# Vita non est vivere sed valare vita est



## kjc_us

From the Latin: "Vita non set vivere sed valare vita est."

life is more than merely staying alive
Vivre, c'est pas seulement exister?

Are there any other ways of putting this?


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## Micia93

"vivre est plus que simplement exister"


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## fdb

kjc_us said:


> Are there any other ways of putting this?



You could, for example, quote it correctly : "Vita non est vivere sed valere vita est." It is by the poet Martial.


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## Micia93

traduisons-nous donc du latin ici?


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## kjc_us

Merci Micia.


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## kjc_us

It was a typo. Anyway I'm not asking who it is by or for my Latin to be corrected so if you do not wish to answer my question don't waste my time with useless input. Cheers.


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## Cagey

I think your question is unclear to some of us. 

We tend to assume that you want another Latin version, which makes correcting the Latin a reasonable thing to do. (In fact, that was how I interpreted the question.) 

However, I think you want another way of translating it into French.  Is that correct?


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## fsm*

fdb said:


> "Vita non est vivere sed valere vita est." It is by the poet Martial.



Maintenant que fdb nous a fourni la citation correcte, j'aimerais la comprendre mieux. Voici ma tentative avec beaucoup de doutes sur la deuxième partie.
_Vita non est vivere... 
 = La vie, ce n'est pas seulement l'acte de vivre...

...sed valere vita est
 = mais d'apprécier (?)/ de faire valoir (?) la vie.


_Now that fdb has given us the correct quotation, I'd like to understand it better. Here is my attempt, with lots of doubts about the second part. 
_Vita non est vivere... 
 = Life is more than merely living...

...sed valere vita est
 = but rather appreciating(?)/making something valuable of(?) life._


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## CapnPrep

fdb said:


> You could, for example, quote it correctly : "Vita non est vivere sed valere vita est."


Here's some more useless input to waste kjc_us's time.  The original line is in fact _Non est vivere sed valere vita est_ (_Ep VI_, 70, 15). With one _est_ too many, or one _vita_ too few…


fsm* said:


> _...sed valere vita est
> = but rather appreciating(?)/making something valuable of(?) life._


I think it's simply "but life is being healthy".

See also this Italian Wikipedia article: 
Non est vivere, sed valere vita est


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## fdb

CapnPrep said:


> The original line is in fact _Non est vivere sed valere vita est_ (_Ep VI_, 70, 15).



Thank you for your correction. The epigram of which this is the final verse goes as follows in the French translation by Verger et al., published in 1864:

Cotta a vu soixante moissons, et, je crois, deux autres encore, Martianus, et il ne se rappelle pas avoir, un seul jour, éprouvé dans un lit les ennuis d'une fièvre brûlante. Il nargue d'un doigt moqueur, d'un signe obscène, Alconte, Dasius et Symmaque. Mais qu'on fasse le calcul exact de nos années ; qu'on retranche de nos jours les meilleurs le temps consumé par les fièvres cruelles, les tristes langueurs et les douleurs insupportables ; d'un saut nous arrivons de l'enfance à la vieillesse. Celui qui regarde comme un long âge celui de Priam et de Nestor, tombe, Martianus, dans une erreur bien grave. Ce n'est pas l’existence, c'est la santé qui est réellement la vie.


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## Pi0314

kjc_us said:


> From the Latin: "Vita non set vivere sed valare vita est."
> 
> life is more than merely staying alive
> Vivre, c'est pas seulement exister?
> 
> Are there any other ways of putting this?


Life is not merely to be lived, but to be lived well.


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