Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus videat; sic loquere cum deo tamquam homines audiant
“Live among people as if God were watching; speak with God as if people were listening.”
Seneca, Epistulae morales 10.5
What does “Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus videat; sic loquere cum deo tamquam homines audiant” mean?
Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus videat; sic loquere cum deo tamquam homines audiant translates as “Live among people as if God were watching; speak with God as if people were listening.”
Act with integrity even when no one seems to be watching, and pray with sincerity as if your words were public. Seneca links private and public honesty.
“Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus …” word by word
| Latin | English | Grammar |
|---|---|---|
| Sic | in this way, so | adverb; points forward to the “tamquam” clause that follows |
| vive | live! | singular command (imperative) of vivo, “I live”; addressed to one person |
| cum | with, among | preposition that takes the ablative case |
| hominibus | people | ablative plural of homo, “human being” |
| tamquam | as if | conjunction; introduces an imagined situation and takes the subjunctive |
| deus | God, a god | nominative singular of deus, “god”; the subject of videat |
| videat | were watching | present subjunctive active of video, “I see”; third person singular, after tamquam |
| sic | in this way, so | adverb, repeating the first sic to make the two halves parallel |
| loquere | speak! | singular command (imperative) of loquor, “I speak” (a deponent verb: passive form, active meaning) |
| cum | with | preposition that takes the ablative case |
| deo | God, a god | ablative singular of deus, “god” |
| tamquam | as if | conjunction; introduces an imagined situation and takes the subjunctive |
| homines | people | nominative plural of homo; the subject of audiant |
| audiant | were listening | present subjunctive (active) of audio, “I hear, listen”; third person plural |
How to pronounce “Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus …”
Classical Latin says v as w and keeps the h of hominibus and homines; Church Latin says v as v and leaves the h silent. Sic has a long vowel in both (seek). Stress falls on the second syllable of hominibus and on the first syllable of vive, videat, loquere and audiant.
The story behind it
Word for word the line says “so live with people as if a god were watching; so speak with God as if people were listening”. The Latin deus can be read as “a god” or “God”, and the English translation uses “God”.
The sentence comes from Seneca’s Epistulae morales, his Moral Letters to Lucilius, written in the 60s AD. In Letter 10 Seneca first cites the philosopher Athenodorus, who said that a person is free of desires only when he asks the gods for nothing he could not ask for openly, and then sums up the lesson in this two-part precept.
The two halves mirror each other. Outwardly, act as if you were always observed by something higher; inwardly, speak to the divine with the plain honesty you would show in front of others. Seneca’s point is that private and public conduct should not differ.
Modern readers use the line in sermons, journals and talks on integrity, usually in an English paraphrase.
How to use “Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus …”
Suits a personal journal, a sermon or talk on integrity, or a personal motto for anyone who wants private and public conduct to match. It is long for a tattoo, so a shortened form needs care.
- Latin
- Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus videat; sic loquere cum deo tamquam homines audiant
- English
- Live among people as if God were watching; speak with God as if people were listening.
- Source
- Seneca, Epistulae morales 10.5
- Era
- Classical
- Theme
- Integrity
Common mistakes
- Sic vive and sic loquere are commands to one person. To address a group, the endings change to vivite and loquimini.
- The verbs videat and audiant are subjunctives after tamquam, meaning “as if” something were happening. They are not plain statements that God does watch and people do listen.
- Translations vary between “God”, “a god” and “the gods”. Seneca’s Latin has the singular deus, so “the gods” is a loose rendering.
- Citing only half of the sentence loses the balance. The first half is about conduct, the second about prayer.
Questions about “Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus …”
What does “Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus videat” mean literally?
“So live with people as if a god were watching.” It is the first half of a two-part saying about behaving honestly in public and in private.
Who said “Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus videat”?
Seneca, in his Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 10, section 5. Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher of the first century AD.
How do you pronounce “Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus videat”?
In Classical style: seek WEE-weh koom hoh-MIH-nih-boos TAM-kwam DEH-oos WIH-deh-aht. In Church style the v sounds like an English v and the h of hominibus is silent.
Is “Sic vive cum hominibus tamquam deus videat” correct Latin for a tattoo or motto?
Yes, the grammar is sound. It is long, so choose one half or the full line deliberately, and use the singular commands only for one person.
More to explore
Translation and grammar checked by Latin Quoter · last reviewed November 2026
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