Non obstante veredicto—The verdict notwithstanding. 15 L.
Non olet—It has not a bad smell, i.e., money. Suetonius.
Non omnes eadem mirantur amantque—All men do not admire and love the same objects. Hor.
Non omnia possumus omnes—We cannot all of us do everything. Virg.
Non omnibus dormio—Not for all do I sleep. Cic.
Non omnis error stultitia est dicendus—Not 20 every error is to be called folly.
Non omnis moriar; multaque pars mei / Vitabit Libitinam—I shall not wholly die; and a great part of me shall escape the grave. Hor.
Non opus est magnis placido lectore poetis; / Quamlibet invitum difficilemque tenent—Great poets have no need of an indulgent reader; they hold captive every one however unwilling and hard to please he may be. Ovid.
Non placet quem scurræ laudant, manipulares mussitant—I do not like the man whom the town gentry belaud, but of whom the people of his own class say nothing. Plaut.
Non posse bene geri rempublicam multorum imperiis—Under the command of many, a commonwealth cannot be well conducted. Corn. Nep.
Non possidentem multa vocaveris / Recte 25 beatum. Rectius occupat / Nomen beati, qui Deorum / Muneribus sapienter uti, / Duramque callet pauperiem pati, / Pejusque leto flagitium timet—You would not justly call him blessed who has great possessions; more justly does he claim the title who knows how to use wisely the gifts of the gods and to bear the hardships of poverty, and who fears disgrace worse than death. Hor.
Non possum ferre, Quirites, / Græcam urbem—I cannot, Romans, endure a Grecian city, i.e., Greek or effeminate manners in stern old Rome. Juv.
Non potest severus esse in judicando, qui alios in se severos esse judices non vult—He cannot be strict in judging who does not wish others to be strict judges of himself. Cic.
Non progredi est regredi—Not to advance is to go back. Pr.
Non pronuba Juno, / Non Hymenæus adest, non illi Gratia lecto; / Eumenides stravere torum—No Juno, guardian of the marriage rites, no Hymenæus, no one of the Graces, stood by that nuptial couch. Ovid.
Non purgat peccata qui negat—He who denies 30 his sins does not atone for them. Pr.
Non quam diu, sed quam bene vixeris refert—Not how long, but how well you have lived is the main thing. Sen.
Non qui soletur, non qui labentia tarde / Tempora narrando fallat, amicus adest—There is no friend near to console me, none to beguile the weary hours with his talk. Ovid.
Non ragioniam di lor; ma guarda, e passa—Talk not of them; one look, and then pass on. Dante.
Non revertar inultus—I will not return unavenged. M.
Non satis est pulchra esse poëmata; dulcia 35 sunto, / Et quocumque volent animum auditoris agunto—It is not enough that poems be beautiful; they must also be affecting, and move at will the hearer's soul. Hor.
Non scholæ, sed vitæ discimus—We learn not at school, but in life. Sen.
Non scribit, cujus carmina nemo legit—That man does not write whose verses no man reads. Mart.
Non semper erit æstas—It will not always be summer. Hesiod.
Non semper erunt Saturnalia—The carnival will not last for ever.
Non sequitur—It does not follow; an unwarranted 40 inference.
Non si male nunc, et olim sic erit—If it is ill now, it will not also be so hereafter. Hor.
Non sibi sed patriæ—Not for himself, but for his country. M.
Non sine numine—Not without the Divine approval M.
Non sum qualis eram—I am not what I once was. Hor.
Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis / Tempus 45 eget—The times require other aid and other defenders than those you bring. Virg.
Non tu corpus eras sine pectore. Di tibi formam, / Di tibi divitias dederant, artemque fruendi—You were at no time ever a body without a soul. The gods have given you beauty, the gods have given you wealth, and the skill to enjoy it. Horace to Tibullus.
Non usitata, nec tenui ferar penna—I shall be borne on no common, no feeble, wing. Hor.
Non uti libet, sed uti licet, sic vivamus—We must live not as we like, but as we can. Pr.
Non v'è peggior ladro d'un cattivo libro—There is no robber worse than a bad book. It. Pr.
Non vixit male, qui natus moriensque fefellit—He has not lived ill whose birth and death has been unnoticed by the world. Hor.
Nonchalance—Coolness; indifference. Fr. 5
Nondum omnium dierum sol occidit—The sun of all days has not yet set. Pr.
None acts a friend by a deputy, or can be familiar by proxy. South.
None are all evil; quickening round his heart, / One softer feeling would not yet depart. Byron.
None are fair but who are kind. Stanley.
None are more unjust in their judgments of 10 others than those who have a high opinion of themselves. Spurgeon.
None are rash when they are not seen by anybody. Stanislaus.
None are so desolate but something dear, / Dearer than self, possesses or possess'd / A thought, and claims the homage of a tear. Byron.
None are so fond of secrets as those who don't mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money—for the purpose of circulation. (?)
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Goethe.
None are so seldom found alone, and are so 15 soon tired of their own company, as those coxcombs who are on the best terms with themselves. Colton.
None are so well shod but they may slip. Pr.
None but a fool is always right. Hare.
None but a fool would measure his satisfaction by what the world thinks of it. Goldsmith.
None but a Goethe, at the sun of earthly happiness, can keep his Phœnix wings unsinged. Carlyle.
None but an author knows an author's cares, / 20 Or Fancy's fondness for the child she bears. Cowper.
None but himself can be his parallel. L. Theobald.
None but men of strong passions are capable of rising to greatness. Mirabeau.
None but the brave deserve the fair. Dryden.
None can cure their harms by wailing them. Rich. III., ii. 2.
None can pray well but he who lives well. Pr. 25
None ever saw the pillars of the firmament; yet it is supported. Luther.
None ever was a great poet that applied himself much to anything else. Sir W. Temple.
None is so deaf as he who will not hear. Pr.
None is so wasteful as the scraping dame; / She loseth three for one—her soul, rest, fame. George Herbert.
