper fert myrrham, thus Melchior, Balthazar aurum. / Hæc quicum secum portet tria nomina regum, / Solvitur a morbo, Domini pietate, caduco—Jasper brings myrrh, Melchior frankincense, and Balthazar gold. Whoever carries with him the names of these three kings (the three kings of Cologne, the Magi) will, by the grace of God, be exempt from the falling sickness. A Mediæval charm.
Je allseitiger, je individueller—The more universal a man is, the greater he is as an individual. Mme. Varnhagen von Ense.
Je cognois tout, fors que moy-mesme—I know everything except myself. Old Fr.
Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n'ai pas d'autre 30 crainte—I fear God, Abner, and have no other fear. Racine.
Je crains l'homme d'un seul livre—I am afraid of the man of one book. Thomas Aquinas.
Je fetter der Floh, je magerer der Hund—The fatter the flea, the leaner the dog. Ger. Pr.
Je jouis des ouvrages qui surpassent les miens—I enjoy works which surpass my own. La Harpe.
Je laisse à penser la vie / Que firent ces deux amis—I leave you to imagine the festive time these two friends (the town mouse and the country mouse) had of it. La Fontaine.
Je le tiens—I hold it. M. 35
Je m'en vais chercher un grand peut-être; tirez le rideau, la farce est jouée—I am going in quest of a great perhaps; let the curtain drop, the farce is played out. Rabelais, on his deathbed.
Je m'en vais voir le soleil pour la dernière fois!—I shall see the sun for the last time. Rousseau's last words.
Je m'estonne fort pourquoy / La mort osa songer a moy / Qui ne songeais jamais à elle—I wonder greatly why death should condescend to think of me, who never thought of her. Regnier.
Je maintiendrai le droit—I will maintain the right. M.
Je me fie en Dieu—I put my trust in God. M. 40
Je mehr der Brunnen gebraucht wird, desto mehr giebt er Wasser—The more the well is used, the more water it gives. Ger. Pr.
Je mehr Gesetze, je weniger Recht—The more laws, the less justice. Ger. Pr.
Je mehr man das Ich versteckt, je mehr Welt hat man—The more we merge our I, the larger is our world. Hippel.
Je mets en fait que, si tous les hommes savaient ce qu'ils disent les uns des autres, il n'y aurait pas quatre amis dans le monde—I lay it down as beyond dispute that if every one knew what every one said of another, there would not be four friends in the world. Pascal.
Je minder sich der Kluge selbst gefällt, / Um 45 desto mehr schätzt ihn die Welt—The less the sage pleases himself, the more the world esteems him. Gellert.
Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte—I have made this (letter) a rather long one, only because I had not the leisure to make it shorter. Pascal.
Je n'ai mérité / Ni cet excès d'honneur ni cette indignité—I have deserved neither so much honour nor such disgrace. Corneille.
Je n'ai point d'ennemis que ceux de l'état—I have no enemies whatever but those of the state. Richelieu to his confessor on his death-bed.
Je n'oublierai jamais—I will never forget. M.
Je ne change qu'en mourant—I change only when I die. M.
Je ne changerois pas mon répos pour tous les trésors du monde—I would not exchange my leisure hours for all the wealth in the world.
Je ne cherche qu'un—I seek but one. M. 5
Je ne connais que trois moyens d'exister dans la société: être ou voleur, ou mendiant, ou salarié—I know only three means of subsisting in society: by stealing, begging, or receiving a salary. Mirabeau, to the Clergy.
Je ne puis pas me refondre—I cannot change my opinion or purpose (lit. recast myself). Fr.
Je ne sais quoi—I know not what. Fr.
Je pense—I think. M.
Je pense plus—I think more. M. 10
Je plie et ne romps pas—I bend, but don't break. La Font.
Je prends mon bien où je le trouve—I take my own where I find it. Molière.
Je sais à mon pot comment les autres bouillent—I can tell by my own pot how others boil. Fr. Pr.
