Winged word
Encyclopedia
Winged words are words which, first uttered or written in a specific literary context, have since passed into common usage to express a general idea—sometimes to the extent that those using them are unaware of their origin as quotations. The reference is to words, which having "taken wing" in this way, then fly from one person to another.
The expression—deriving from the Homer
ic phrase (epea pteroenta) and now itself an example of "winged words"—was first employed systematically in this sense by the German philologist Georg Büchmann
in his book Geflügelte Worte (1864). It was later taken up by Thomas Carlyle
in an essay about Walter Scott
.
passes through the Gate of Hell, on which is inscribed the famous phrase, "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate" or "Abandon all hope, you who enter here".
Bret Easton Ellis
’s American Psycho
begins with the words “Abandon all hope ye who enter here”.
is a fatal weakness in spite of overall strength. According to a myth arising later, his mother, Thetis, had dipped the infant Achilles in the river Styx, holding onto him by his heel, and he became invulnerable where the waters touched him -- that is, everywhere but the areas covered by her thumb and forefinger -- implying that only a heel wound could have been his downfall
, or Under heaven (Chinese: 天下; pinyin: tiān xià) is a phrase in the Chinese language and a cultural concept in China.
The Chinese character 天 means sky. 下 means under, down. 天下 together, literally means under the sky. The word 天下, besides the literal meaning, it is also taken by Chinese as the only way to refer to the whole world. Only in modern times has the term 世界 came into use to directly refer to the world.
In ancient Chinese political thought, the Emperor of China would ideally rule All under heaven, that is, the entire world.
, a tooth for a tooth",:a quotation from Exodus 21:23-27, expresses a principle of retributive justice also known as lex talionis (Latin for "law of retaliation").
in denunciation of the Menshevik
s, it is also remembered when used by Ronald Reagan
to decry Marxism and Leninism in a 1982 speech to the British Parliament. Reagan specifically used the phrase because of its prior meaning to the Bolshevik Revolution.
Since that time it has been used by many people including Daniel Pipes
referring to moderate Muslims relegating Islamism
to the "dustbin of history,", Peter Grier and Timothy Aeppel describing the US Army as relegating old military equipment to "the ash heap of history," and others.
. To go back to nature means to restore to man the forces of this natural process, to place him outside every oppressing bond of society and the prejudices of civilization. It is this idea that made his thought particularly important in Romanticism
Since the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the phrase "Big Brother" has entered general usage, to describe any overly-inquisitive or overly-controlling authority figure or attempts by government to increase surveillance. The reality TV
program Big Brother
takes its name from Nineteen Eighty-Four and a similarly named figure is big mama
— the informal name for the Internet censor on web boards in the People's Republic of China
.
.
is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace
(Odes 1.11). It is commonly translated "seize the day", though a more accurate translation might be "pluck the day".
One interpretation of the phrase might be as an existential cautionary term, much like "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" with emphasis on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting. It has some connections with another Latin phrase, Memento mori
.
("Carthage must be destroyed") is a famous Latin phrase. The sentence was a clarion call in the Roman Republic in the latter years of the Punic Wars. Roman statesman Cato the Elder would always end his speeches with some variation of this expression, see Livy
.
dicendum est is usually shortened to de mortuis nil nisi bonum or sometimes just nil nisi bonum. It is variously translated as "No one can speak ill of the dead," "Of the dead, speak no evil," or, more literally, "Let nothing be said of the dead but what is good."
" (IPA:/deʒa vy/) (French for "already seen") describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Émile Boirac
in his book L'Avenir des sciences psychiques (The Future of Psychic Sciences), which expanded upon an essay he wrote while an undergraduate French concentrator at the University of Chicago. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eerieness", "strangeness", or "weirdness".
is a Latin phrase that is used to describe an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot. In modern terms the deus ex machina has also come to describe a being, object or event that suddenly appears and solves a seemingly insoluble difficulty (e. g. the cavalry
arriving). A classic example of this type of deus ex machina is Homer
's Odyssey
; a more contemporary example is Michael Crichton
's The Andromeda Strain
.
is a Latin phrase that was, according to legend, the last words of Julius Caesar. In English, the sentence means "You too, Brutus?" or "Even you, Brutus?". It is sometimes translated word-for-word as "And you, Brutus?", but this translation is best avoided, as it can be misleading. The word Brute is pronounced in two syllables, approximately (IPA) [ˈbruːte]; it is sometimes spelled Brutè or Brutë to clarify this. The quotation is widely used in Western culture as the epitome of betrayal.
was an advertising slogan used by Volkswagen
in a 1989 U.S. ad campaign that included a stick figure apparently enjoying a drive. The simple style of the ads was widely parodied. The term means "driving enjoyment" in German (from fahren, "to drive", and Vergnügen, enjoyment), although this was rarely explained.
(French for false step) is a violation of accepted, although unwritten, social rules. Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another. The term comes from French and literally means "false step". However, it is a formal rather than everyday expression in French and does not generally have the figurative meaning used in English.
is a stock character in European drama and a stereotype, usually of a villainous woman, who misleads and ensnares the hapless hero or other males in order to achieve some end they would not freely help her achieve.