None is so wretched as the poor man who maintains 30 the semblance of wealth. Spurgeon.
None lie that would not steal. Gael. Pr.
None more impatiently suffer injuries than those that are most forward in doing them. (?)
None of the affections have been noted to fascinate and bewitch but envy. Bacon.
None of those who own the land own the landscape; only he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. Emerson.
None of us can wrong the universe. Emerson. 35
None of you can tell where the shoe pinches me. Plutarch.
None shun the light but criminals and evil spirits. Schiller.
None so blind as they who will not see. Pr.
None so miserable as a man who wills everything and can do nothing. Claudius.
None so wise but the advice of others may, at 40 some time or other, be useful and necessary for him. Thomas à Kempis.
None think the great unhappy but the great. Pr.
None without hope e'er loved the brightest fair; / But love can hope where reason would despair. Lyttelton.
Nor are those empty-hearted whose low sound / Reverbs no hollowness. King Lear, i. 1.
Nor by the wayside ruins let us mourn / Who have th' eternal towers for our appointed bourne. Keble.
Nor can either thy own resentment of misfortunes 45 within, or the violence of any calamity without, give thee sufficient grounds, from the terrible face thy present circumstances wear, to pronounce that all hope of escape and better days are past. Thomas à Kempis.
Nor deem the irrevocable past / As wholly wasted, wholly vain, / If, rising on its wrecks, at last / To something nobler we attain. Longfellow.
Nor e'en the tenderest heart, and next our own, / Knows half the reasons why we smile and sigh! Keble.
Nor e'er was to the bowers of bliss conveyed / A fairer spirit or more welcome shade. T. Tickell.
Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favours call; / She comes unlook'd for, if she comes at all. Pope.
Nor grieve to die when far from home; you'll 50 find / To Hades everywhere a favouring wind. Anon.
Nor is it possible to thought / A greater than itself to know. Wm. Blake.
Nor less I deem that there are powers / Which of themselves our minds impress; / That we can feel this mind of ours / In a wide passiveness. Wordsworth.
Nor love thy life, nor hate, but what thou liv'st / Live well, how long or short permit to heaven. Milton.
Nor sequent centuries could hit / Orbit and sum of Shakespeare's wit. Landor.
Nor sink those stars in empty night; / They 55 hide themselves in heaven's own light. Montgomery.
Noris quam elegans formarum spectator fiem—You shall see how nice a judge of beauty I am. Ter.
Nos duo turba sumus—We two are a multitude (lit. a crowd). Deucalion to Pyrrha after the deluge, in Ovid.
Nos hæc novimus esse nihil—We know that these things are nothing—mere trifles. Mart.
Nos nostraque Deo—Both we and ours are God's. M.
Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati—We are a mere number (but ciphers), and born to consume the fruits of the earth. Hor.
Nos patriæ fines et dulcia linquimus arva—We leave the confines of our native country and our delightful plains. Virg.
Nos te, / Nos facimus, Fortuna, deam—It is we, O Fortune, we that make thee a goddess. Juv.
Nosce tempus—Know your time; make hay 5 while the sun shines. Pr.
Noscenda est mensura sui spectandaque rebus / In summis minimisque—A man should know his own measure, and have regard to it in the smallest matters as well as the greatest. Juv.
Noscitur a sociis—A man is known by the company he keeps; a word, by the context.
Nosse omnia hæc salus est adolescentulis—It is salutary for young men to know all these things. Ter.
Nosse volunt omnes, mercedem solvere nemo—All wish to know, but no one to pay the fee. Juv.
Nostra nos sine comparatione delectant; nunquam 10 erit felix quem torquebit felicior—What we have pleases us if we do not compare it with what others have; he never will be happy to whom a happier is a torture. Sen.
Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, / As his corse to the rampart we hurried: / Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot, / O'er the grave where our hero we buried. Rev. C. Wolfe.
Not a flower, not a flower sweet, / On my black coffin let there be strewn; / Not a friend, not a friend greet / My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown; / A thousand, thousand sighs to save, / Lay me (what you will) O where / Sad lover ne'er find my grave, / To weep there. (?)
Not a man, for being simply man, / Hath any honour, but honour for those honours / That are without him, as place, riches, favour, / Prizes of accident, as oft as merit. Troil. and Cress., iii. 3.
Not a man of iron, but of live oak. Garfield.
Not a Red Indian, hunting by Lake Winnipeg, 15 can quarrel with his squaw, but the whole world must smart for it. Will not the price of beaver rise? Carlyle.
Not a single shaft can hit / Till the God of love sees fit. Ryland.
Not a vanity is given in vain. Pope.
Not all that heralds rake from coffin'd clay, / Nor florid prose, nor honeyed lines of rhyme, / Can blazon evil deeds or consecrate a crime. Byron.
Not all the water in the rough rude sea / Can wash the balm from an anointed king; / The breath of worldly men cannot depose / The deputy elected by the Lord. Rich. II., iii. 2.
Not alone to know, but to act according to 20 thy knowledge, is thy destination. Fichte.
Not as a vulture, but a dove, / The Holy Ghost came from above. Longfellow, after Fuller.
Not body enough to cover his mind decently with; his intellect is improperly exposed. Sydney Smith.
Not brute force, but only persuasion and faith is the king of this world. Carlyle.
Not by levity of floating, but by stubborn force of swimming, shalt thou make thy way. A grand "vis inertiæ" in thee, Mr. Bull. Carlyle.
Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, 25 saith the Lord. Bible.
Not by the law of force, but by the law of labour, has any man right to the possession of the land. Ruskin.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, / Is our destined end or way; / But to act that each to-morrow / May find us farther than to-day. Longfellow.
Not every parish priest can wear Dr. Luther's shoes. Pr.
Not fame, but that which it merits, is what a man should esteem. Schopenhauer.
Not for fellowship in hatred, but in love am I 30 here. Sophocles.
Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. St. Paul.
Not he who has many ideas, but he who has one conviction may become a great man. Cötvös.
