Ubi sunt

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Ubi sunt (lit. 'where are they') is a rhetorical question taken from the Latin phrase Ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt?, meaning 'Where are those who were before us?'. Ubi nunc (lit. 'where now') is a common variant.^[1]

Sometimes interpreted to indicate nostalgia, the ubi sunt motif is a meditation on mortality and life's transience.

Ubi sunt is a phrase which was originally derived from a passage in the Book of Baruch (3:16–19) in the Vulgate Latin Bible beginning Ubi sunt principes gentium? 'Where are the princes of the nations?'. It became commonplace in medieval literature.