Stylum vertere—To change or correct the style. 50
Sua cuique Deus fit dira cupido—Each man makes his own dire passion a god. Virg.
Sua cuique quum sit animi cogitatio, / Colorque proprius—Since each man has a way of his own of thinking, and a peculiar temper. Phæd.
Sua cuique vita obscura est—Every man's life is dark to himself.
Sua cuique voluptas—Every man has his own liking.
Sua quisque exempla debet æquo animo pati—Every 55 one ought to bear patiently with what is after his own example. Phæd.
Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis / E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem!—How fascinating it is when on the great sea the winds have raised its waters into billows, to witness the perils of another from the land! Lucretius.
Suavis est laborum præteritorum memoria—Sweet is the memory of past trouble. Cic.
Suaviter et fortiter—Mildly and firmly. M.
Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re—Gentle in manner, resolute in deed. M.
"Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re,"—I do not know any one rule so unexceptionably useful and necessary in every part of life. Chesterfield.
Sub cruce candida—Under the pure white 5 cross. M.
Sub cruce salus—Salvation under the cross. M.
Sub fine—At the end.
Sub hoc signo vinces—Under this sign (the cross) thou shalt conquer. M.
Sub initio—At the beginning.
Sub Jove—In the open air. 10
Sub judice lis est—The question is undecided.
Sub pœna—Under a penalty. L.
Sub reservatione Jacobæo—With St. James's reservation; viz., if the Lord will.
Sub rosa—Under the rose; confidentially.
Sub silentio—In silence, i.e., without notice being 15 taken.
Sub specie æternitatis—In the form of eternity, i.e., as a particular manifestation of a universal law.
Subdue fate, and exert human strength to the utmost of your power; and if, when pains have been taken, success attend not, in whom is the blame? Hitopadesa.
Sublata causa tollitur effectus—The cause removed, the effect is also. L.
Sublimer in this world know I nothing than a peasant saint, one that must toil outwardly for the lowest of man's wants, also toiling inwardly for the highest. Such a one will carry thee back to Nazareth itself. Carlyle.
Sublimi feriam sidera vertice—I shall strike the 20 stars with my uplifted head. Hor.
Sublimity is Hebrew by birth. Coleridge.
Submitting to one wrong often brings on another. Pr.
Subtilis veterum judex et callidus audis—You are known as a nice and experienced judge of things old. Hor.
Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will. Oliver Cromwell.
Subverting worldly strong and worldly wise, / 25 By simply meek. Milton.
Succedaneum—A substitute.
Success (by laws of competition) signifies always so much victory over your neighbour as to obtain the direction of his work and take the profits of it. This is the real source of all great riches. Ruskin.
Success consecrates the foulest crimes. Sen.
Success? If the thing is unjust, thou hast not succeeded. Carlyle.
Success in the majority of circumstances depends 30 on knowing how long it takes to succeed. Montesquieu.
Success in war, like charity in religion, covers a multitude of sins. Sir C. Napier.
Success is full of promise till men get it, and then it seems like a nest from which the bird has flown. Ward Beecher.
Success is sweet; the sweeter if long delayed, and attained through manifold struggles and defeats. A. B. Alcott.
Success is the child of audacity. Disraeli.
Success makes men look larger, if reflection 35 does not measure them. Joubert.
Success makes success, as money makes money. Chamfort.
Success often costs more than it is worth. E. Wigglesworth.
Success tempts many to their ruin. Phædr.
Success throws a veil over the evil deeds of men. Demosthenes.
Success! to thee, as to a god, men bend the 40 knee. Æschylus.
Successful love takes a load off our hearts and puts it on our shoulders. Bovee.
Such a friend as speaketh kindly to a man's face, and behind his back defeateth his designs, is like a pot of poison with a surface of milk. Hitopadesa.
Such a genius as philosophers must of necessity have is wont but seldom, in all its parts, to meet in one man; but its different parts generally spring up in different persons. Plato.
Such a plot must have a woman in it. Richardson.
Such as are careless of themselves can hardly 45 be mindful of others. Thales. (?)
Such as are in the married state wish to get out, and such as are out wish to get in. Quoted by Emerson.
Such as every one is inwardly, so he judgeth outwardly. Thomas à Kempis.
Such as we are made of, such we be. Twelfth Night, ii. 2.
Such hath been—shall be—beneath the sun, / That many still must labour for the one. Byron.
Such is hope, Heaven's own gift to struggling 50 mortals; pervading, like some subtle essence from the skies, all things both good and bad. Dickens.
Such is the aspect of this shore; / 'Tis Greece, but living Greece no more! / So coldly sweet, so deadly fair, / We start, for soul is wanting there. Byron.
Such only enjoy the country as are capable of thinking when they are there; then they are prepared for solitude, and in that case solitude is prepared for them. Dryden.
Such tricks hath strong imagination, / That, if it would but apprehend some joy, / It comprehends some bringer of that joy; / Or in the night, imagining some fear, / How easy is a bush supposed a bear. Mid. N.'s Dream, v. 1.
Such war of white and red within her cheeks. Tam. of the Shrew, iv. 5.
Suche die Wissenschaft als würdest ewig du 55 hier sein, / Tugend, als hielte der Tod dich schon am sträubenden Haar—Seek knowledge, as if thou wert to be here for ever; virtue, as if death already held thee by the bristling hair. Herder.
Sucht nur die Menschen zu verwirren, / Sie zu befriedigen ist schwer—Seek only to mystify men; to satisfy them is difficult. Goethe, the theatre-manager in "Faust."
Sudden blaze of kindness may, by a single blast of coldness, be extinguished; but that fondness which length of time has connected with many circumstances and occasions, though it may for a while be suppressed by disgust or resentment, with or without cause, is hourly revived by accidental recollection. Johnson.