The phrase is French for "deadly woman", or "fatal woman." The femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using her feminine wiles (beauty, charm, sexual skill); hence she is typically portrayed as exceptionally well-endowed with these qualities.
is a Latin legal phrase, translating to "let justice be done, though the heavens fall." The maxim signifies the belief that justice must be realized even if the powerful are brought low and the foundations of the state are shaken. Attributed first to Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (the father-in-law of Julius Caesar), it was popularized by William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield's decision in 1772 on the James Somerset case that led to abolition of slavery in England.
"Give me liberty or give me death" is a famous quotation that occurred as the final closing from a speech made by Patrick Henry
to the Virginia House of Burgesses in order to raise support for the American Revolutionary War
.
was a slogan of the German Army. The phrase means "May God punish England". It was created by Ernst Lissauer
(1882–1937), in his poem Hassgesang gegen England (lit. "Hate song against England", better known as "Hymn of Hate").
, Latin for "you [should] have the body", is the name of a legal action or writ by means of which detainees can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment. The writ is often referred to in full in legal texts as habeas corpus ad subjiciendum. The name derives from Latin meaning "You may have a body". Blackstone
cites the first recorded usage of habeas corpus in 1305, during the reign of King Edward I
. However, other writs were issued with the same effect as early as the reign of Henry II
in the 12th century. Winston Churchill
, in his chapter on the English Common Law in The Birth of Britain, explains the process thus:
in the United States). The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper
listening to a wind-up gramophone. The famous trademark image comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, A.R.A. and titled His Master's Voice. It was acquired from the artist in 1899 by the newly-formed Gramophone Company. According to contemporary Gramophone Company publicity material, the dog, a fox terrier called Nipper, had originally belonged to Barraud's brother Mark. When Mark Barraud died, Francis inherited Nipper, along with a cylinder phonograph and a number of recordings of Mark's voice. Francis noted the peculiar interest that the dog took in the recorded voice of his late master emanating from the trumpet, and conceived the idea of committing the scene to canvas.
" is the popular name given to the historic public speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites would coexist harmoniously as equals. King's delivery of the speech on August 28, 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters, the speech is often considered to be one of the greatest speeches in history and was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.
, "We do not know and we shall never know", was the scientific slogan propounded by Emil du Bois-Reymond
, summing up the mechanistic opposition to the incorporation of philosophical or metaphysical elements into the study of the brain's physiological operations. Contrary to this presumption, David Hilbert
pronounced:
― David Hilbert, Königsberg, September 1930, spoken in opening address to the Society of German Scientists and Physicians
The "Iron Curtain
" was the boundary which symbolically divided Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War
. The term was coined by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
and made famous by Winston Churchill
.
There are various earlier usages of the term "iron curtain". An iron curtain, or eisener Vorhang, was an obligatory precaution in all German theaters to prevent the possibility of fire from spreading from the stage to the rest of the theater. In case of fire, a metal wall would separate the stage from the theater.
[ˈkɪndɛɐ ˈkʏçə ˈkɪrçə], or the 3 K’s, is an German slogan translated “children, kitchen, church”. The 3K are mainly associated with the 1950s. It is vaguely equivalent to the English phrase Barefoot and pregnant
. The expression was allegedly used by Kaiser Wilhelm II, describing women’s role in society in the 19th century. The words are sometimes written in varying orders (e.g. "Küche, Kirche, Kinder").
is a common Latin phrase and the state motto of Oklahoma. It means "labor conquers all things". The phrase appears in Virgil
's Georgics, Book I, in the form Labor omnia uicit improbus ("uphill work overcame all things"). The poem was written in support of Augustus Caesar's "Back to the land" policy, aimed at encouraging more Romans to become farmers.
is a set of principles for participation in outdoor recreation
and urban exploration
that seeks to minimize the impact on the natural environment
. Proponents of Leave No Trace believe that individual impacts caused by recreation can accumulate to degrade the land. Therefore, the Leave No Trace message encourages people who spend time in the out-of-doors to behave in such a way that they can minimize unavoidable impacts and prevent avoidable impacts. It is often summarized: "Take only photos, leave only foot prints."
" has been used extensively as a term to move and start an activity, attack, mission or project. For a period of time after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the phrase in the United States came to symbolize heroism and initiative in a tough situation. "Let's roll" was in common use on 1950s and 1960s police television shows such as Adam-12
and (the original) Dragnet
.
was a phrase/slogan commonly associated with the American counterculture of the 1960s. It was used primarily by those who were opposed to the Vietnam War. The slogan was featured in John Lennon
's 1973 song Mind Games.
is a Latin phrase that may be freely translated as "Remember that you are mortal". It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose, which is to remind people of their own mortality.
