Sapere Aude

The original contextual use of the phrase “Sapere Aude” is the moral to a story in which a fool waits for a stream to cease flowing before attempting to cross it. In saying, “He who begins is half done. Dare to know, begin!” Horace suggests the value of human endeavour, of persistence in reaching a goal, as well as of the need for effort to overcome obstacles. Moreover, the laconic Latin of “Sapere aude” also could be loosely translated into the English phrase “Dare to be wise” in the humanistic sense of exhorting the courage to use one’s own reason.

Dimidium facti, qui coepit, habet; sapere aude, incipe. －Epistularum Liber Primus ab Quintus Horatius Flaccus (“Horace”), 20 ʙ.ᴄ.ᴇ.