Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources. Rev. James Wood
promise or produce, are, in the sum of life, obstacles to happiness. Johnson.
Deceit is a game played only by small minds. Corneille.
Decency is the least of all laws, yet it is the one which is the most strictly observed. La Roche.
Deceptio visus—Optical illusion. 30
Decet affectus animi neque se nimium erigere nec subjicere serviliter—We ought to allow the affections of the mind to be neither too much elated nor abjectly depressed. Cic.
Decet imperatorem stantem mori—An emperor ought to die at his post (lit. standing). Vespasian.
Decet patriam nobis cariorem esse quam nosmetipsos—Our country ought to be dearer to us than ourselves. Cic.
Decet verecundum esse adolescentem—It becomes a young man to be modest. Plaut.
Decies repetita placebit—Ten times repeated, it 35 will still please. Hor.
Decipimur specie recti—We are deceived by the semblance of rectitude. Hor.
Decipit / Frons prima multos—First appearances deceive many.
Decision and perseverance are the noblest qualities of man. Goethe.
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from the ancient times the things that are not yet done. Bible.
Decori decus addit avito—He adds honour to 40 the honour of his ancestors. M.
Decorum ab honesto non potest separari—Propriety cannot be sundered from what is honourable. Cic.
De court plaisir, long repentir—A short pleasure, a long penance. Fr.
Decrevi—I have decreed. M.
Decus et tutamen—An honour and defence. M.
Dedecet philosophum abjicere animum—It does 45 not beseem a philosopher to be dejected. Cic.
De die in diem—From day to day.
Dedimus potestatem—We have given power. L.
Dediscit animus sero quod didicit diu—The mind is slow in unlearning what it has been long learning. Sen.
Deeds survive the doers. Horace Mann.
Deep calleth unto deep. Bible. 50
Deep insight will always, like Nature, ultimate its thought in a thing. Emerson.
Deep in the frozen regions of the north, / A goddess violated brought thee forth, / Immortal liberty. Smollett.
Deep on his front engraven / Deliberation sat, and public care. Milton.
Deep subtle wits, / In truth, are master spirits in the world. Joanna Baillie.
Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep 55 silence. Alfieri.
Deep vers'd in books, and shallow in himself. Milton.
De ezels dragen de haver, en de paarden eten die—Asses fetch the oats and horses eat them. Dut. Pr.
De facto—In point of fact.
Defeat is a school in which truth always grows strong. Ward Beecher.
Defeat is nothing but education, nothing but 60 the first step to something better. Wendell Phillips.
Defect in manners is usually the defect of fine perception. Emerson.
Defectio virium adolescentiæ vitiis efficitur sæpius quam senectutis—Loss of strength is more frequently due to the faults of youth than of old age. Cic.
Defendit numerus junctæque umbone phalanges—Their numbers protect them and their compact array. Juv.
Defend me, common sense, say I, / From reveries so airy, from the toil / Of dropping buckets into empty wells, / And growing old with drawing nothing up. Cowper.
Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my enemies. Maréchal Villars.
Deference is the most complicate, the most indirect, and the most elegant of all compliments. Shenstone.
Defer no time; / Delays have dangerous ends. 1 Henry VI., iii. 2.
Defer not the least virtue; life's poor span / 5 Make not an ell, by trifling in thy woe. / If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains; / If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains. George Herbert.
Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, / To-morrow's sun to thee may never rise. Congreve.
Deficiunt vires—Ability is wanting.
Defienda me Dios de my—God defend me from myself. Sp. Pr.
Definition of words has been commonly called a mere exercise of grammarians; but when we come to consider the innumerable evils men have inflicted on each other from mistaking the meaning of words, the exercise of definition certainly begins to assume rather a more dignified aspect. Sydney Smith.
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time / 10 Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, / And that so lamely and unfashionable, / That dogs bark at me as I halt by them. Rich. III., i. 1.
Deformity is daring; it is its essence to overtake mankind by heart and soul, and make itself the equal, ay, the superior of the rest. Byron.
De fumo in flammam—Out of the frying-pan into the fire. Pr.
Dégagé—Free and unrestrained. Fr.
De gaieté de cœur—In gaiety of heart; sportively; wantonly. Fr.
Degeneres animos timor arguit—Fear is proof 15 of a low-born soul. Virg.
Degli uomini si può dire questo generalmente che sieno ingrate, volubili simulatori, fuggitori pericoli, cupidi di guadagno—Of mankind we may say in general that they are ungrateful, fickle, hypocritical, intent on a whole skin and greedy of gain. Machiavelli.
Degrees infinite of lustre there must always be, but the weakest among us has a gift, however seemingly trivial, which is peculiar to him, and which, worthily used, will be a gift also to his race for ever. Ruskin.
De gustibus non disputandum—There is no disputing about tastes.
De hambre a nadie vi morir, de mucho comer a cien mil—I never saw a man die of hunger, but thousands die of overfeeding. Sp. Pr.
De haute lutte—By main force. Fr. 20
De hoc multi multa, omnes aliquid, nemo satis—Of this many have said many things, all something, no one enough.
Dei gratia—By the grace of God.
Dei jussu non unquam credita Teneris—Fated she (i.e., Cassandra) never to be believed by her Trojan countrymen. Virg.
Deil stick pride, for my dog deed o'd. Sc. Pr.
Deil