In ancient Rome, the phrase is said to have been used on the occasions when a Roman general was parading through the streets of Rome during the victory celebration known as a triumph. Standing behind the victorious general was a slave, and he had the task of reminding the general that, though he was up on the peak today, tomorrow was another day. The servant did this by telling the general that he should remember that he was mortal, i.e. "Memento mori." (It is possible that the servant said instead "Respice post te! Hominem te memento!" (Look behind you! Remember that you are but a man!) as cited by Tertullian
in chapter 33 of his Apologeticus.)
is a military phrase associated with completing a mission, is in recent years particularly associated with a sign displayed on the USS Abraham Lincoln as President George W. Bush
addressed the United States on May 1, 2003.
is Latin for "Nothing new" (or "nothing of the new".) Nihil novi is a common term for Nihil novi nisi commune consensu ("Nothing new without the consensus of all"), a 1505 legal act of Poland, also known as "nothing about us without us".
The phrase nihil novi is also used as short for the Latin phrase, nihil novi sub sole (sub sole nihil novi est) - Latin for "nothing new under the sun".
The phrase "Nixon in China
" is a historical reference to United States President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) in 1972, where he met with Chairman Mao Zedong
. A more explicit variant with the same metaphor is, "Only Nixon could go to China." Because Nixon had an undisputed reputation of being a staunch anti-Communist, he was largely immune to any criticism of being "soft on Communism" by figures on the right of American politics. The phrase "Nixon going to China" is thus an analogy which refers to the unique ability that hardline politicians have to challenge political taboos and third-rail issues. Only a proven hardline right-wing politician can succeed in challenging a conservative sacred cow
, and vice versa for left-wingers.
" is generally used to imply that with wealth, power, and prestige come social responsibilities. The phrase is sometimes used derisively, in the sense of condescending or hypocritical social responsibility. The term has also been applied more broadly to those who are capable of simple acts to help another, usually one who is less fortunate. The first recorded use of the phrase was in Honoré de Balzac
's book "Le Lys dans la vallée", written in 1835 and published in 1836. It was also recorded in an 1837 letter from F. A. Kemble: “To be sure, if ‘noblesse oblige,’ royalty must do so still more.”
" (translated from the German "Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes") is one of the most frequently quoted (and sometimes misquoted as "opiate of the people") statements of Karl Marx, from the introduction of his 1843 work Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right which was actually subsequently released one year later in Marx's own journal Deutsch-Französischen Jahrbücher—a collaboration with Arnold Ruge.
. The discourse argues that one should not cast pearls before swine nor holy things to the dogs. In Jewish culture of the period, as well as middle eastern culture in general, both dog
s and pig
s (swine) were badly regarded, as they ate scraps and carrion
, and could sometimes be dangerous, pigs in particular being the quintessential example of a ritually unclean animal. There is some question as to whether there is something significant about the mention of pearl
s, at the time seen as an extreme luxury, or whether they are merely present as a token luxury
. Pigs obviously would not appreciate the value of pearls and are likely to trample them underfoot, but this is true of many other luxuries as well, so several scholars think that the term pearls is actually an erroneous transcription, and that the original referred to a gold ring, since this would then imply that the phrase was derived from one of the proverbs of the Book of Proverbs
(specifically 11:22). The phrase pearls before swine itself has since become a common expression for putting things in front of people who don't appreciate their value, and there have been numerous uses of the title in popular culture
; there is a Pearls Before Swine
comic strip, a Pearls Before Swine
psychedelic
American folk band, and Pearls Before Swine is an alternate title for Kurt Vonnegut
's novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
.
(Latin for "money does not smell") is a Latin saying. The Roman Emperor Vespasian
introduced a urine tax on public toilets. When his son Titus
criticized him, he supposedly pointed out that a coin did not smell, even though it came from urine (e lotio est). (Suetonius
, Vesp. 23)
is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum" (literally, "which was to be demonstrated"). In simple terms, the use of this Latin phrase is to indicate that something has been definitively proven. Q.E.D. is a translation into Latin of the original Greek ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι (hoper edei deixai) which was used by many early mathematicians including Euclid
and Archimedes
. Benedict De Spinoza also makes extensive use of the abbreviation Q.E.D. in his various works.
?" is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?" It is used as a proverbial phrase
from the Bible (John 16:5). The most famous use is in the Apocryphal Acts of Peter.
It also is a novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz
.
The expression—deriving from the Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
ic phrase (epea pteroenta) and now itself an example of "winged words"—was first employed systematically in this sense by the German philologist Georg Büchmann
Georg Büchmann
Georg Büchmann was a German philologist. He was born in Berlin, and died there in Schöneberg.He became well known as a result of his 1864 book Geflügelte Worte, Der Zitatenschatz des Deutschen Volkes, a collection of quotations...
in his book Geflügelte Worte (1864). It was later taken up by Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...
in an essay about Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
.
Abandon all hope
Dante AlighieriDante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
passes through the Gate of Hell, on which is inscribed the famous phrase, "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate" or "Abandon all hope, you who enter here".
Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis
Bret Easton Ellis is an American novelist and short story writer. His works have been translated into 27 different languages. He was regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney...
’s American Psycho
American Psycho
American Psycho is a psychological thriller and satirical novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by the protagonist, serial killer and Manhattan businessman Patrick Bateman. The book's graphic violence and sexual content generated a great deal of...
begins with the words “Abandon all hope ye who enter here”.