Sudden love is the latest cured. La Bruyère.
Sudden resolutions, like the sudden rise of the mercury in the barometer, indicate little else than the changeableness of the weather. Hare.
Sudden tumultuous popularity comes more from partial delirium on both sides than from clear insight, and is of evil omen to all concerned with it. Carlyle.
Suer sang et eau—To toil and moil (lit. sweat 5 blood and water). Fr. Phr.
Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus.
Suffer no hour to slide by without its due improvement. Thomas à Kempis.
Suffer thyself to be led in everything but feeling and thinking. Sallet.
Sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. Mer. of Ven., i. 3.
Suffering in human life is very widely vicarious. 10 Ward Beecher.
Suffering is part of the divine idea. Ward Beecher.
Suffering is the mother of fools, reason of wise men. (?)
Suffering which falls to our lot in the course of nature, or by chance or fate, does not, "ceteris paribus," seem so painful as suffering which is inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another. Schopenhauer.
Suffice unto thy good, though it be small, / For hoard hath hate, and climbing tickleness; (uncertainty) / Praise hath envie, and weal is blent o'er all. Chaucer.
Sufficiency is a compound of vanity and ignorance. 15 Temple.
Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. Jesus.
Sufficiently provided from within, he has need of little from without. Goethe of the poet.
Sufficit huic tumulus, cui non suffecerit orbis—A tomb now suffices for him for whom the world did not suffice. Apropos of Alexander the Great.
Suffundere malis hominis sanguinem, quam offundere—Seek rather to make a man blush for his guilt than to shed his blood. Ter.
Suggestio falsi—Suggestion of what is false. 20
Sui cuique mores fingunt fortunam—Every man's fortune is shaped for him by his own manners. Corn. Nep.
Sui generis—Of its own kind; of a kind of its own.
Sui juris—Of his own right. L.
Suis stat viribus—He stands by his own strength. M.
Suit the action to the word, the word to the 25 action; with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature. Ham., iii. 2.
Suivez raison—Follow reason. M.
Sum quod eris, fui quod es—I am what you will be, I was what you are.
Sum up at night what thou hast done by day; / And in the morning what thou hast to do. George Herbert.
Sume superbiam quæsitam meritis—Assume the proud place your merits have won. Hor.
Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquam / 30 Viribus, et versate diu, quid ferre recusent, / Quid valeant humeri—Ye who write, choose a subject suited to your abilities, and long ponder what your powers are equal to, and what they are unable to perform. Hor.
Summa bona putas, aliena vivere quadra—You think it the chief good to live on another's crumbs. Juv.
Summa petit livor—Envy aims very high. Ovid.
Summa sequor fastigia rerum—I will trace the principal heads of events. Virg.
Summa summarum—All in all. Plautus.
Summæ opes inopia cupiditatum—He is richest 35 who is poorest in his desires. Sen.
Summam nec metuas diem, nec optes—Neither fear nor wish for your last day. Mart.
Summum bonum—The chief good.
Summum crede nefas animam præferre pudori, / Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas—Consider it to be the height of impiety to prefer life to honour, and, for the sake of merely living, to sacrifice the objects of living. Juv.
Summum jus sæpe summa injuria est—The strictest justice is often grossest injustice. Cic.
[Greek: syn d' ananka pan kalon]—Whatever is beautiful 40 is beautiful by an inner necessity. Pindar.
Sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide / To light up worlds or wake an insect's mirth. Keble.
Sunday is the core of our civilisation, dedicated to thought and reverence. Emerson.
Sundays observe; think when the bells do chime, / 'Tis angels' music, therefore come not late. George Herbert.
Sunlight is painting. Hawthorne.
Sunrise is often lovelier than noon. Carlyle. 45
Sunt bona mixta malis, sunt mala mixta bonis—Good is mixed with evil, and evil with good.
Sunt bona, sunt quædam mediocria, sunt mala plura / Quæ legis—Of those which you read, some are good, some middling, and more are bad. Mart., of books.
Sunt delicta tamen, quibus ignovisse velimus—There are some faults, however, which we are willing to pardon. Hor.
Sunt Jovis omnia plena—All things are full of the Deity. Virg.
Sunt lacrymæ rerum, et mentem mortalia tangunt—Tears 50 are due to misfortune, and mortal woes touch the heart. Virg.
Sunt pueri pueri, pueri puerilia tractant—Boys are boys, and boys occupy themselves with boyish things.
Sunt superis sua jura—Even the gods above are subject to law. Ovid.
Suo Marte—By his own prowess. Cic.
Super subjectam materiam—Upon the matter submitted. L.
Superbo è quel cavallo che non si vuol portar 55 la biada—Proud is the horse that won't carry its own oats. It. Pr.
Superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer. Mer. of Venice, i. 2.
Superior powers of mind and profound study are of no use if they do not sometimes lead a person to different conclusions from those which are formed by ordinary powers of mind without study. J. S. Mill.
Superior strength is found in the long-run to lie with those who had the right on their side. Froude.
Supersedeas—You may supersede. L.
Superstition changes a man to a beast, 5 fanaticism makes him a wild beast, and despotism a beast of burden. La Harpe.
Superstition is a misdirection of religious feeling. Whately.
Superstition is an unreasoning fear of God; religion consists in the pious worship of the gods. Cic.
Superstition is but the fear of belief; religion is the confidence. Lady Blessington.
Superstition is certainly not the characteristic of this age. Yet some men are bigoted in politics who are infidels in religion. Junius.
Superstition is in its death-lair; the last 10 agonies may endure for decades or for centuries; but it carries the iron in its heart, and will not vex the earth any more. Carlyle.
