Long Live Latin Quotes

“Learning Latin affords us the special gratification of experiencing this complexity, which is ultimately part of one of the highest ambitions of being human: achieving linguistic beauty.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“[…] once properly attired, I step into the ancient courts of ancient men, where, a beloved guest, I nourish myself on that food that is mine alone and for which I was born; where I speak to them without inhibition and ask them the reasons behind their actions; and in their humanity they reply; and for four hours I feel not a drop of boredom, think nothing of my cares, am fearless of poverty, unrattled by death; I transfer all of myself into them. (Letter to Francesco Vettori, December 10, 1513)”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“Even the reaction of those who witness the event is similar in the two authors: “Conclamat vir paterque” in Livy (I.58.12), “it clamor ad alta / atria” in Virgil (IV.665–66).”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“In 2003 my friend Julio Anguita Parrado, on assignment for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, was killed in Iraq. He was thirty-three years old. To his grieving partner I gave a copy of the Consolatio ad Marciam. I had no doubt that in that moment Seneca’s words would be far more precise and worthy than anything I could say or put to paper. Some would argue that in the face of death, especially violent death, no words exist: that words must not exist. I admit, words are not the only way of expressing our emotions. But I’m still convinced of one thing: that we all have the right to count on words, at any time in life, even the most difficult; that it’s right to put our faith in words; and that, when they come to us, we should never be embarrassed to use them.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“Mihi crede, magna pars ex iis quos amavimus, licet ipsos casus abstulerit, apud nos manet; nostrum est quod praeterit tempus nec quicquam est loco tutiore quam quod fuit. (Letters to Lucilius, 99.4) Trust me, the greater part of those we’ve loved, though chance stole them away, stays with us; time passed is ours, and nothing stands on surer footing than that which once was.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“omnia vincit Amor […] (X.69) Love conquers all […]”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“in the Eclogues, we find some of the clearest and most memorable expressions in all of Latin: […] quis enim modus adsit amori? (II.68) […] what measure could there be for love?”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“Seneca, with the explicit intention of consoling his addressee, denies outright that there’s even such a thing as exile. Movement, as he sees it, is a fact of life. The entire universe (mundus) is ceaselessly shifting its position, all is in motion; even the minds of men are constantly exploring and pressing new boundaries, because the mind itself is made of the stuff of the stars and heavenly bodies, which never stand still. It’s in reading such reflections that one again understands how unique and necessary Latin literature is: in its ability to link the smallest occurrence, a personal story or a blip on a timeline, to the cosmic order, which transcends all but which also invests all with a dignity and profundity that stretch beyond the terrestrial.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“But let’s pause for a minute and look at this fine Latin word cura. The most ancient words in our language are like haunted houses. Try as the owner might to avoid going up to the attic (or down to the basement), to keep that one door shut and the lights on at night, the whispers of the previous occupants slip through the walls; no number of lamps can dispel their shadows. Or else they’re like magicians’ hats: Take it off, nothing. Put it back on, remove it again, and voilà!, a dove flies out with its characteristic flutter. Cura, as we’ve seen, doesn’t quite mean in Latin what “cure” tends to mean today in English—that is, “remedy,” especially in the medical sense. Cura instead means “preoccupation,” “mental fixation,” “anguish,” “obsession.” Even “remorse” or “regret.” In Virgil’s portrayal of the afterlife we encounter a personification of the word, along with personifications of other discomforts such as hunger and poverty (Aeneid, VI.274).”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“Attention to form, semantic precision, correspondence between vocabulary and subject matter, the avoidance of terms that elicit surprise or disapproval from the reader, the pursuit of clarity and elegance, respect for grammar—all of this we have inherited from Cicero, whether directly or indirectly.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“Literature is life, and it lives because it generates more writing, and because readers exist, and because interpretation exists, which is a dialogue between thought and the written word, a dialogue between centuries, which halts time on its ruthless march and continually renews our potential for permanence. To label as dead a language that’s written but no longer spoken is to deny the power of reading, to misunderstand how knowledge operates”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“By reading, we are not just living today: we are living in history, transcending our biographies and entering a much broader chronology.