Achilles’ heel
An Achilles' heelAchilles' heel
An Achilles’ heel is a deadly weakness in spite of overall strength, that can actually or potentially lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, metaphorical references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common.- Origin :In Greek...
is a fatal weakness in spite of overall strength. According to a myth arising later, his mother, Thetis, had dipped the infant Achilles in the river Styx, holding onto him by his heel, and he became invulnerable where the waters touched him -- that is, everywhere but the areas covered by her thumb and forefinger -- implying that only a heel wound could have been his downfall
All under heaven
All under heavenAll under heaven
Tianxia is a phrase in the Chinese language and an ancient Chinese cultural concept that denoted either the entire geographical world or the metaphysical realm of mortals, and later became associated with political sovereignty.In ancient China, tianxia denoted the lands, space, and area divinely...
, or Under heaven (Chinese: 天下; pinyin: tiān xià) is a phrase in the Chinese language and a cultural concept in China.
The Chinese character 天 means sky. 下 means under, down. 天下 together, literally means under the sky. The word 天下, besides the literal meaning, it is also taken by Chinese as the only way to refer to the whole world. Only in modern times has the term 世界 came into use to directly refer to the world.
In ancient Chinese political thought, the Emperor of China would ideally rule All under heaven, that is, the entire world.
An eye for an eye
The phrase "an eye for an eyeAn eye for an eye
The meaning of the principle, an eye for an eye, is that a person who has injured another person receives the same injury in compensation. The exact Latin to English translation of this phrase is actually "The law of retaliation." At the root of this principle is that one of the purposes of the...
, a tooth for a tooth",:a quotation from Exodus 21:23-27, expresses a principle of retributive justice also known as lex talionis (Latin for "law of retaliation").
Ash Heap of History
The phrase is also alternatively translated as "the dustbin of history." Originally used by Leon TrotskyLeon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
in denunciation of the Menshevik
Menshevik
The Mensheviks were a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that emerged in 1904 after a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, both members of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. The dispute originated at the Second Congress of that party, ostensibly over minor issues...
s, it is also remembered when used by Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
to decry Marxism and Leninism in a 1982 speech to the British Parliament. Reagan specifically used the phrase because of its prior meaning to the Bolshevik Revolution.
Since that time it has been used by many people including Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes is an American historian, writer, and political commentator. He is the founder and director of the Middle East Forum and its Campus Watch project, and editor of its Middle East Quarterly journal...
referring to moderate Muslims relegating Islamism
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
to the "dustbin of history,", Peter Grier and Timothy Aeppel describing the US Army as relegating old military equipment to "the ash heap of history," and others.
Back to nature!
"Retour à la nature!" (Back to nature!) is a phrase by Jean-Jacques RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
. To go back to nature means to restore to man the forces of this natural process, to place him outside every oppressing bond of society and the prejudices of civilization. It is this idea that made his thought particularly important in Romanticism
Big Brother is watching you.
"Big Brother" is a fictional character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the enigmatic dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state taken to its utmost logical consequence. In the society that Orwell describes, everybody is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you", which is the core "truth" of the propaganda system in this state.Since the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the phrase "Big Brother" has entered general usage, to describe any overly-inquisitive or overly-controlling authority figure or attempts by government to increase surveillance. The reality TV
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
program Big Brother
Big Brother (TV series)
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
takes its name from Nineteen Eighty-Four and a similarly named figure is big mama
Big mama
Big mama is a Chinese language neologism for an Internet censor on web bulletin board systems in the People's Republic of China.-Etymology:...
— the informal name for the Internet censor on web boards in the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
Blood, toil, tears, and sweat
The Blood, toil, tears, and sweat speech was a famous speech made by Sir Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the British Parliament on 13 May 1940. It was his first speech to the House after taking over as Prime Minister of Britain in the first year of World War II.Can't see the forest [or woods] for the trees
Expression used to describe someone who is too caught up in details, of a task or a data set, to see the "big picture", as in simultanagnosiaSimultanagnosia
Simultanagnosia is a rare neurological disorder characterized by the inability of an individual to perceive more than a single object at a time. It is one of three major components of Bálint’s syndrome, an uncommon and incompletely understood variety of severe neuropsychological impairments...
.
Carpe diem
Carpe diemCarpe diem
Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace that has become an aphorism. It is popularly translated as "seize the day"...
is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
(Odes 1.11). It is commonly translated "seize the day", though a more accurate translation might be "pluck the day".
One interpretation of the phrase might be as an existential cautionary term, much like "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die" with emphasis on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting. It has some connections with another Latin phrase, Memento mori
Memento mori
Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die". It names a genre of artistic work which varies widely, but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their own mortality...
.
Carthago delenda est
Carthago delenda estCarthago delenda est
"Carthago delenda est" or the fuller "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" or "Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam" are Latin political phrases which were popular in the Roman Republic during the latter years of the Punic Wars against Carthage...
("Carthage must be destroyed") is a famous Latin phrase. The sentence was a clarion call in the Roman Republic in the latter years of the Punic Wars. Roman statesman Cato the Elder would always end his speeches with some variation of this expression, see Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
.