Superstition is inherent in man's nature; and when we think it is wholly eradicated, it takes refuge in the strangest holes and corners, whence it peeps out all at once, as soon as it can do so with safety. Goethe.
Superstition is passing away without return. Religion cannot pass away. The burning of a little straw may hide the stars in the sky; but the stars are there, and will re-appear. Carlyle.
Superstition is related to this life, religion to the next; superstition allies itself to fatality, religion to virtue; it is by the vitality of earthly desires we become superstitious, and by the sacrifice of these desires that we become religious. Mme. de Staël.
Superstition is the fear of a spirit whose passions and acts are those of a man, who is present in some places, and not in others; who makes some places holy, and not others; who is kind to one person, and unkind to another; who is pleased or angry according to the degree of attention you pay him, or praise you refuse him; who is hostile generally to human pleasure, but may be bribed by sacrificing a part of that pleasure into permitting the rest. Ruskin.
Superstition is the only religion of which base 15 souls are capable. Joubert.
Superstition is the poesy of life, so that it does not injure the poet to be superstitious. Goethe.
Superstition! that horrid incubus which dwelt in darkness, shunning the light, with all its racks, and poison chalices, and foul sleeping draughts, is passing away without return. Carlyle.
Superstition without a veil is a deformed thing. Bacon.
Superstitions would soon die out if so many old women would not act as nurses to keep them alive. Punch.
Supple knees feed arrogance. Pr. 20
Suppose a neighbour should desire / To light a candle at your fire, / Would it deprive your flame of light / Because another profits by't. Lloyd.
Suppressing love is but opposing the natural dictates of the heart. Goldsmith.
Suppressio veri—Suppression of what is true.
Supra vires—Beyond one's powers. Hor.
Supremum vale—A last farewell. Ovid. 25
Sur esperance—In hope. M.
Surdo fabulam narras—You tell your story to a deaf man.
Sure as night follows day, / Death treads in pleasure's footsteps round the world, / When pleasure treads the path which reason shuns. Young.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, / Looking before and after, gave us not / That capability and godlike reason / To fust in us unused. Ham., iv. 4.
Sure, of qualities demanding praise, / More go 30 to ruin fortunes, than to raise. Pope.
Sure those who have neither strength nor weapons to fight at least should be civil. Goldsmith.
Surely half the world must be blind; they can see nothing unless it glitters. Hare.
Surely it is better to enclose the gulf and hinder all access, than by encouraging us to advance a little, to entice us afterwards a little further, and let us perceive our folly only by our destruction. Johnson.
Surely life, if it be not long, is tedious, since we are forced to call in the assistance of so many trifles to rid us of our time, of that time which can never return. Johnson.
Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men 35 of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance they are altogether lighter than vanity. Bible.
Surely nobody would be a charlatan who could afford to be sincere. Emerson.
Surely the best way is to meet the enemy in the field, and not wait till he plunders us in our very bed-chamber. Goldsmith.
Surely use alone / Makes money not a contemptible stone. George Herbert.
Surement va qui n'a rien—He who has nothing goes securely. Fr. Pr.
Surfeit has killed more than hunger. Pr. 40
Surfeit of the sweetest things / The deepest loathing to the stomach brings. Mid. N.'s Dream, ii. 3.
Surfeits destroy more than the sword. J. Fletcher.
Surgit post nubila Phœbus—The sun rises after the clouds. M.
Sursum corda—Lift up your hearts. L.
Surtout, messieurs, pas de zèle—Above all, 45 gentlemen, no zeal. Talleyrand.
Sus Minervam—A pig teaching Minerva.
Susceptibility to one class of influences, the selection of what is fit for him, the rejection of what is unfit, determines for a man the character of the universe. Emerson.
Suspectum semper invisumque dominantibus, qui proximus destinaretur—Those in supreme power always suspect and hate their next heir. Tac.
Suspendens omnia naso—Sneering at everything. Hor.
Suspense is worse than disappointment. Burns.
Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; / The thief doth fear each bush an officer. 3 Hen. VI., v. 6.
Suspicion is a heavy armour, and with its own weight impedes more than protects. Byron.
Suspicion is no less an enemy to virtue than to 5 happiness. Johnson.
Suspicion is the bane of friendship. Petrarch.
Suspicion is very often a useless pain. Dr. Johnson.
Suspicion shall be all stuck full of eyes. 1 Hen. IV., v. 1.
Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds; they ever fly by twilight; they are to be repressed, or at the least well guarded, for they cloud the mind. Bacon.
Suspicions are nothing when a man is really 10 true, and every one should persevere in acting honestly, for all will be made right in time. Hans Andersen.
Süsser Wein giebt sauern Essig—Sweet wine yields sour vinegar. Ger. Pr.
Sustine et abstine—Bear and forbear. M.
Suum cuique—To every man his due. M.
Suum cuique decus posteritas rependit—Posterity will pay every one his due. Tac.
Suus cuique est mos—Every one has his own 15 way of it. Hor.
Suus cuique mos—Every man has his way. Ter.
Suum cuique tribuere, ea demum summa justitia est—To give to every man his due, that is supreme justice. Cic.
Swearing is invoking the witness of a spirit to an assertion you wish to make, but cursing is invoking the assistance of a spirit in a mischief you wish to inflict. Ruskin.
Sweep before your own door. Pr.
Sweet are the uses of adversity, / Which like 20 the toad, ugly and venomous, / Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; / And this our life, exempt from public haunt, / Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, / Sermons in stones, and good in everything. As You Like It.
Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, / Most musical, most melancholy. Milton.
Sweet flowers are slow, and weeds make haste. Rich. III., ii. 4.
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, / With charm of earliest birds. Milton.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; / Our meddling intellect / Misshapes the beauteous form of things: / We murder to dissect. Wordsworth.