Not heaven itself upon the past has power; / But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour. Dryden.
Not in a man's having no business with men, but in having no unjust business with them, and in having all manner of true and just business, can either his or their blessedness be found possible, and this waste world become, for both parties, a home and peopled garden. Carlyle.
Not in nature, but in man is all the beauty 35 and the worth he sees. The world is very empty, and is indebted to this gilding, exalting soul for its pride. Emerson.
Not in pulling down, but in building up, does man find pure joy. Goethe.
Not in the achievement, but in the endurance, of the human soul, does it show its divine grandeur and its alliance with the infinite God. Chapin.
Not kings alone—the people too have their flatterers. Mirabeau.
Not less in God's sight is the end of the day than the beginning. Gael. Pr.
Not liberty, but duty, is the condition of existence. 40 George Eliot.
Not lost, but gone before. Sen.
Not many words are needed to refuse; by the refused the "no" alone is heard. Goethe.
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme. Cymbeline. (?)
Not misgovernment, nor yet no government; only government will now serve. Carlyle.
Not once or twice in our rough island-story, / 45 The path of duty was the way to glory: / He that walks it, only thirsting / For the right, and learns to deaden / Love of self, before his journey closes / He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting / Into glossy purples, which outredden / All voluptuous garden-roses. Tennyson.
Not one false man but does unaccountable mischief; how much, in a generation or two, will twenty-seven millions, mostly false, manage to accumulate? Carlyle.
Not one of our faculties that it is not a delight to exercise. W. R. Greg.
Not one of our senses that, in its healthy state, is not an avenue to enjoyment. W. R. Greg.
Not one word of any book is readable by you, except so far as your mind is one with its author's; and not merely his words like your words, but his thoughts like your thoughts. Ruskin.
Not only all common speech, but science, poetry itself, is no other, if thou consider it, than right naming. Carlyle.
Not only has the unseen world a reality, but 5 the only reality; the rest being, not metaphorically, but literally and in scientific strictness, "a show." Carlyle.
Not our logical, mensurative faculty, but our imaginative one is king over us; I might say, priest and prophet to lead us heavenward, or magician and wizard to lead us hellward. Carlyle.
Not so easily can a man tear up the roots of his old life, and transplant himself into a new soil and a foreign atmosphere. Ed.
Not that I loved Cæsar less, but that I loved Rome more. Jul. Cæs., iii. 2.
Not the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, rouses the flock to fly and follow. Chinese Pr.
Not the glittering weapon fights the fight, but 10 the hero's heart. Serv. Pr.
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather he who offers faithful service in small matters is most welcome to one who would achieve what is good and lasting. Goethe.
Not this man and that man, but all men make up mankind, and their united tasks the task of mankind. Carlyle.
Not to attempt a gallant deed for which one has the impulse may be braver than the doing of it. J. M. Barrie.
Not to believe in God, but to acknowledge Him when and wheresoever He reveals Himself, is the one sole blessedness of man on earth. Goethe.
Not to desire or admire, if a man could learn 15 it, were more / Than a walk all day like the sultan of old in a garden of spice. Tennyson.
Not to know me argues yourselves unknown. Milton.
Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to continue always a child. Cic.
Not to return one good office for another is inhuman; but to return evil for good is diabolical. Sen.
Not to see the wood for the trees, i.e., the whole for the details. Ger. Pr.
Not to speak your opinion well, but to have a 20 good and just opinion worth speaking; for every Parliament, as for every man, this latter is the point. Carlyle.
Not to talk of thy doing, and become the envy of surrounding flunkeys, but to taste of the fruit of thy doings themselves, is thine. Carlyle.
Not towards the impossibility, self-government of a multitude by a multitude; but towards some possibility, government by the wisest, does bewildered Europe now struggle. Carlyle.
Not what I Have, but what I Do is my Kingdom. Carlyle.
Not what the man knows, but what he wills, determines his worth or unworth, his strength or weakness, his happiness or misery. Lindner.
Not what we wish, but what we want, / Oh, 25 let thy grace supply. Merrick.
Not when I rise above, only when I rise to, something, do I approve myself. Jacobi.
Not where they dash ashore and break and moan are waters deadliest. A. Mary F. Robinson.
Not without a shudder may a human hand clutch into the mysterious urn of destiny. Schiller.
Note bene—Note well.
Notandi sunt tibi mores—The manners of men 30 are to be carefully observed. Hor.
Note how the falcon starts at every sight, / New from his hood, but what a quiet eye / Cometh of freedom. Sir Edwin Arnold.
Noth bricht Eisen--Necessity breaks iron. Ger. Pr.
Noth kennt kein Gebot—Necessity knows no law. Ger. Pr.
Noth lehrt beten—Necessity teaches to pray. Ger. Pr.
Nothing altogether passes away without result. 35 We are here to leave that behind us which will never die. Goethe.
Nothing amuses more harmlessly than computation, and nothing is oftener applicable to real business or speculative inquiries. A thousand stories which the ignorant tell and believe die away at once when the computist takes them in his grip. Johnson.
Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. Emerson.
Nothing at bottom is interesting to the majority of men but themselves. Schopenhauer.
Nothing becomes him ill that he would well. Love's L. Lost, ii. 1.
Nothing but a handful of dust will fill the eye 40 of man. Arab. Pr.
Nothing but ourselves can finally beat us. Carlyle.
Nothing can atone for the want of modesty, without which beauty is ungraceful and wit detestable. Steele.
Nothing can be beautiful which is not true. Ruskin.
Nothing can be done at once hastily and prudently. Publius Syrus.
Nothing can be hostile to religion which is 45 agreeable to justice. Gladstone.
Nothing can be made of nothing; he who has laid up no material can produce no combinations. Sir J. Reynolds.
Nothing can be more fatal in politics than a preponderance of the philosophical, or in philosophy than a preponderance of the political, spirit. Lecky.
Nothing can be preserved but what is good. Emerson.
