I have tried using this phrase many times to cheer people up when they were down, but only later did I realize that I had caused much more confusion than healing. Of course, I was very happy when one of the people I said it to actually said it back to me, years later, when I least expected it. In fact, it had been so long that I had forgotten its meaning and asked this same person to explain it to me. He laughed. I paused for a very long time, thought about it, then laughed with that "I'm a fool" kind of look on my face.

This is also a good phrase to use if you want to sound well-educated and snobby, with a little edge of common inspiration once you get past all the Latin hooplah. There really are a lot of bastards out there, and they really do get you down, and you really should ignore them. And yes, I did get it from The Catcher in the Rye, not from any knowledge of the Latin language. I bet I had you thinking I was pretty damn pretentious for a while, didn't I? :)

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Thanks Baffo - i had no idea it wasn't Latin! I guess that's what you get for stealing the words of a reclusive shit-disturber!

Let me pick a nit: that is not Latin. It is not even Church Latin, or postclassical. It is just a made up Latin-looking sentence, as it is apparent to anyone who has studied Latin.
I feel that it is important to state that I am not a character from a Margaret Atwood book. I am quite real - as far as I can tell. But let us not be drawn into Borgesian labyrinths of solipsism.