The Poets' Latin

Horace, Virgil and Cicero, still quoted in the original.

• carpe diem IDIOM Seize the day — make use of today rather than counting on tomorrow. Horace, Odes 1.11.
• tempus fugit IDIOM Time flies — said when far more of it has gone than you expected. Virgil, Georgics.
• memento mori IDIOM A reminder that you are going to die, and that this should change how you spend the time. The warning in the chariot.
• in vino veritas IDIOM People say what they actually think once they have had a drink. Pliny the Elder.
• festina lente IDIOM Make haste slowly — move quickly, but never faster than you can do it properly. Augustus' favourite motto.
• to err is human IDIOM Making mistakes is part of being a person, so a mistake alone is not a scandal. Cicero, then Pope.
• homo homini lupus IDIOM Man is a wolf to man — people are dangerous to each other. Plautus, Asinaria.
• alter ego IDIOM A second self — either a trusted other person or a different side of yourself. Cicero on friendship.
• tabula rasa IDIOM A blank slate — a mind or a situation with nothing yet written on it. The scraped wax tablet.
• magnum opus IDIOM Somebody's greatest work — the one they will be remembered for. The great work.
• in medias res IDIOM Starting in the middle of the action rather than at the beginning. Horace, Ars Poetica.
• non sequitur IDIOM A conclusion or remark that does not follow from what came before. The rhetorician's verdict.
• ad nauseam IDIOM Repeated so often that everyone is sick of it. Past what an audience bears.