Translation of sentences from English to Latin

Question

Can anyone help me translate the following sentences from English to Latin?

Never lose hope. Who knows what tomorrow brings?

Thank you!

Answer 1

If you’re addressing one person:

Noli desperare. Quis scit quid cras futurum sit?

If you’re addressing more than one person:

Nolite desperare. Quis scit quid cras futurum sit?

The first sentence, noli desperare, just means “don’t give up hope, don’t despair.” Desperare is related to the noun spes, “hope.” There are other ways in Latin to say this, ne desperes, ne desperaveris, but noli desperare is simple and common, and the construction may be familiar to many people from the phrase noli me tangere, “don’t touch me,” which appears in the New Testament and has become descriptive of certain iconic images in Christian art.

There’s another phrase, nil desperandum, used by the poet Horace, that means “nothing to despair.” Here’s his Ode 1.7.7:

Nil desperandum Teucro duce et auspice Teucro.

There’s nothing to despair with Teucer as your leader and Teucer as your guide.

But I think noli desperare fits your sentiment a bit better; its more direct.

With reference to your second sentence, Cicero uses the phrase quid futurum sit (literally “what will be”) at least a couple of times. Here’s Epistulae ad Familiares 12.22:

Quid futurum sit plane nescio.

I have no idea what’s going to happen.

And de Natura Deorum 3.14:

Saepe autem ne utile quidem est scire quid futurum sit.

But often it’s not even useful to know what’s going to happen.

And here in Ode 1.9.13 Horace adds the adverb cras, “tomorrow”:

Quid sit futurum cras fuge quaerere.

Forget about trying to figure out what’s going to happen tomorrow.

I hope this helps.