Si isti et istae, cur non ego?
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Si isti et istae, cur non ego? It is a Latin phrase that means: If these men and women (were capable of so much), why not me?
It is often cited to affirm the possibility that everyone can do great things, based on the fact that others have been able to do them.
It is attributed to Saint Augustine in the Confessions, where we actually find the following statement, in Latin:
Tu non poteris, quod isti, quod istae? An vero isti et istae in se ipsis possunt ac non in Domino Deo suo?[1]
In a translation into English, it is found:
Canst not thou what these youths, what these maidens can? or can they either in themselves, and not rather in the Lord their God?[2]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Sant'Agostino. Confessionum. Liber Octavus, 27
- ^ Augustine's Confessions, translated by E.B. Pusey Confessions Book 8: 11, 27