Need a good short quote in 42 characters

August 27, 2007 6:50 AM

I want a quote to go on my phone case. 2 lines. 21 characters per line. Preferable inspirational, possibly latin.

I'm buying a wooden iphone case. On the back, I can put a quote.
2 lines of 21 characters. I'm looking for quotes to make me smile or bring my spirits up; as I look at the case (accidentally) and re-discover the quote.

Inspirational, not religious. Latin (or a translation to latin), I like, as a conversation piece (people will ask what it means.)

Things that I'm thinking of:
"Know Thyself" (Temet Nosce)
Never despair. Nil desperandum.
Sit vis vobiscum. (May the Force be with you.)

I really wanted (but it's too long) - "Even an Elephant can be eaten - one bite at a time.
Or, "Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies"

C'mon MeFi. Give me 42 great characters!

posted by filmgeek to writing & language (21 comments total)

Adde parvum parvo magnus acervus erit

"Add a little to a little and there will be a great heap." - Ovid
posted by angry.polymath at 7:09 AM on August 27, 2007

"Ad astra per aspera" - to the stars through difficulty. (often translated "A rough road leads to the stars.") Also the NASA motto.
posted by leapfrog at 7:21 AM on August 27, 2007

Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit

"Perhaps one day it will be pleasurable to remember even these things." - Vergil
posted by Bromius at 7:24 AM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Illegitimi non carborundum.
posted by Brittanie at 7:38 AM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Sedit qui timuit ne non succederet.
"He who feared that he would not succeed sat still." - Horace
posted by lucia__is__dada at 8:14 AM on August 27, 2007

Semper ubi sub ubi.
posted by kamikazegopher at 8:24 AM on August 27, 2007

Women hold up half the sky
Mao Tse-Tung
posted by worker_bee at 8:44 AM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Or this one someone here suggested:

Veni, Vidi, volo in domum redire.

(I came, I saw, I want to go home.)
posted by worker_bee at 8:48 AM on August 27, 2007

in vino veritas
posted by Grensgeval at 8:50 AM on August 27, 2007

You could do "Hope is a good thing and no good thing ever dies"
posted by philcliff at 9:31 AM on August 27, 2007

"Philosophum non facit barba!" (The beard does not define a philosopher)
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:46 AM on August 27, 2007

The basis of good art
is careful compositio
posted by Rock Steady at 10:46 AM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

My old favorite:

Audentis Fortuna Juvat

(Fortune Favors the Bold)

Words to live (and die) by.
posted by SlyBevel at 11:43 AM on August 27, 2007

I'd probably go the faux-Woody Guthrie route:

"This machine kills neurons."
posted by Greg Nog at 11:59 AM on August 27, 2007

"Phone home."
posted by PY at 12:42 PM on August 27, 2007

DON'T PANIC

(choose a large, friendly font)
posted by fidelity at 12:42 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

- "Semper wifi"
- "Mala malus mala mala dat" (Latin pun: A bad apple tree yields only lemons)
- "Roma die uno non ædificata est" (You may know it by its AT&T version: Roam wasn't billed in a day)
posted by rob511 at 6:15 PM on August 27, 2007

Vox clamantis in deserto- Voice crying in the desert ?

Either way, you'll find what you need here.
posted by solongxenon at 6:38 PM on August 27, 2007

Quis Vocat? (who calls?)

Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur. (It is a wise man who speaks little.)
posted by fandango_matt at 9:52 PM on August 27, 2007

Audiatur et altera pars (Let us hear the opposite side)
posted by fandango_matt at 10:25 PM on August 27, 2007

homosapiens non urinat in ventum
men should not piss into the wind
posted by jannw at 1:40 AM on August 28, 2007