Sweet is true love though given in vain, / And 25 sweet is death that puts an end to pain. Tennyson.
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge. Tit. Andron., i. 2.
Sweet pliability of man's spirit, that can at once surrender itself to illusions which cheat expectation and sorrow of their weary moments! Sterne.
Sweet reader, do you know what a toady is? That agreeable animal which you meet every day in civilised society. Disraeli.
Sweet Swan of Avon. Ben Jonson of Shakespeare.
Sweetest melodies are those that are by distance 30 made more sweet. Wordsworth.
Swift kindnesses are best: a long delay / In kindness takes the kindness all away. Anon.
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day. Lyte.
Sworn to no master, of no sect am I; / As drives the storm, at any door I knock, / And house with Montaigne now, and now with Locke. Pope.
Syllables govern the world. Coke.
Sympathetic people are often uncommunicative 35 about themselves; they give back reflected images which hide their own depths. George Eliot.
Sympathising and selfish people are alike given to tears. Leigh Hunt.
Sympathy can create the boldness which no other means can evoke. Dr. Parker.
Sympathy is the first condition of criticism; reason and justice presuppose, at their origin, emotion. Amiel.
Sympathy is the first great lesson which man should learn.... Unless he learns to feel for things in which he has no personal interest, he can achieve nothing generous or noble. Talfourd.
Sympathy is the solace of the poor, but for the 40 rich there is consolation. Disraeli.
Sympathy is two hearts tugging at one load. C. H. Parkhurst.
Sympathy wanting, all is wanting; its personal magnetism is the conductor of the sacred spark that lights our atoms, puts us in human communion, and gives us to company, conversation, and ourselves. A. B. Alcott.
Sympathy with Nature is a part of the good man's religion. F. H. Hedge.
Syne as ye brew, ... / Keep mind that ye maun drink the yill. Burns.
Tabesne cadavera solvat, / An rogus, haud 45 refert—It makes no difference whether corruption dissolve the carcase or the funeral pile. Lucan.
Tabula ex or in naufragio—A plank in a shipwreck; a last shift.
Table d'hôte—A common table for guests. Fr.
Tableau vivant—A group in which statues or pictures are represented by living persons. Fr.
Tabula rasa—A smooth or blank tablet; a blank surface.
Tacent, satis laudant—Their silence is praise 50 enough. Ter.
Tâche sans tache—A task, or work, without a blemish. M.
Tacitæ magis et occultæ inimicitiæ sunt, quam indictæ et opertæ—Enmities unavowed and concealed are more to be feared than when open and declared. Cic.
Tacitum vivit sub pectore vulnus—The secret wound still lives in her heart. Virg.
Tact is one of the first of mental virtues, the absence of which is often fatal to the best talents. It supplies the place of many talents. Simms.
Tadeln kann ein jeder Bauer; besser machen wird ihm sauer—Every boor can find fault; it would baffle him to do better. Ger. Pr.
Tadeln können zwar die Thoren, / Aber klüger handeln nicht—Fools can find fault indeed, but they cannot act more wisely. Langbein.
Tædium vitæ—Weariness of life; disgust with existence. Gell.
Tages Arbeit, Abends Gäste, / Saure Wochen, 5 frohe Feste, / Sei dein künftig Zauberwort—Be work by day, guests at eve, weeks of toil, festive days of joy, the magic spell for thy future. Goethe.
Take a bird from a clean nest. Gael. Pr.
Take a farthing from a thousand pounds, it will be a thousand pounds no longer. Goldsmith.
Take a hair of the same dog that bit you, and it will heal the wound. Pr.
Take a stick to a Highland laddie, and it's no him you hurt, but his ancestors. J. M. Barrie.
Take all that is given, whether wealth, / Or 10 love, or language; nothing comes amiss; / A good digestion turneth all to health. George Herbert.
Take any subject of sorrowful regret, and see with how much pleasure it is associated. Dickens.
Take away desire from the heart, and you take away the air from the earth. Bulwer Lytton.
Take care of the pence; the pounds will take care of themselves. Pr.
Take care to be an economist in prosperity; there is no fear of your not being one in adversity. Zimmermann.
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy 15 judgment. Ham., i. 3.
Take everything easy (leicht); leave off dreaming and brooding (Grübeln), and you will be ever well guarded from a thousand evils. Uhland.
Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her, for she is thy life. Bible.
Take from the philosopher the pleasure of being heard, and his desire for knowledge ceases. Rousseau.
Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Jesus.
Take heed of the vinegar of sweet wine. Pr. 20
Take heed you find not that you do not seek. Pr.
Take-it-easy and Live-long are brothers. Ger. Pr.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Jesus.
Take no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Jesus.
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall 25 eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Jesus.
Take not His name who made thy mouth in vain: / It gets thee nothing, and has no excuse. George Herbert.
Take note, take note, O world, / To be direct and honest is not safe. Othello, iii. 3.
Take physic, pomp; / Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel; / That thou mayst shake the superflux to them, / And show the heavens more just. Lear, iii. 4.
Take the Muses' servants by the hand; / ... And where ye justly can commend, commend them; / And aiblins when they winna stand the test, / Wink hard, and say the folks hae done their best. Burns.
Take the showers as they fall, / ... Enough 30 if at the end of all / A little garden blossom. Tennyson.
Take this rule, ... The best-bred child hath the best portion. Pr. Herbert.
Take thou the beam out of thine own eye; then shalt thou see clearly to take the mote out of thy brother's. Jesus.
Take thought for thy body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone; and if they are dim, the whole world is beclouded. Goethe.
Take time by the forelock. Thales.
Take time in time, ere time be tint (lost). Sc. Pr. 35
Take time in turning a corner. Pr.
