Chapter 475 Allen and Greenough's Latin Grammar Dickinson College Christopher Francese

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The Perfect is sometimes used of a general truth , especially with negatives ( Gnomic Perfect ):— quī studet contingere mētam multa tulit fēcit que (Hor. A. P. 412) , he who aims to reach the goal, first bears and does many things. nōn aeris acervus et aurī dēdūxit corpore febrīs ( id . Ep. 1.2.47), the pile of brass and gold removes not fever from the frame. The gnomic perfect strictly refers to past time; but its use implies that something which never did happen in any known case never does happen, and never will (cf. the English “ Faint heart never won fair lady” ); or, without a negative that what has once happened will always happen under similar circumstances.

The Perfect is often used in expressions containing or implying a negation , where in affirmation the Imperfect would be preferred:— dīcēbat melius quam scrīpsit Hortēnsius (Or. 132) , Hortensius spoke better than he wrote. [Here the negative is implied in the comparison: compare the use of quisquam , ūllus , etc. (§§ 311 , 312), and the French ne after comparatives and superlatives.]

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