GetWiki

{{short description|Latin translation of a Greek aphorism}}{{distinguish|Ars Longa Vita Brevis (album)}}{{distinguish-redirect|Life is short|Life is short (song)|Life is short (episode)}}{{italic title}}File:Altes Rathaus Göttingen 20110802-14.JPG|thumb|Old Town Hall (Göttingen)|de|3=Altes Rathaus (Göttingen)}} in Germany.|218x218px The aphorism quotes the first two lines of the s:Aphorisms|Aphorisms]] by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates: "". The familiar Latin translation reverses the order of the original lines, but can express the same principle.

Translations

The original text, a standard Latin translation, and an English translation from the Greek follow.{| style="width:75%"

Greek:>	Romanization of Greek>Romanized

||

Latin:>|English:

|

Interpretation

Despite the common usage of the Latin version, Ars longa, vita brevis, the usage caveat is about the Greek original that contains the word tékhnē (technique and craft) that is translated as the Latin ars (art) as in the usage The Art of War. The authorship of the aphorism is ascribed to the physician Hippocrates, as the preface of his medical text: “The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and externals cooperate”.WEB,weblink Ars longa, vita brevis, The Phrase Finder, Gary Martin, WEB,weblink Ars longa, vita brevis definition, Merriam-Webster, {{Failed verification|date=June 2020}}

Similar sayings

The late-medieval author Chaucer ({{circa|1343}}–1400) observed "The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne" ("The life so short, the craft so long to learn", the first line of the Parlement of Foules).WIKISOURCE, Geoffrey, Chaucer, Geoffrey Chaucer, 1380s, The Parliament of Fowles, The first-century CE rabbi Tarfon is quoted as saying "The day is short, the labor vast, the workers are lazy, the reward great, the Master urgent." (Avot 2:15) A light-hearted version in England, thought to have originated in Shropshire, is the pun "Bars longa, vita brevis" i.e. so many bars (or pubs) to visit, in so short a life.

See also

• Bounded rationality
• Parallelism (rhetoric)

References

External links

• {{commons category-inline}}