Never judge, always prove

Hazelicious

New Member

Hello, I'm new here. I need help to translate my life motto to Latin. My life motto is, "Never judge, always prove."

It come as I need to be a very good listener for my friends, so I will never judge their stories and if I give them advice I will prove it is my best advice because I've done what I say (not just an empty talk)

From my research, I got "Noli Censēre, Semper Argue" as the Latin translation. Is it correct?
 

Agrippa

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
Western Europe
Alternative:

Cave praeiudices, utere argumentis!

Beware of judging beforehand, use arguments!
 

Hazelicious

New Member

[Noli iudicare / Ne umquam iudicaveris], semper argumentis confirma - [don't judge / never judge], always "prove" (=lit. confirm with arguments)
Okay, thank you. I think I will use this one.

By the way, can you explain how wrong my first translation (Noli Censere, Semper Argue) is?
 
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B

Bitmap

Guest

By the way, can you explain how wrong my first translation (Noli Censere, Semper Argue) is?
It is grammatically correct, it's just that the semantics or the word choices may not be the best. censere can mean "to judge", but much less so in the sense of formulating a prejudice. What a censor usually did was to estimate the capital of people. arguere can mean "to prove", I think, but it is not very clear in a stand-alone sentence like yours (because it can also just mean 'to argue') ... that's why people here are trying to throw in the word argumentis.
Then again, you could probably say that using arguments is not the same thing as proving something.
 

Hazelicious

New Member

It is grammatically correct, it's just that the semantics or the word choices may not be the best. censere can mean "to judge", but much less so in the sense of formulating a prejudice. What a censor usually did was to estimate the capital of people. arguere can mean "to prove", I think, but it is not very clear in a stand-alone sentence like yours (because it can also just mean 'to argue') ... that's why people here are trying to throw in the word argumentis.
Then again, you could probably say that using arguments is not the same thing as proving something.
Wow, nice insight. Thank you so much.

Shortest possible motto (to be used in your coat of arms!):

Non opiniones, sed argumenta.
Okay, its sound much better. I think I will use this one to keep it simple. Once again, thanks.
 
B

Bitmap

Guest

Just wondering ... why did you choose non over ne here?
Sorry, that was a dumb question. I should stop reading stuff superficially.

non is perfectly fine, but I think you could justify ne as well (depending on which verb or situation you have in mind).
 

Agrippa

Civis Illustris

  • Civis Illustris

Location:
Western Europe
"non"] Statement: It's my personal way of acting: Non propono opiniones, sed argumenta.
 
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