Take up the torch and wave it wide, / The torch that lights Time's thickest gloom. Bonar.
Take your thirst to the stream, as the dog does. Gael. Pr.
Taking, therefore, my opinion of the English from the virtues and vices practised among the vulgar, they at once present to a stranger all their faults, and keep their virtues up only for the inquiring of a philosopher. Goldsmith.
Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta, / Quale 40 sopor fessis—Thy song is to us, O heavenly bard, as sleep to wearied men. Virg.
Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book. Emerson.
Talent for literature, thou hast such a talent? Believe it not, be slow to believe it! To speak or to write, Nature did not peremptorily order thee; but to work she did. Carlyle.
Talent forms itself in secret; character, in the great current of the world. Goethe.
Talent has almost always this advantage (Vorsprung) over genius—that the former endures, the latter often explodes, or runs to waste (verpufft). Gutzkow.
Talent is a cistern; genius, a fountain. Whipple. 45
Talent is a gift which God has imparted in secret, and which we reveal without knowing it. Montesquieu.
Talent is some one faculty unusually developed; genius commands all the faculties. F. H. Hedge.
Talent is something, but tact is everything. It is not a seventh sense, but is the life of all the five. It is the open eye, the quick ear, the judging taste, the keen smell, and the lively touch; it is the interpreter of all riddles, the surmounter of all difficulties, the remover of all obstacles. W. P. Scargill.
Talent is that which is in a man's power; genius is that in whose power a man is. Lowell.
Talent ist Form, Genie Stoff—Talent is form, 50 genius is substance. Gutzkow.
Talent, lying in the understanding, is often inherited; genius, being the action of reason and imagination, rarely or never. Coleridge.
Talents angel-bright, if wanting worth, are shining instruments in false ambition's hand, to finish faults illustrious, and give infamy renown. Young.
Talents give a man a superiority far more agreeable than that which proceeds from riches, birth, or employments, which are all external. Talents constitute our very essence. Rollin.
Taliter qualiter—Such as it is.
Talk, except as the preparation for work, is 5 worth almost nothing; sometimes it is worth infinitely less than nothing; and becomes, little conscious of playing such a fatal part, the general summary of pretentious nothingnesses, and the chief of all the curses the posterity of Adam are liable to in this sublunary world. Carlyle.
Talk of the devil and he'll appear. Pr.
Talk that does not end in action is better suppressed altogether. Carlyle.
Talk to him of Jacob's ladder, and he would ask the number of the steps. Douglas Jerrold.
Talkers are no good doers. Rich. III., i. 3.
Talking is one of the fine arts. Holmes. 10
Talking is the disease of age. Ben Jonson.
Talking of love is making it. Pr.
Talking with a host is next best to talking with one's self.... He is wiser than to contradict his guest in any case; he lets him go on, he lets him travel. Thoreau.
Tam deest avaro quod habet, quam quod non habet—The miser is as much in want of that which he has as of that which he has not. Pub. Syr.
Tam diu discendum est, quum diu nescias, et, 15 si proverbio credimus, quam diu vivas—You must continue learning as long as you do not know, and, if the proverb is to be believed, as long as you live. Sen.
Tam Marte quam Minerva—As much by Mars as by Minerva; as much by courage as by wisdom. Pr.
Tam Marti quam Mercurio—As much for Mars as for Mercury; as well qualified for war as for business.
Tam felix utinam, quam pectore candidus, essem—Oh, that I were as happy as I am clear in conscience. Ovid.
Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither; / They had been fou for weeks thegither. Burns.
Tamen me / Cum magnis vixisse invita fatebitur 20 usque / Invidia—Nevertheless, even envy, however unwilling, will have to admit that I have lived among great men. Hor.
Tandem fit surculus arbor—A twig in time becomes a tree. M.
Tandem poculum mœroris exhausit—He has exhausted at last the cup of grief. Cic.
[Greek: ta neura tou polemou]—The sinews of war. Pr.
Tangere ulcus—To touch a sore; to renew one's grief. Ter.
Tanquam in speculo—As in a mirror. 25
Tanquam nobilis—Noble by courtesy.
Tanquam ungues digitosque suos—As well as his nails and fingers; at his fingers' ends. Pr.
Tant de fiel entre-t-il dans l'âme des dévots?—Can so much gall find access in devout souls? Boileau.
Tant mieux—So much the better. Fr.
Tant pis—So much the worse. Fr. 30
Tant va la cruche à l'eau qu'à la fin elle se brise—The pitcher goes so often to the well that it is broken at last. Fr.
Tantæ molis erat Romanam condere gentem—Such a task it was to found the Roman race. Virg.
Tantæne animis cœlestibus iræ?—Can heavenly minds cherish such dire resentment? Virg.
Tanti eris aliis, quanti tibi fueris—You will be of as much value to others as you have been to yourself. Cic.
Tanto brevius omne tempus, quanto felicius—The 35 happier the moments the shorter. Pliny.
Tanto buon, che val niente—So good as to be good for nothing. It. Pr.
Tanto fortior, tanto felicior!—The more pluck, the better luck!
Tanto più di pregio reca all' opera l'umiltà dell' artista, quanto più aggiunge di valori al numero la nullità del zero—The modesty of the artist adds as much to the merit of his work as does a cipher (of no value in itself) to the number to which it is joined. Bernini.
Tanto vale la Messa detta quanto la cantata—A mass is as good said as sung. It. Pr.
Tantum quantum—Just as much as. 40
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum—Could such cruelties have been perpetrated in the name of religion? Lucret. in reference to the sacrifice of Iphigenia.
Tantum series juncturaque / Tantum de medio sumptis accedit honoris—Such is the power of order and arrangement: so much grace may be imparted to subjects from common life. Hor.
