Esse quam videri

Esse quam videri is a Latin phrase meaning "To be, rather than to seem to be." It has been used as motto by a number of different groups.

History

Esse quam videri is found in Cicero's essay "On Friendship" ("De amicitia", chapter 98). "Virtute enim ipsa non tam multi praediti esse quam videri volunt" (Few are those who wish to be endowed with virtue rather than to seem so).

Just a few years after Cicero, Sallust used the phrase in his Bellum Catilinae (54.6), writing that Cato the Younger "esse quam videri bonus malebat" (He preferred to be good rather than to seem so).

Previous to both Romans, Aeschylus used a similar phrase in Seven Against Thebes at line 592, at which the scout (angelos) says of the seer/priest Amphiaraos: "ou gar dokein aristos, all' enai thelei" (his resolve is not to seem the best but in fact to be the best). Plato quoted this line in Republic (361b).

In The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli twists this phrase to Videri Quam Esse (To seem rather than to be) with respect to how a ruler ought to act.

Usage as a motto

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North Carolina

Great Seal of North Carolina with the state motto esse quam videri.

Esse quam videri is the state motto of North Carolina, adopted in 1893.

It is unusual that, until the act of 1893, the sovereign state of North Carolina had no motto since its declaration of independence. It was one of the few states that did not have a motto, and the only one of the original thirteen without one.

The state motto had also been adopted as a temporary motto by the Virginia class submarine USS North Carolina until being replaced by primus in proelio, which means First in Fight, a play-on-words for First in Flight.

Schools

Esse quam videri is (or was) the motto of a number of schools around the world including:

• Academy at the Lakes, Land O Lakes, Florida
• Academy of the Holy Names Tampa, Florida
• Accra Academy High School Accra, Ghana
• Albert Academy Freetown, Sierra Leone
• S. Anselm's Preparatory School Bakewell, England
• Appalachian State University (1899) Boone, North Carolina, USA
• Ashford School (1899) Ashford, Kent, England
• Ashville College (1877) Harrogate, England
• Augusta Preparatory Day School (1972) Augusta, Georgia, USA
• Beaconsfield Primary School (1883) Tasmania, Australia
• Ben Franklin Academy (1987) Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• Bennett, Instituto Metodista, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Berklee College of Music Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Boys Latin School of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Brigham Young University Men's Chorus, Provo, Utah, USA
• Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
• Clifton House Preparatory School Harrogate, England
• The Colleton Primary School, Twyford, Berkshire, UK.
• Colyton Grammar School (1546) Colyford, England
• Columbia College Chicago (1890) Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Connells Point Public School, Sydney, Australia.^[1]
• Cranbrook School Sydney (1918), Sydney, Australia.
• Darwin High School, Darwin, Australia.^[2]
• Dubbo High School, Australia
• Ellis Robins High School, Harare, Zimbabwe
• Esquimalt High School, [Esquimalt], BC, Canada
• The Episcopal Academy, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA
• The Forest School Winnersh, Wokingham, Berkshire, UK
• Garrison Forest School for Girls (1910) Owings Mills, Maryland, USA
• Groton School (1884), Groton, Massachusetts, USA. The motto changed to "Cui Servire est Regnare" shortly after the school's founding.
• The Hermitage School (1906), Geelong, Australia which has subsequently become that of The Hermitage House, Geelong Grammar School.
• Hampden DuBose Academy, Zellwood, Florida, USA
• Highsted Grammar School, Sittingbourne, Kent, England
• Hudson Catholic High School, Hudson, Massachusetts
• The Hemel Hempstead School, (1931), Hemel Hempstead, England.^[3]
• The Ellis School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
• Instituto Metodista Bennett (1888) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.^[4]
• JMA Armstrong High School, Salisbury, New Brunswick, Canada
• KIPP Houston High School, Houston, Texas, USA
• Kingsley School, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England
• Kutama College Norton, Zimbabwe
• Leicester High School(1962)The last graduating class before changing to Leicester Elementary School, Leicester, NC, USA.
• Magee Secondary School, Vancouver, BC, Canada
• Miami Coral Park Senior High School, Miami, Florida, USA
• Moravian Academy Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA current motto is "mind, body, spirit",
• The Mount School, Mill Hill. London, United Kingdom.
• North Adelaide Primary School, (1877), Adelaide, Australia
• Peace College, (1857), Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
• Queen's College, Queenstown, South Africa
• Rhodesway School, (1958), Bradford, UK
• Rockridge Secondary School, West Vancouver, B.C., Canada
• Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, UK
• Salisbury School, Salisbury, Connecticut, USAUK
• Scott Park Secondary School(1967)Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• Southampton Grammar School for Girls [1], Southampton, UK
• St. Malachy's Memorial High School in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.^[5]
• Streetsville Secondary School, Streetsville, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
• Suffield Academy in Suffield, Connecticut, USA.
• The Taieri High School, Mosgiel, Otago, NZ
• Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy (1999-Present), Rutherford County, NC.^[6]
• Trevecca Nazarene University, Nashville, TN
• Truro School [2], (1880-Present), Truro, Cornwall, UK
• The Boys' Latin School of Maryland (1844), Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida
• Villa Devoto School [3] (1908) Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Wavell State High School Brisbane, Australia
• St Audries School, West Quantoxhead, Taunton, Somerset, England (since closed and now a hotel)
• Wyomissing Area School District [4], Wyomissing, PA, USA
• Yeovil School [5], Yeovil, Somerset, UK

Sororities

"Esse Quam Videri" is also the motto of the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority [6], founded in 1917 at New York University Law School.

"Esse Quam Videri" is also the motto of the Lambda Kappa Sigma sorority [7], founded in 1913 at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.

"Esse Quam Videri" is also the motto of the House of Susan B. Anthony [8], founded exclusively at The King's College in the Empire State Building.

Fraternities

Phi Lambda Sigma, Lebanon Valley College, est. 1867.

Alpha Pi Alpha, SUNY Albany, 1952 through 1987

Sporting Organisations

Kingswood Rugby Football Club, Bristol, UK, use a variant of the motto, "Esse Non Videri" as their club motto. [9]

Companies

• A computer and management training company, http://www.eqv.co.uk/ who are based in Leicestershire, UK. [10]

Families

Esse quam videri is the motto used on the coats of arms of the following families: Acraman, Bakewell, Bowen, Breamore, Brownlee, Brownlow, Cambria, Clavering, Coutts, Crawley, Croft, Dickinson, Harmer, Halliday, Hannum, Hood, Isserman, Ivey, Longley, McManners, Manning, Renshaw, Round (Essex County), Shreeve, Sherriff, Sibley, Sturges, Thurston, Turner, Tyler, Walmsley and Woodgate.

It was also the motto used within the Brockman coat of arms circa 1700.

References

See also