The begining of the full Latin phrase: "
tempus fugit, memento mori".
Time flies away, death ought to be remembered.
This
motto is written on the banner of the
Knights of Columbus, and thereby has accompanied countless
beef and beer benefits,
bingo games, and
wedding receptions.
In the
Middle Ages, this sentiment was reinforced by
macbre images,
memento mori, of
corpses, skeletons, death heads, and graphic depictions of decomposition; these were intended to frighten the viewer into remembering the briefness of this life, and the coming
dissolution of the body.
A French doctor, in the service of King Louis VI(around 1130), had this inscription, his
memento mori, engraved into the cloister of Saint-Victor in
Paris:
What we were, you are. What we are, you will become...