Our nature is inseparable from desires, and the very word "desire" (the craving for something not possessed) implies that our present felicity is not complete. Hobbes.
Our natures are like oil; compound us with 40 anything, yet still we strive to swim upon the top. Beaumont and Fletcher.
Our notion of the perfect society embraces the family as its centre and ornament. Nor is there a paradise planted till the children appear in the foreground to animate and complete the picture. A. B. Alcott.
Our own heart, and not other men's opinions, forms our true honour. Coleridge.
Our passions and principles are steady in frenzy; but begin to shift and waver, as we return to reason. Sterne.
Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for the time, leave us weaker ever after. Pope.
Our passions are true phœnixes; when the 45 old one is burnt out, the new one rises straightway from its ashes. Goethe.
Our path of glory / By many a cloud is darken'd and unblest. Keble.
Our patience will achieve more than our force. Burke.
Our peasant (Burns) showed himself among us, "a soul like an Æolian harp, in whose strings the vulgar wind, as it passed through them, changed itself into articulate melody." Carlyle.
Our pleasures are short, and can only charm at intervals; love is a method of protracting our greatest pleasure. Goldsmith.
Our pleasures travel by express; our pains by parliamentary. F. G. Trafford.
Our poetry of the eighteenth century was prose; our prose of the seventeenth, poetry. Hare.
Our poets are men of talents who sing, and not the children of music. Emerson.
Our present time is indeed a criticising and a critical time, hovering between the wish and the inability to believe. Jean Paul.
Our purity of taste is best tested by its universality, 5 for if we can only admire this thing or that, we may be sure that our cause for liking is of a finite and false nature. Ruskin.
Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor. Tam. of the Shrew, iv. 3.
Our ravings and complaints are but like arrows shot up into the air at no mark, and so to no purpose, but only to fall back upon our own heads and destroy ourselves. Sir William Temple.
Our relation to things outside of ourselves forms, and at the same time robs us of, our existence, and yet we have to do our best to adapt ourselves to circumstances; for to isolate one's self is also not advisable. Goethe.
Our relations are far too artificial and complicated, our nutriment and mode of life are without their proper nature, and our social intercourse is without proper love and goodwill. Every one is polished and courteous, but no one has the courage to be hearty and true. Goethe.
Our relations are ours by lot, our friends by 10 election. Delille.
Our religion assumes the negative form of rejection. Out of love of the true, we repudiate the false; and the religion is an abolishing criticism. Emerson.
Our religion is meant to root out our vices, but it covers, nourishes, and excites them. Montaigne.
Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, / Which we ascribe to heaven. All's Well, i. 1.
Our sacrifices are rarely of an active kind; we, as it were, abandon what we give away. It is not from resolution, but despair, that we renounce our property. Goethe.
Our self-made men are the glory of our institutions. 15 Wendell Phillips.
Our senses will not admit of anything extreme: too much noise confuses us, too much light dazzles us. Pascal.
Our social forms are very far from truth and equity. Emerson.
Our sorrows are like thunder-clouds, which seem black in the distance, but grow lighter as they approach. Jean Paul.
Our souls much farther than our eyes can see. Drayton.
Our souls must become expanded by the contemplation 20 of Nature's grandeur before we can fully comprehend the greatness of man. Heine.
Our spiritual maladies are but of opinion; we are but fettered by chains of our own forging, and which ourselves also can rend asunder. Carlyle.
Our spontaneous action is always the best. Emerson.
Our stomach for good fortune is bottomless, but the entrance to it is narrow. Schopenhauer.
Our strength lies in our weakness (i.e., limitedness). Hazlitt.
Our temperaments differ in capacity of heat, 25 or we boil at different degrees. Emerson.
Our thinking is a pious reception. Emerson.
Our thoughts are often worse than we are, just as they are often better. George Eliot.
Our thoughts take wildest flight / Even at the moment when they should array themselves in pensive order. Byron.
Our time is fixed, and all our days are numbered; / How long, how short, we know not: this we know, / Duty requires we calmly wait the summons, / Nor dare to stir till Heaven shall give permission. Blair.
Our torment is unbelief, the uncertainty as to 30 what we ought to do, the distrust of the value of what we do, and the distrust that the necessity which we all at last believe in is fair and beneficial. Emerson.
Our valours are our best gods. Fletcher.
Our vanity is the constant enemy of our dignity. Mme. Swetchine.
Our very hopes belied our fears, / Our fears our hopes belied; / We thought her dying when she slept, / And sleeping when she died. T. Hood.
Our virtues are dearer to us the more we have had to suffer for them. It is the same with our children. All profound affection admits a sacrifice. Vauvenargues.
Our virtues depend on our failings as their 35 root, and the latter send forth as strong and manifold branches underground as the former do in the open light. Goethe.
Our / Virtues lie in the interpretation of the time. Coriolanus, iv. 7.
Our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our virtues. All's Well, iv. 3.
Our whole existence is passed into words, and words, by means of tongue and ears, pass so easily into the soul. Jean Paul.
Our whole life is but a chamber which we are frescoing with colours, that do not appear while being laid on wet, but which will shine forth afterwards when finished and dry. Ward Beecher.
Our whole terrestrial being is based on Time 40 and built of Time; it is wholly a movement, a Time-impulse; Time is the author of it, the material of it. Carlyle.
Our wills and fates do so contrary run, / That our devices still are overthrown; / Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own. Ham., iii. 2.
Our work must be done honourably and thoroughly, because we are now men; whether we ever expect to be angels, or ever were slugs, being practically no matter. We are now human creatures, and must, at our peril, do human, that is to say, affectionate, honest, and earnest work. Ruskin.
Our works are presentiments of our capabilities. Goethe.
Our works decay and disappear, / God's frailest works abide, and look / Down on the ruins we toil to rear. Dr. Walter Smith.