Nothing can be so injurious to progress as to be altogether blamed or altogether praised. Goethe.
Nothing can be termed mine own but what I 50 make my own by using well. Middleton.
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself; nothing, but the triumph of principles. Emerson.
Nothing can come out of a sack that is not in it. It. Pr.
Nothing can ferment itself to clearness in a colander. Carlyle.
Nothing can need a lie; / A fault, which needs it most, grows two thereby. Herbert.
Nothing can overtake an untruth if it has a 5 minute's start. J. M. Barrie.
Nothing can work me damage except myself. St. Bernard.
Nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal. Tam. of the Shrew, i. 2.
Nothing comes amiss to a hungry man. Pr.
Nothing contributes so much to cheerfulness as health, or so little as riches. Schopenhauer.
Nothing costs less or is cheaper than compliments 10 of civility. Cervantes.
Nothing deepens and intensifies family traits like poverty and toil and suffering. It is the furnace heat that brings out the characters, the pressure that makes the strata perfect. John Burroughs.
Nothing destroyeth authority so much as the unequal and untimely interchange of power pressed too far and relaxed too much. Bacon.
Nothing dies, nothing can die. No idlest word thou speakest but is a seed cast into time, and grows through all eternity. Carlyle.
Nothing does so much honour to a woman as her patience, and nothing does her so little as the patience of her husband. Joubert.
Nothing done by man in the past has any 15 deeper sense than what he is doing now. Emerson.
Nothing doth so fool a man as extreme passion. Bp. Hall.
Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy. Timon of Athens, iii. 5.
Nothing endears so much a friend as sorrow for his death. The pleasure of his company has not so powerful an influence. Hume.
Nothing exceeds in ridicule, no doubt, / A fool in fashion, save a fool that's out; / His passion for absurdity's so strong, / He cannot bear a rival in the throng. Young.
Nothing exposes us more to madness than 20 distinguishing ourselves from others, and nothing more contributes to maintain our common-sense than living in community of feeling with other people. Goethe.
Nothing extenuate, / Nor set down aught in malice; then must you speak / Of one, that loved not wisely, but too well ... of one, whose hand / Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away, / Richer than all his tribe. Othello, v. 2.
Nothing for nothing. Pr.
Nothing for nothing, and very little for a halfpenny. Pr.
Nothing gives such a blow to friendship as the detecting another in an untruth. It strikes at the root of our confidence ever after. Hazlitt.
Nothing good bursts forth all at once. The 25 lightning may dart out of a black cloud; but the day sends his bright heralds before him to prepare the world for his coming. Hare.
Nothing great is lightly won, nothing won is lost; / Every good deed nobly done will repay the cost. (?)
Nothing hath got so far / But man hath caught and kept it as his prey; / His eyes dismount the highest star; / He is in little all the sphere. George Herbert.
Nothing hitherto was ever stranded, cast aside; but all, were it only a withered leaf, works together with all; is borne forward on the bottomless, shoreless flood of action, and lives through perpetual metamorphoses. Carlyle.
Nothing in haste save catching fleas. Dut. Pr.
Nothing in his life / Became him like the 30 leaving it; he died / As one that had been studied in his death / To throw away the dearest thing he owed, / As 'twere a careless trifle. Macbeth, i. 4.
Nothing in itself deformed or incongruous can give us any real satisfaction. Cervantes.
Nothing in love can be premeditated; it is as a power divine, that thinks and feels within us, unswathed by our control. Mme. de Staël.
Nothing in Nature, much less conscious being, / Was e'er created solely for itself. Young.
Nothing in the dealings of Heaven with Earth is so wonderful to me as the way in which the evil angels are allowed to spot, pervert, and bring to nothing, or to worse, the powers of the greatest men: so that Greece must be ruined, for all that Plato can say; Geneva, for all that Calvin can say; England, for all that Sir Thomas More and Bacon can say; and only Gounod's "Faust" to be the visible outcome to Europe of the school of Weimar. Ruskin.
Nothing in the world is more haughty than a 35 man of moderate capacity when once raised to power. Baron Wessenberg.
Nothing is a misery, / Unless our weakness apprehend it so; / We cannot be more faithful to ourselves / In anything that's manly, than to make / Ill-fortune as contemptible to us / As it makes us to others. Beaumont and Fletcher.
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve yourself to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. Emerson.
Nothing is but what is not. Macb., i. 3.
Nothing is cheap if you don't want it. Pr.
Nothing is constant but a virtuous mind. 40 Shirley.
Nothing is denied to well-directed labour; nothing is ever to be attained without it. Sir J. Reynolds.
Nothing is difficult; it is only we who are indolent. B. R. Haydon.
Nothing is easier than to clear debts by borrowing. Johnson.
Nothing is endless but inanity. Goethe.
Nothing is fair or good alone. Emerson. 45
Nothing is farther than earth from heaven, and nothing is nearer than heaven to earth. Hare.
Nothing is given so ungrudgingly as advice. La Roche.
Nothing is good for a nation but that which arises from its core and its own general wants. Goethe.
Nothing is good I see without respect. Mer. of Ven., v. 1.
Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Ham., ii. 2.
Nothing is graceful that is not our own. Collier.
Nothing is high because it is in a high place, and nothing low because it is in a low one. Dickens.
Nothing is impossible to the man who can 5 will. Emerson.
Nothing is insipid to the wise; / To thee insipid all but what is mad; / Joy season'd high and tasting strong of guilt. Young.
Nothing is lasting that is feigned. Pr.
Nothing is less in our power than the heart, and, far from commanding it, we are forced to obey it. Rousseau.
Nothing is law that is not reason. Sir Powell.
Nothing is more active than thought, for it 10 flies over the universe; nothing stronger than necessity, for all must submit to it. Thales.
Nothing is more binding than the friendship of companions-in-arms. G. S. Hillard.
Nothing is more certain than that great poets are no sudden prodigies, but slow results. Lowell.
Nothing is more characteristic of a man than his behaviour towards fools. Amiel.
