Author's Note: 5 Study and Prayers to Create Life with One Hand

Chapter 1 With all my heart Ex toto corde
:15 Lovely and Emotional Phrases You'll Want to Send in a Handwritten Letter

Chapter 2: Providence, Fate, and What Is Within Us
De providentia et fato et eo quod in nobis
:67 Wise Quotes for the Intelligent Soul

Chapter 3: On Diligently Improving Our Whole Life
De ferventi emendatione totius vitae
:125 Sentences of Enlightenment That Awaken Me

Chapter 4 Against the Enemy Contra hostem
:219 Sentences to Carve When Relationships Feel Difficult and Fearful

Chapter 5 Who is wounded without a cause? Cui sine causa vulnera?
:275 Sentences of Appeal and Lament to Cry on My Soul's Behalf in Times of Trouble

Chapter 6: On Overcoming Trials De resistendis tentationibus
:303 Sentences of Hope and Salvation That Keep Me Alive

『Latin Lessons』, which has surpassed 100 printings, is engraved in the heart by Han Dong-il
The oldest and most beautiful Latin sentence in the world

“Et miratur alia,
cum sit ipse mirator magnum miraculum.
I am amazed at other things,
“In fact, you, who are amazed, are the greatest miracle.”

The most representative group of people who worked hardest in the history of mankind were the monks of monasteries.
Author Han Dong-il says that for monks, “copying was a path and a job.”
But in this cutting-edge digital age, the extremely slow and analog act of writing each Chinese character by hand seems at first glance to be out of place for modern people.
However, author Han Dong-il demonstrates through his own life how powerful this classic act can be in the face of life's various crises and trials.
Even in the Rota Romana exam hall, where he had to write 20 A4 pages a day and sit for a full 12 hours, he passed the exam, which was notorious for its terrifying pressure and difficulty, relying on the power of Latin sentences that had seeped into his hands and become so familiar that they eventually flowed out of his fingertips.
He says from his own experience that studying is not done with the head but with the strength of the hands, and that only 'studying with the hands', not the mouth, eyes, or brain, can be used even under extreme stress.
Sometimes, when he was not a scholar seeking the truth, but just a weak and struggling human being, crushed by depression and despair, and his daily life was falling apart, author Han Dong-il confesses that it was the wisdom and strength contained in the countless Latin sentences he wrote down while sitting at his desk, straightening his back, that saved him.


We've all probably had that experience of feeling uncontrollably nervous when taking a big, life-or-death test.
My heart is pounding and my brain is in disarray.
But even in that crisis, the hand remembers.
The studies you did, the time you endured silently, the writing you wrote one day while suppressing your pain and enduring your play.
Hands don't lie and remember our efforts.
There's no point in praying that you won't be nervous when you're obviously nervous in the exam room or brainwashing yourself into thinking you're not nervous at all.
I recommend that if you're nervous when you go into the exam room, just sit there and do nothing for about five minutes.
I take a deep breath and dive into the memories within me.
And what happens next is important.
Rather than what your head remembers, just follow what your hands remember and write it down.
This is how I passed the extremely difficult exam at Rota Romana.
_From the author's note

The world of Latin transcription, where sentences and life blossom through diligent hand movements.

“Cavete, animum amittatis
“Be careful not to lose heart.”

Latin, the oldest language and thought system of mankind, contains a philosophy as profound as its history in its sentences.
The Latin phrases carefully selected by author Han Dong-il do not simply convey messages of warm hope or comfort.
Sometimes, through the voice of sharp reflection and rebuke, the author allows readers who follow the sentences to look at themselves objectively, and sometimes, it becomes the Big Dipper shining high above, helping those who are experiencing loss and frustration to maintain their direction and look at their entire lives.
Author Han Dong-il has compiled Latin phrases of faith and hope, which will help us hold on to our hands and lives that could crumble and become blank sheets at any moment in the testing ground of life, into this book, divided into six crises and themes.
When I feel desperate and shaken by love and people, when I must mobilize all my experience and wisdom to overcome hardship, when I must pick myself up from the bottomless pit and reform my life, when I must fight against cruel and harsh enemies, when it feels like I am sinking into the bottomless pit, and yet, I must continue to live and endure in it all… …

『Han Dong-il's Latin Manuscript Notes』 contains Latin sentences that will firmly hold a person's life.
Each page includes the original Latin text, pronunciation, and Korean meaning side by side, and for some Latin sentences, the origin and usage of the sentence, episodes related to the author, and even the defining moments in humanity that the sentence evoked are recorded in an engaging way.
Additionally, a separate chapter called 'Desperate Prayer' was created so that the author, Dong-il Han, could write down by hand the prayers he memorized over and over again throughout his life.
This manuscript notebook, which includes handwritten notes by author Han Dong-il, was created with a nude-thread binding method to allow readers to write comfortably and immerse themselves in the pleasure of writing even more.


This book will only be complete when the blanks are filled in with your own writing.


“Do tibi hunc librum legendum.
Utere felix!
I give you this book.
“Read and be happy!”

I dedicate these words of faith and hope, which held my hands and my life together when my hands trembled in the testing ground of life, to you who will face countless tensions and crises in life.
Before these words of age-old wisdom, your trembling will subside and excitement will begin.
Latin, the mysterious language that has lived far longer than we do today, embracing countless lives and loves, has now become my prayer and my best friend. I am grateful for Latin.
The only way I can love Latin more is to pick up my pen and write and write.
- From the author's note