Je schöner die Wirthin, je schwerer die Zeche—The fairer the hostess the heavier the bill. Ger. Pr.
Je sens qu'il y a un Dieu, et je ne sens pas 15 qu'il n'y en ait point; cela me suffit—I feel there is a God, and I don't feel there is none; that is enough for me. La Bruyère.
Je suis assez semblable aux girouettes, qui ne se fixent que quand elles sont rouillées—I am like enough to the weathercocks, which don't veer only when they become rusty. Voltaire.
Je suis oiseau, voyez mes ailes! / Je suis souris; vivent les rats—I am a bird, see my wing! I am a mouse; long live the rats. La Fontaine.
Je suis prêt—I am ready. M.
Je suis riche des biens dont je sais me passer—I am rich in the goods that I can do without. Vigée.
Je t'aime d'autant plus que je t'estime moins—I 20 love you all the more the less I esteem you. Collé Cocatrix.
Je veux de bonne guerre—I am for fairplay in war. M.
Je veux le droit—I mean to have my right. M.
Je veux que, le dimanche, chaque paysan ait sa poule au pot—It is my wish that every peasant may have a fowl in his pot on Sundays. Henry IV. of France.
Je vis en espoir—I live in hope. M.
Je vois, je sais, je crois, je suis désabusé—I 25 see, I know, I believe, I am undeceived. Corneille.
Je voudrais voir un homme sobre, modéré. chaste, équitable prononcer qu'il n'y-a point de Dieu; il parlerait du moins sans intérêt; mais cet homme ne se trouve point—I should like to see a man who is sober, moderate, chaste and just assert that there is no God; he would speak disinterestedly at least, but such a man is not to be found. La Bruyère.
Je vous apprendrai à vivre—I will teach you better manners (lit. to live). Fr. Pr.
Je vous ferai voir de quel bois je me chauffe—I will let you see what metal I am made of (lit. with what wood I heat myself). Fr. Pr.
Je weniger die Worte, je besser Gebet—The fewer the words, the better the prayer. Ger. Pr.
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, / 30 Seeking the bubble reputation / Even in the cannon's mouth. As You Like It, ii. 7.
Jealousy dislikes the world to know it. Byron.
Jealousy / Hath in it an alchemic force to fuse / Almost into one metal love and hate. Tennyson.
Jealousy is a painful passion; yet without some share of it, the agreeable affection of love has difficulty to subsist in its full force and violence. Hume.
Jealousy is always born with love, but it does not always die with it. La Roche.
Jealousy is cruel as the grave; the coals 35 thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Bible.
Jealousy is love's bed of burning snarl. George Meredith.
Jealousy is often the helpmate of sweet love. Kingsley.
Jealousy is the forerunner of love, and sometimes its awakener. F. Marion Crawford.
Jealousy is the rage of a man. Bible.
Jealousy is the sister of love, as the devil is 40 the brother of the angel. Weber.
Jealousy: / It is the green-eyed monster that doth mock / The meat it feeds on. Othello, iii. 2.
Jealousy lives upon doubts; it becomes madness or ceases entirely as soon as we pass from doubt to certainty. La Roche.
Jean a étudié pour être bête—John has been to college to learn to be a fool. Fr. Pr.
Jean s'en alla comme il était venu—John went away as he came. La Fontaine's epitaph, written by himself.
Jeddart justice: First hang a man, and syne 45 (then) try him. Sc. Pr.
Jede grosse Zeit erfasst den ganzen Menschen—Every great epoch seizes possession of the whole man. Mommsen.
Jede Macht, welche wir über andere Gegenstände ausüben, hängt von der Macht ab, die wir über uns selbst besitzen—All the power which we, in every case, exercise over other objects depends on the power we have over ourselves. Cötvös.
Jede That der Weltgeschichte / Zeugt auch wieder eine That—Every deed in the history of the world begets another deed in turn. Arnold Schlönbach.