Nothing is more common than mutual dislike, where mutual approbation is particularly expected. Johnson.
Nothing is more common than to express exceeding 15 zeal in amending our neighbours, ... while at the same time we neglect the beginning at home. Thomas à Kempis.
Nothing is more deeply punished than the neglect of the affinities by which alone society should be formed, and the insane levity of choosing associates by others' eyes. Emerson.
Nothing is more disgusting than the crowing about liberty by slaves. Emerson.
Nothing is more easy than to clear debts by borrowing. Johnson.
Nothing is more free than the imagination of man. Hume.
Nothing is more hurtful to a truth than an 20 old error. Goethe.
Nothing is more natural than that we should grow giddy at a great sight which comes unexpectedly before us, to make us feel at once our littleness and our greatness. But there is not in the world any truer enjoyment than at the moment when we are thus made giddy for the first time. Goethe.
Nothing is more ruinous for a man than when he is mighty enough in any part to right himself without right. Jacobi.
Nothing is more significant of the philosophy of a man than the footing on which he stands with his body. The Cynic neglects it, the Sybarite makes profit out of it, the Trappist disowns it, and the Idealist forgets it. Lindner.
Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few. Hume.
Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in 25 action. Goethe.
Nothing is more unjust or capricious than public opinion. Hazlitt.
Nothing is more vulgar than haste. Emerson.
Nothing is more offensive to reason (widerwärtiger) than an appeal to the majority; it consists of a few powerful leaders, of rogues who accommodate themselves, of weaklings who assimilate themselves, and of the mass who follow confusedly, without in the least knowing what they would be at. Goethe.
Nothing is new; we walk where others went; / There's no vice now but has its precedent. Herrick.
Nothing is of any value in books excepting the 30 transcendental and extraordinary. Emerson.
Nothing is old but the mind. Emerson.
Nothing is perfect until, in some way, it touches or passes through man. T. T. Munger.
Nothing is permanently helpful to any race or condition of men but the spirit that is in their own hearts, kindled by the love of their native land. Ruskin.
Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety. Bacon.
Nothing is poetry which does not transport; 35 the lyre is a winged instrument. Joubert.
Nothing is profane that serveth to holy things. Raleigh.
Nothing is quite beautiful alone; nothing but is beautiful in the whole. Emerson.
Nothing is rarer than the use of a word in its exact meaning. Whipple.
Nothing is safe from fault-finders. Pr.
Nothing is secret that shall not be made 40 manifest; neither anything hid that shall not be known. Jesus.
Nothing is so atrocious as fancy without taste. Goethe.
Nothing is so beautiful to the eye as truth is to the mind; nothing so deformed and irreconcilable to the understanding as a lie. Locke.
Nothing is so perfectly amusement as a total change of ideas. Sterne.
Nothing is so conceivable (begreiflich) to the child, nothing seems to be so natural to him, as the marvellous or supernatural. Zachariä.
Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend. 45 La Fontaine.
Nothing is so difficult as to help a friend in matters which do not require the aid of friendship, but only a cheap and trivial service, if your friendship wants the basis of a thorough practical acquaintance. Thoreau.
Nothing is so envied as genius, nothing so hopeless of attainment by labour alone. Though labour always accompanies the greatest genius, without the intellectual gift labour alone will do little. Haydon.
Nothing is so grand as truth, nothing so forcible, nothing so novel. Landor.
Nothing is so great an instance of ill-manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none; if you flatter only one or two, you affront the rest. Swift.
Nothing is so narrowing, contracting, hardening, 50 as always to be moving in the same groove, with no thought beyond what we immediately see and hear close around us. Dean Stanley.
Nothing is so new as what has been long forgotten. Ger. Pr.
Nothing is so uncertain as the minds of the multitude. Leiz.
Nothing is superficial to a deep observer. It is in trifles that the mind betrays itself. Bulwer Lytton.
Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, / But an eternal now does always last. Cowley.
Nothing is thoroughly approved but mediocrity. 5 The majority has established this, and it fixes its fangs on whatever gets beyond it either way. Pascal.
Nothing is thought rare / Which is not new and followed; yet we know / That what was worn some twenty years ago / Comes into grace again. Beaumont and Fletcher.
Nothing is to be preferred before justice. Socrates.
Nothing is too high for a man to reach, but he must climb with care and confidence. Hans Andersen.
Nothing is true but what is simple. Goethe.
Nothing is truly elegant but what unites use 10 with beauty. Goldsmith.
Nothing leads to good which is not natural. Schiller.
Nothing lovelier can be found / In woman than to study household good, / And good works in her husband to promote. Milton.
Nothing makes love sweeter and tenderer than a little previous scolding and freezing, just as the grape-clusters acquire by a frost before vintage thinner skins and better flavour. Jean Paul.
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes. Thoreau.
Nothing marks the character of a young man 15 more than a failure. Anon.
Nothing more readily pleases a vulgar mind than to find anomalies in conduct or character. Alex. Whitelaw.
Nothing noble or godlike in the world but has in it something of "infinite sadness." Carlyle.
Nothing not a reality ever yet got men to pay bed and board to it for long. Carlyle.
Nothing on earth is without difficulty. Only the inner impulse, the pleasure it gives and love enable us to surmount obstacles; to make smooth our way, and lift ourselves out of the narrow grooves in which other people sorrowfully distress themselves. Goethe.
Nothing on earth is without significance, but 20 the first and most essential in every matter is the place where and the hour when. Schiller.
Nothing, or almost nothing, is certain to me, except the Divine Infernal character of this universe I live in, worthy of horror, worthy of worship. Carlyle.
Nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. 1 Hen. IV., i. 2.
Nothing preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing. Ben. Franklin.
Nothing precludes sympathy so much as a perfect indifference to it. Hazlitt.
Nothing really pleasant or unpleasant subsists 25 by nature, but all things become so by habit. Epictetus.
Nothing recommends a man more to the female mind than courage. Spectator.
