Esse quam videri is a Latin phrase meaning "To be, rather than to seem" (to be). It has been used as a motto by a number of different groups.
Esse quam videri is found in Cicero's essay On Friendship (Laelius 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 Amphiaraus: οὐ γὰρ δοκεῖν ἄριστος, ἀλλ᾽ εἶναι θέλει (ou gàr dokeîn áristos, all' eînai thélei: "he doesn't want to seem, but to be the bravest"). Plato quoted this line in Republic (361b).
Niccolò Machiavelli reversed the phrase to videri quam esse (to seem rather than to be).
Esse quam videri is the state motto of North Carolina, adopted in 1893.
Schools and colleges
Esse quam videri is (or was) the motto of a number of schools and colleges around the world, including:
Academy at the Lakes, Land O Lakes, FloridaAcademy of the Holy Names, Tampa, FloridaAccra Academy, Accra, GhanaAlbert Academy, Freetown, Sierra LeoneAmarillo High School, Amarillo, TexasS. Anselm's Preparatory School, Bakewell, EnglandAppalachian State University (1899), Boone, North CarolinaAshford School (1899), Ashford, Kent, EnglandAshville College (1877), Harrogate, EnglandAugusta Preparatory Day School (1972), Augusta, Georgia, USABedford College, University of London until c.1990, when Bedford and Royal Holloway Colleges merged and it became the motto of the joint collegeBerklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, USABoys' Latin School of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USABrigham Young University Men's Chorus, Provo, Utah, USAClifton House Preparatory School, Harrogate, EnglandColyton Grammar School (1546), Colyford, EnglandColumbia College Chicago (1890), Chicago, Illinois, USAConnells Point Public School, Sydney, AustraliaCranbrook School Sydney (1918), Sydney, AustraliaDesert Heights Preparatory Academy, Glendale, ArizonaDarwin High School, Darwin, AustraliaEllis Robins High School, Harare, ZimbabweEsquimalt High School, Esquimalt, British ColumbiaThe Episcopal Academy, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USAThe Forest School, Winnersh, Wokingham, Berkshire, EnglandGroton School (1884), Groton, Massachusetts, USA. The motto changed to Cui Servire est Regnare ("To whom to serve is to reign") shortly after the school's founding.The Hermitage School (1906), Geelong, Australia; which has subsequently become that of The Hermitage House, Geelong Grammar School.Hartford Public High School, Hartford, Connecticut, USAHighsted Grammar School, Sittingbourne, Kent, EnglandHomewood School, Tenterden, Kent, EnglandHudson Catholic High School, Hudson, MassachusettsThe Hemel Hempstead School (1931), Hemel Hempstead, England.The Ellis School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USAInstituto Metodista Bennett (1888), Rio de Janeiro, BrazilJMA Armstrong High School, Salisbury, New Brunswick, CanadaJohn Caldwell School, Grand Falls, New Brunswick, CanadaThe King's College, New York (House of Susan B. Anthony)Kingsley School, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, EnglandKutama College, Norton, ZimbabweLane College, Jackson, Tennessee, USAMagee Secondary School, Vancouver, British ColumbiaMiami Coral Park Senior High School, Miami, Florida, USAMontreat College, Montreat, North CarolinaMoravian Academy, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; current motto is "mind, body, spirit",Mountlake Terrace High School, Mountlake Terrace, WashingtonNational University of Health Sciences (previously National Chiropractic College), Lombard, IllinoisPeace College (1857), Raleigh, North Carolina, USAQueen's College, Queenstown, South AfricaRegent's University London, EnglandRhodesway School (1958), Bradford, UKRockridge Secondary School, West Vancouver, British ColumbiaRoyal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, EnglandSt. Joseph's College in Patchogue, New York, United States.St. Malachy's Memorial High School, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.St Thomas à Becket Catholic College, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, United KingdomSalisbury School, Salisbury, Connecticut, USASelaiyur Hall, Madras Christian College, Chennai, IndiaSeton Hall High School, Patchogue, New York, United StatesSouthampton Grammar School for Girls Southampton, UKStreetsville Secondary School, Streetsville, Mississauga, Ontario, CanadaSuffield Academy, Suffield, Connecticut, USAThe Taieri High School, Mosgiel, Otago, New ZealandThomas Jefferson Classical Academy (1999–present), Rutherford County, North CarolinaTrevecca Nazarene University, Nashville, TennesseeTruro School (1880–present), Truro, Cornwall, EnglandBoys' Latin School of Maryland (1844), Baltimore, Maryland, USAUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte (1946), Charlotte, North Carolina, USAUniversity of Tampa, Tampa, FloridaVilla Devoto School (1908), Buenos Aires, ArgentinaWavell State High School, Brisbane, AustraliaSt Audries School, West Quantoxhead, Taunton, Somerset, England (since closed and now a hotel)Woodward Career Technical High School (formerly Woodward High School), Cincinnati, Ohio, USA (Alma mater of William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United States)Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School, Wyomissing, PennsylvaniaYeovil School, Yeovil, Somerset, EnglandEsse quam videri is the motto of the following sororities:
Delta Phi Epsilon sorority, founded in 1917 at New York University Law School.House of Susan B. Anthony, founded exclusively at The King's College NYC.Phi Delta Alpha, founded in 2002 at University of OklahomaAlpha Chi Lambda, founded in 1998 at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.Esse quam videri is the motto of the following fraternities:
Phi Gamma Nu, National Professional Fraternity in Business, est. Northwestern University 1924.Lambda Kappa Sigma, founded in 1913 at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.Kingswood Rugby Football Club, Bristol, UK, use a variant of the motto, "Esse Non Videri" as their club motto.White Wolves MC, Oradea, RO, use a variant of the motto, "Esse Quam Videri Malim" as their club motto.Brepols Publishers, as found on their older books: "Melius esse quam videri"Swire Group esp. its shipping branch, The China Navigation Company.EQV (UK) Ltd, A computer and management training company, who are based in Leicestershire, UK.The phrase is found on the Sibley Mill along the Augusta Canal in Augusta, Georgia. The structure was completed in 1882 and operated until 2006.Raleigh Denim, based in Raleigh, North CarolinaEsse quam videri is also the motto of
the honor society The Order of Scroll and Key at Dickinson College.The Archon Society at Kenyon College.The National Honor & Merit Scholars Society.the Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship, a wilderness EMS training program based in western North Carolina.the Brigham Young University Men's Chorus.No. 77 Squadron RAF (active during three periods between 1916 and 1963) used the variant, Esse potius quam videri with the same meaning.The U. S. Consortium of Metropolitan Medical Directors (Eagles).Television personality Stephen Colbert inverted the statement on his show The Colbert Report to Videri Quam Esse, meaning "to seem to be rather than to be." It is also engraved across the faux hearth, above the video fireplace, in his studio, under his portrait.
