not qoHpu''e' neH ghIjlu'

only fools have no fear

I can't understand how the klingon sentence is to be understood.

Is it "as for only fools someone never scares" ?

Or is it "only fools someone never scares them", with the {ghIjlu'} missing a {lu-} ?

I think it's meant more like "Fools, and only fools, are never scared."

First of all, remember that -'e' means more than the topic-drawing "as for such-and-such." It also means focus: "this thing, not something else." Remember:

jIlujpu' jIH'e' I (and only I) have failed. (It doesn't mean "This sentence is all about me, and I failed.")

In fact, this is what -'e' means whenever it is the object or subject of a verb. So you can interpret the line like this: "One never scares fools (and this is only true of fools)."

The line is missing a required lu-.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name