The safest Latin is Latin a Roman actually wrote. Choose a real quotation from a named author rather than a sentence run through a translator, confirm the exact spelling and word endings against the source, and check what the phrase has come to mean today before it becomes permanent.
Latin looks timeless, which is why it ends up on arms, rings and walls. It's also a language where one wrong ending changes the meaning, and where a lot of popular "Latin quotes" were never said by any Roman. This page is about getting the words right. What you choose to wear is up to you.
Genuine phrases and where they come from
| Phrase | Literal meaning | Original source |
|---|---|---|
| Carpe diem | Pluck the day | Horace, Odes 1.11 |
| Omnia vincit amor | Love conquers all things | Virgil, Eclogues 10.69 |
| Audentes fortuna iuvat | Fortune helps the daring | Virgil, Aeneid 10.284 |
| Sic itur ad astra | This is the way to the stars | Virgil, Aeneid 9.641 |
| Odi et amo | I hate and I love | Catullus, poem 85 |
| Omnia mutantur | Everything changes | Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.165 |
| Veni, vidi, vici | I came, I saw, I conquered | Julius Caesar, reported by Suetonius and Plutarch |
| Festina lente | Make haste slowly | A favourite saying of Augustus, reported by Suetonius |
| Alea iacta est | The die has been cast | Caesar at the Rubicon, reported by Suetonius |
Two notes on that table. Word order in Latin is flexible, so amor vincit omnia is also correct; Virgil just wrote it the other way. And Caesar's Rubicon line was probably spoken in Greek, quoting a playwright, before Suetonius recorded it in Latin.
Popular phrases that aren't what they seem
Not wrong, necessarily, but worth knowing before you commit:
- Memento mori ("remember you must die") is good Latin, but the phrase as a slogan is mainly medieval and later. The popular story that a slave whispered it to victorious Roman generals rests on thin ancient evidence, chiefly the Christian writer Tertullian.
- Per aspera ad astra ("through hardships to the stars") is not a quotation from a known classical author in that form. Seneca expresses a similar idea in different words.
- Dum spiro, spero ("while I breathe, I hope") is a later motto, not a line from a Roman writer, though Cicero voices a similar thought.
- Nosce te ipsum ("know thyself") is a Latin rendering of a Greek maxim inscribed at the temple of Apollo at Delphi.
None of these are errors. They just aren't "ancient Roman quotes," which matters if that's how you plan to describe them.
Why translated Latin goes wrong
English relies on word order. Latin relies on word endings, and that's where machine translation and guesswork come unstuck.
- Endings change with a word's job. "Love" is amor as the subject of a sentence but amorem as the object. Pick the wrong one and the sentence breaks.
- Words must agree. Adjectives match the gender and number of their nouns, and verbs change for "I," "you" and "they." A phrase meant for a woman, a man, or a group can each need different endings.
- There's no "the" or "a." Translators sometimes invent words to fill the gap.
- Modern ideas have no Roman wording. Many popular sentences have never existed in Latin, so any translation is a modern invention, and different tools will give you different, sometimes ungrammatical, answers.
- Spelling drifts. Carpe deim for carpe diem is a classic. Copy letter by letter from a reliable source.
U, V, I and J: which letters are "correct"?
Romans didn't distinguish U from V or J from I; a single letter did both jobs. So IVLIVS and Iulius are both authentic spellings of Julius, while Julius with a J is a later convention. For a tattoo, any consistent choice is fine. Carved-inscription style (all capitals, V for U) looks the most "Roman" if that's the effect you want.
Check what a phrase means now
Some Latin phrases have picked up modern political or group associations far removed from their ancient origins, and a few have been adopted by extremist movements. Search a phrase's recent use, not just its dictionary meaning, before wearing it permanently.
A five-step checklist
- Choose a phrase from a named Roman author, or have original wording checked by someone who reads Latin.
- Find the source line and copy the spelling letter by letter.
- Confirm the endings fit who the phrase is about (one person or many, male or female).
- Search the phrase's modern associations.
- Check the artist's stencil against your written version before a single line is inked.
If dates are part of the design, our guide to writing dates in Roman numerals covers the numeral mistakes that end up permanent too. And for a broader tour of Latin that survived, see what language the Romans spoke.
Sources: Horace, Odes 1.11; Virgil, Eclogues 10.69 and Aeneid 9.641 and 10.284; Catullus 85; Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.165; Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar 32 and 37 and Life of Augustus 25; Plutarch, Life of Caesar; Tertullian, Apology 33; standard Latin grammars. Where a phrase's origin is later than Rome, we've said so.
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