Avus censet patientiam plus valere quam iram.

Grandfather thinks that patience is worth more than anger.

Breakdown of Avus censet patientiam plus valere quam iram.

• quam: than
• ira: the anger
• avus: the grandfather
• patientia: the patience

Questions & Answers about Avus censet patientiam plus valere quam iram.

Why is valere an infinitive instead of a normal finite verb?

Because censet often introduces an indirect statement in Latin.
With verbs of thinking, saying, knowing, hearing, and so on, Latin commonly uses:

• an accusative noun as the subject of the reported idea
• an infinitive as the verb of that idea

So:

• Avus censet = Grandfather thinks
• patientiam plus valere quam iram = patience to be worth more than anger

In smoother English, we usually turn that into a that-clause:

• Grandfather thinks that patience is worth more than anger.

Latin does not need a separate word for that here.

Why is patientiam accusative? Shouldn’t the subject be nominative?

Normally, yes: the subject of a verb is usually nominative.
But in an indirect statement, Latin changes the subject of the reported clause into the accusative.

So in the underlying idea:

• patientia plus valet = patience is worth more

But after censet, that becomes:

• patientiam plus valere = patience to be worth more

So patientiam is the subject of the infinitive valere, and that is why it is accusative.