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Per aspera ad astra.

Latin proverb

PhilosophyProverbs

The story behind the card

The motto means 'through hardships to the stars'. No Roman author wrote it in exactly this form; it grew from older lines. Virgil's Aeneid (1st century BC) has 'sic itur ad astra', 'this is the way to the stars', and Seneca's tragedy Hercules Furens says there is no easy road from the earth to the stars. Today the phrase and its variants are the mottoes of schools, air forces and the U.S. state of Kansas, whose version reverses the order: 'Ad astra per aspera'.

Türkçe oku
Per aspera ad astra: zorluklardan yıldızlara.
Latince atasözü

Motto, “zorluklardan geçerek yıldızlara” anlamına gelir. Hiçbir Romalı yazar onu tam bu biçimde yazmadı; söz daha eski dizelerden doğdu. Vergilius'un MÖ 1. yüzyılda yazdığı Aeneis destanında “sic itur ad astra”, yani “yıldızlara böyle gidilir” dizesi geçer; Seneca'nın Hercules Furens adlı tragedyasında da yeryüzünden yıldızlara giden yolun kolay olmadığı söylenir. Bugün bu söz ve türevleri okulların, hava kuvvetlerinin ve ABD'nin Kansas eyaletinin mottosudur; Kansas sıralamayı tersine çevirip “Ad astra per aspera” der.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Ad astra
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