"Look at the bright side" in Latin

Question

When something "bad" happens to someone, a comforting message from another person my be "Look at the bright side: (at least) ...", then describing something positive that this "bad-event" brought with him. like:

We had an accident, but look on the bright side - no one was badly hurt.

I wonder how to convey this sense in Latin. We can briefly say at least or saltem (I believe) in Latin, but it less colorful, and I believe a similar phrase can be found in Latin.

The expression that came to mind is specta partem bonam, which sounds (to me at least) reasonable, but it becoming less attractive the deeper I look; for, first, I could not attest it, and second, in bonam partem accipere seems to be quite an idiomatic expression which like the Englsih "to take in good part" means "to not become too angry or upset about something" (M. Webster), so it feels in bonam parter spectare might mean something quite similar like "consider/regard this as not bad", which is not the sense we are looking for, which is rather more along the lines of "it is not good, but at least we can see some good angles in it". Moreover, according to L&S, bona pars might mean "for the great part" (DRN: inde bonam partem in lectum maerore dabantur.).

So maybe not pars, not bonus nor even specto are THE words to use here.

Answer 1

bona pars used on its own indeed means "a great part", and in bonam partem (accipere, interpretārī) has the meaning as you describe; therefore the Latin expression doesn't suit us even though the same metaphor (using words for "flank") is used in several Romance languages and is comprehensible if unidiomatic in Russian. I can think of a number of expressions that do work, however.

• First of all, the actual meaning of the phrase is an encouragement to be positive, and a good and common way to express this in Latin is bonō animō estō! (quod nēmō vulnerātus est!). Of course this implies that otherwise the addressee either was despairing or was about to, but it suits your example.
• Alternatively, we can rephrase this as "everything turned out (relativelly) well" (which I discuss in this answer). This gives us a number of literal expressions such as sed prosperē/fēlīciter ēvēnit, bene cessit/vertit quod... and sed rēs bene sē habuit et/atque nēmō..., or the actor-centered salvī ēvāsimus.
• Then there are expressions meaning "it is well" that can take a complement clause: bene habēt/est quod nēmō/nēminem...
• gaudendum est quod... "we should be happy that";
• Generic comforting expressions such as sine cūrā sīs, aliud cūrā, nē tē cruciēris;
• Or expressions of assurance such as ...sed omnia rēctē and salva rēs est (the latter is strongly positive).
• Finally we can go for an antonymic translation: ...sed nihil malī accidit (et nēmō vulnerātus est).
• Or for expressions of religious praise: (est) dīs grātia (cum). After all their function is likewise to reaffirm that even in bad circumstances there were good forces at play.

Answer 2

At least in your example*, 'look on the bright side' is a more positive way of expressing something like, 'still, it could have been worse' or 'still, it would have been worse if….'

With that in mind, another approach (supplementing Unbrutal_Russian's excellent list) would be to use something like (quanto) peius tamen [fuisset] si + pluperfect subjunctive – e.g.:

calamitas quidem nobis incidit; quanto tamen peius [fuisset] si quis gravissime vulneratus esset.

True, an accident befell us; still, how much worse [it would have been] if someone had been seriously wounded.

* Though not, e.g., in the exhortation 'Always look on the bright side of life' from Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Answer 3

Two words for side come to mind: latus and facies. But I'm not sure which one best covers it. And instead of an imperative you could use a gerundive. With conspicio as the verb, you get:

• Latus clarum conspiciendum
• Facies clara conspicienda