<p>I had to look at wikipedia to figure out what our motto even is. Apparently it is Artes, Scientia, Veritas-- Arts, Knowledge, Truth. I am not inspired.</p>
<p>
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<p>Die Luft der Freiheit weht.</p>
<p>The wind of freedom blows.</p>
<p>"I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.”</p>
<p>Only Ivy League motto not in Latin</p>
<p>Coureur – I’m also a UCD grad - I found it interesting that all the UC campuses share the same motto – but CSU’s apparently each have their own. My son is a Humboldt grad, motto:
ΦΩΣ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ (Phos Aletheia - Greek for “Light and Truth”)</p>
<p>Amherst College’s motto is Terras Irradient, which they translate as “Let them give light to the world." My son is there. I think that motto is actually pretty reflective of the school’s mission.</p>
<p>My daughter’s college, University of Oregon, has the motto “Mens Agitat Molum.” which you sometimes hear translated as “minds move mountains”, but what it really means is “the mind drives huge bulk.” 
I don’t know that it has anything to do with the college in particular. I mean, Oregon has some brilliant mountains, but not really in the part of the state where UO is located, so even if you try to look for cheap literal connections… not so much.</p>
<p>Here’s a list I found online:
</p>
<p>And here’s an even longer list, courtesy of Wikipedia:
[quote]
</p>
<p>Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg: Die Wahrheit wird euch frei machen [John 8:32], (German: Truth shall set you free)
American University: Pro deo et patria (Latin: For God and Country)
Amherst College: Terras Irradient (Latin: Let them give light to the world)
Anglo-Chinese School: The Best Is Yet To Be (adapted from poem by Robert Browning)
Athabasca University: Learning for life
Australian National University: Naturam primum cognoscere rerum (Latin: First, to learn the nature of things)
Bates College: Amore Ac Studio (Latin: Love of Learning) - Charles Sumner
Benedict College: Veritas et Vertus (Latin: Truth and Virtue)
Bilkent University: Veritas (Latin: Truth)
Bob Jones University: Petimus Credimus (Latin: We seek, we trust)
Boston College: Aien Aristeuein/αιεν αριστευειν(Greek: Ever to excel); Religioni et bonis artibus (Latin: For religion and the good arts)
Bournemouth University: Discere Mutari Est (Latin: To Learn is to Change)
Brandeis University: Truth, even unto its innermost parts
Brigham Young University: Enter to learn; go forth to serve
Brown University: In deo speramus (Latin: In God we hope)
California Institute of Technology: The truth shall make you free
California State University, Fresno: Lucem Accipe Ut Reddas (Latin: Receive the light that you may give it forth)
Carleton University: Ours the Task Eternal
Carnegie-Mellon University: My Heart Is In The Work
Centro de Estudios en Ciencias de la Comunicacion (Mexico): Ad Astra Per Aspera (To the stars with effort)
Chalmers University of Technology: Avancez (French: Advance)
Christ’s College, Cambridge: Souvent me Souvient (French: I often remember)
Churchill College, Cambridge: Forward
Clark Atlanta University: “I’ll Find a Way or Make One” & “Culture for Service”
Clifton College: Spiritus Intus Alit (Latin: The spirit nourishes within)
Columbia University: In lumine Tuo videbimus lumen [Psalm 36:10], (Latin: In thy light shall we see light)
Cornell University: “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study”
Dalhousie University: Ora et labora (Latin: Pray and work)
Dartmouth College: Vox clamantis in deserto [Luke 3:4], (Latin: The voice of one crying in the wilderness)
Downing College, Cambridge: Quaerere Verum (Latin: Seek the truth)
Dulwich College: Detur Gloria Soli Deo (Latin: Let Glory Be Given To God Alone)
Eastern Nazarene College: Via, Veritas, Vita (Latin: The Way, the Truth, and the Life)</p>
<p>My school’s motto is in Greek, and means “Know thyself.” We used to have fun with National Lampoon’s gloss: “If you need help, call the FBI.”</p>
<p>Adding:</p>
<p>Colby College - Lux Mentis Scientia (Knowledge is the Light of the Mind)
WPI - Lehr und Kunst (German for “Theory and Practice”)
Wake Forest - Pro humanitate (For humanity)</p>
<p>This covers all the undergrad schools in our family. I’d say the mottos fit the schools and hold true – although, of course, I’m biased.</p>
<p>Cornell’s is spot on…you really CAN study anything there…</p>
<p>calmom, my credentials as a Latin scholar are a bit rusty, but I think Hunter College’s motto would be better translated as “My concern is for the future,” as in my care, thought, or direction of work is for the future, as opposed to “my anxiety.” Re: Notre Dame’s “God, country, and Notre Dame,” there is a similar inscription at Yale, “For God, for country, and for Yale.” It always inspires bickering about whether the writer did or did not understand tricolon crescens.</p>
<p>I just copied these – I didn’t do the translation and really don’t have the time to bother.</p>
<p>Oh, H makes fun of his precious BC and says “Ever to excel” when he has fixed something around the house or barn that we thought was ready to go to the dump! LOL… </p>
<p>As for my Syracuse, I see “Suos Cultores Scientia Coronat” on my coffee cup right now, what a coincidence! But never actually thought about it’s meaning until now!</p>
<p>Didn’t mean to annoy you, calmom–but I can just see the appeal of the motto “My anxiety is for the future,” as far as prospective students go. And continuing in that vein, Selwyn College’s motto is “Quit ye like men” in the King James Version, but perhaps better understood as “Acquit yourselves like men,” or in the newer, gender-neutral version, “Be courageous.”<br>
And another bad joke: “Utilitas” was added to the motto of King’s College when John Maynard Keynes became its bursar; previously it was just “Veritas.”</p>
<p>Given the huge component of community service in the undergraduate experience there and rebuilding New Orleans in general, the Tulane motto is unusually prophetic.</p>
<p>Also, I know nothing about Latin translations and so maybe that is feminine, but Tulane says the motto is “Not for oneself, but for one’s own”, as opposed to “herself” and “her own”. Agree with Quantmech, not trying to annoy anyone, because I think it is a great thread.</p>
<p>I think it’s amusing the motto for my alma mater, UW-Seattle, is “Lux Sit” or “Let There Be Light” Yeah, the Seattle natives use that some frequently.</p>
<p>More CC motto fun from the college of motto knowledge:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/34698-college-mottos.html?highlight=college+mottos[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/34698-college-mottos.html?highlight=college+mottos</a></p>
<p>Do mottos really reflect a part of the truth of the schools or they have already lost the meaning to some degrees?</p>
<p>You mean like * Atheism, Communism & Free Love*?
Oh- I expect it is pretty accurate ( even if unofficial)</p>
<p>Middlebury’s: Scientia et Virtus</p>
<p>Knowledge and Virtue.</p>
<p>^^Depending on context, “virtus” can also be translated as “manly courage.” (Vir = man). It is a root word for both virtue and virile. “Knowledge and Manly Courage” just doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.</p>