Nothing remains to man, nothing is possible to him of true joy, but in the righteous love of his fellows, in the knowledge of the laws and the glory of God, and in the daily use of the faculties of soul and body with which God has endowed him. Ruskin.
Nothing resembles pride so much as discouragement. Amiel.
Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm. Schumann.
Nothing seems important to me but so far as 30 it is connected with morals. Cecil.
Nothing so difficult as a beginning / In poesy, except perhaps the end; / For oftentimes when Pegasus seems winning / The race, he sprains a wing, and down we tend, / Like Lucifer, when hurl'd from heaven for sinning. Byron.
Nothing so effectively disconcerts the schemes of sinister people as the tranquillity of great souls. Mirabeau.
Nothing so endures as a truly spoken word. Carlyle.
Nothing so lifts a man from all his mean imprisonments, were it but for moments, as true admiration. Carlyle.
Nothing so much contents us as that which 35 confounds us. Goldsmith.
Nothing so much prevents our being natural as the desire of appearing so. La Roche.
Nothing stands in need of lying but a lie. Pr.
Nothing stings so bitterly as loss of money. Pr.
Nothing succeeds like success. Talleyrand.
Nothing that has ever lived is lost; nothing is 40 useless; not a sigh, a joy, or a sorrow which has not served its purpose. Mme. Gasparin.
Nothing that is violent is permanent. Pr.
Nothing that lives is or can be rigidly perfect; part of it is decaying, part nascent. The foxglove blossom—a third part bud, a third part past, a third part in full bloom—is a type of the life of this world. Ruskin.
Nothing truly can be made mine own but what I make mine own by using well. Middleton.
Nothing venture, nothing win. Pr.
Nothing weighs lighter than a promise. Ger. Pr. 45
Nothing which is unjust can hope to continue in this world. Carlyle.
Nothing will be mended by complaints. Johnson.
Nothing's more dull and negligent / Than an old lazy government, / That knows no interest of state, / But such as serves a present strait, / And, to patch up or shift, will close, / Or break alike, with friends or foes. Butler.
Notre défiance justifie la tromperie d'autrui—Our distrust justifies the deceit of others. La Roche.
Notre vie est du vent tissu—Our life is a web 50 woven of wind. (?)
Notwithstanding this great proximity of man to himself, we still remain ignorant of many things concerning ourselves. Hale.
Nought can be gained by a Sabbath profaned. Saying.
Nought else there is / But that weird beat of Time, which doth disjoin / To-day from Hellas. Lewis Morris.
Nought is so vile that on the earth doth live, / But to the earth some special good doth give; / Nor aught so good, but, strain'd from that fair use, / Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse. Rom. and Jul., ii. 3.
Nought so stockish, hard, and full of rage, / But music for the time doth change its nature. Mer. of Venice, v. 1.
Nought treads so silent as the foot of time. Young.
Nourri dans le sérail, j'en connais les détours—Brought up in the seraglio, I know all its sinuosities. Racine.
Nous avons changé tout cela—We have changed 5 all that. Molière.
Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d'autrui—We all have strength enough to bear the misfortunes of others. La Roche.
Nous dansons sur un volcan—We are dancing on a volcano. M. de Salvandy, just prior to the July Revolution of 1830.
Nous désirerions peu de choses avec ardeur, si nous connaissions parfaitement ce que nous désirons—We should desire few things with eagerness if we well knew the worth of what we are striving for. La Roche.
Nous maintiendrons—We will maintain. M.
Nous n'écoutons d'instincts que ceux qui sont 10 les nôtres, / Et ne croyons le mal que quand il est venu—We listen to no instincts but such as are our own, and we believe in no misfortune till it comes. La Fontaine.
Nous ne savons ce que c'est que le bonheur ou le malheur absolu—We do not know what absolute good or evil is. Rousseau.
Nous ne sommes hommes, et nous tenons les uns aux autres, que par la parole—We are men, and associate together, solely in virtue of speech. (?)
Nous ne trouvons guère de gens de bon sens que ceux qui sont de notre avis—We seldom find any persons of good sense except those who are of our opinion. La Roche.
Nous ne vivons jamais, mais nous esperons de vivre—We never live, but we hope to live. Pascal.
Nous sommes assemblés par la volonté nationale, 15 nous ne sortirons que par la force—We are here by the will of the people, and nothing but the force of bayonets shall send us hence. Mirabeau to the Marquis de Brézé.
Nous sommes mieux seul qu'avec un sot—One had better be alone than with a fool. Fr. Pr.
Nous verrons, dit l'aveugle—We shall see, as the blind man said. Fr.
Novacula in cotem—He has met his match (lit. the razor against the whetstone). Pr.
Novels are tales of adventures which did not occur in God's creation, but only in the waste chambers (to be let unfurnished) of certain human heads, and which are part and parcel only of the sum of nothings; which, nevertheless, obtain some temporary remembrance, and lodge extensively at this epoch of the world in similar, still more unfurnished, chambers. Carlyle.
Novels are the journal or record of manners; 20 and the new importance of these books derives from the fact that the novelist begins to penetrate the surface, and treat this part of life more worthily. Emerson.
Novels for most part instil into young minds false views of life. Schopenhauer.
Novelty has something in it that inebriates the fancy, and not unfrequently dissipates and fumes away like other intoxication, and leaves the poor patient, as usual, with an aching heart. Burns.
Novelty is only in request; and it is as dangerous to be aged in any kind of course, as it is virtuous to be constant in any undertaking. Meas. for Meas., iii. 2.
Novi ego hoc sæculum, moribus quibus siet—I know this age, what its character is. Plaut.
Novi ingenium mulierum, / Nolunt ubi velis, 25 ubi nolis cupiunt ultro—I know the nature of women: when you will, they won't; when you won't, they will. Ter.
Novos amicos dum paras, veteres cole—While you seek new friendships, take care to cultivate the old.
Novum et ad hunc diem non auditum—New, and unheard of till this day. Cic.