Tantum vertice in auras / Aetherias quantum radice in Tartara tendit—Its summit stretches as far into the upper ether as its root into the nether deep.
Tantus amor laudum, tantæ est victoria curæ—Such is the love of praise, so great the anxiety for victory. Virg.
Tapfer ist der Löwesieger, / Tapfer ist der 45 Weltbezwinger, / Tapfer wer sich selbst bezwang—Brave is the lion-vanquisher, brave is the world-subduer, but braver he who has subdued himself. J. G. Herder.
Tarda sit illa dies, et nostro serior ævo—Slow may that day approach, and long after our time. Ovid.
Tarda solet magnis rebus inesse fides—Men are slow to repose confidence in undertakings of magnitude. Ovid.
Tarde, quæ credita lædunt, credimus—We are slow to believe that which, if believed, would work us harm. Ovid.
Tarde sed tute—Slow but sure. M.
Tarde venientibus ossa—To those who come late 50 the bones. Pr.
Tardiora sunt remedia quam mala—Remedies are slower in their operation than diseases. Tac.
Tasks in hours of insight willed, / In hours of gloom must be fulfilled. Matthew Arnold.
Taste can only be educated by contemplation, not of the tolerably good, but of the truly excellent. Goethe.
Taste depends upon those finer emotions which make the organisation of the soul. Sir J. Reynolds.
Taste, if it mean anything but a paltry connoisseurship, must mean a general susceptibility to truth and nobleness; a sense to discern and a heart to love and reverence all beauty, order, goodness, wheresoever found and in whatsoever form and accompaniment. Carlyle.
Taste is the very maker of judgment. Leigh Hunt.
Taste may change, but inclination never. La Roche.
[Greek: ta syka syka, tên skaphên de skaphên onomazôn]—Calling 5 a fig a fig, and a spade a spade. Plut.
Taurum tollet qui vitulum sustulerit—He who has carried the calf will be able by and by to carry the ox. Pr.
Te Deum laudamus—We praise Thee, O God.
Te digna sequere—Follow what is worthy of thee. M.
Te, Fortuna, sequor: procul hinc jam fœdera sunto: / Credidimus fatis, utendum est judice bello—Thee, Fortune, I follow; hence far all treaties past; to fate I commit myself, and the arbitrament of war. Lucan on the crossing of the Rubicon by Cæsar.
Te hominem esse memento—Remember thou 10 art a man.
Te sine nil altum mens inchoat—Without thee my mind originates nothing lofty. Virg. to Mæcenas.
Teach me to feel another's woe, / To hide the fault I see; / That mercy I to others show, / That mercy show to me. Pope.
Teach self-denial, and make its practice pleasurable, and you create for the world a destiny more sublime than ever issued from the brain of the wildest dreamer. Scott.
Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom, and makes the heroic virtues hereditary. Mahomet.
Teaching has not a tithe of the efficacy of 15 training. Horace Mann.
Teaching is of more importance than exhortation. Luther.
Teaching others teacheth yourself. Pr.
Tearless grief bleeds inwardly. Bovee.
Tears are due to human misery. Virg.
Tears are often to be found where there is 20 little sorrow, and the deepest sorrow without tears. Johnson.
Tears are the deluge of sin and the world's sacrifice. Gregory Nazianzen.
Tears are the symbol of the inability of the soul to restrain its emotion and retain its self-command. Amiel.
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, / Tears from the depth of some divine despair / Rise in the heart and gather in the eyes, / In looking on the happy autumn fields, / And thinking of the days that are no more. Tennyson.
Tears of joy are the dew in which the sun of righteousness is mirrored. Jean Paul.
Tears of joy, like summer rain-drops, are 25 pierced by sunbeams. H. Ballou.
Tears such as angels weep. Milton.
Tecum habita—Live with yourself; keep within your means.
Teeth, hair, nails, and the human species, prosper not when separated from their place. A wise man, being informed of this, should not totally forsake his native home. Hitopadesa.
Tel brille au second rang, qui s'éclipse au premier—Some who are eclipsed in the first rank may shine in the second. Voltaire.
Tel coup de langue est pire qu'un coup de 30 lance—Such a stroke with the tongue is worse than one with a lance. Fr. Pr.
Tel, en vous lisant, admire chaque trait, / Qui dans le fond de l'âme vous craint et vous hait—Such a one, in reading your work, admires every line, but, at the bottom of his soul, he fears and hates you. Boileau.
Tel excelle à rimer qui juge sottement—Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly. Boileau.
Tel maître, tel valet—Like master, like man. Fr. Pr.
Tel père, tel fils—Like father, like son. Fr. Pr.
Tel vous semble applaudir, qui vous raille et 35 vous joue; / Aimez qu'on vous conseille, et non pas qu'on vous loue—Such a one seems to applaud, while he is really ridiculing you; attach yourself to those who advise you rather than to those who praise. Boileau.
Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon. Bible.
"Tell me how you bear so blandly the assuming ways of wild young people?" Truly they would be unbearable if I had not also been unbearable myself as well. Goethe.
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, / "Life is but an empty dream," / For the soul is dead that slumbers, / And things are not what they seem. Longfellow.
Tell me what you like, and I will tell you what you are. Ruskin.
Tell me where is fancy bred, / Or in the heart, 40 or in the head? / How begot, how nourishéd? / It is engender'd in the eyes, / With gazing fed. Mer. of Venice, iii. 2.
Tell me with whom you associate, and I will tell you who you are; if I know what it is with which you occupy yourself, I know what you may become. Goethe.
Tell the truth and shame the devil. 1 Henry IV., iii. 1.
Telum imbelle sine ictu—A feeble dart thrown without effect. Virg.
Temeritas est florentis ætatis, prudentia senescentis—Rashness belongs to youth, prudence to old age. Cic.
