Wheelock's Latin Quotes

“Students who take Latin are more proficient and earn higher scores on the verbal SAT exam. The business world has long recognized the importance of a rich vocabulary and rates it high as evidence of executive potential and success. Understanding the etymological history of a word gives the user vividness, color, punch, and precision. It also seems that the clearer and more numerous our verbal images, the greater our intellectual power. Wheelock’s Latin is profuse with the etymological study of English and vocabulary enrichment. Our own experiences have shown that students will not only remember vocabulary words longer and better when they understand their etymologies, but also will use them with a sharper sense of meaning and nuance.”
― Frederic M. Wheelock, Wheelock's Latin

“this development produced what is called Middle English, known especially from Chaucer,”
― Richard A. LaFleur, Wheelock's Latin

“as the descendants of the Normans finally amalgamated with the English natives, the Anglo-Saxon language reasserted itself; but in its poverty it had to borrow hundreds of French words (literary, intellectual, and cultural) before it could become the language of literature.”
― Richard A. LaFleur, Wheelock's Latin

“of the true, humanistic spirit of the ancient Latin and Greek literatures and the fresh attention to literary”
― Richard A. Lafleur, Wheelock's Latin

“Salvē (“Greetings!”), and WELCOME to the study of classical Latin, or what I affectionately call “The Mother Tongue”!”
― Frederic M. Wheelock, Wheelock's Latin

“Inexorably accurate translation from Latin provides a training in observation, analysis, judgment, evaluation, and a sense of linguistic form, clarity, and beauty which is excellent training in the shaping of one’s own English expression,” asserted Frederic Wheelock.”
― Frederic M. Wheelock, Wheelock's Latin

“Salvēte, amīcae et amīcī! Quid hodiē agitis? Well, if you are in the Coast Guard, you are semper parātus, always prepared, or if you’re a U.S. Marine, it’s semper fidēlis, always faithful (from the same Latin root as “Fido,” your trusty hound). These are just two (suggested by this chapter’s Vocābula) of countless Latin mottoes representing a wide range of modern institutions and organizations. Valēte et habēte fortūnam bonam!”
― Richard A. Lafleur, Wheelock's Latin

“startling—the Romans themselves never read silently, but always aloud; they regarded language as speaking and listening, and viewed writing as merely a convenient means of recording communications spoken and heard.”
― Richard A. Lafleur, Wheelock's Latin