| Latin | Translation | Notes |
| labor ipse voluptas | The pleasure is in the work itself. | Motto of Peter King, 1st Baron King as mentioned within 'The Improvement of the Mind. To Which is Added, a discourse on the Education of Children and Youth' by Isaac Watts 1741. |
| labor omnia vincit | | Popular as a motto; derived from a phrase in Virgil's Eclogue ; a similar phrase also occurs in his Georgics I.145. |
| ' | To work, to fight; we are ready | Motto of the California Maritime Academy |
| ' | By labour and honour | |
| ' | Let us work for the fatherland | Motto of the Carlsberg breweries |
| ' | Games are the glory of work, | Motto of the Camborne School of Mines, Cornwall, UK |
| lacrimae rerum | The tears of things | Virgil, Aeneid 1:462 |
| lapsus | lapse, slip, error; involuntary mistake made while writing or speaking | |
| ' | inadvertent typographical error, slip of the pen | |
| ' | inadvertent speech error, slip of the tongue | |
| ' | slip of memory | source of the term memory lapse |
| | It is better to let the crime of the guilty go unpunished | |
| ' | praise to the end | Motto of Nottingham High School |
| ' | His Praise Remains unto Ages of Ages | Motto of Galway |
| ' | praiser of time past | One who is discontent with the present and instead prefers things of the past. In Horace's Ars Poetica, line 173; motto of |
| laudetur Jesus Christus | Praise Jesus Christ | Often used as a salutation, but also used after prayers or the reading of the gospel |
| laus Deo | praise be to God | Inscription on the east side at the peak of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.; motto of the Viscount of Arbuthnott and Sydney Grammar School; title of a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier commemorating the passage of the 13th Amendment |
| lectio brevior potior | The shorter reading is the better | A maxim in text criticism. Codified, but simultaneously refuted, by Johann Jakob Griesbach. |
| lectio difficilior potior | The more difficult reading is the stronger | |
| lectori salutem | greetings to the reader | Often abbreviated to L.S., used as opening words for a letter |
| lege artis | according to the law of the art | Denotes that a certain intervention is performed in a correct way. Used especially in a medical context. The 'art' referred to in the phrase is medicine. |
| legem terrae | the law of the land | |
| leges humanae nascuntur, vivunt, et moriuntur | laws of man are born, live and die | |
| leges sine moribus vanae | laws without morals vain | From Horace's Odes; motto of the University of Pennsylvania |
| legio patria nostra | The Legion is our fatherland | Motto of the French Foreign Legion |
| legi, intellexi, et condemnavi | I read, understood, and condemned. | |
| legis plenitudo charitas | charity is the fulfilment of the law | Motto of Ratcliffe College, UK and of the Rosmini College, NZ |
| legitime | lawfully | In Roman and civil law, a forced share in an estate; the portion of the decedent's estate from which the immediate family cannot be disinherited. From the French héritier legitime. |
| levavi oculos | I will lift my eyes | Motto of Hollins University and Keswick School, derived from Psalm 121. |
| lex artis | law of the skill | The rules that regulate a professional duty. |
| lex dei vitae lampas | the law of God is the lamp of life | Motto of the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne |
| Lex dilationes abhorret | The law abhors delay | |
| lex est quodcumque notamus | the law is whatever we write down | Motto of the Chamber of Notaries of Paris. Also lex est quod notamus. |
| lex ferenda | the law that should be borne | The law as it ought to be. |
| lex hac edictali | the law here proclaims | The rule whereby a spouse cannot by deed inter vivos or bequeath by testament to his or her second spouse more than the amount of the smallest portion given or bequeathed to any child. |
| lex in casu | law in the event | A law that only concerns one particular case. See law of the case. |
| lex lata | the law that has been borne | The law as it is. |
| lex loci | law of the place | |
| lex non scripta | law that has not been written | Unwritten law, or common law |
| lex orandi, lex credendi | the law of prayer is the law of faith | |
| lex paciferat | the law shall bring peace | Motto of the European Gendarmerie Force |
| lex parsimoniae | law of succinctness | also known as Occam's razor |
| lex rex | the law king | A principle of government advocating a rule by law rather than by men. The phrase originated as a double entendre in the title of Samuel Rutherford's controversial book Lex, Rex, which espoused a theory of limited government and constitutionalism. |
| lex scripta | written law | Statutory law; contrasted with lex non scripta |
| lex talionis | the law of retaliation | Retributive justice |
| libertas, justitia, veritas | Liberty Justice Truth | Motto of the Korea University and Free University of Berlin |
| Libertas perfundet omnia luce | Freedom will flood all things with light | Motto of the University of Barcelona and the Complutense University of Madrid |
