A while ago I saw a video with a girl carrying a keychain that had the latin translation of “I know what’s best but I do the opposite”. I can’t find the girl again nor can I find a translation of this online. Does anyone know the translation?
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4According to the original the tiktok, CNread's answer is right.– NeutraumCommented Oct 23 at 4:56
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2 Answers
This is likely translating lines 20-21 in book 7 of Ovid's Metamorphoses, recounting the story of Jason and Medea:
video meliora proboque,
deteriora sequor.
I see and approve of what's better, (but) I follow what's worse.
That sounds like what Paul said in Romans 7:15:
Quod volo hoc ago sed quod odi illud facio.
I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Or Romans 7:19:
Non enim quod volo bonum, hoc facio: sed quod nolo malum, hoc ago.
For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do.
answered Oct 5 at 10:30
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2This must surely be the more well-known reference, rather than the one by Ovid.– R.P.Commented Oct 7 at 14:26
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2@Cerberus: No literary work has had more impact on modern civilization than the Holy Scriptures. And, no, the Apostle Paul wasn't showing off his scholarship. He was speaking of his personal struggle with sin. Commented Oct 14 at 11:34
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1@ExpeditoBipes: Why would he not have been influenced by Ovid?– Cerberus ♦Commented Oct 15 at 19:21
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3@R.P. I think it says more about what circles one runs in. I had the opposite experience as you, but I do not regularly consume Christian media.– cmw ♦Commented Oct 22 at 8:01
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3@R.P. Check the comment on the question. Turns out it was a quote of Ovid after all.– cmw ♦Commented Oct 23 at 5:55