Meanings
- There are as many opinions as there are people who hold them.
Different auditors, as he observes, have different habitudes; so that, were we to put this assertion to the proof by particular applications, we should possibly find quot homines tot sententiæ.
1995, Brian Vickers, William Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, page 133
Origin
From Latin, echoing line 454 of Terence’s Phormio: quot (“how many”) + hominēs (“men”, “people”; nominative plural form of homō: “man”, “person”) + tot (“so many”) + sententiae (“opinions”, “thoughts”; nominative plural form of sententia: “opinion”, “thought”).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
quot homines tot sententiæ. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quot%20homines%20tot%20sententi%C3%A6
“quot homines tot sententiæ.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quot%20homines%20tot%20sententi%C3%A6. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “quot homines tot sententiæ,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quot%20homines%20tot%20sententi%C3%A6.
Source: quot homines tot sententiæ on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.