Temper—a weapon that we hold by the blade. 45 J. M. Barrie.
Temper is so good a thing that we should never lose it. (?)
Temperament lies behind mood; back of the caprice of will lies the fate of character; back of both is the bias of family; back of that, the tyranny of race; still deeper, the power of climate, of soil, of geology, the whole physical and moral environment. Still we are free men only so far as we rise above these. John Burroughs.
Temperance and labour are the two best physicians of man. Rousseau.
Temperance is a bridle of gold. Burton.
Temperance is a tree which has for its root very little contentment, and for its fruit calm and peace. Buddha.
Temperance is the nurse of chastity. Wycherley.
Tempi passati!—Bygone times! Joseph II. at sight of a picture representing a predecessor doing penance to the Pope.
Templa quam dilecta!—How lovely are thy temples! M. of the Duke of Buckingham, whose family name is Temple.
Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis; 5 / Et fugiunt fræno non remorante dies—Time glides away, and we grow older through the noiseless years; the days flee away, and are restrained by no rein. Ovid.
Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis—Times change, and we change with them. Kaiser Lothar I.
Tempore ducetur longo fortasse cicatrix; / Horrent admotas vulnera cruda manus—A wound may, perhaps, through time be closed, but, when fresh, it shrinks from the touch. Ovid.
Tempted Fate will leave the loftiest star. Byron.
Tempus anima rei—Time is the soul of business.
Tempus edax rerum—Time, the devourer of all 10 things. Ovid.
Tempus erit quo vos speculum vidisse pigebit—The time will come when it will disgust you to look in a mirror. Ovid.
Tempus est quædam pars æternitatis—Time is a certain fraction of eternity. Cic.
Tempus ferax, tempus edax rerum—Time the producer, time the devourer of things.
Tempus fugit—Time flies.
Tempus in agrorum cultu consumere dulce 15 est—It is delightful to spend one's time in the tillage of the fields. Ovid.
Tempus omnia revelat—Time reveals all things.
Tempus rerum imperator—Time is sovereign over all things. M.
Ten censure wrong for one who writes amiss. Pope.
[Greek: tên de malista gamein, hêtis sethen engythi naiei]—Be sure you take for wife a woman of your own neighbourhood. Hesiod.
Tenax et fidelis—Steadfast and faithful. M. 20
Tenax propositi—Tenacious of his purpose. M.
Tendency to sentimental whining or fierce intolerance may be ranked among the surest symptoms of little souls and inferior intellects. Jeffrey.
Tenderness is a virtue. Goldsmith.
Tenderness is the repose of passion. Joubert.
Tenebo—I will hold. M. 25
Teneros animos aliena opprobria sæpe / Absterrent vitiis—The disgrace of others often deters tender minds from vice. Hor.
Tenet insanabile multos / Scribendi cacoëthes—An incurable itch for writing possesses many. Juv.
Tenez la bride haute à votre fils—Keep a tight hand over your son (lit. hold the bridle high). Fr. Pr.
Tenir le haut du pavé—To keep the best place (lit. the highest side of the pavement). Fr. Pr.
Tentanda via est qua me quoque possim / 30 Tollere humo, victorque virûm volitare per ora—I too must attempt a way by which I may raise myself above the ground, and soar triumphant through the lips of men. Virg.
Tenterden steeple was the cause of Goodwin Sands. Pr.
Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum, / Ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago—Thrice I attempted to throw my arms round her neck there, and her ghost, thrice clutched in vain, eluded my grasp. Virg.
Teres atque rotundum—Smooth-polished and rounded. Hor.
Terminus a quo—The point from which anything starts.
Terminus ad quem—The point of destination. 35
Terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glebæ—An ancient land, powerful in arms and in the fertility of its soil. Virg., of Italy.
Terra firma—Dry land, in contradistinction to sea.
Terra incognita—An unknown land or domain of things.
Terra innanzi, e terra poi—Earth originally, and earth finally. It. Pr.
Terra malos homines nunc educat, atque 40 pusillos—The earth now supports many bad and weak men. Juv.
Terræ filius—A son of the earth; a man of obscure or low origin. Pers.
Terram cœlo miscent—They mingle heaven and earth.
Terrible penalty, with the ass-ears or without them, inevitable as death, written for ever in heaven, against all who, like Midas, misjudge the inner and the upper melodies, and prefer gold to goodness, desire to duty, falsehood to fact, wild nature to God, and a sensual piping Pan to a high-souled, wise-hearted, and spirit-breathing Apollo. Ed., apropos to the fable of Midas.
Tertium quid—A third something, produced by the union or interaction of two opposites.
Tertium sal—A third salt; a neutral salt; the 45 union of an acid and an alkali.
Tertius e cœlo cecidit Cato—A third Cato has come down from heaven. Juv., in mockery.
[Greek: tês aretês hidrôta theoi proparoithen ethêkan]—The gods have placed sweat in front of virtue. Hesiod.
Testimony is like an arrow shot from a long bow; the force of it depends upon the strength of the hand that draws it. Argument is like an arrow from a cross-bow, which has equal force though shot by a child. Johnson.
Tête-à-tête—Face to face; a private conversation. Fr.
Tête d'armée!—Head of the army! Last words 50 of Napoleon.
Tête de fou ne blanchit jamais—A fool's head never grows grey. Pr.
Teuer ist mir der Freund, doch auch den Feind kann ich nützen; / Zeigt mir der Freund, was ich kann, lehrt mich der Feind, was ich soll—Dear is to me the friend, yet can I make even my very foe do me a friend's part. My friend shows me what I can do; my foe teaches me what I should do. Schiller.
That action is not warrantable which either blushes to beg a blessing, or, having succeeded, dares not present a thanksgiving. Quarles.
