Verba volant, scripta manent

Verba volant, scripta manent is a Latin proverb. Literally translated, it means "spoken words fly away, written words remain".

This phrase seems to come from a speech of Caius Titus of the Roman Senate,^[1] who suggests that spoken words might easily be forgotten, but written documents can always be conclusive in public matters. A related meaning is that if two people want to establish a formal agreement about something, it is better to put it in writing, rather than just having an oral agreement. It could also to refer to the subsequent increase in recalling words that are written down than those that are merely spoken or thought about.

References

1. Jean-Pierre Bois, Centre de recherches sur l'histoire du monde atlantique, Université de Nantes (2004). Dialogue militaire entre anciens et modernes. Presses universitaires de Rennes. ISBN 2-7535-0078-9.