[caption id=“attachment_3371” align=“alignleft” width=“213”] Seal of South Carolina[/caption]

This is the second piece in our series Monthly Latin - one Latin phrase or quotation a month. Our fascination of this old language may very well keep it alive for centuries to come. The person who is behind the quotation will be revealed only at the end of the article, so remember to scroll down slowly.

Dum spiro, spero

And this translates While I breath, I hope. The sentence is naturally a manifestation of optimism, for as long as there is life (in me), I never lose hope, but keep on believing that anything is possible and achievable. A more general translation would be While there is life, there is hope.

But who said that? Do we know?

It is adhered to both Theocritus (died c.270 BC) and Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), but more commonly to the latter. It is a motto used extensively worldwide, and one that certainly any of us can identify with. For we all breath, and we - hopefully - all hope.