Speak softly and carry a big stick

[Anonymous]

Can anyone translate this famous quote?


"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far"




During TR's term as Governor of NY State he fought with the party bosses, particularly Boss Tom Platt regarding a political appointment. Roosevelt held out, although the boss threatened, to "ruin" him. In the end the boss gave in.

According to Nathan Miller in his book "Theodore Roosevelt, A Life", page 337,

"Looking back upon his handling of the incident, Roosevelt thought he 'never saw a bluff carried more resolutely through to the final limit.' And writing to a friend a few days later, he observed: 'I have always been fond of the West African proverb: "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." ' "

The proverb and the policy followed him into numerous instances in his career, including his policies abroad during his presidency.

 

[QMF]

Part of this is idiomatic and metaphorical, some of which probably wouldn't make much sense in Latin. I will try to take the idioms and make them literal:
dice tranquille et fer arma magna; maxima facies.
Speak quietly and carry big weapons; you will do great things.
If you do want the literal:
dice tranquille et fer fustem magnum; ibis passim.
Speak quietly and carry a big stick; you will go (far and wide/everywhere).

 

[Cato]

I'd recommend ferrula for arma, as this was an actual whipping rod. I'd also drop the -e from Dice, a common shortened form.

Stylistically I might also argue for molliter over tranquille. The first version of "softly" contains the specific notion of "without pain/anger" (though it can also mean "weakly", though this perhaps says more about Roman character than grammar). Tranquille is more like "quietly/peacefully". I think it would be a good contrast to the ferrula, but again this is a style point only, and either can be argued.

Finally, passim is a near choice, but this really means "here and there, everywhere" (e.g. if you look in the index of a book about Shakespeare for an entry "Shakespeare", you will often see passim since his page citations are just too numerous to include). I'd opt for longe - "far, a long way", but again I could see either choice.

Summing up:

Dic molliter/tranquille, et fer ferrulam magnam; longe/passim ibis.

 

[QMF]

Oh bah, I forgot about dic fac duc. Mea culpa.
As for the other two changes: good stylistic ideas. As you said, any of them work.