quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[ kwis koo-stoh-dee-et ip-sohs koo-stoh-deys; English kwis kuh-stoh-dee-it ip-sohs kuh-stoh-deez ]

Latin.

1. who shall keep watch over the guardians?

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

/ kwɪs kʊsˈtəʊdɪˌɛt ˈɪpsɒs kʊsˈtəʊdiːz /

(no translation)

1. who will guard the guards?

Example Sentences

The Roman poet Juvenal asked: “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”

From Washington Post

The shoot-’em-up action often involved what a pedantic person might call extrajudicial killings—which, coming a year after “subway vigilante” Bernard Goetz shot four young men on the 2 train, came with several suitcases of quis custodiet ipsos custodes baggage.

From Slate

Interesting developments in America’s elect-your-id experiment, as the shining city upon a hill runs up against that age-old political question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

From The Guardian

Independent policing of the news has a natural appeal, but it raises the question posed in Juvenal’s Satires: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

From Wall Street Journal

As the ancient Romans used to say, Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

From New York Times