Our worst misfortunes never happen, and most miseries lie in anticipation. Balzac.
Our yesterday's to-morrow now is gone, / And still a new to-morrow does come on. / We by to-morrow draw out all our store, / Till the exhausted well can yield no more. Cowley.
Our young men are terribly alike. Alexander Smith.
Ourselves are easily provided for; it is nothing but the circumstantials of human life that cost so much. Pope.
Out at sea, the universe has dwindled to a 5 little circle of crumpled water, that journeys with you day after day, and to which you seem bound by some enchantment. Burroughs.
Out of debt, out of danger. Pr.
Out of difficulties grow miracles. La Bruyère.
Out of Evil comes Good; and no Good that is possible but shall one day be real. Carlyle.
Out of my stony griefs / Bethel I'll raise. Adams.
Out of Plato come all things that are still 10 written and debated about among men of thought. Emerson.
Out of sight out of mind. Thomas à Kempis.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Jesus.
Out of the eater cometh forth meat; out of the strong cometh forth sweetness. Samson's riddle.
Out of the frying-pan into the fire. Pr.
Out of the suffering comes the serious mind; 15 out of the salvation, the grateful heart; out of endurance, fortitude; out of deliverance, faith. Ruskin.
Out of this nettle danger we pluck this flower safety. 1 Hen. IV., ii. 3.
Out upon the tempest of anger, the acrimonious gall of fretful impatience, the sullen frost of lowring resentment, or the corroding poison of withered envy! They eat up the immortal part of a man!... like traitor Iscariot, betray their lord and master. Burns.
[Greek: oute ti tôn anthrôpinôn axion on megalês spoudês]—Nothing in the affairs of mankind is worth serious anxiety. Plato.
Outward judgment often fails, inward justice never. Theo. Parker.
Outward religion originates by society; society 20 becomes possible by religion. Carlyle.
Ouvrage de longue haleine—A long-winded or tedious business. Fr.
Over the events of life we may have a control, but none whatever over the law of its progress. Draper.
Over the Time thou hast no power; solely over one man therein hast thou a quite absolute, uncontrollable power; him redeem, him make honest. Carlyle.
Over there it will not be otherwise than it is here. Goethe.
Overcome evil with good. St. Paul. 25
Overdone is worse than underdone. Pr.
Ovid finely compares a man of broken fortune to a falling column; the lower it sinks, the greater weight it is obliged to sustain. Goldsmith.
Owe no man anything, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. St. Paul.
Oysters are not good in a month that hath not an R in it. Pr.
Pabulum Acherontis—Food for Acheron, i.e., on 30 the verge of the grave. Plaut.
Pace tanti viri—If so great a man will forgive me.
Pacem hominibus habe, bellum cum vitiis—Maintain peace with men, war with their vices.
Pacta conventa—Conditions agreed upon.
Pacte de famille—A family compact. Fr.
Pactum non pactum est; non pactum pactum 35 est; quod vobis lubet—A bargain is not a bargain, no bargain is a bargain, as it pleases you. Plaut.
Paga lo que debes, sabrás lo que tienes—Pay what you owe, and what you have you'll know. It. Pr.
"Pagan self-assertion" is one of the elements of human worth as well as "Christian self-denial." J. S. Mill.
Pain has its own noble joy, when it kindles a strong consciousness of life, before stagnant and torpid. J. Sterling.
Pain is less subject than pleasure to capricious expression. Johnson.
Pain is so uneasy a sentiment that very little 40 of it is enough to corrupt every enjoyment. Rogers.
Pain is the deepest thing we have in our nature, and union through pain has always seemed more real and holy than any other. Hallam.
Pain is the positive element in life, and pleasure its negation. Schopenhauer.
Pain past is pleasure. Pr.
Pain pays the income of each precious thing. Shakespeare.
Painful for man is rebellious independence 45 when it has become inevitable; only in loving companionship with his fellows does he feel safe; only in reverently bowing down before the Higher does he feel himself exalted. Carlyle.
Pains of love be sweeter far / Than all other pleasures are. Dryden.
Paint costs nothing. Dut. Pr.
"Paint me as I am." (?)
Painters draw their nymphs in thin and airy habits, but the weight of gold and of embroideries is reserved for queens and goddesses. Dryden.
Painting does not proceed so much by intelligence 50 as by sight and feeling and invention. Hamerton.
Painting is silent poetry, and poetry speaking painting. Simonides.
Painting is the intermediate between a thought and a thing. Coleridge.
Palabra de boca, piedra de honda—A word from the mouth is as a stone from a sling. Sp. Pr.
Palabra y piedra suelta no tiene vuelta—A word and a stone once launched cannot be recalled. Sp. Pr.
Palam mutire plebeio piaculum est—For a common man to mutter what he thinks is a risky venture.
Palinodiam canere—To recant.
Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, / Regumque turres—Pale Death with impartial foot knocks at the hovels of the poor and the palaces of kings. Hor.
Palma non sine pulvere—The palm, but not 5 without a struggle. M.
Palma virtuti—The palm to virtue. M.
Palmam qui meruit ferat—Let him bear the palm that deserves it. M.
Panem et circenses—Bread and the games of the circus (what the Roman plebs took sole interest in). Juv.
Paper and leather and ink, / All are but trash / If I find not the thought / Which the writer can think. Dr. Walter Smith.
Par bene comparatum—A pair well matched. 10
Par droit de conquète et par droit de naissance—By right of conquest and by right of birth. Henry IV. of France.
Par excellence—Pre-eminently. Fr.
Par l'écoulement du temps—By the lapse of time. Fr.
Par le droit du plus fort—By the right of the strongest. Pr.
Par les mêmes voies on ne va pas toujours aux 15 mêmes fins—The same means do not always lead to the same ends. La Roche.
