Roughly half of English words come from Latin, and the more technical the vocabulary, the higher the proportion. It has also been an inextricable part of what people built, painted, and wrote about over the past fifteen centuries.
Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat: Good Quotes Never Die
Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat Fortes Fortuna adiuvat, "Fortune helps the brave!" A more common, if somewhat less literal translation is "Fortune favors the bold!" Well, it still captures the sense of the statement, and preserves the alliteration of the original. It also captures the swashbuckling spirit with which this sentiment was intoned in at least one … Continue reading Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat: Good Quotes Never Die
Eram Quod Es: the Quote of the Week
These six little words (or is it two little words?) pack quite a punch.
Pluck the Day (Carpe Diem)
Now, I can't deny that "seize the day" sounds a lot more inspiring than "pluck the day." How does one pluck a day, anyway? Here's where it pays to go to the source. What exactly is Horace getting at in the eleventh poem in his first book of odes?
I’d Rather be in an Apple Tree
We can't understand what we don't even know. We can't draw valid conclusions if we don't have the facts. Memorization gives us the matter to feed our cogitations.