nihil

Example Sentences

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In the early 3rd century, biographer Diogenes Laërtius attributed the phrase “do not speak ill of the dead” to philosopher Chilon of Sparta, later popularized in Latin as De mortuis nihil nisi bonum.

From Washington Post • Aug. 28, 2018

He once wrote, “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.”

From The Guardian • Nov. 9, 2016

This emergence of subjective feelings from physical stuff appears inconceivable and is at odds with a basic precept of physical thinking, the Ur-conservation law—ex nihilo nihil fit.

From Scientific American • Jan. 1, 2014

De mortuis nihil nisi bonum: Of the dead say nothing unless it is kind.

From Slate • Aug. 2, 2012

Postumius notices the old prohibition of foreign rites, and thus explains it:—“Judicabant enim prudentissimi viri omnis divini humanique juris, nihil æque dissolvendæ religionis esse, quam ubi non patrio sed externo ritu sacrificaretur.”

From History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne (Vol. 1 of 2) by Lecky, William Edward Hartpole