Par ma foi! l'âge ne sert de guère / Quand on n'a pas cela—By my faith, age serves but little if one has not that (brains). Molière.
Par manière d'acquit—For form's sake. Fr.
Par negotiis, neque supra—Equal to, and not above, his business. Tac.
Par nobile fratrum—A precious pair of brothers. Hor.
Par pari referto—Give him back tit for tat. Ter. 20
Par signe de mépris—In token of contempt. Fr.
Par ternis suppar—The two are equal to the three. M.
Par trop débattre la vérité se perd—The truth is sacrificed by too much disputation. Fr. Pr.
Par un prompt désespoir souvent on se marie, / Qu'on s'en repent après tout le temps de sa vie—We often marry in despair, so that we repent of it all our life after. Molière.
Paradise is always where love dwells. Jean 25 Paul.
Paradise is for those who control their anger. Koran.
Paradise is under the shadow of our swords. Mahomet.
Parasiticam cœnam quærit—He seeks the meal of a parasite or hanger-on.
Parce, puer, stimulis et fortius utere loris—Boy, spare the goad and more firmly grasp the reins. Ovid.
Parcere personis, dicere de vitiis—To spare persons, 30 to condemn crimes. Mart.
Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos—To spare the conquered, to subdue the haughty. Virg.
Parcite paucorum diffundere crimen in omnes—Forbear to lay the guilt of the few upon the many. Ovid.
Parcus Deorum cultor, et infrequens, / Insanientis dum sapientiæ / Consultus erro; nunc retrorsum / Vela dare, atque iterare cursus / Cogor relictos—A niggard and unfrequent worshipper of the gods, as long as I strayed from the way by senseless philosophy; I am now forced to turn my sail back, and to retrace the course I had deserted. Hor.
Pardon is the choicest flower of victory. Arab. Pr.
Parents are commonly more careful to bestow 35 wit on their children than virtue, the art of speaking well than of doing well; but their manners ought to be the great concern. Fuller.
Parents' blessings can neither be drowned in water nor consumed in fire. Pr.
Parents we can have but once; and he promises himself too much who enters life with the expectation of finding many friends. Johnson.
Pares cum paribus ut est in veteri proverbio facillime congregantur—As in the old proverb, "Like associates most naturally with like." Cic.
Parfois, élus maudits de la fureur suprême, / ... Ces envoyés du ciel sont apparus au monde / Comme s'ils venaient de l'enfer—Sometimes these ambassadors of heaven, the accursed elect of the wrath of heaven, appear in the world as though they came from hell. Victor Hugo.
Pari passu—With equal steps or pace; neck and 40 neck.
Pari ratione—By parity of reason.
Paritur pax bello—Peace is produced by war. Corn. Nep.
Parlez du loup et vous en verrez la queue—Speak of the wolf and you will see his tail; speak of the devil and he will appear. Fr. Pr.
Parlez peu et bien, si vous voulez qu'on vous regarde comme un homme de mérite—Speak little and well if you wish to be esteemed a man of merit. Fr.
Parliamentary government is government by 45 speaking. Macaulay.
Pars beneficii est quod petitur si belle neges—To refuse graciously is to confer a favour. Pub. Syr.
Pars beneficii est quod petitur si cito neges—To refuse a favour quickly is to grant one. Pub. Syr.
Pars hominum vitiis gaudet constanter, et urget / Propositum: pars multa natat, modo recta capessens, / Interdum pravis obnoxia—A portion of mankind glory consistently in their vices and pursue their purpose; many more waver between doing what is right and complying with what is wrong. Hor.
Pars minima est ipsa puella sui—The girl herself is the least part of herself. Ovid.
Pars minima sui—The smallest part of himself 50 or itself.
Pars sanitatis velle sanari fuit—It is a step to the cure to be willing to be cured. Sen.
Parsimonia est magnum vectigal—Thrift is a great revenue. Cic.
Parsimony is enough to make the master of the golden mines as poor as he that has nothing; for a man may be brought to a morsel of bread by parsimony as well as profusion. Henry Home.
Parta tueri—Defend what you have won. M.
Partage de Montgomerie: tout d'un côté, rien de l'autre—A Montgomery division: everything on one side and nothing on the other. Fr. Pr.
Parthis mendacior—More mendacious than the Parthians. Hor.
Partial culture runs to the ornate; extreme culture to simplicity. Bovee.
Particeps criminis—A partaker in a crime; an accessory either before or after the fact.
Parties do not consider; they only feel. Ranke. 5
Parting day / Dies like a dolphin, whom each pang imbues / With a new colour as it gasps away, / The last still loveliest, till—'tis gone, and all is gray. Byron.
Parting is worse than death; it is death of love. Dryden.
Parting with a delusion makes one wiser than falling in with a truth. Börne.
Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus—Mountains are in labour, a ridiculous mouse will be brought forth. Hor.
Party honesty is party expediency. G. Cleveland. 10
Party is the madness of many for the gain of the few. Pope.
Party standards are shadows in which patriotism is buried. Bernardine de St. Pierre.
Parva leves capiunt animos—Little minds are caught with trifles. Ovid.
Parva sunt hæc; sed parva ista non contemnendo majores nostri maximam hanc rem fecerunt—These are small things; but it was by not despising these small things that our forefathers made the commonwealth so great. Livy.
Parvis componere magna—To compare great 15 things with small. Virg.
Parvula (nam exemplo est) magni formica laboris / Ore trahit quodcunque potest atque addit acervo, / Quem struit, haud ignara ac non incauta futuri—The ant, for instance, is a creature of great industry, drags with its mouth all it can, and adds to the heap it piles up, not ignorant or improvident of the future. Hor.
Parvula scintilla sæpe magnum suscitavit incendium—A very small spark has often kindled a great conflagration.
Parvum non parvæ amicitiæ pignus—A slight pledge of no small friendship. M.