Jede Unthat, / Trägt ihren eignen Racheengel schon, / Die böse Hoffnung unter ihrem Herzen—Every evil deed already bears its own avenging angel, the dread of evil, in the heart of it. Schiller.
Jedem das Seine ist nicht zu viel—To no one is 50 his own too much. Ger. Pr.
Jedem redlichen Bemühn / Sel Beharrlichkeit verliehn.—Be perseverance vouchsafed to every honest endeavour. Goethe.
Jeden anderen Meister erkennt man an dem, was er ausspricht; was er weiss, verschweigt, zeigt mir den Meister des Styls—Every other master may be known by what he expresses; what he wisely suppresses reveals to me the master of style. Schiller.
Jeder ausserordentliche Mensch hat eine gewisse Sendung, die er zu vollführen berufen ist—Every man above the ordinary has a certain mission which he is called to fulfil. Goethe.
Jeder freut sich seiner Stelle, / Bietet dem Verächter Trutz—Every one is proud of his office, and bids defiance to the scorner. Schiller.
Jeder gilt so viel als er hat—Every one is worth as much as he has. Ger. Pr.
Jeder ist seiner Worte bester Ausleger—Every one is the best interpreter of his own words. Ger. Pr.
Jeder Jüngling sehnt sich so zu lieben. / Jedes 5 Mädchen so geliebt zu sein: / Ach, der heiligste von unsern Trieben / Warum quillt aus ihm die grimme Pein?—The youth longs so to love, the maiden so to be loved; ah! why does there spring out of this holiest of all our instincts such agonising pain? Goethe.
Jeder Krämer lobt seine Ware—Every dealer cracks up his wares. Ger. Pr.
Jeder Mensch muss nach seiner Weise denken: denn er findet auf seinem Wege immer ein Wahres, oder eine Art von Wahrem, die ihm durchs Leben hilft; nur darf er sich nicht gehen lassen; er muss sich controliren; der blosse nackte Instinct geziemt nicht dem Menschen—Every man must think in his own way; for on his own pathway he always finds a truth, or a measure of truth, which is helpful to him in his life; only he must not follow his own bent without restraint; he must control himself; to follow mere naked instinct does not beseem a man. Goethe.
Jeder Morgen ruft zu, das Gehörige zu thun, und das Mögliche zu erwarten—We are summoned every morning to do what it requires of us, and to expect what it may bring. Goethe.
Jeder muss der Natur seine Schuld bezahlen—Every one must pay his debt to Nature. Ger. Pr.
Jeder muss ein Paar Narrenschuhe zerreissen, 10 zerreisst er nicht mehr—Every one must wear out one pair of fool's shoes, if he wear out no more. Ger. Pr.
Jeder, sieht man ihn einzeln, ist leidlich klug und verständig; / Sind sie in corpori, gleich wird euch ein Dummkopf daraus—Every man, as we see him singly, is tolerably wise and intelligent; but see him in a corporate capacity, and you think him a born blockhead and fool. Schiller.
Jeder stirbt / Und sterben ist die grösste That für jedem—Every one dies, and for every one to die is his greatest act. L. Schefer.
Jeder Tag hat seine Plage / Und die Nacht hat ihre Lust—Every day has its torment, and the night has its pleasure. Philina, in Goethe.
Jeder Weg zum rechten Zwecke / Ist auch recht in jeder Strecke—Every road to the right end is also right in every stretch (step or turn) of it. Goethe.
Jeder Zustand, ja jeder Augenblick, ist von 15 unendlichem Werth, denn er ist der Repräsentant einer ganzen Ewigkeit—Every condition, nay, every moment, is of infinite value, for it is the representative of a whole eternity. Goethe.
Jedes ausgesprochene Wort erregt den Eigensinn—Every uttered (lit. outspoken) word rouses our self-will. Goethe.
Jedes Weib will lieber schön als fromm sein—Every woman would rather be handsome than pious. Ger. Pr.
Jedes Weibes / Fehler ist des Mannes Schuld—The husband is to blame for the fault of the wife (in every case). Herder.