Novus homo—A new man; a man risen from obscurity.
Now an incredible deal is demanded, and every avenue is barred. Goethe.
Now farewell light, thou sunshine bright, / 30 And all beneath the sky! / May coward shame distain his name, / The wretch that dares not die. Burns, in "Macpherson's Lament."
Now, good digestion wait on appetite, / And health on both. Macb., iii. 4.
Now is now, and Yule's in winter. Sc. Pr.
"Now" is the watchword of the wise. Pr.
Now! it is gone. Our brief hours travel post, / Each with its thought or deed, its Why or How; / But know, each parting hour gives up a ghost / To dwell within thee—an eternal Now! Coleridge.
Now join your hands, and with your hands 35 your hearts, / That no dissension hinder government. 3 Hen. VI., iv. 6.
Now morn her rosy steps in th' eastern clime, / Advancing, sowed the earth with orient pearl. Milton.
Now our fates from unmomentous things / May rise like rivers out of little springs. Campbell.
Now see that noble and most sovereign reason, / Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune, and harsh; / That unmatch'd form and feature of blown youth / Blasted with ecstacy: O, woe is me, / To have seen what I have seen, see what I see. Ham., iii. 2.
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it; / We are happy now, because God wills it. Lowell.
Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted; 40 / Suffer them now, and they'll o'ergrow the garden, / And choke the herbs for want of husbandry. 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1.
Now you have feathered your nest. Congreve.
Nowadays compromise and indifference rule supreme, and instead of solid grit we have putty or wax. Spurgeon.
Nowadays truth is news. Sc. Pr.
Nowhere can a man get real root-room, and spread out his branches till they touch the morning and the evening, but in his own house. Ward Beecher.
Nox atra cava circumvolat—Black night envelopes them with her hollow shade. Virg.
Noxiæ pœna par esto—Let the punishment be proportionate to the offence. Cic.
Nuda veritas—Undisguised truth. Hor.
Nudum pactum—A mere agreement. L.
Nugæ canoræ—Melodious trifles; agreeable nonsense. 5 Hor.
Nugis addere pondus—To add weight to trifles. Hor.
Nul n'aura de l'esprit, / Hors nous et nos amis—No one shall have wit except ourselves and our friends. Molière.
Nul n'est content de sa fortune, ni mécontent de son esprit—No one is content with his lot or discontented with his wit. Mme. Deshoulières.
Nulla ætas ad perdiscendum est—There is no time of life past learning something. St. Ambrose.
Nulla dies sine linea—Let no day pass without its 10 line. Pr.
Nulla falsa doctrina est, quæ non permisceat aliquid veritatis—There is no false doctrine which contains not a mixture of truth.
Nulla fere causa est, in qua non fœmina litem moverit—There's hardly a strife in which a woman has not been a prime mover. Juv.
Nulla fides regni sociis, omnisque potestas / Impatiens consortis erit—There is no faith among colleagues in power, and all power will be impatient of a colleague. Lucan.
Nulla pallescere culpa—Not to grow pale at imputation of guilt. M.
Nulla placere diu, vel vivere carmina possunt / 15 Quæ scribuntur aquæ potoribus—No poems written by water-drinkers can be long popular or live long. Hor.
Nulla res tantum ad discendum profuit quantum scriptio—Nothing so much assists learning, as writing down what we wish to remember.
Nulla unquam de vita hominis cunctatio longa est—No delay is too long when the life of a man is at stake. Juv.
Nulli jactantius mœrent, quam qui maxime lætantur—None mourn so demonstratively as those who are in reality rejoicing most. Tac.
Nulli secundus—Second to none.
Nulli te facias nimis sodalem, / Gaudebis 20 minus et minus dolebis—Be on too intimate terms with no one; if your joy be less, so will your grief. Mart.
Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri, / Quo me cunque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes—Bound to swear by the opinions of no master, I present myself a guest wherever the storm drives me. Hor.
Nullius boni sine socio jucunda possessio—Without a friend to share it, no good we possess is truly enjoyable. Sen.
Nullius in verba—At no man's dictation. M.
Nullum est jam dictum quod non dictum sit prius—Nothing is said now that has not been said before. Ter.
Nullum est malum majus, quam non posse 25 ferre malum—There is no greater misfortune than not to be able to endure misfortune.
Nullum est sine nomine saxum—Not a stone but has a tale to tell. Lucan.
Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiæ fuit—No great genius is ever without some tincture of madness. Sen.
Nullum magnum malum quod extremum est—No evil is great which is the last. Corn. Nep.
Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia—Where there is prudence, a protecting divinity is not far away. Pr.
Nullum numen habes si sit prudentia; nos te / 30 Nos facimus, Fortuna, deam cœloque locamus—Thou hast no divine power, O Fortune, where there is prudence; it is we who make a goddess of thee, and place thee in heaven. Juv.
Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit—There was nothing he touched that he did not adorn. Epitaph by Johnson on Goldsmith.
Nullum simile quatuor pedibus currit—No simile runs on all fours, i.e., holds in every respect. Pr.
Nullum tempus occurrit regi—No lapse of time bars the rights of the crown. L.
Nullus argento color est, / Nisi temperato / Splendeat usu—Money has no splendour of its own, unless it shines by temperate use. Hor.
Nullus commodum capere potest de injuria sua 35 propria—No one can take advantage of wrong committed by himself. L.
Nullus dolor est quem non longinquitas temporis minuat ac molliat—There is no sorrow which length of time will not diminish and soothe. Cic.
Nullus est liber tam malus, ut non aliqua parte prosit—There is no book so bad that it may not be useful in some way or other. Pliny.
Numbers err in this: / Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss. Pope.
Numerical inquiries will give you entertainment in solitude by the practice, and reputation in public by the effect. Johnson.
Nunc animis opus, Ænea, nunc pectore firmo—Now, 40 Æneas, you have need of courage, now a resolute heart. Virg.
Nunc aut nunquam—Now or never. M.