| Libertas quae sera tamen | freedom which however late | Liberty even when it comes late; motto of Minas Gerais, Brazil |
| Libertas Securitas Justitia | Liberty Security Justice | Motto of the Frontex |
| libra | balance; scales | Its abbreviation lb is used as a unit of weight, the pound. |
| lignum crucis arbor scientiae | The wood of the cross is the tree of knowledge | School motto of Denstone College |
| littera scripta manet | The written word endures | Attributed to Horace. Motto of the National Archives and Records Administration. |
| loco citato | in the place cited | More fully written in loco citato; see also opere citato |
| locum tenens | place holder | A worker who temporarily takes the place of another with similar qualifications, for example as a doctor or a member of the clergy; usually shortened to locum. |
| ' | a classic place | The most typical or classic case of something; quotation which most typifies its use. |
| ' | place of less resistance | A medical term to describe a location on or in a body that offers little resistance to infection, damage, or injury. For example, a weakened place that tends to be reinjured. |
| ' | a place of repentance | A legal term, it is the opportunity of withdrawing from a projected contract, before the parties are finally bound; or of abandoning the intention of committing a crime, before it has been completed. |
| ' | place of the seal | the area on a contract where the seal is to be affixed |
| locus standi | A right to stand | Standing in law |
| longissimus dies cito conditur | even the longest day soon ends | Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 9/36:4 |
| lorem ipsum | | A garbled version of a passage from Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum, widely used as a sample text for greeking. The original passage reads ...neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum, quia dolor sit amet consectetur adipisci velit.... |
| luce veritatis | By the light of truth | School motto of Queen Margaret College |
| luceat lux vestra | Let your light shine | From Matthew Ch. 5 V. 16; popular as a school motto |
| lucem sequimur | We follow the light | Motto of the University of Exeter |
| luceo non uro | I shine, not burn | Motto of the Highland Scots Clan Mackenzie |
| lucida sidera | The shining stars | Horace, Carmina 1/3:2 |
| luctor et emergo | I struggle and emerge | Motto of the Dutch province of Zeeland to denote its battle against the sea, and the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame |
| Luctor, non mergor | I struggle, but am not overwhelmed | Motto of the Glass Family |
| lucus a non lucendo | a "grove" because it is not lit | From late 4th-century grammarian Honoratus Maurus, who sought to mock implausible word origins such as those proposed by Priscian. It is a jesting suggestion that since the word lucus has a similar appearance to the verb lucere, the former word is derived from the latter word because of a lack of light in wooded groves. Often used as an example of absurd etymology, it derives from parum luceat by Quintilian in Institutio Oratoria. |
| ludemus bene in compania | We play well in groups | Motto of the Barony of Marinus |
| lupus est homo homini | A man to a man is a wolf | Plautus' adaptation of an old Roman proverb: homo homini lupus est. In Asinaria, act II, scene IV, verse 89 . Lupus est homo homini, non homo, quom qualis sit non novit |
| lupus in fabula | the wolf in the story | With the meaning "speak of the wolf, and he will come"; from Terence's play Adelphoe. |
| lupus non mordet lupum | a wolf does not bite a wolf | |
| lupus non timet canem latrantem | a wolf is not afraid of a barking dog | |
| lux aeterna | eternal light | epitaph |
| lux et lex | light and law | Motto of the Franklin & Marshall College and the University of North Dakota |
| lux et veritas | light and truth | A translation of the Hebrew Urim and Thummim. Motto of several institutions, including Yale University. |
| lux ex tenebris | light from darkness | Motto of the 67th Network Warfare Wing |
| lux hominum vita | light the life of man | Motto of the University of New Mexico |
| lux in Domino | light in the Lord | Motto of the Ateneo de Manila University |
| lux in tenebris lucet | The light that shines in the darkness | Motto of Columbia University School of General Studies Also: John 1:5. |
| lux libertas | light and liberty | Motto of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| Lux mentis Lux orbis | Light of the mind, Light of the world | Motto of Sonoma State University |
| lux sit | let there be light | A more literal Latinization of the phrase; the most common translation is fiat lux, from Latin Vulgate Bible phrase chosen for the Genesis line "וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר". Motto of the University of Washington. |
| lux tua nos ducat | Your light guides us | |
| lux, veritas, virtus | light, truth, courage | Motto of Northeastern University |
| lux, vita, caritas | light, life, love | Motto of St John's College, Johannesburg |