Motto Matters

Clearly college mottoes are getting attention, Motto Magazine released its selection of Top 10 College Mottos, just to save you the time to open its official pdf file (which contains an introduction to each motto), I'll list the selections here.

1.  Cornell University: Motto:   “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study”

2. Brown University:  Motto:  “In God we hope” 

3. Wellesley College:  Motto:  “Not to be ministered unto, but to minister”

4.  Stanford University:  Motto:  “The wind of freedom blows”

5.  University of Pennsylvania: Motto: “Laws without morals are useless”

6.  Seton Hall University: Motto: “Whatever risk, yet go forward”

7.  Dartmouth College: Motto: “A voice of one crying out in the wilderness.”

8.  Carnegie-Mellon University:  Motto:  “My heart is in the work”

9.  Clark Atlanta University:  Motto: “I’ll find a way or make one”

10.  Brigham Young University:  Motto:  “Enter to learn, go forth to serve”

And honorable mentions to:

• Amherst College:  Motto:  “Let them give light to the world”  
• Washington and Lee University:  Motto:  “Not unmindful of the future”
• Yale University:  Motto:  “Light and truth”
• Harvard University:  Motto:  “Truth” 

Honestly, this doesn't seem like a smart selection to me, I mean a motto using 14 words to say they offer a whole bunch of courses got first? You gotta be kidding! And FYI, they just changed this stupid motto, despite its success in the rating, to "Any person... Any Study". Yet truthfully, I'd much rather have the succinctness of Harvard or Yale. But frankly, who cares about these official mottos anyway, as far as I'm concerned, Reed College's slogan is "Communism, Atheism, Free Love." Swarthmore: "Guilt Without Sex." and then there's "Where the Hell Is Grinnell?" and "The University of Chicago: Where Fun Goes to Die."

Nevertheless, here's a list of mottoes of Ivies. from Cornell Blog
notice at the bottom, how the author describe Cornell's own motto, it's funny.

Harvard University

Harvard’s motto is the latin “Veritas” or in English, “Truth.” Simple, but elegant, it’s represented in their university logo.

University of Pennsylvania

Upenn’s latin motto has had an interesting history. It was first “Sine Moribus Vanae” but a troublesome student translated it as “Loose women without morals,” so it was changed to its current “Leges sine moribus vanae” which means in English, “Laws–without moral character–are in vain.”

Princeton University

I don’t like their latin, “Dei sub numine viget” which indicates that “Under the power of God, She flourishes.” I’d hoped for something grander.

Yale University

“Lux et veritas” which means “Light and truth” is my favorite latin motto in the Ivy League. It’s glorious and beautiful, without invoking religious ideals. It should be the motto of intellectuals and educators everywhere.

Brown University

With “In deo speramus” or “In God we Hope” Brown continues the religious downward spiral.

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth’s latin motto is “Vox clamantis in deserto” a biblical reference to the prophet of god as “A voice crying out in the wilderness.”

Columbia University

Sounding a bit like a cult, “In lumine tuo videbimus lumen” is often translated “In Thy light shall we see the light.”

Cornell University

Last but not least, our motto used to be the lame, non-latin “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study” but recently it’s been abbreviated to “Any person … Any study.” In latin, that would be “Quisquam qui ars."