De mortuis nil nisi bonum
The Latin tag de mortuis nil nisi bonumDe mortuis nil nisi bonum
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum is a Latin phrase which indicates that it is socially inappropriate to say anything negative about a deceased person...
dicendum est is usually shortened to de mortuis nil nisi bonum or sometimes just nil nisi bonum. It is variously translated as "No one can speak ill of the dead," "Of the dead, speak no evil," or, more literally, "Let nothing be said of the dead but what is good."
Déjà vu
The term "déjà vuDéjà vu
Déjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined...
" (IPA:/deʒa vy/) (French for "already seen") describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously. The term was coined by a French psychic researcher, Émile Boirac
Émile Boirac
Émile Boirac was a French philosopher, parapsychologist, promoter of Esperanto and writer.-Biography:...
in his book L'Avenir des sciences psychiques (The Future of Psychic Sciences), which expanded upon an essay he wrote while an undergraduate French concentrator at the University of Chicago. The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eerieness", "strangeness", or "weirdness".
Deus ex machina
Deus ex machinaDeus ex machina
A deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...
is a Latin phrase that is used to describe an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot. In modern terms the deus ex machina has also come to describe a being, object or event that suddenly appears and solves a seemingly insoluble difficulty (e. g. the cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
arriving). A classic example of this type of deus ex machina is Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
; a more contemporary example is Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
's The Andromeda Strain
The Andromeda Strain
The Andromeda Strain , by Michael Crichton, is a techno-thriller novel documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism that rapidly and fatally clots human blood, while in other people inducing insanity...
.
Et tu, Brute?
Et tu, Brute?Et tu, Brute?
"Et tu, Brute?" is a Latin phrase often used poetically to represent the last words of Roman dictator Julius Caesar to his friend Marcus Brutus at the moment of his assassination. It can be variously translated as "Even you, Brutus?","And you, Brutus?", "You too, Brutus?", "Thou too, Brutus?" or...
is a Latin phrase that was, according to legend, the last words of Julius Caesar. In English, the sentence means "You too, Brutus?" or "Even you, Brutus?". It is sometimes translated word-for-word as "And you, Brutus?", but this translation is best avoided, as it can be misleading. The word Brute is pronounced in two syllables, approximately (IPA) [ˈbruːte]; it is sometimes spelled Brutè or Brutë to clarify this. The quotation is widely used in Western culture as the epitome of betrayal.
Fahrvergnügen
FahrvergnügenFahrvergnügen
Fahrvergnügen was an advertising slogan used by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen in a 1990 U.S. ad campaign that included a stick figure driving a Volkswagen car....
was an advertising slogan used by Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
in a 1989 U.S. ad campaign that included a stick figure apparently enjoying a drive. The simple style of the ads was widely parodied. The term means "driving enjoyment" in German (from fahren, "to drive", and Vergnügen, enjoyment), although this was rarely explained.
Faux pas
A faux pasFaux pas
A faux pas is a violation of accepted social norms . Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture, and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another...
(French for false step) is a violation of accepted, although unwritten, social rules. Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another. The term comes from French and literally means "false step". However, it is a formal rather than everyday expression in French and does not generally have the figurative meaning used in English.
Femme fatale
A femme fataleFemme fatale
A femme fatale is a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art...
is a stock character in European drama and a stereotype, usually of a villainous woman, who misleads and ensnares the hapless hero or other males in order to achieve some end they would not freely help her achieve.
The phrase is French for "deadly woman", or "fatal woman." The femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using her feminine wiles (beauty, charm, sexual skill); hence she is typically portrayed as exceptionally well-endowed with these qualities.
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
Fiat justitia ruat caelumFiat justitia ruat caelum
Fiat justitia ruat caelum is a Latin legal phrase, meaning "Let justice be done though the heavens fall." The maxim signifies the belief that justice must be realized regardless of consequences. According to the 19th century abolitionist politician Charles Sumner, it does not come from any...
is a Latin legal phrase, translating to "let justice be done, though the heavens fall." The maxim signifies the belief that justice must be realized even if the powerful are brought low and the foundations of the state are shaken. Attributed first to Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (the father-in-law of Julius Caesar), it was popularized by William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield's decision in 1772 on the James Somerset case that led to abolition of slavery in England.
Give me liberty or give me death
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
to the Virginia House of Burgesses in order to raise support for the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
.
Gott strafe England
During World War I, Gott strafe EnglandGott strafe England
"Gott strafe England" was a slogan, during World War I, used by the German Army. The phrase means "May God punish England". It was created by the German-Jewish poet Ernst Lissauer , who also wrote the poem Hassgesang gegen England "Gott strafe England" was a slogan, during World War I, used by the...
was a slogan of the German Army. The phrase means "May God punish England". It was created by Ernst Lissauer
Ernst Lissauer
Ernst Lissauer was a German-Jewish poet and dramatist remembered for the phrase Gott strafe England.He also created the Hassgesang gegen England, or ""....
(1882–1937), in his poem Hassgesang gegen England (lit. "Hate song against England", better known as "Hymn of Hate").