Parvum parva decent—Him that is little little things become. Hor.
Pas à pas on va bien loin—Step by step one goes 20 very far. Fr.
Pas un pouce de notre territoire, ni une pierre de nos forteresses!—Not an inch of our territory, not a stone of our fortresses! Jules Favre in 1870, to the demand of Germany.
Pascitur in vivis livor, post fata quiescit; / Tunc suus, ex merito, quemque tuetur honos—Envy feeds upon the living, after death it rests; then the honour a man deserves protects him. Ovid.
[Greek: Pasin gar eu phronousi symmachei tychê]—Fortune always fights on the side of the prudent. Critias.
Pass no rash censure upon other people's words or actions. Thomas à Kempis.
Passato il pericolo gabbato il santo—When the 25 danger is passed the saint is cheated. It. Pr.
Passe avant—Pass ahead. M.
Passe par tout—A master-key; a pass-key.
Passez-moi la rhubarbe et je vous passerai le séné—Pass you me the rhubarb, and I will pass you the senna, i.e., shut your eyes to my faults, and I will to yours. Molière.
Passion depraves, but also ennobles. Lamartine.
Passion drives the man, passions the woman; 30 him a stream, her the winds. Jean Paul.
Passion is the drunkenness of the mind. South.
Passion is universal humanity. Without it religion, history, romance, art, would be useless. Balzac.
Passion looks not beyond the moment of its existence. Bovee.
Passion makes the best observations and the sorriest conclusions. Jean Paul.
Passion makes the will lord of the reason. 35 Shakespeare. (?)
Passion often makes a fool of the most ingenious man, and often makes the greatest blockhead ingenious. Thomson.
Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring. Emerson.
Passionate people are like men who stand upon their heads; they see all things in the wrong way. Plato.
Passions are likened best to floods and streams; / The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb. Sir W. Raleigh.
Passions are the gales of life. Pope. 40
Passions are the vices or virtues in their highest powers. Goethe.
Passions existed before principles; they came into the world with us. Mrs. Jameson.
Passions may not unfitly be termed the mob of the man, that commits a riot upon his reason. Wm. Penn.
Passions spin the plot; we are betrayed by what is false within. George Meredith.
Past and to come seem best, things present 45 worst. 2 Hen. IV., i. 2.
Pastime, like wine, is poison in the morning. Thomas Fuller.
Patch and long sit, / Build and soon flit. Pr.
Patch grief with proverbs. Much Ado, v. 1.
Pater familias—The father of a family.
Pater noster—Our father; the Lord's prayer. 50
Pater patriæ—The father of his country.
[Greek: pathêmata—mathêmata]—We learn from the things we suffer. Æsop.
Patience and perseverance overcome the greatest difficulties. Clarissa.
Patience, and shuffle the cards. Cervantes.
Patience et longueur de temps / Font plus 55 que force ni que rage—Patience and length of time accomplish more than violence and rage. La Fontaine.
Patience had no sooner placed herself by the mount of sorrows, but the whole heap sunk to such a degree, that it did not appear a third part so big as it was before. Addison.
Patience is a necessary ingredient of genius. Disraeli.
Patience is a plaister for all sores. Pr.
Patience is a remedy for every sorrow. Pub. Syr.
Patience is a stout horse, but it will tire at the last. Pr.
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Rousseau.
Patience is even more rarely manifested in the intellect than in the temper. Helps.
Patience is genius. Buffon.
Patience is good for poltroons. 3 Hen. VI., 5 i. 1.
Patience is sister to meekness, and humility is its mother. Saying.
Patience is the art of hoping. Vauvenargues.
Patience is the ballast of the soul, that will keep it from rolling and tumbling in the greatest storms. Bp. Hopkins.
Patience is the key of content. Mahomet.
Patience is the key of Paradise. Turk. Pr. 10
Patience is the support of weakness; impatience, the ruin of strength. Colton.
Patience, money, and time bring all things to pass. Pr.
Patience of obscurity is a duty which we owe not more to our happiness than to the quiet of the world at large. Sydney Smith.
Patience passe science—Patience surpasses knowledge. M.
Patience, unmoved, no marvel though she 15 pause; / They can be meek that have no other cause. Com. of Errors, ii. 1.
Patience wears out stones. Gael. Pr.
Patience, when it is a divine thing, is active, not passive. Lowell.
Patience wi' poverty is a man's best remedy. Sc. Pr.
Patient waiters are no losers. Pr.
Patientia læsa fit furor—Patience abused becomes 20 fury.
Patientia vinces—You will conquer by patience. M.
Patiently add farthing to farthing. Goldsmith.
Patitur qui vincit—He suffers who conquers. M.
Patria cara, carior libertas—Dear is my country, but liberty is dearer. M.
Patria quis exul / Se quoque fugit?—What 25 fugitive from his country can also fly from himself? Hor.
Patriæ fumus igne alieno luculentior—The smoke of our own country is brighter than fire in a foreign one. Pr.
Patriæ infelici fidelis—Faithful to my unhappy country. M.
Patriæ pietatis imago—The image of his filial affection. Virg.
Patriæ solum omnibus carum est—The soil of their native land is dear to the hearts of all men. Cic.
Patriotism depends as much on mutual suffering 30 as on mutual success. Disraeli.
Patriotism has its roots deep in the instincts and the affections. Love of country is the expansion of filial love. D. D. Field.
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Johnson.
Patriotism is the vital condition of national permanence. G. W. Curtis.
Patriotism must be founded on great principles and supported by great virtue. Bolingbroke.
[Greek: patris gar esti pas', hin' an prattê tis eu]—One's 35 country is wherever things go well with him. Aristophanes.
Patroclus is dead, who was better by far than thou. Hom.
