Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi is a Latin phrase, literally "What is permissible for Jupiter is not permissible for a cow". The locus classicus (origin) for the phrase is the novella Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing (1826) by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, although it is not entirely clear that Eichendorff coined the phrase himself. In his play Heauton Timorumenos , [1] Terence, a playwright of the Roman Republic, coined a similar phrase, Aliis si licet, tibi non licet ("to others it is permitted; to you it is not permitted").
The phrase is often translated as "Gods may do what cattle may not".[ citation needed ] It indicates the existence of a double standard (justifiable or otherwise), and essentially means "what is permitted to one important person or group, is not permitted to everyone." [2]
Hannah Arendt used the phrase as a title and theme for a well-known profile of Bertolt Brecht. [3] [4] [5]