# Can someone please translate this Latin phrase for me?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-please-translate-this-latin-phrase-for-me/630667>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 6, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-please-translate-this-latin-phrase-for-me/630667 "2012-08-06T22:47:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-please-translate-this-latin-phrase-for-me/630667/1 "2012-08-06T22:47:07Z")

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Can someone please translate this phrase into English for me? Thank you. 😕

Res est moderata qualitate materiae suae, non dignitate tituli

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**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-please-translate-this-latin-phrase-for-me/630667/2 "2012-08-07T02:02:23Z")

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Google Translate says: “It is a moderate nature of the material of his own, not the dignity of the title”

My wild guess is that it means something like: “You should care what kind of person that is, not what his title is.” or “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

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**Author:** ![Vaevictis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f04885/32.png) [@Vaevictis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaevictis)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-please-translate-this-latin-phrase-for-me/630667/3 "2012-08-09T00:31:31Z")

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A thing is governed by the quality of what it is made from, not by the distinction of its label.