Patronage, that is, pecuniary or other economic furtherance, has been pronounced to be twice cursed, cursing him that gives and him that takes. Carlyle.
Pauca Catonis verba, sed a pleno venientia pectore veri—The words of Cato were few, but they came from a heart full of truth. Lucan.
Pauca verba—Few words.
Pauci dignoscere possunt / Vera bona, atque 40 illis multum diversa—Few men can distinguish the genuinely good from the reverse. Juv.
Paucis carior est fides quam pecunia—To few is good faith more than valuable money. Sall., of his own times.
Paul Pry is on the spy. Pr.
Paullatim—By degrees. M.
Paulum sepultæ distat inertiæ / Celata virtus—Worth that is hidden differs little from buried sloth. Hor.
Pauper enim non est cui rerum suppetit usus. / 45 Si ventri bene, si lateri pedibusque tuis, nil / Divitiæ poterunt regales addere majus—That man is not poor who has a sufficiency for all his wants. If it is well with your stomach, your lungs, and your feet, the wealth of kings can add no more. Hor.
Pauper sum, fateor, patior; quod Di dant fero—I am poor, I admit; I put up with it. What the gods give I bear with. Plaut.
Pauper ubique jacet—Everywhere the poor man is despised. Ovid.
Pauperism is our social sin grown manifest. Carlyle.
Pauperism is the general leakage through every joint of the ship that is rotten. Carlyle.
Paupertas est, non quæ pauca possidet, sed 50 quæ multa non possidet—Poverty is not possessing few things, but lacking many things. Sen.
Paupertas fugitur, totoque arcessitur orbe—Poverty is shunned and treated as criminal throughout the world. Lucan.
Paupertatis pudor et fuga—The shame and the bugbear of poverty. Hor.
Pauperum solatio—For the solace of the poor. M.
Pauvres gens, je les plains; car on a pour les fous / Plus de pitié que de courroux—Poor people, I pity them; for one always entertains for fools more pity than anger. Boileau, on disappointed authors.
Pavore carent qui nihil commiserunt; at 55 pœnam semper ob oculos versari putant qui peccarunt—The innocent are free from fear; but the guilty have always the dread of punishment before their eyes.
Pax Cererem nutrit, pacis alumna Ceres—Peace is the nurse of Ceres; Ceres is the nursling of Peace. Ovid.
Pax in bello—Peace in war. M.
Pax paritur bello—Peace is produced by war. Corn. Nep.
Pax vobiscum—Peace be with you.
Pay as you go is the philosopher's stone. S. 60 Randolph of Roanoke.
Pay beforehand if you would have your work ill done. Pr.
Pay good wages, or your servants will pay themselves. Pr.
Pay not before thy work be done; if thou dost, it will never be well done, and thou wilt have but a pennyworth for twopence. Franklin.
Pay the reckoning over-night, and you won't be troubled in the morning. Pr.
Pay well when you are served well. Pr. 5
Pay what you owe, and what you're worth you'll know. Pr.
Pay without fail, / Down on the nail. Pr.
Pazza è chi non sa da che parte vien il vento—He is a senseless fellow who does not know from what quarter the wind blows. It. Pr.
Peace hath her victories, / No less renown'd than war. Milton.
Peace is liberty in tranquility. Cic. 10
Peace is rarely denied to the peaceful. Schiller.
Peace is the happy natural state of man; war his corruption, his disgrace. Thomson.
Peace is the masterpiece of reason. J. Müller.
Peace, justice, and the word of God must be given to the people, not sold. Ruskin.
Peace, of all worldly blessings, is the most 15 valuable. Smallridge.
Peace with a cudgel in hand is war. Port. Pr.
Peacefully and reasonably to contemplate is at no time hurtful, and while we use ourselves to think of the advantages of others, our own mind comes insensibly to imitate them; and every false activity to which our fancy was alluring us is then willingly abandoned. Goethe.
Peccare docentes / Fallax historias movet—He deceitfully relates stories that are merely lessons in vice. Hor.
Peccare licet nemini—No one has leave to sin. Cic.
Peccavi—I have sinned. To cry "peccavi" is to 20 acknowledge one's error.
Péché avoué est à moitié pardonné—A sin confessed is half forgiven. Fr. Pr.
Pectus est quod disertos facit—It is the heart which inspires eloquence. Quinct.
Pecuniam in loco negligere / Interdum maximum est lucrum—To despise money on proper occasions is sometimes a very great gain. Ter.
Pecuniam perdidisti: fortasse illa te perderet manens—You have lost your money; perhaps, if you had kept it, it would have lost you.
Pedanterie setzt ganz nothwendig Leere—Pedantry 25 quite necessarily presupposes vacancy. Rahel.
Pedantry crams our heads with learned lumber, and takes out our brains to make room for it. Colton.
Pedantry is properly overrating any kind of knowledge we pretend to. Swift.
Pedibus timor addidit alas—Fear gave wings to his feet.
Peevishness covers with its dark fog even the most distant horizon. Jean Paul.
Pegasus im Joche—Pegasus in harness. Schiller. 30
Peggior della morte è il turpe riposo—Worse than death is shameful repose. Niccolo Tommaseo.
Peine forte et dure—Heavy and severe punishment (specially that of putting heavy weights on prisoners who refused to plead).
Pelt all dogs that bark, and you will need many stones. Pr.
[Greek: pêm' epi pêmati]—Evil on the top of evil.
Pence well-spent are better than pence ill-spared. 35 Pr.
Pendente lite—While the suit is pending.
Pendre la crémaillère—To give a house-warming. Fr.
Penetration has an air of divination; it pleases our vanity more than any other quality of the mind. La Roche.
Penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos—The Britons, quite sundered from all the world. Virg.
Penny goes after penny, / Till Peter hasn't 40 any. Pr.
Penny wise is often pound foolish. Pr.