Habeas corpus
In common law countries, Habeas corpusHabeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
, Latin for "you [should] have the body", is the name of a legal action or writ by means of which detainees can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment. The writ is often referred to in full in legal texts as habeas corpus ad subjiciendum. The name derives from Latin meaning "You may have a body". Blackstone
William Blackstone
Sir William Blackstone KC SL was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the Commentaries on the Laws of England. Born into a middle class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke...
cites the first recorded usage of habeas corpus in 1305, during the reign of King Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
. However, other writs were issued with the same effect as early as the reign of Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
in the 12th century. Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, in his chapter on the English Common Law in The Birth of Britain, explains the process thus:
His Master's Voice
His Master's Voice, usually abbreviated to HMV, is a famous trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label (though the expression and image is associated with RCARCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
in the United States). The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper
Nipper
Nipper was a dog that served as the model for a painting titled His Late Master's Voice. This image was the basis for the dog and trumpet logo used by several audio recording and associated brands: His Master's Voice, HMV, RCA, Victor Talking Machine Company, RCA Victor and JVC.- Biography :Nipper...
listening to a wind-up gramophone. The famous trademark image comes from a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, A.R.A. and titled His Master's Voice. It was acquired from the artist in 1899 by the newly-formed Gramophone Company. According to contemporary Gramophone Company publicity material, the dog, a fox terrier called Nipper, had originally belonged to Barraud's brother Mark. When Mark Barraud died, Francis inherited Nipper, along with a cylinder phonograph and a number of recordings of Mark's voice. Francis noted the peculiar interest that the dog took in the recorded voice of his late master emanating from the trumpet, and conceived the idea of committing the scene to canvas.
I have a Dream
"I Have a DreamI Have a Dream
"I Have a Dream" is a 17-minute public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered on August 28, 1963, in which he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination...
" is the popular name given to the historic public speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he spoke of his desire for a future where blacks and whites would coexist harmoniously as equals. King's delivery of the speech on August 28, 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. Delivered to over 200,000 civil rights supporters, the speech is often considered to be one of the greatest speeches in history and was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.
Ignorabimus
Ignoramus et ignorabimusIgnorabimus
The Latin maxim ignoramus et ignorabimus, meaning "we do not know and will not know", stood for a position on the limits of scientific knowledge, in the thought of the nineteenth century...
, "We do not know and we shall never know", was the scientific slogan propounded by Emil du Bois-Reymond
Emil du Bois-Reymond
Emil du Bois-Reymond was a German physician and physiologist, the discoverer of nerve action potential, and the father of experimental electrophysiology.-Life:...
, summing up the mechanistic opposition to the incorporation of philosophical or metaphysical elements into the study of the brain's physiological operations. Contrary to this presumption, David Hilbert
David Hilbert
David Hilbert was a German mathematician. He is recognized as one of the most influential and universal mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental ideas in many areas, including invariant theory and the axiomatization of...
pronounced:
For the mathematician there is no Ignorabimus, and, in my opinion, not at all for natural science either. ... The true reason why [no one] has succeeded in finding an unsolvable problem is, in my opinion, that there is no unsolvable problem. In contrast to the foolish Ignoramibus, our credo avers:
We must know,
We shall know."
― David Hilbert, Königsberg, September 1930, spoken in opening address to the Society of German Scientists and Physicians
Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
" was the boundary which symbolically divided Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. The term was coined by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
and made famous by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
.
There are various earlier usages of the term "iron curtain". An iron curtain, or eisener Vorhang, was an obligatory precaution in all German theaters to prevent the possibility of fire from spreading from the stage to the rest of the theater. In case of fire, a metal wall would separate the stage from the theater.
Kinder, Küche, Kirche
Kinder, Küche, KircheKinder, Küche, Kirche
Kinder, Küche, Kirche , or the 3 K’s, is a German slogan translated as “children, kitchen, church”. At the present time it has a derogative connotation describing an antiquated female role model...
[ˈkɪndɛɐ ˈkʏçə ˈkɪrçə], or the 3 K’s, is an German slogan translated “children, kitchen, church”. The 3K are mainly associated with the 1950s. It is vaguely equivalent to the English phrase Barefoot and pregnant
Barefoot and pregnant
"Barefoot and pregnant" is a phrase most commonly associated with the controversial idea that women should not work outside the home and should have many children during their reproductive years. It has several other meanings as well. It is a figure of speech....
. The expression was allegedly used by Kaiser Wilhelm II, describing women’s role in society in the 19th century. The words are sometimes written in varying orders (e.g. "Küche, Kirche, Kinder").
Labor omnia vincit
Labor omnia vincitLabor omnia vincit
Labor omnia vincit is a Latin phrase meaning "Hard work conquers all". The phrase appears in Virgil's Georgics, Book I, in the form Labor omnia uicit improbus...
is a common Latin phrase and the state motto of Oklahoma. It means "labor conquers all things". The phrase appears in Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
's Georgics, Book I, in the form Labor omnia uicit improbus ("uphill work overcame all things"). The poem was written in support of Augustus Caesar's "Back to the land" policy, aimed at encouraging more Romans to become farmers.
