Asterix
Here are some popular Latin phrases frequently used in the Asterix comic books (written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo):
A
- Acta est fabula: It’s all over (lit. the drama has been acted out)
- Alea jacta est: The die is cast
- Audaces fortuna juvat: Fortune favors the bold
- Auri sacra fames: The cursed hunger for gold
- Aut Caesar, aut nihil: Either Caesar or nothing
- Ave atque vale: Hail and farewell
- Ave Caesar morituri te salutant!: Hail, Caesar! Those who are about to die salute you!
B
- Beati pauperes spiritu: Blessed are the poor in spirit
- Bis repetita placent: The things that please are repeated again and again
C
- Caveat emptor: Let the buyer beware
- Cogito ergo sum: I think therefore I am
- Contraria contraiis curantur: Opposites are cured by opposites
D
- De facto: In reality
- De mortuis nil nisi bonum: Speak nothing but good of the dead
- Delenda Carthago: Carthage must be destroyed!
- Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne: A woman who is beautiful above ends in a fishtail
- Diem perdidi: I have lost the day
- Dignus est intrare: He is worthy to enter
- Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos: As long as you are fortunate, you will have many friends
- Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori: It is sweet and fitting to die for the Fatherland
E
- Errare humanum est: To err is human
- Et nunc, reges, intelligite, er udimini, qui judicati terram: And now, kings, understand; you who decide the fate of the Earth, educate yourselves
- Et tu, Brute: You too, Brutus
- Exegi monumentum aere perennius: I have raised a monument more durable than bronze
F
- Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas: Fortunate is he who has been able to learn the causes of things
- Fluctuat nec mergitur: It is tossed by the waves but it does not sink
G
- Gloria victis: Glory to the defeated
- Gnothe seauton (Greek): Know thyself
I
- Ipso facto: By that very fact
- Ira furor brevis est: Anger is a brief madness
- Ita est: Thus it is (yes)
- Ita diis placuit: Thus it pleased the gods
M
- Maior e longinquo reverentia: Greater reverence from afar
- Mens sana in corpore sano: A sound mind in a sound body
- Morituri te salutant: Those who are about to die salute you
N
- Non omnia possumus omnes: We cannot all do everything
- Non licet omnibus adire Corinthum: Not everyone is permitted to go to Corinth
- Nunc est bibendum: Now it is time to drink
O
- O tempora, o mores: Oh! the times! Oh! the habits!
- O fortunates nimium, sua si bona norint agricolas: Oh! blessed beyond all bliss are the farmers, if they but knew their happiness
P
- Panem et circenses: Bread and circuses
- Pax Romana: Roman Peace
- Plaudite cives!: Applaud, citizens!
Q
- Qui habet aures audiendi audiat: He who has ears, let him understand how to listen
- Quid novi?: What’s new?
- Quis, quod, ui, quibus auxiliis, cur, quomodo, quando?: Who, what, where, in what ways, why how and when?
- Quo vadis: Whither goest thou?
- Quod erat demomstrandum: We have proved the proposition we set out to prove (lit. Which was to be demonstrated)
- Quomodo vales: How are you?
- Quot capita, to sensus: There are as many opinions as there are heads
- Quousque tandem?: How long?
R
- Redde Caesari quae sunt Caesaris: Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s
- Ruber et Niger: Red and Black
S
- Si vis pacem: If you want peace… (ends: ‘para bellum’ = prepare for war)
- Sic ad nauseam: And so on to the point of causing nausea
- Sic transit gloria (mundi): Thus passes away the glory of the world
- Singularis Porcus: Wild boar
- Sol lucet omnibus: The sun shines for everyone
- Sursum corda: Lift up your hearts
T
- Timeo Danaos et Dona ferentes: I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts
U
- Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant: Where they create desolation, they call it peace
- Uti, non abuti: To use, not abuse
V
- Vade retro: Get thee behind me
- Vae victo, vae vicits: Woe to the vanquished men, woe to the vanquished people
- Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas: Vanity of vanities, all is vanity
- Veni vidi vici: I came, I saw, I conquered
- Veritas odium parit: Truth breeds hatred
- Victrix causa diis placuit, sed victa Catoni: The victorious cause pleased the gods, the defeated one pleased Cato
- Victurus te saluto: He who is about to win salutes you
- Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor: I see the better way and approve it, but I follow the worse way
- Vinum et musica laetificant cor: Wine and music gladden the heart
- Vis comica: Sense of humor