Pense ce que tu veux, dis ce que tu dois—Think what you like, say what you ought. Fr. Pr.
Pense moult, parle peu, écris moins—Think much, speak little, write less. Fr. Pr.
Penser, vivre, et mourir en roi—To think, live, and die as a king. Frederick the Great.
Pensez à bien—Think of good. M. 45
People abuse freedom only where they have asserted it, not where it has been given them. Börne.
People are always expecting to get peace in heaven; but you know whatever peace they get there will be ready-made. Whatever of making peace they can be blest for must be on the earth here. Ruskin.
People are only accustomed to revolve around themselves. Goethe.
People are rendered sociable by their inability to endure their own society. Schiller.
People are wise for the past day in the evening, 50 but never wise enough for the coming one. Rückert.
People, crushed by laws, have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws; and those who have much to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous, more or less. Burke.
People dispute a great deal about the good that is done and the harm by disseminating the Bible (Bibelverbreitung). To me this is clear: the Bible will do harm if, as hitherto, it is used dogmatically and interpreted fancifully, and it will do good if it is treated feelingly and applied didactically. Goethe.
People do not care to give alms without some security for their money; and a wooden leg or a withered arm is a sort of draft upon heaven for those who choose to have their money placed to account there. Mackenzie.
People do not lack strength; they lack will. Victor Hugo.
People do not mind their faults being spread 55 out before them, but they become impatient if called upon to give them up. Goethe.
People in adversity should preserve laudable customs. Clarissa.
People (in authority) are accustomed merely to forbid, to hinder, to refuse, but rarely to bid, to further, and to reward. They let things go along till some mischief happens; then they fly into a rage, and lay about them. Goethe.
People love to have all rash actions done in a hurry. Goldsmith.
People may live as much retired from the world as they like, but sooner or later they find themselves debtor or creditor to some one. Goethe.
People must begin before they attempt to finish or improve. Wm. Blake.
People seem to think themselves in some 5 ways superior to heaven itself, when they complain of the sorrow and want round about them; and yet it is not the devil for certain who puts pity into their hearts. Anne J. Thackeray.
People should never sit talking till they don't know what to talk about. Saying.
People that are like-minded (Gleichgesinnten) can never for any length be disunited (entzweien); they always come together again; whereas those that are not like-minded (Widergesinnten) try in vain to maintain harmony; the essential discord between them will be sure to break out some day. Goethe.
People that have nothing to do are quickly tired of their own company. J. Collier.
People that make puns are like wanton boys that put coppers on the railroad tracks. They amuse themselves and other children, but their little trick may upset a freight train of conversation for the sake of a battered witticism. Holmes.
People that will crowd about bonfires may, 10 sometimes very fairly, get their beards singed; it is the price they pay for such illumination; natural twilight is safe and free to all. Carlyle.
People throw stones only at trees which have fruit on them. Pr.
People who are always taking care of their health are like misers, who are hoarding up a treasure which they have never spirit enough to enjoy. Sterne.
People who are too sharp cut their own fingers. Pr.
People who can't be witty exert themselves to be pious and affectionate. George Eliot.
People who do not know how to laugh are always 15 pompous and self-conceited. Thackeray.
People who have little to do are great talkers. The less they think the more they talk, and so women talk more than men. A nation where women determine the fashion is always talkative. Montesquieu.
People who honestly mean to be true really contradict themselves much more rarely than those who try to be consistent. Holmes.
People who live in glass houses should never throw stones. Pr.
People who never have any time are those who do least. Lichtenberg. (?)
People will not look forward to posterity who 20 never look backward to their ancestors. Burke.
People would do well if, tarrying here for years together, they observed a while a Pythagorean silence. Goethe.
People would do well if they would keep piety, which is so essential and lovable in life, distinct from art, where, owing to its very simplicity and dignity, it checks their energy, allowing only the very highest mind freedom to unite with, if not actually to master, it. Goethe.
Per accidens—By accident, i.e., not following from the nature of the thing, but from some accidental circumstance.
Per acuta belli—Through the perils of war. M.
Per angusta ad augusta—Through hardship to 25 triumph. M.
Per annum—By the year; yearly.
Per ardua liberi—Free through difficulty. M.
Per aspera ad astra—over rough paths to the stars. M.
Per contra—On the other hand.
Per Deum et ferrum obtinui—I have obtained 30 it by God and my sword. M.
Per fas et nefas—By right ways and by wrong.
Per il suo contrario—By its opposite. M.
Per incuriam—Through carelessness.
Per mare per terram—By sea and land. M.
Per obitum—Through the death of. 35
Per quod servitium amisit—For loss of his or her services. L.
Per saltam—By a leap; by passing over the intermediate steps.
Per undas et ignes fluctuat nec mergitur—Through water and fire she goes plunging but is not submerged. M. of Paris.
Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum—Through manifold misfortunes, and so many perils. Virg.
Per vias rectas—By direct ways. M. 40
Peras imposuit Jupiter nobis duas; / Propriis repletam vitiis post tergum dedit. / Alienis ante pectus suspendit gravem—Jupiter has laid two wallets on us; he has placed one behind our backs filled with our own faults, and has hung another before, heavy with the faults of other people. Phædr.
Percunctatorem fugito, nam garrulus idem est; / Nec retinent patulæ commissa fideliter aures—Avoid an inquisitive person, for he is sure to be a gossip; ears always open to hear will not keep faithfully what is intrusted to them. Hor.
Perdidit arma, locum virtutis deseruit, qui / Semper in augenda festinat et obruitur re—He has lost his arms and deserted the cause of virtue who is ever eager and engrossed in increasing his wealth. Hor.
Perdis, et in damno gratia nulla tuo—You lose, and for your loss get no thanks. Ovid.