That but this blow / Might be the be-all and the end-all here, / But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, / We'd jump the life to come. Macb., i. 7.
That carries anger as the flint bears fire; / Who, much enforcèd, shows a hasty spark, / And straight is cold again. Jul. Cæs., iv. 3.
That cause is strong which has not a multitude, but one strong man behind it. Lowell.
That circle of beings, which dependence gathers round us, is almost ever unfriendly. Arliss.
That civility is best which excludes all superfluous formality. (?)
That cutting up, and parcelling, and labelling, 5 of the indivisible human soul into what are called "faculties," I have from of old eschewed, and even hated. Carlyle.
That death's unnatural that kills for loving. Othello, v. 2.
That elevation of mind which we see in moments of peril, if it is uncontrolled by justice, and strives only for its own advantage, becomes a crime. Cic.
That friendship only is, indeed, genuine when two friends, without speaking a word to each other, can, nevertheless, find happiness in being together. Georg Ebers.
That friendship, which is exerted in too wide a sphere, becomes totally useless. Goldsmith.
That gentleman who sells an acre of land, 10 sells an ounce of credit. Lord Burleigh.
That golden key that opes the palace of eternity. Milton.
That government is the best which makes government unnecessary. W. von Humboldt.
That great mystery of time, were there no other; the illimitable, silent never-resting thing called "time," rolling, rushing on, swift, silent like an all-embracing oceantide, on which we and all the universe swim like exhalations, like apparitions which are and then are not—this is for ever very literally a miracle, a thing to strike us dumb; for we have no word to speak about it. Carlyle.
That grief is light which is capable of counsel. Pr.
That he is mad 'tis true; 'tis true, 'tis pity; / 15 And pity 'tis 'tis true. Ham., ii. 2.
That in the captain's but a choleric word, / Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy. Meas. for Meas., ii. 2.
That intention which fixes upon God as its only end will keep men steady in their purposes, and deliver them from being the jest and scorn of fortune. Thomas à Kempis.
That is a most wretched fortune which is without an enemy. Pub. Syr.
That is a treacherous friend against whom you must always be on your guard. Such a friend is wine. Bovee.
That is always best which gives me to myself. 20 Emerson.
That is but an empty purse that is full of other men's money. Pr.
That is friendship which is not feigned. Hitopadesa.
That is gold that is worth gold. Pr.
That is indeed a twofold knowledge which profits alike by the folly of the foolish and the wisdom of the wise. It is both a shield and a sword; it borrows its security from the darkness, and its confidence from the light. Colton.
That is not a council wherein there are no 25 sages. Hitopadesa.
That is not a duty in which there is not virtue. Hitopadesa.
That is not possible which is impossible. Hitopadesa.
That is not virtue from which fear approacheth us. Hitopadesa.
That is the best part of beauty which a picture cannot express. Bacon.
That is the best part of each writer which has 30 nothing private in it. Emerson.
That is the briefest and sagest of maxims which bids us "meddle not." Colton.
That is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. St. John.
That is the true season of love, when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved so before us, and that no one will love in the same way after us. Goethe.
That is true love which is always the same, whether you give everything or deny everything to it. Goethe.
That is well spoken that is well taken. Pr. 35
That last infirmity of noble minds. Milton.
That learning which thou gettest by thy own observation and experience is far beyond that which thou gettest by precept; as the knowledge of a traveller exceeds that which is got by reading. Thomas à Kempis.
That life is long which answers life's great end. Young.
That low vice curiosity. Byron.
That man has advanced far in the study of 40 morals who has mastered the difference between pride and vanity. Chamfort.
That man is always happy who is in the presence of something which he cannot know to the full, which he is always going on to know. Ruskin.
That man is an ill husband of his honour that entereth into any action, the failing wherein may disgrace him more than the carrying of it through can honour him. Bacon.
That man is learned who reduceth his learning to practice. Hitopadesa.
That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona. Johnson.
That man lives twice that lives the first life 45 well. Herrick.
That man may last, but never lives, / Who much receives but nothing gives; / Whom none can love, whom none can thank—/ Creation's blot, creation's blank. T. Gibbons.
That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, / If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. Two Gent. of Verona, ii. 1.
That man will never be a perfect gentleman who lives only with gentlemen. To be a man of the world we must view that world in every grade and in every perspective. Bulwer Lytton.
That Mirabeau understood how to act with others, and by others—this was his genius, this was his originality, this was his greatness. Goethe.
That must be true which all men say. Pr. 50
That nation is in the enjoyment of liberty which stands by its own strength, and does not depend on the will of another. Livy.
That net that holds no great, takes little fish. R. Southwell.
That one man should die ignorant who had capacity for knowledge, this I call tragedy. Carlyle.
That one will not, another will. Pr.
That philanthropy has surely a flaw in it which 5 cannot sympathise with the oppressor equally as with the oppressed. Lowell.
That rich man is great who thinketh not himself great because he is rich; the proud man (who is the poor man) braggeth outwardly but beggeth inwardly; he is blown up, but not full. S. Hieron.
That single effort by which we stop short in the down-hill path to perdition is of itself a greater exertion of virtue than a hundred acts of justice. Goldsmith.
That souls which are created for one another so seldom find each other and are generally divided, that in the moments of happiest union least recognise each other—that is a sad riddle! Goethe.
That State must sooner or later perish where the majority triumphs and unintelligence (Unverstand) decides. Schiller.
That state of life is alone suitable to a man in 10 which and for which he was born, and he who is not led abroad by great objects is far happier at home. Goethe.
That strain again! It had a dying fall: / Oh, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound / That breathes upon a bank of violets, / Giving and stealing odour! Twelfth Night, i. 1.