Jedwede Tugend / Ist fleckenrein bis auf den Augenblick / Der Probe—Every virtue is stainless up to the moment of trial. Schiller.
Jedwede Zeit hat ihre Wehen—Every time has 20 its sorrows. Freiligrath.
Jedweder ist des dunkeln Schicksals Knecht—Every one is dark fate's thrall. Schillerbuch.
Jeer not others upon any occasion. South.
Jeerers must be content to taste of their own broth. Pr.
Jejunus raro stomachus vulgaria temnit—The hungry stomach rarely scorns plain fare. Hor.
Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. Bible. 25
Jess would have been an omnivorous reader of books had it not been her conviction that reading was idling. George Eliot.
Jest not with the eye, nor religion. Pr.
Jest so that it may not become earnest. Sp. Pr.
Jest with an ass, and he will flap you in the face with his tail. Pr.
Jest with your equals. Dan. Pr. 30
Jesters do oft prove prophets. King Lear, v. 3.
Jesting brings serious sorrows. Pr.
Jesting lies bring serious sorrows. Pr.
Jesting Pilate, asking, "What is truth?" had not the smallest chance to ascertain it. He could not have known it had a god shown it to him. Carlyle.
Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of prophets. 35 He saw with open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, He lived in it, and had His being there. Emerson.
Jesus hominum salvator—Jesus the Saviour of men. M.
Jesus of Nazareth, and the life He lived and the death He died;—through this, as through a miraculous window, the heaven of Martyr Heroism, the "divine depths of sorrow," of noble labour, and the unspeakable silent expanses of eternity, first in man's history disclose themselves. Carlyle.
Jesus of Nazareth was not poor, though He had not where to lay His head. (?)
Jesus speaks always from within, and in a degree that transcends all others. In that is the miracle. Emerson.
Jet d'eau—A jet of water. Fr. 40
Jeter le manche après la cognée—To throw the helve after the hatchet. Fr. Pr.
Jetzt giebt es keine Riesen mehr; Gewalt / Ist für den Schwachen jederzeit ein Riese—There are no more any giants now; for the weak, force is a giant at all times. Schiller.
Jeu d'enfant—Child's play. Fr.
Jeu de hazard—Game of chance. Fr.
Jeu de mains, jeu de vilain—Horse-play, or 45 practical joking, is vulgar. Fr.
Jeu de mots—Quibble; pun. Fr.
Jeu de theâtre—Stage-trick; clap-trap. Fr.
Jeune chirurgien, vieux médécin—A surgeon (should be) young, a physician old. Fr. Pr.
Jeune, et dans l'âge heureux qui méconnait la crainte—Young, and at that happy age which knows no fear. Fr.
Jeune, on conserve pour sa vieillesse; vieux, on épargne pour la mort—In youth men save for old age; in old age, they hoard for death. La Bruyère.
Jewels five words long, / That on the stretch'd forefinger of all time / Sparkle for ever. Tennyson.
Jo ædlere Blod, jo mindre Hovmod—The nobler the blood, the less the pride. Dan. Pr.
Jo argere Skalk, je bedre Lykke—The greater 5 knave, the better luck. Dan. Pr.
Jo mere af Lov, jo mindre af Ret—The more by law, the less by right. Dan. Pr.
Joan is as good as my lady in the dark. Pr.
John Gilpin kiss'd his loving wife; / O'erjoy'd was he to find / That, though on pleasure she was bent, / She had a frugal mind. Cowper.
Johnsons are rare; yet, Boswells are perhaps still rarer. Carlyle.
Join hands with God to make a man to live. 10 George Herbert.
Joindre les mains, c'est bien; les ouvrir, c'est mieux—To fold the hands (in prayer) is well; to open them (in charity) is better. Fr. Pr.
Joke at your leisure; ye kenna wha may jibe yoursel'. Sc. Pr.
Joke with a slave, and he'll soon show his heels. Ar. Pr.