Leave No Trace
Leave No TraceLeave No Trace
Leave No Trace is both a set of principles, and an organization that promotes those principles. The principles are designed to assist outdoor enthusiasts with their decisions about how to reduce their impacts when they hike, camp, picnic, snowshoe, run, bike, hunt, paddle, ride horses, fish, ski or...
is a set of principles for participation in outdoor recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
and urban exploration
Urban exploration
Urban exploration is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or...
that seeks to minimize the impact on the natural environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
. Proponents of Leave No Trace believe that individual impacts caused by recreation can accumulate to degrade the land. Therefore, the Leave No Trace message encourages people who spend time in the out-of-doors to behave in such a way that they can minimize unavoidable impacts and prevent avoidable impacts. It is often summarized: "Take only photos, leave only foot prints."
Let's roll
The catchphrase "let's rollLet's roll
"Let's roll" is a catchphrase that has been used extensively as a term to move and start an activity, attack, mission or project. After the September 11 attacks, the phrase, especially in the United States, has come to symbolize heroism, self sacrifice and initiative in a tough situation...
" has been used extensively as a term to move and start an activity, attack, mission or project. For a period of time after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the phrase in the United States came to symbolize heroism and initiative in a tough situation. "Let's roll" was in common use on 1950s and 1960s police television shows such as Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
and (the original) Dragnet
Dragnet
Dragnet may refer to:* A type of fishing net*Dragnet , a coordinated search, named for the fishing net-Dragnet media series:...
.
Make love not war
Make love not warMake love not war
Make love not war is an anti-war slogan commonly associated with the American counterculture of the 1960s. It was used primarily by those who were opposed to the Vietnam War, but has been invoked in other anti-war contexts since....
was a phrase/slogan commonly associated with the American counterculture of the 1960s. It was used primarily by those who were opposed to the Vietnam War. The slogan was featured in John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
's 1973 song Mind Games.
Memento mori
Memento moriMemento mori
Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die". It names a genre of artistic work which varies widely, but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their own mortality...
is a Latin phrase that may be freely translated as "Remember that you are mortal". It names a genre of artistic creations that vary widely from one another, but which all share the same purpose, which is to remind people of their own mortality.
In ancient Rome, the phrase is said to have been used on the occasions when a Roman general was parading through the streets of Rome during the victory celebration known as a triumph. Standing behind the victorious general was a slave, and he had the task of reminding the general that, though he was up on the peak today, tomorrow was another day. The servant did this by telling the general that he should remember that he was mortal, i.e. "Memento mori." (It is possible that the servant said instead "Respice post te! Hominem te memento!" (Look behind you! Remember that you are but a man!) as cited by Tertullian
Tertullian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...
in chapter 33 of his Apologeticus.)
Mission Accomplished
Mission AccomplishedMission Accomplished
"Mission Accomplished" refers to a banner titled "Mission Accomplished" that was displayed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during a televised address by United States President George W. Bush on May 1, 2003 and the controversy that followed.Bush stated at the time that this was the end...
is a military phrase associated with completing a mission, is in recent years particularly associated with a sign displayed on the USS Abraham Lincoln as President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
addressed the United States on May 1, 2003.
Never mind
Never mind was a frequent exclamation of Emily Litella, a character played by Gilda Radner on Saturday Night Live. For instance, see Memorable Quotes from "Saturday Night Live" (1975). It is considered by some to be a shortening of "never you mind".Nihil novi
Nihil noviNihil novi
Nihil novi nisi commune consensu is the original Latin title of a 1505 act adopted by the Polish Sejm , meeting in the royal castle at Radom.-History:...
is Latin for "Nothing new" (or "nothing of the new".) Nihil novi is a common term for Nihil novi nisi commune consensu ("Nothing new without the consensus of all"), a 1505 legal act of Poland, also known as "nothing about us without us".
The phrase nihil novi is also used as short for the Latin phrase, nihil novi sub sole (sub sole nihil novi est) - Latin for "nothing new under the sun".
Nixon in China
Nixon in China (phrase)
The phrase "Nixon goes to China" or "Nixon in China" is a historical reference to United States President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China, where he met with Chairman Mao Zedong...
" is a historical reference to United States President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) in 1972, where he met with Chairman Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
. A more explicit variant with the same metaphor is, "Only Nixon could go to China." Because Nixon had an undisputed reputation of being a staunch anti-Communist, he was largely immune to any criticism of being "soft on Communism" by figures on the right of American politics. The phrase "Nixon going to China" is thus an analogy which refers to the unique ability that hardline politicians have to challenge political taboos and third-rail issues. Only a proven hardline right-wing politician can succeed in challenging a conservative sacred cow
Sacred cow
Cattle are considered sacred in various world religions, most notably Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism as well as the religions of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. In some regions, especially India, the slaughter of cattle may be prohibited and their meat may be...
, and vice versa for left-wingers.
Noblesse oblige
"Noblesse obligeNoblesse oblige
Noblesse oblige is a French phrase literally meaning "nobility obliges".The Dictionnaire de l’Académie française defines it thus:# Whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly....
