De mortuis nil nisi bonum

The Latin tag de mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est is usually shortened to de mortuis nil nisi bonum or sometimes just nil nisi bonum. It is variously translated as "No one can speak ill of the dead," "Of the dead, speak no evil," or, more literally, "Let nothing be said of the dead but what is good."

This expression is used in modern parlance with two almost contradictory significances. In legal contexts, it refers to the principle of British, American, and other legal systems than defaming a deceased person is not actionable. In colloquial contexts, it indicates that it is socially inappropriate to say anything negative about a (recently) deceased person.

The first recorded use of the phrase is by Diogenes Laertius in The Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers, where he attributes it to Chilo.