Jong rijs is te buigen, maar geen oude boomen—Young twigs will bend, but not old trees. Dut. Pr.
Jonge lui, domme lui; oude lui, koude lui—Young 15 folk, silly folk; old folk, cold folk. Dut. Pr.
Jouk and let the jaw (or jaup) gae by, i.e., duck and let the dash of dirty water pass over you. Sc. Pr.
Jour de fête—Holiday. Fr.
Jour de ma vie—The day of my life. M.
Jour gras—Flesh day. Fr.
Jour maigre—Fish day. Fr. 20
Journal pour rire—Comic journal. Fr.
Journalists are like little dogs; whenever anything stirs they immediately begin to bark. Schopenhauer.
Journeys end in lovers' meeting, / Every wise man's son doth know. Twelfth Night, ii. 3.
Jove tonante cum populo agi non est fas—When Jove thunders there must be no parleying with the people. Cic.
Jovis omnia plena—All things are full of Jove, 25 i.e., of the deity. Virg.
Joy? a moon by fits reflected in a swamp or watery bog. Wordsworth.
Joy and grief are never far apart. Willmott.
Joy and sorrow / Are to-day and to-morrow. Pr.
Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm. Jean Paul.
Joy has this in common with pain, that it robs 30 men of reason. Platen.
Joy, in a changeable subject, must necessarily change as the subject changeth. S. Bern.
Joy is a guest who generally comes uninvited. Schopenhauer.
Joy is a sunbeam between two clouds. Mme. Deluzy.
Joy is as a raiment fine, / Spun of magic threads divine; / Which as you are in act to don, / The wearer and the robe are gone. Sophocles.
Joy is buyable—by forsaking all that a man 35 hath. Ruskin.
Joy is like the ague; one good day between two bad ones. Dan. Pr.
Joy is more divine than sorrow; for joy is bread, and sorrow is medicine. Ward Beecher.
Joy is the best of wine. George Eliot.
Joy is the mainspring in the whole round of universal Nature; joy moves the wheels of the great timepiece of the world; she it is that loosens flowers from their buds, suns from their firmaments, rolling spheres in distant space not seen by the glass of the astronomer. Schiller.
Joy is the sweet voice, joy the luminous cloud. 40 Coleridge.
Joy may elevate, ambition glorify, but sorrow alone can consecrate. Horace Greely.
Joy must have sorrow; sorrow, joy. Goethe.
Joy never feasts so high as when the first course is of misery. Suckling.
Joy ruled the day and love the night. Dryden.
Joy shared is joy doubled. Goethe. 45
Joy surfeited turns to sorrow. Pr.
Joy wholly from without is false, precarious and short. Joy from within is like smelling the rose on the tree; it is more sweet, and fair, and lasting. Young.
Joy's a subtle elf; / I think man's happiest when he forgets himself. Cyril Tourneur.
Joys are for the gods; / Man's common course of nature is distress; / His joys are prodigies; and like them too, / Portend approaching ill. The wise man starts / And trembles at the perils of a bliss. Young.
Joys are our wings, sorrows are our spurs. 50 Jean Paul.
Joys carried too far change into sorrows. Justin Bertuch.
Joy's recollection is no longer joy, while sorrow's memory is a sorrow still. Byron.
Joys shared with others are more enjoyed. Pr.
Joys, tender and true, / Yet all with wings. Proctor.
Joyful to live, yet not afraid to die. Prior. 55
Joyfulness (Freudigkeit) is the mother of all virtues. Goethe.
Jubilate Deo—Be joyful in the Lord.
Jucunda est memoria præteritorum malorum—The recollection of past miseries is pleasant. Cic.
Jucunda et idonea dicere vitæ—To describe what is pleasant and suited for life. Hor.
Jucunda rerum vicissitudo—A delightful change 60 of circumstances.
Jucundi acti labores—It is pleasant to think of labours that are past. Cic.
