Esse quam videri

I came across this excellent motto in a museum today.  The translation given for it was "to be rather than to seem."

Latin is a language that is very well suited to mottoes; Japanese is another.  A motto is really an old-fashioned sort of sound bite, which expresses a noble or an inspiring sentiment.

In regione caecorum, rex est luscus.

Erasmus' famous insight is usually given in English as "In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king."  Caecus is a blind man and luscus is a sighted one.

Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant

Scottish history begins with Tacitus and the speech he attributes to Calgacus, which ends thus:

Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

This translates as: "To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."

Tweetum facit

Pope Benedict's tweet in Latin inspired me to write a very short letter to three newspapers.  Unfortunately, none of them saw fit to publish it.  Anyway, the dead tree press' loss is the internet's gain, as here is the letter.

Salve,

Et in lingua Latina Pontifex tweetum facit.  Vivat lingua nobilissima.

Vale,

Naturally, Latin translations of Twitter and tweet are not easy to find, so I had to make one up myself.  tweetum is a tweet, and facit means he makes or does.  Thus tweetum facit means he makes a tweet, or more simplyt he tweets.