Shakespeare: Courage

Today's Shakespearean quote is from Macbeth:

Screw your courage to the sticking-place.

Latin LOLCat: Hope

Here is today's Latin LOLCat: The Latin word sperandum is what is called a gerundive, and it is among other things a way of expressing an imperative, literally "it must be hoped." You can see that same Latin form in English words like memorandum ("it must be remembered"), addendum ("it must be added), agenda ("things that must be done"), etc. You can also see it in the phrase QED, quod erat demonstrandum, "what had to be shown." If you are interested in Latin proverbs and words, check out the Bestiaria Latina blog.

Sperandum.

You must have hope.

Shakespeare: Reckless

Today's Shakespearean quote is from Macbeth:

I am reckless what I do to spite the world.

Poster: Harvest

I really like the personification in this Polish proverb - What spring did not sow, autumn will not yield - where "spring" stands for what you do in the spring (sowing seeds) and "autumn" stands for what you do in autumn (harvest the crops).

What spring did not sow, autumn will not yield.
(Polish: Czego wiosna nie zasiała, jesień nie urodzi.)

The poster is made with AutoMotivator. The image is a wheat field at Wikipedia.

Shakespeare: The Worst

Today's Shakespearean quote is from Macbeth:

Things at the worst will cease.

Latin LOLCat: Nature

Here is today's Latin LOLCat: The words are from the philosopher Boethius, and, as you can see, the cat does not require a big perch! If you are interested in Latin proverbs and fables, check out the Bestiaria Latina blog.

Natura est paucis contenta.

Nature is content with just a little.

Poster: The Smaller The Lizard

The smaller the lizard, the greater its hope of becoming a crocodile.
(Ethiopian proverb)

The source for the proverb is David Crystal's book, As They Say in Zanzibar: Proverbial Wisdom from Around the World (Oxford University Press: 2006). The poster is made with AutoMotivator. The image is by the_azure_world at Flickr.

Shakespeare: Aweary

Today's Shakespearean quote is from Macbeth:

I gin to be aweary of the sun.

Latin LOLCat: Books

Here is today's Latin LOLCat. If you are interested in Latin proverbs and fables, check out the Bestiaria Latina blog.

Libri muti magistri sunt.

Books are silent teachers.

Poster: Dragon

A serpent, unless it devours a serpent, will not become a dragon. This is an English translation of one of the Latin sayings Erasmus included in his Adagia, and it inspired the Neo-Latin poet Desbillons to write this fable in verse:

Serpens monebat filium, ut adesset sibi,
Serpentem in alium dum rueret, ac mordicus
Corriperet et glutiret. Tam nefarium
Tune, inquit ille, ut perpetres facinus, pater?
De gente nostra is unus est . . . Tace, tace,
Inepte: sic agere expedit; serpens enim,
Serpentem si non devoret, non fit draco.
Hos ad potentes fabula nostra pertinet,
Qui crescere solent ex alienis cladibus. 

A snake told his son to attend while he attacked another serpent, grabbed it with his teeth and swallowed it. The son asked, "Are you so wicked, father, that you would commit such a crime? That snake is a member of our species." "Be quiet, be quiet, foolish boy: it is useful to do this, for a snake, unless it devours another snake, does not become a dragon." Our fable pertains to those powerful people who increase their power by the destruction of others.

A serpent, unless it devours a serpent, will not become a dragon.
Serpens, ni edat serpentem, draco non fiet.

The poster is made with AutoMotivator. The image is by Zoe52 at Flickr.

Shakespeare: Mirth

Today's Shakespearean quote is from Macbeth:

Be large in mirth!

Shakespeare: Dagger

Today's Shakespearean quote is from Macbeth:

Is this a dagger which I see before me?

Latin LOLCat: Enjoy!

Here is today's Latin LOLCat. The use of "day" here also has the general sense of time, the moment: Enjoy the present moment. If you are interested in Latin proverbs and fables, check out the Bestiaria Latina blog.

Fruere die praesenti.

Enjoy the present day.

Poster: Empty

It is too late to spare when the bottom is bare.
(English proverb)

The source for the proverb is English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases by William Carew Hazlitt (GoogleBooks). The poster is made with AutoMotivator. The image is by rikomatic Flickr.

Latin LOLCat: Letters

Here is today's Latin LOLCat. The Latin advice comes from Cato's Monostichs. If you are interested in Latin proverbs and fables, check out the Bestiaria Latina blog.

Litteras disce.

Learn your letters.

Poster: My Heart and the World

If my heart be narrow, what avail to me that the world is large?
(Armenian proverb)

The source for the proverb is Armenian Proverbs and Sayings by Kework Bayyan (1889).

The image is from Wikipedia.

The poster is made with AutoMotivator.

Latin LOLCat: Lofty

Here is today's Latin LOLCat: The Latin word altus which you see here gives us the English word "altitude," for example More about the etymology here. If you are interested in Latin proverbs and fables, check out the Bestiaria Latina blog.

Alta pete.

Seek lofty things.