Jucundum et carum sterilis facit uxor amicum—A wife who has no children makes (to her husband's heirs) a dear and engaging friend. Juv.
Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur—The judge is found guilty when a criminal is acquitted. Pub. Syr.
Judex non potest esse testis in propria causa—A judge cannot be a witness in his own cause. Coke.
Judge before friendship, then confide till death, / Well for thy friend, but nobler far for thee. Young.
Judge me, ye powers; let fortune tempt or frown, I am prepared; my honour is my own. Lansdowne.
Judge not according to the appearance, but 5 judge righteous judgment. Jesus.
Judge not of men and things at first sight. Pr.
Judge not, that ye be not judged. Jesus.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, / But trust Him for His grace. Cowper.
Judge not the play before the play is done; / Her plot has many changes; every day / Speaks a new scene; the last act crowns the play. Quarles.
Judge not the preacher.... Do not grudge / 10 To pick out treasures from an earthen pot. / The worst speak something good; if all want sense, / God takes a text and preacheth patience. George Herbert.
Judge of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Bacon.
Judge thou me by what I am, / So shalt thou find me fairest. Tennyson.
Judge thyself with a judgment of sincerity, and thou wilt judge others with a judgment of charity. Mason.
Judges and senates have been bought for gold; / Esteem and love were never to be sold. Pope.
Judges are but men, and are swayed, like other 15 men, by vehement prejudices. D. Dudley Field.
Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue. Bacon.
Judgment for an evil thing is many times delayed some day or two, some century or two, but it is sure as life, it is sure as death. Carlyle.
Judgment is forced upon us by experience. Johnson.
Judgment is not a swift-growing plant; it requires time and culture to mature it. H. Ballou.
Judgment is turned away backward, and justice 20 standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Bible.
Judgment must sway the feelings and keep them in their right place, or harm will be done where good was intended. Spurgeon.
Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools. Bible.
Judgments that are made on the wrong side of the danger amount to no more than an affectation of skill, without either credit or effect. L'Estrange.
Judicandum est legibus, non exemplis—Judgment should be given according to law and not precedent. L.
Judicata res pro veritate accipitur—A matter 25 that has been adjudged is received as true. L.
Judice te mercede caret, per seque petenda est / Externis virtus incomitata bonis—In your judgment virtue needs no reward, and is to be sought for her own sake, unaccompanied by external benefits. Ovid.
Judicia Dei sunt ita recondita ut quis illa scrutari nullatenus possit—The purposes of God are so abstruse that no one can possibly scrutinise them. Cic.
Judicio acri perpendere—To weigh with a keen judgment. Lucret.
Judicious persons will think all the less of us because of the ill-judged praises of our silly friends. Spurgeon.
Judicis est innocentiæ subvenire—It is the duty 30 of the judge to support innocence. Cic.
Judicis est judicare secundum allegata et probata—It is the judge's duty to decide in accordance with what is alleged and proved. L.
Judicis est jus dicere non dare—It is the judge's duty to enunciate the law, not to make it. L.
Judicis officium est, ut res, ita tempora rerum quærere—It is the judge's duty to inquire into not only the facts, but the circumstances. Ovid.
Judicium a non suo judice datum nullius est momenti—Judgment given by a judge in a matter outside his jurisdiction is of no legal force. L.
Judicium Dei—The judgment of God (as by 35 ordeal).
Judicium parium aut leges terræ—The judgment of our peers or the laws of the land. L.
Judicium subtile videndis artibus—A judgment nice in discriminating works of art. Hor.
Jugez un homme par ses questions, plutôt que par ses réponses—Judge of a man by his questions rather than his answers. Fr.
Jugulare mortuos—To stab the dead; to slay the slain. Pr.
Juncta juvant—Trivial things when united aid 40 each other.
Junctæque Nymphis Gratiæ decentes—The beauteous Graces linked hand in hand with the nymphs. Hor.
Junge Faullenzer, alte Bettler—A young idler makes an old beggar. Ger. Pr.