" is generally used to imply that with wealth, power, and prestige come social responsibilities. The phrase is sometimes used derisively, in the sense of condescending or hypocritical social responsibility. The term has also been applied more broadly to those who are capable of simple acts to help another, usually one who is less fortunate. The first recorded use of the phrase was in Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
's book "Le Lys dans la vallée", written in 1835 and published in 1836. It was also recorded in an 1837 letter from F. A. Kemble: “To be sure, if ‘noblesse oblige,’ royalty must do so still more.”
Opium of the People
"Religion is the opium of the peopleOpium of the People
"Religion is the opium of the people" is one of the most frequently paraphrased statements of Karl Marx. It was translated from the German original, "Die Religion .....
" (translated from the German "Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes") is one of the most frequently quoted (and sometimes misquoted as "opiate of the people") statements of Karl Marx, from the introduction of his 1843 work Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right which was actually subsequently released one year later in Marx's own journal Deutsch-Französischen Jahrbücher—a collaboration with Arnold Ruge.
Pearls Before Swine
Pearls Before Swine refers to a quotation from the discourse on holiness, a section of Jesus Christ's Sermon on the MountSermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
. The discourse argues that one should not cast pearls before swine nor holy things to the dogs. In Jewish culture of the period, as well as middle eastern culture in general, both dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s and pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s (swine) were badly regarded, as they ate scraps and carrion
Carrion
Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, coyotes, Komodo dragons, and burying beetles...
, and could sometimes be dangerous, pigs in particular being the quintessential example of a ritually unclean animal. There is some question as to whether there is something significant about the mention of pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
s, at the time seen as an extreme luxury, or whether they are merely present as a token luxury
Tokenism
In the arts, employment, and politics, tokenism is a policy or practice of limited inclusion or artistic and/or political representation of members of a traditionally marginalized group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices rather than discrimination, intentional or not...
. Pigs obviously would not appreciate the value of pearls and are likely to trample them underfoot, but this is true of many other luxuries as well, so several scholars think that the term pearls is actually an erroneous transcription, and that the original referred to a gold ring, since this would then imply that the phrase was derived from one of the proverbs of the Book of Proverbs
Book of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
(specifically 11:22). The phrase pearls before swine itself has since become a common expression for putting things in front of people who don't appreciate their value, and there have been numerous uses of the title in popular culture
Pearls Before Swine
"Pearls before swine" refers to a quotation from Matthew 7:6 in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount, implying that things should not be put in front of people who do not appreciate their value....
; there is a Pearls Before Swine
Pearls Before Swine (comic strip)
Pearls Before Swine is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Stephan Pastis, who was formerly a lawyer in San Francisco, California. It chronicles the daily lives of four anthropomorphic animals, Pig, Rat, Zebra, and Goat, as well as a number of supporting characters...
comic strip, a Pearls Before Swine
Pearls Before Swine (band)
Pearls Before Swine was an American psychedelic folk band formed by Tom Rapp in 1965 in Eau Gallie, now part of Melbourne, Florida. They released six albums between 1967 and 1971, before Rapp launched a solo career.-Early years, 1965-68:...
psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
American folk band, and Pearls Before Swine is an alternate title for Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
's novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine, is a novel written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., published in 1965. The plot focuses on Eliot Rosewater, the primary trustee of the philanthropic Rosewater Foundation, whom one of the family lawyers, Norman Mushari, is attempting to have declared...
.
Pecunia non olet
Pecunia non oletPecunia non olet
Pecunia non olet is a Latin saying. The phrase is ascribed to the Roman emperor Vespasian .-History:...
(Latin for "money does not smell") is a Latin saying. The Roman Emperor Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
introduced a urine tax on public toilets. When his son Titus
Titus
Titus , was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father....
criticized him, he supposedly pointed out that a coin did not smell, even though it came from urine (e lotio est). (Suetonius
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....
, Vesp. 23)
Q.E.D.
Q.E.D.Q.E.D.
Q.E.D. is an initialism of the Latin phrase , which translates as "which was to be demonstrated". The phrase is traditionally placed in its abbreviated form at the end of a mathematical proof or philosophical argument when what was specified in the enunciation — and in the setting-out —...
is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase "quod erat demonstrandum" (literally, "which was to be demonstrated"). In simple terms, the use of this Latin phrase is to indicate that something has been definitively proven. Q.E.D. is a translation into Latin of the original Greek ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι (hoper edei deixai) which was used by many early mathematicians including Euclid
Euclid
Euclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
and Archimedes
Archimedes
Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an...
. Benedict De Spinoza also makes extensive use of the abbreviation Q.E.D. in his various works.
Quo vadis?
"Quo vadisQuo vadis
Quo vadis? is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?" or "Whither goest thou?" The modern usage of the phrase refers to Christian tradition, related in the apocryphal Acts of Peter , in which Saint Peter meets Jesus as Peter is fleeing from likely crucifixion in Rome...
?" is a Latin phrase meaning "Where are you going?" It is used as a proverbial phrase
Proverbial phrase
A proverbial phrase or a proverbial expression is type of a conventional saying similar to proverbs and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context.Another similar construction...
from the Bible (John 16:5). The most famous use is in the Apocryphal Acts of Peter.
It also is a novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...
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