De gustibus non est disputandum, or de gustibus non disputandum est, is a Latin maxim meaning "In matters of taste, there can be no disputes" (literally "about tastes, it is not to be disputed"). The phrase is commonly rendered in English as "There is no accounting for taste(s)."
Origin
One known use of the phrase is in a legal text of 1628: Repetitio legis Imperialem de prohibita feudi alienat. per Fridericum: cum summariis & indice locupletissimo, by Horatius Montanus (Naples, Secondino Roncagliolo, 1628).
The author gives the example of a vassal's duty to his lord, and considers whether the vassal discharges his duty if he disobeys his lord's instructions (to purchase a particular house), but instead buys another house of much greater value for the same price. He concludes that you cannot legally argue whether the vassal has discharged his duty until you know the Lord's attitude to the decision—because no legal argument can be made about what people may prefer.
Mando tibi, ut emas mihi domum Seianam centum; & tu Titianam maioris valoris emis minori pretio centum; affectio mandantis est incerta re, quia de gustibus non est disputandum; merito non valet actus, & præfertur voluntas interesse nummario; quod ego non negabo; dico tamen, quòd dum Dominus assentit vassallo, ut vendat; principaliter eius intentius est, prodesse vasallo; nisi aliud appareat ex circumstantiis concurrentibus; & tunc ubi aliud non appareat, potest actus explicari à vassalo alio modo, quo fuit permissus; ut bene probatur ex d. §. sed si permiserit: at ubi ex circumstantiis constat,assensisse ad certum finem, & causam; tunc, nisi fiat eo modo, quo Dominus vult, assensus nil præstat: quia repugnat voluntati assentientis.
The phrase is misquoted in Act I of Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull. The character Shamrayev conflates it with the phrase de mortuis nil nisi bonum (in the alternative form: de mortuis, aut bene aut nihil: "of the dead, either good or nothing"), resulting in "de gustibus aut bene, aut nihil", "Let nothing be said of taste but what is good."
See also
References
- "De gustibus non est disputandum". The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002
- "de gustibus non est disputandum". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
- Bartlett, John (1992). Familiar Quotations (16 ed.). Boston: Little, Brown. p. 118. ISBN 0-316-08277-5.
- p. 31
- Chekhov, Anton (1997). "Introduction". The Seagull. trans. by Stephen Mulrine. London: Nick Hern Books Ltd. pp. xvii. ISBN 1-85459-193-2.
External links
The dictionary definition of de gustibus non est disputandum at Wiktionary