Junger Spieler, alter Bettler—Young a gambler, old a beggar. Ger. Pr.
Jungere dextras—To join right hands; to shake hands. Virg.
Jungere equos Titan velocibus imperat Horis—Titan 45 commands the swift-flying Hours to yoke the horses of the sun. Ovid.
Juniores ad labores—The younger men for labours, i.e., the heavier burdens.
Jupiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris—Whatever you see, wherever you turn, there is Jupiter (Deity). Lucan.
Jupiter in multos temeraria fulmina torquet, / Qui pœnam culpa non meruere pati—Jupiter hurls his reckless thunderbolts against many who have not guiltily deserved such punishment. Ovid.
Jupiter tonans—The thunderer Jove.
Jura negat sibi nata, nihil non arrogat armis—He 50 says that laws were not framed for him; he claims everything by force of arms. Hor.
Jurado ha el vano de lo negro no hacer blanco—The bath has sworn not to wash the black man white. Sp. Pr.
Jurare in verba magistri—To swear by the words of the master.
Juravi lingua, mentem injuratam gero—I have sworn with my tongue, but I bear a mind unsworn. Cic.
Jure divino—By Divine right, or ordination of heaven.
Jure humano—By human law, or the will of the people.
Jure, non dono—By right, not by gift. M. 5
Jure repræsentationis—By right of representation. L.
Jurgia præcipue vino stimulata caveto—Above all, avoid quarrels excited by wine. Ovid.
Juris utriusque doctor—Doctor of both laws, civil and canon.
Juristen, böse Christen—Jurists are bad Christians. Ger. Pr.
Jus civile—The civil or Roman law. 10
Jus civile neque inflecti gratia, neque perfringi potentia, neque adulterari pecunia debet—The law ought neither to be warped by favour, nor broken through by power, nor corrupted by money. Cic.
Jus commune—The common or customary law.
Jus devolutum—A devolved right, specially of a presbytery in Scotland to present to a benefice, the patron having failed to do so. L.
Jus et norma loquendi—The law and rule of language.
Jus gentium—The law of nations, as the basis 15 of their international relations.
Jus gladii—The right of the sword.
Jus in re—A real right. L.
Jus omnium in omnia, et consequenter bellum omnium in omnes—The right of all to everything, and therefore of all to make war on all. Hobbes.
Jus mariti—The right of a husband. L.
Jus postliminii—The law of recovery of forfeited 20 rights. L.
Jus primogenituræ—The right of primogeniture. L.
Jus proprietatis—The right of property. L.
Jus regium—Royal right, or right of the Crown. L.
Jus sanguinis—The right of consanguinity, or blood. L.
Jus summum sæpe summa malitia est—Extreme 25 law is often extreme wrong. Ter.
Jusqu'où les hommes ne se portent-ils point par l'intérêt de la religion, dont ils sont si peu persuadés, et qu'ils pratiquent si mal?—To what excesses are not men carried in the interest of a religion of which they have little or no faith, and which they so badly practise? La Bruyère.
Just a kind word and a yielding manner, and anger and complaining may be avoided. Spurgeon.
Just a path that is sure, / Thorny or not, / And a heart honest and pure / Keeping the path that is sure, / That be my lot. Dr. W. Smith.
Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Bible.
Just are the ways of God, / And justifiable to 30 men; / Unless there be who think not God at all. Milton.
Just as a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man. St. Chrysostom.
Just as "dirt is something in its wrong place," so social evils are mainly wrong applications of right powers. H. Willett.
Just as gymnastic exercise is necessary to keep the body healthy, so is musical exercise necessary to keep the soul healthy; the proper nourishment of the intellect and passions can no more take place without music than the proper functions of the stomach and the blood without exercise. Plato, interpreted by Ruskin.
Just as the flint contains the spark, unknown to itself, which the steel alone can wake into life, so adversity often reveals to us hidden gems which prosperity or negligence would cause for ever to lie hid. Billings.