Pereant amici, dum una inimici intercidant—Let 45 our friends perish, provided our enemies fall along with them. Gr. and Lat. Pr., quoted by Cicero to condemn it.
Pereunt et imputantur—They (hours) pass, and are placed to our account. Mart.
Perfect existence can only be where spirit and body are one; an embodied spirit, a spiritual body. (?)
Perfect experience must itself embrace theoretical knowledge. Goethe.
Perfect life is ever in one's acts to deal with innocence, which proves itself in doing wrong to no one but itself. Goethe.
Perfect light / Would dazzle, not illuminate, the sight; / From earth it is enough to glimpse at heaven. Lord Houghton.
Perfect love canna be without equality. Sc. Pr.
Perfect love casteth out fear. St. John.
Perfect love holds the secret of the world's perfect liberty. J. G. Holland.
Perfect woman, nobly planned, / To warn, to 5 comfort, and command; / And yet a spirit still, and bright / With something of an angel light. Wordsworth.
Perfect works are rare, because they must be produced at the happy moment when taste and genius unite: and this rare conjunction, like that of certain planets, appears to occur only after the revolution of several cycles, and only lasts for an instant. Chateaubriand.
Perfecting is our destiny, but perfection is never our lot. J. C. Weber.
Perfection is not the affair of the scholar; it is enough if he practises. Goethe.
Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim—Bear and endure; this sorrow will one day prove to be for your good. Ovid.
Perfer et obdura; multo graviora tulisti—Bear 10 and endure; you have borne much heavier misfortunes than these. Ovid.
Perfervidum ingenium Scotorum—The very ardent temper of the Scots.
Perfida, sed quamvis perfida, cara tamen—Faithless, but, though faithless, still dear. Tibull.
Pergis pugnantia secum / Frontibus adversis componere—You are attempting to reconcile things which are opposite in their natures. Hor.
"Perhaps" hinders folks from lying. Pr.
Perhaps propriety is as near a word as any to 15 denote the manners of the gentleman. Hazlitt.
Perhaps the early grave / Which men weep over may be meant to save. Byron.
Periculosæ plenum opus aleæ / Tractas, et incedis per ignes / Suppositos cineri doloso—The work you are treating is one full of dangerous hazard, and you are treading over fires lurking beneath treacherous ashes. Hor.
Periculosum est credere et non credere; / Ergo exploranda est veritas, multam prius / Quam stulta prave judicet sententia—It is equally dangerous to believe and to disbelieve; therefore search diligently into the truth rather than suffer an erroneous impression to pervert your judgment. Phædr.
Periculum in mora—There is danger in delay.
Perierunt tempora longi / Servitii—My long 20 period of service has led to no advancement. Juv.
Perimus licitis—We come to ruin by permitted things. Pr.
Perish discretion when it interferes with duty. Hannah More.
Périsse l'univers pourvu que je me venge!—Let the universe perish, provided I have my revenge! Cyrano.
Périssons en résistant!—Let us die resisting! Fr.
Perituræ parcite chartæ—Spare the paper which 25 is fated to perish. Adapted from Juvenal.
Perjuria ridet amantum Jupiter—Jupiter laughs at the perjuries of lovers. Ovid.
Perjurii pœna divina exitium, humana dedecus—The punishment of perjury at the hands of the gods is perdition; at the hands of man, is disgrace. One of the laws of the Twelve Tables.
Perlen bedeuten Thränen—Pearls mean tears. Lessing.
Permanence is what I advocate in all human relations; nomadism, continual change, is prohibitory of any good whatsoever. Carlyle.
Permanence, perseverance, persistence in spite 30 of hindrances, discouragements, and "impossibilities:" it is this that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak; the civilised burgher from the nomadic savage—the species Man from the genus Ape. Carlyle.
Permanence, persistence, is the first condition of all fruitfulness in the ways of men. Carlyle.
Permissu superiorum—By permission of the superiors.
Permitte divis cætera—Commit the rest to the gods. Hor.
Perpetual solitude, in a place where you see nothing to raise your spirits, at length wears them out, and conversation falls into dull and insipid. Lady Montagu.
Perpetuus nulli datur usus, et hæres / Hæredem 35 alterius, velut unda supervenit undam—Perpetual possession is allowed to none, and one heir succeeds another, as wave follows wave. Hor.
Persecution is a tribute the great must ever pay for pre-eminence. Goldsmith.
Persecution is not wrong because it is cruel; it is cruel because it is wrong. Whately.
Persecution to persons in high rank stands them in the stead of eminent virtue. Cardinal de Retz.
Perseverance and audacity generally win. Mme. Deluzy.
Perseverance and tact are the two great 40 qualities most valuable for all men who would mount, but especially for those who have to step out of the crowd. Disraeli.
Perseverance, dear, my lord, / Keeps honour bright. To have done is to hang / Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail, / In monumental mockery. Troil. and Cres., iii. 3.
Perseverance is a Roman virtue that wins each godlike act, and plucks success even from the spear-proof crest of rugged danger. Harvard.
Perseverance performs greater works than strength. Pr.
Perseverance, self-reliance, energetic effort, are doubly strengthened when you rise from a failure to battle again. Anon.
Perseverando—By persevering. M. 45
Perseverantia—By perseverance. M.
Persevere and never fear. Pr.
Persevere in the fight, struggle on, do not let go, think magnanimously of man and life, for man is good and life is affluent and fruitful. Vauvenargues.
Persist, persevere, and you will find most things attainable that are possible. Chesterfield.
Personæ mutæ—Mute characters in a play. 50
Personal attachment is no fit ground for public conduct, and those who declare they will take care of the rights of the sovereign because they have received favours at his hand, betray a little mind and warrant the conclusion that if they did not receive those favours they would be less mindful of their duties, and act with less zeal for his interest. C. Fox.
Personal force never goes out of fashion. (?)
Personality is everything in art and poetry. Goethe.
