Quot capita, tot sententia.
(Anonymous)

There are as many opinion as there are heads!

(pron = kwoht KAH-pih-tah, toht sehn-TEN-tee-ah)

Comment: Interesting. This proverb and variations like it are often uttered as
implicit criticism against opposing opinions, particularly in religious or
political groups where some opinions vary from the leadership. The implication
is that those who stray or differ from the prevailing opinion are misguided,
“blown by every wind of doctrine”, trivial, easily misled, even stuck in the
head.

But, I also note that the Latin “sententia” here translated “opinion” shares a
common root with other Latin words that mean: thought, sentiment, idea,
sensation, sentient, carefully, gradually, gently, feeling, self-awareness,
emotion, sentiment, attitude, understanding, judgment, viewpoint, meaning,
intent, plan of action, expression, sentence, motion, proposal, sense, maxim,
verdict, moral, to perceive with the senses, feel, hear, see, smell, realize,
observe, notice, experience, think, judge, vote, decide.

In other words, this group of “sense” words in Latin describe the entire human
package. So, is it so profound that for every “head” (i.e. individual) that
there is an entire package of human experience? Not at all—unless one wishes
to make that wrong—in which case, real damage is afoot.



Bob Patrick
(Used with permission)
Latin Proverb of the Day is now available on the web.