I saw a tattoo....

[christee]

.. which was a Latin phrase:

   'Vitam habet quis differens audet'

any takers for a translation?  I'm wondering if the guy who as wearing it knew what it meant, or actually said, as it was in 3 inch high letters across his back!

[Quizmonster]

He who dares (to act) differently has a life. Well, that's my stab at it.

[Romeo]

Who dares wins (motto of the SAS).

[Quizmonster]

I should have thought the Latin for "Who dares wins" would be "Quis audet, vincit."

[Quizmonster]

Perhaps that should have been "Qui audet, vincit", without the 's' at the end of 'qui'.

[bernardo]

Shouldn't it also be "Vitam habet qui differens audet"?  i.e. "he has life who different(ly) dares"?  Or is it necessary to genitivise the qui in order to adverbify the differens?

[Quizmonster]

As best I recall it, B - it is half a century ago! - 'qui' is the relative pronoun form, as in: 'This is the man who asked about you', whereas 'quis' is the interrogative form, as in: 'Who did you say called?' 
On that basis, I agree that 'qui' is the required form here, which is why I altered it so to read. My use of 'perhaps' was a reflection of my uncertainty at the time. Mind you, at least I'm not wandering the world with an indelible grammatical mistake on my back!

[Peter Pedant]

Clearly boys and girls the meaning is whoever

or every one who....

and I thought that would be quisque - but der daah - reading my trusty kennedy's latin primer, para 52, quisque is each one severally

and whoever - would be quisquis.

quis - can also I read on the next page be - and indefinite

Both verbs are indicative which I find kinda odd.

he has life who dares (to be) different.

Differens is a present participle of differo and agrees with the subject of audet.

[Quizmonster]

Somehow, "Whoever dares, wins" doesn't have quite the same ring to it! Nor does "Whoever would true valour see, let him come hither" and a host of similar sayings. 'Whoever' is no different in effect from 'he who' or even just 'who' - used appropriately - in my opinion.
Sorry, PP, but I can't see that your eventual translation differs in any significant way from the one I offered at the top of the page.

[woofgang]

well yeah but check out the username..... ;-)

[blingbling]

No no it translates as........ " My other Tattoo is a Dolphin "