Any foreign phrases you've run across in books you liked so much you copied them down?

I really like Terry Pratchett's Latin phrases, but they're usually dog Latin, and not actual Latin. However, if you know a bit of Latin, they're hilarious for that very fact.

Fabricati Diem, Pvnc = Make my Day, Punk

Sodomy non sapiens = I'm buggered if I know

Stercus stercus stercus Moriturus Sum = Oh sh*t, oh sh*t, oh sh*t, I'm going to die

Acquiris Quodcumque Rapis = You Get What You Grab

Motto of the Assassin's Guild:

Nil Mortifi Sine Lucre = No killing without payment

The translations are sometimes just a tad off as well, in a funny way, for instance:

"Cuius testiculos habet, cardia et cerebellum habeat." is translated "When you have their full attention in your grasp, you will have their hearts and minds also." I find it hilarious that "testiculos" is translated "full attention" :p

I'll second Timshel (thou mayest), from East Of Eden. That one blew me away so much the first time I read it at fifteen that I carved it into my dorm room desk. Charming, I know.

I still like, but no longer believe in, omnia vincit amor, or love conquers all.

This is not a quote, just a silly story. My friend had a Finnish language phrase book and as I was glancing through it one day I ran across the phrase "can I drive with it like that?" For some reason that struck me as very funny, even as it is clearly a practical thing to be able to ask in a strange land. You see, I have driven junkers all my life and on the spot I began to dream of translating that phrase into every language on the face of the planet, living or dead. I would then paint it all over my car, perhaps doing a reverse type version in English on the front end, you know, like ambulances do. I figured that might amuse the tow truck drivers. That was many years ago and I have never stopped wanting to do it. The car I have now is certainly eligible, since it is twenty years old and has pretty much zero resale value, yet I will be driving it "like that" for the foreseeable future. If I did it do you suppose it would qualify as an art car?

Heh, mine are all in Latin.

Memento mori: Remember that you must die.

I like the rhyming effect the translation has, too. (I wrote poetry for a loooong time and have been word-fascinated since before even starting school; my grandmother had taught me to read before I even entered kindergarden).

I also like 'In vino veritas' (in wine, truth) and 'Carpe diem' (seize the day) but those are a lot more common.

Edit: Oh, and "Veni, vidi, vici!" (We came, we saw, we conquered!) although I am not one hundred percent that I have this one spelled or translated correctly.

"Immerzu fahren hier die Leute zu ihrem eignen Begrabnis." ~ German

"Day in, day out, the people here leave for their own funeral."

--That phrase really stood out to me from the history text I'm reading (for class) on the trial of Eichmann. It terrifies me.

sui generis ~The only example of its kind; unique. (Latin)

On another note, this I like. It's from an Arabic poem my sister told me about. The poet (Abu Tamam) wrote a really long poem praising one of the kings, and someone (who was present while Abu Tamam was reciting it before the king) indignantly asked him how he could compare the king with others who were clearly below him (in rank, greatness, etc.). Abu Tamam immediately responded:

لا تعجبوا ضربي له من دونه **** مثلا شرودا في الندى والباس

فالله قد ضرب الأقل لنوره **** مثلا من المشكاة والنبراس

Which roughly translates to: "Don't be surprised or distracted by my comparison (of the king) to those who are below him. Even Allah (God) compared His light to that of a beacon of light (issuing from a lamp) in a niche."

Another by the same poet:

السيف اصدق انباء من الكتب في حده الحد بين الجد واللعب

"The sword is more truthful in its news than your books; in its sharp edge is the divide between the serious and frivolous."

He wrote that in response to the "psychics" who predicted that going to war (at that time) would end in defeat. It didn't, and the "books" he refers to are the ones they used in making their predictions.

That's about all I can remember right now. I should be studying :)

Yes, this Persian one was told to me by my father actually. (Does that count?)

Choon Zacaha-e-Maikani Har roz khaak

Aaqibat andar rasi dar aab paak

Meaning: If you remove a fistful of soil everyday, eventually you will reach clear water.

It means, if you persevere then you can accomplish the most daring and difficult feats. My advice to all those who read it, me included!

***Add, This one I read in a book a long time back.I didnt need to write it down because I never forgot it. "Puris Omnia Pura". It means "To the Pure, everything is Pure.".

Thr first one is Persian, the seconf one - I am not sure which language that is.

Another one which is very important is "Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim". This is Arabic which means " In the Name of God, The Most Merciful, The Most Benevolent." It is the Muslim tradition to recite this before doing any work - eating, reading etc.

Yet another of my faves is this LAtin phrase from law books: "Ignorantia juris non excusat ". This means "Ignorance of Law is No excuse".

TW K

Hebrew

Timshel- Thou Mayest

I don't know any good foreign quotes, but I love Ursula K. Le Guin's quote from her book Steering the Craft, "Damn the semicolons cried the captain full speed ahead" (29).

Edit:

I used to know how to say, in Spanish and Japanese, "I want to write your name in cheese," but it's been too long.

"L'amore e eterno finche dura" = Love is eternal as long as it lasts.

And I've gotten -SO- many from Eliot's poetry. But my favorite is a quote (that I always write in English):

"Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi

in ampulla pendere, et *** illi pueri dicerent: Σιβυλλα

τι θελεις; respondebat illa: αποθανειν θελω." = I have seen with mine own eyes the Sibyl of Cumae hanging in a jar, and when those boys would say to her: 'Sibyl, what do you want,' she would reply, 'I want to die.'"

A Deo et Rege - From God and the King

Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur - We choose to love, we do not choose to cease loving.

Luctor et emergo - I struggle but I'll survive

These are also in Latin. I really love the third one.

German

Du bist eine rotzaffe

You are a snot monkey