Persons are love's world, and the coldest philosopher cannot recount the debt of the young soul, wandering here in nature to the power of love, without being tempted to unsay, as treasonable to nature, aught derogatory to the social instincts. Emerson.
Persons of fine manners make behaviour the first sign of force,—behaviour, and not performance, or talent, or, much less, wealth. Emerson.
Persons who are very plausible and excessively 5 polite have generally some design upon you, as also religionists who call you "dear" the first time they see you. Spurgeon.
Perspicuity is the offset of profound thoughts. Vauvenargues.
Persuasion is better than force. Pr.
Peter's in, Paul's out. Pr.
Petit homme abat grand chêne—A little man fells a tall oak. Fr. Pr.
Petit maître—Fop; coxcomb. Fr. 10
Petite étincelle luit en ténèbres—A tiny spark shines in the dark. Fr. Pr.
Petites affiches—Advertiser. Fr.
Petites maisons—A madhouse. Fr.
Petitio principii—Begging of the question in debate.
Petitioners for admittance into favour must 15 not harass the condescension of their benefactor. Burns.
Petits soins—Little attentions. Fr.
Petty laws breed great crimes. Ouida.
Peu d'hommes ont été admirés par leurs domestiques—Few men have been looked up to by their domestics. Montaigne.
Peu de bien, peu de soin—Little wealth, little care. Fr. Pr.
Peu de chose nous console, parceque peu de 20 chose nous afflige—Little consoles us because little afflicts us. Pascal.
Peu de gens savent être vieux—Few people know how to be old. La Roche.
Peu de gens sont assez sages pour préférer le blame qui leur est utile, à la louange qui les trahit—Few people are wise enough to prefer censure which may be useful, to flattery which may betray them. La Roche.
Peu de moyens, beaucoup d'effet—Simple means, great results. Fr. Pr.
Peu de philosophie mène à méspriser l'érudition; beaucoup de philosophie mène à l'estimer—A little philosophy leads men to despise learning; a great deal leads them to esteem it, Chamfort.
Peu et bien—Little but good. Fr. 25
Peuples libres, souvenez-vous de cette maxime: on peut acquérir la liberté, mais on ne la retrouve jamais—Free people, remember this rule: you may acquire liberty, but never regain it if you once lose it. Rousseau.
Phaeton was his father's heir; born to attain the highest fortune without earning it; he had built no sun-chariot (could not build the simplest wheel-barrow), but could and would insist on driving one; and so broke his own stiff neck, sent gig and horses spinning through infinite space, and set the universe on fire. Carlyle.
[Greek: phantasmata theia, kai skiai tôn ontôn]—Divine phantasms and shadows of things that are. Gr.
Pharmaca das ægroto, aurum tibi porrigit æger, / Tu morbum curas illius, ille tuum—You give medicine to a sick man, he hands you your fee; you cure his complaint, he cures yours. To a doctor.
[Greek: pheideo tôn kteanôn]—Husband your resources. Gr. 30
[Greek: phêmê ge mentoi dêmothrous mega sthenei]—The voice of the people truly is great in power. Æschylus.
Philanthropy, like charity, must begin at home. Lamb.
"Philistine" must have originally meant, in the mind of those who invented the nickname, a strong, dogged, unenlightened opponent of the children of the light. Heine.
Philologists, who chase / A panting syllable through time and space, / Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark / To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark. Cowper.
Philosophers are only men in armour after all. 35 Dickens.
Philosophers call God "the great unknown." "The great misknown" would be more correct. Joseph Roux.
Philosophia simulari potest, eloquentia non potest—Philosophy may be feigned, eloquence cannot. Quinct.
Philosophy and theology are become theorem, brain-web and shadow, wherein no earnest soul can find solidity for itself. Shadow, I say; yet shadow projected from an everlasting reality within ourselves. Quit the shadow, seek the reality. Carlyle to John Sterling.
Philosophy can add to our happiness in no other manner but by diminishing our misery; it should not pretend to increase our present stock, but make us economists of what we are possessed of. Goldsmith.
Philosophy can bake no bread; but she can 40 procure for us God, freedom, immortality. Which, then, is more practical—philosophy or economy? Novalis.
Philosophy does not regard pedigree; she did not receive Plato as a noble, but she made him so. Sen.
Philosophy dwells aloft in the Temple of Science, the divinity of its inmost shrine; her dictates descend among men, but she herself descends not; whoso would behold her must climb with long and laborious effort, nay, still linger in the forecourt, till manifold trial have proved him worthy of admission into the interior solemnities. Carlyle.
Philosophy easily triumphs over past and future ills, but present ills triumph over philosophy. La Roche.
Philosophy goes no further than probabilities, and in every assertion keeps a doubt in reserve. Froude.
Philosophy has given several plausible rules 45 for attaining peace and tranquillity, but they fall very much short of bringing men to it. Tillotson.
Philosophy is a bully that talks very loud when the danger is at a distance; but the moment she is hard pressed by the enemy, she is not to be found at her post, but leaves the brunt of the battle to be borne by her humbler but steadier comrade, Religion. Colton.
Philosophy is a good horse in a stable, but an arrant jade on a journey. Goldsmith.
Philosophy is an elegant thing, if any one modestly meddles with it; but, if he is conversant with it more than is becoming, it corrupts the man. Plato.
Philosophy is but a continual battle against custom; an ever-renewed effort to transcend the sphere of blind custom, and so become transcendental. Carlyle.
Philosophy is no more than the art of making ourselves happy; that is, of seeking pleasure in regularity, and reconciling what we owe to society with what is due to ourselves. Goldsmith.
Philosophy is nothing but discretion. Selden. 5
Philosophy is properly home-sickness; the wish to be everywhere at home. Novalis.
Philosophy is reason with the eyes of the soul. Simms.