List of sundial mottos



Many sundials bear a motto to reflect the sentiments of its maker or owner.

English mottos

 * Be as true to each other as this dial is to the sun.
 * Begone about Thy business.
 * Come along and grow old with me; the best is yet to be.
 * Hours fly, Flowers die. New days, New ways, Pass by. Love stays.
 * Hours fly, Flowers bloom and die. Old days, Old ways pass. Love stays.
 * I only tell of sunny hours.
 * I count only sunny hours.
 * Let others tell of storms and showers, I tell of sunny morning hours.
 * Let others tell of storms and showers, I'll only count your sunny hours. Has date of 1767
 * Life is but a shadow: the shadow of a bird on the wing.
 * Self-dependent power can time defy, as rocks resist the billows and the sky.
 * Time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away.
 * Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow
 * When I am gone, mark not the passing of the hours, but just that love lives on.
 * The Concern of the Rich and the Poor
 * Time Takes All But Memories
 * Some tell of storms and showers, I tell of sunny hours.
 * Order in the court!
 * Like true firemen, I am always ready.

Time flies

 * Hora fugit, ne tardes. (The hour flees, do not be late.)
 * Ruit hora. (The hour is flowing away.)
 * Tempus breve est. (Time is short.)
 * Tempus fugit [velut umbra]. (Time flees [like a shadow].)
 * Tempus volat, hora fugit. (Time flies, the hour flees.)

Make use of time

 * Altera pars otio, pars ista labori. (Devote this [hour] to work, another to leisure.)
 * Festina lente. (Make haste, but slowly.)
 * [Fugit hora] – carpe diem. ([The hour flees] – seize the day.)
 * Utere, non numera. (Use [the hours], do not count [them].)
 * Utere non reditura. (Use that [hour] which will not return.)

Human mortality

 * Ex iis unam cave. (Beware of one [hour] out of these.)
 * Lente hora, celeriter anni. (An hour [passes] slowly, but the years [pass] quickly.)
 * Meam vide umbram, tuam videbis vitam. (Look at my shadow and you will see your life.)
 * Memor esto brevis ævi. (Be mindful of brief life.)
 * Mox nox. (Soon [it is] night.)
 * Tuam nescis (You don't know your [time].)
 * [Nobis] pereunt et imputantur. ([The hours] are consumed and will be charged [to our account].)
 * Omnes vulnerant, ultima necat. (All [hours] wound; the last kills.)
 * [Pulvis et] umbra sumus. (We are [dust and] shadow.)
 * Serius est quam cogitas. (It is later than you think.)
 * Sic labitur ætas. (Thus passes a lifetime.)
 * Sic vita fluit, dum stare videtur. (Life flows away as it seems to stay the same.)
 * Ultima latet ut observentur omnes. (The last [hour] is hidden so that we watch them all.)
 * Umbra sicut hominis vita. (A person's life is like a shadow.)
 * Una ex his erit tibi ultima. (One of these [hours] will be your last.)
 * Ver non semper viret. (Spring is not always in bloom.)
 * Vita fugit, sicut umbra (Life passes like the shadow.)
 * Vita similis umbræ. (Life resembles a shadow.)

Transience

 * Tempus edax rerum. (Time devours things.)
 * Tempus vincit omnia. (Time conquers everything.)
 * Vidi nihil permanere sub sole. (I have seen that nothing under the sun endures.)

Virtue

 * Dum tempus habemus operemur bonum. (While we have time, let us do good.)
 * Omnes æquales sola virtute discrepantes. (All [hours] are the same; they are distinguished only by virtue.)

Living

 * Amicis qualibet hora. (Any hour for my friends.)
 * Dona præsentis cape lætus horæ [ac linque severe]. (Take the gifts of this hour joyfully [and leave them sternly].)
 * Fruere hora. (Enjoy the hour.)
 * Post tenebras spero lucem. (I hope for light to follow darkness.)
 * Semper amicis hora. (Always time for friends.)
 * Sit fausta quæ labitur. (May that which passes be favorable.)
 * Sol omnibus lucet. (The sun shines for all.)
 * Tempus omnia dabit. (Time will give all.)
 * Una dabit quod negat altera. (One [hour] will give what another has refused.)
 * Vita in motu. (Life [is] in motion.)
 * Vivere memento. (Remember to live.)

Humorous

 * Horas non numero nisi æstivas. (I do not count the hours unless they are in summer.)
 * Horas non numero nisi serenas. (I do not count the hours unless they are sunny.)
 * Nunc est bibendum. (Now is the time to drink.)
 * Si sol deficit, respicit me nemo. (If the sun is gone, nobody will look at me.)
 * Sine sole sileo. (Without the sun I fall silent.)

German mottos

 * Mach' es wie die Sonnenuhr; Zähl' die heitren Stunden nur! (Do like a sundial; count only the sunny hours!)