# we can`t get back yesterday



## csicska

Hello. I would like to ask if the translation of "we can`t get back yesterday" (i.e. yesterday`s gone - we can`t get it back) to "non possumus impetro tergum heri" is correct? Thank you very much in advance.


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## jrundin

No, it is not correct. This means: "we are not able I obtain a back yesterday."


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## jrundin

Let me suggest a translation:

irrevocablis est dies hesternus.

"yesterday cannot be summoned back."


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## exgerman

The way the ancients expressed this is "you cannot step into the same river twice". The idea is first attested in the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus who said "everything changes, nothing stays the same". So you can be very elegant and say, as a Roman philosopher would have: _Πάντα ῥεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει._


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## jrundin

I like that idea, exgerman!

People often ask me for Latin translations of some snappy English motto--usually for a tattoo.
The mottoes never translate very well since they rely on the syntax and semantics of English.
The best solution, in my opinion, is to choose an ancient quote that has more or
less the same point even though its phrasing may be very different.


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## csicska

Thank you very much, jrundin and exgerman.


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