Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile.
-Hippocrates
[The] art is long, life is short, opportunity fleeting, experiment dangerous, judgment difficult.
Considering the beast that some hope to kill by sharpening people’s mind-sticks on LW, this sounds applicable wouldn’t you agree?
Upvote for “mind-sticks”.
Agreed. Best analogy ever.
Why is a quote by a Greek, about whom our main sources are also Greek, being posted in Latin?
The saying “Ars longa, vita brevis” is a well known saying in my lanugage in its latin form. Seems to be the most common renderng in English as well.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur.
(At the risk of ruining the joke: “Anything said in Latin sounds profound”)
Here’s the ancient greek version, to appease NihilCredo:
Ὁ μὲν βίος βραχύς, ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή, ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ὀξύς, ἡ δὲ πεῖρα σφαλερή, ἡ δὲ κρίσις χαλεπή
No puns, upvoted.
-Hippocrates
Considering the beast that some hope to kill by sharpening people’s mind-sticks on LW, this sounds applicable wouldn’t you agree?
Upvote for “mind-sticks”.
Agreed. Best analogy ever.
Why is a quote by a Greek, about whom our main sources are also Greek, being posted in Latin?
The saying “Ars longa, vita brevis” is a well known saying in my lanugage in its latin form. Seems to be the most common renderng in English as well.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur.
(At the risk of ruining the joke: “Anything said in Latin sounds profound”)
Here’s the ancient greek version, to appease NihilCredo:
No puns, upvoted.