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“When we study Latin, we must study it for one fundamental reason: because it is the language of a civilization; because the Western world was created on its back.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“When we study Latin, we must study it for one fundamental reason: because it is the language of a civilization; because the Western world was created on its back. Because inscribed in Latin are the secrets of our deepest cultural memory, secrets that demand to be read.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“our capacity for peaceful and respectful relationships, without which nothing else can survive. The name that Latin gives to this capacity is humanitas, and those who possess it humani.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“But the dead and dying are those who don’t listen, not those who speak.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“But what’s most striking in the letter quoted above is the verb trasferire (to transfer): that need to enter the world of the ancients, the very opposite of the desire to haul them into the present age. To enter into contact with the ancients requires a transference of oneself, as clearly indicated by the Latin preposition trans: this is an effort to understand historically, to step out of one’s individual identity and approach the other. Only then can the past take on meaning and give pleasure. Mere pastism? An inability to live in the present? Not at all. In the next paragraph of this same letter, Machiavelli goes on to describe his work on The Prince, one of the most innovative texts of all time. In fact, he even intends to intervene in the present with this treatise, providing drastic solutions to the current crisis.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“bringing about shifts in pedagogical thinking and literary taste, and elevating grammar to the science of sciences.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“Religion’s grip on society weakens and, even in a persistently Christian climate, a passionate interest in rediscovery takes hold,”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“And we watch as these “extras” navigate their life of tools and utensils, food and wine, architecture and rituals, committing shameful acts of every shape and size: they get hammered, piss themselves, vomit, screw until they pass out (even with close relatives and parents), strut, flail, talk trash, consume and conspire, slather on makeup, exercise in the gym—meanwhile, to their own detriment and the detriment of others, committing perjury and falsifying public documents, even practicing cannibalism.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“All goes wrong, all for the very worst: “difficile est saturam non scribere”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“Such a charge is worthy of a philosopher, to allow no dirt on oneself, to tolerate no filthiness or stink on any part of the exposed body, especially around the mouth, which man uses so frequently and in plain view, whether giving a kiss, or holding discourse, speaking in public, or praying in a temple. In fact, all men’s actions are preceded by words, which, as the supreme poet [Homer] says, pass through the wall of our teeth. Now imagine someone with such a high command of language: in his own words he’d say along with the most authoritative men that those who take care in their speech must protect their mouths above all other parts of the body, since the mouth is the antechamber of the soul, the doorway to speech, and a gathering place for thoughts. I for my own part can say with certainty that there’s nothing less seemly for a freeborn and free-minded man than an unclean mouth. Indeed, the mouth occupies a high position on the human body, is the first thing one sees, and is a vehicle for eloquence. You’ll notice that the mouths of wild beasts and animals are positioned low and face the ground, down by their hooves, among grass and footprints, never to be seen except at death or when they’re driven to bite. With a silent man, however, it’s the first thing you notice, and there’s nothing you notice more when he starts to speak.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“Mihi crede, magna pars ex iis quos amavimus, licet ipsos casus abstulerit, apud nos manet; nostrum est quod praeterit tempus nec quicquam est loco tutiore quam quod fuit. (Letters to Lucilius, 99.4) Trust me, the greater part of those we’ve loved, though chance stole them away, stays with us; time passed is ours, and nothing stands on surer footing than that which once was. Seneca”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“Livy is a historian of nostalgia—a theme that pervades all Western historical thought and gives it much of its character.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language

“which, for Cicero (typical of Romans and of Westerners throughout the centuries), almost always took the form of an example of past excellence. In short: a continual, impassioned criticism of the present combined with a nostalgia for a fully realized, ideal antiquity.”
― Nicola Gardini, Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language