Nunc dimittis—Now let me depart in peace. See Luke i. 29.
Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero, / Pulsanda tellus!—Now let us drink; now let us beat the ground with merry foot. Hor.
Nunc patimur longæ pacis mala; sævior armis / Luxuria incubuit, victumque ulciscitur orbem—Now we suffer the evils of long peace; luxury more cruel than war broods over us and avenges a conquered world. Juv.
Nunc positis novus exuviis nitidusque juventa—Now, 45 all new, his slough cast off, and shining in youth. Virg.
Nunc vino pellite curas!—Now drive off your cares with wine. Hor.
Nunquam aliud natura, aliud sapientia dicit—Nature never says one thing and wisdom another. Juv.
Nunquam erit alienis gravis, qui suis se concinnat levem—He will never be disagreeable to others who makes himself agreeable to his own relations. Plaut.
Nunquam est fidelis cum potente societas—An alliance with a powerful man is never safe. Phædr.
Nunquam libertas gratior extat / Quam sub 50 rege pio—Liberty is never more enjoyable than under a pious king. Claud.
Nunquam nimis dicitur, quod nunquam satis discitur—That is never too often repeated which is never sufficiently learned. Sen.
Nunquam non paratus—Never unprepared. M.
Nunquam retrorsum—Never go back. M.
Nunquam se plus agere, quam nihil quum ageret; nunquam minus solum esse, quam quum solus esset—He said he never had more to do than when he had nothing to do, and never was less alone than when alone. Cic. quoting Scipio Africanus.
Nunquam vir æquus dives evasit cito—No just man ever became quickly rich. Menander.
Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth and embaseth it. Bacon.
Nur aus vollendeter Kraft blicket die Anmuth hervor—Only out of perfected faculty does grace look forth. Goethe.
Nur das Gemeine / Verkennt man selten. Und 5 das Seltene / Vergisst man schwerlich—Only what is common we rarely mistake, and what is rare we with difficulty forget. Lessing.
Nur das Leben hasst, der Tod versöhnt—In life alone is hatred; in death is reconciliation. Tiedge.
Nur das zu thun, was alle wollen, / Ist das Geheimniss jeder Macht—The secret of all power is only to do that which all would fain do. Kinkel.
Nur dem Fröhlichen blüht der Baum des Lebens, / Dem Unschuldigen rinnt der Born der Jugend / Auch noch im Alter—Only for the cheerful does the tree of life blossom, for the innocent the well-spring of youth keeps still flowing even in old age. Arndt.
Nur dem vertrau' ich völlig, nur der imponirt nachhaltig, der über sich zu lächeln fähig ist—I trust only him perfectly, only he makes a lasting impression on me, who is capable of laughing at himself. Feuchtersleben.
Nur der Freundschaft Harmonie / Mildert die 10 Beschwerden; / Ohne ihre Sympathie / Ist kein Glück auf Erden—Nothing but the harmony of friendship soothes our sorrows; without its sympathy there is no happiness on earth. Mozart.
Nur der Glaube aller stärkt den Glauben, / Wo Tausende anbeten und verehren, / Da wird die Glut zur Flamme, und beflügelt / Schwingt sich der Geist in alle Himmel auf—Only the faith of all strengthens faith; where thousands worship and reverence, there the glow becomes flame, and the spirit soar upwards on wings into all heavens. Schiller.
Nur der Irrthum ist das Leben, / Und das Wissen ist der Tod—Only error is life, and knowledge is death. Schiller.
Nur der Irrthum ist unser Teil, und Wahn ist unsre Wissenschaft—Only error is our portion, and illusion our knowledge. Lessing.
Nur der ist wahrhaft arm, der weder Geist noch Kraft hat—Only he is truly poor who is without soul and without faculty. Benzel-Sternan.
Nur der Starke wird das Schicksal zwingen, / 15 Wenn der Schwächling untersinkt—Only the strong man will coerce destiny if the weakling surrenders. Schiller.
Nur die Hoffenden leben—Only the hoping live. Halm.
Nur die Lumpe sind bescheiden, / Brave freuen sich der That—Only low-born fellows are modest; men of spirit rejoice over their feats. Goethe.
Nur eine Mutter weiss allein, / Was lieben heisst und glücklich sein—A mother alone knows what it is to love and be happy. Chamisso.
Nur eine Schmach weiss ich auf dieser Erde. / Und die heisst: Unrecht thun—Only one disgrace know I in this world, and that is doing wrong. Grillparzer.
Nur eine Weisheit führt zum Ziele, / Doch 20 ihrer Sprüche giebt es viele—Only one wisdom leads to the goal, though the proverbs of it are many. Bodenstedt.
Nur Helios vermag's zu sagen, / Der alles Irdische bescheint—Only Helios (the sun-god) can tell, he sheds light on every earthly thing. Schiller.
Nur immer zu! wir wollen es ergründen, / In deinem Nichts hoff' ich das All zu finden—Only let us still go on! we will yet fathom it. In thy nothing hope I to find the all. Goethe.
Nur in der eignen Kraft ruht das Schicksal jeder Nation—Only in its own power rests the destiny of every nation. Count v. Moltke, in 1880.
Nur in der Schule selbst ist die eigentliche Vorschule—The true preparatory school is only the school itself. Goethe.
Nur in schwülen Prüfungsstunden / Sprosst 25 die Palme, die den Sieger krönt—Only in the stifling hours of trial does the palm shoot forth which decks the brow of the victor. Salis-Seewis.
Nur in Träumen wohnt das Glück der Erde—Only in dreams does the happiness of the earth dwell. Rückert.
Nur Liebe darf der Liebe Blume brechen—Only love may break the flower of love. Schiller.
Nur stets zu sprechen, ohne was zu sagen, / Das war von je der Redner grösste Gabe—To but speak on without saying anything has ever been the greatest gift of the orator. Platen.
Nur vom Edeln kann das Edle stammen—Only from the noble soul can what is noble come. Schiller.