Nil Magis Nostrum Est Quam Tempus
Nil magis est nostrum volucris quam temporis usus,
Sed multis tamquam res aliena volat.
Source: Michaelis Verinus (c.1469-c.1487), Disticha. Meter: Elegiac. The quam here expresses the comparison: nil magis est nostrum ... quam....
There is nothing more our own (Nil magis est nostrum) than the use of time (quam temporis usus) as it flies (volucris), but for many (sed multis) it flies (volat) as if it was a thing that belonging to someone else ( tamquam res aliena).
The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There is only one word in this poem that is not on the DCC list:
volō, volāre: fly
aliēnus -a -um: foreign, strange
magis: more
multus -a -um: much, many; multō, by far
nihil, nīl: nothing; not at all
noster nostra nostrum: our
quam: how?; (after comparative) than
rēs reī f.: thing (rēs pūblica, commonwealth; rēs familiāris, family property, estate; rēs mīlitāris, art of war; rēs novae, revolution)
sed: but
sum, esse, fuī: be, exist
tamquam: so as, just as
tempus -oris n.: time
ūsus -ūs m.: use, experience
volucer -cris -cre: flying; volucris -is m./f.: bird
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