Esse quam videri

Esse quam videri is a Latin phrase meaning "To be, rather than to seem." It and variants have been used as a motto by a number of different groups. The form Esse, non Videri ("to act, not to seem to be") is the Wallenberg family motto.

History

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).

Usage as a motto

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.


Schools and colleges

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

Sororities

Esse 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 Oklahoma
  • Alpha Chi Lambda, founded in 1998 at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.

Fraternities

Esse quam videri is the motto of the following fraternities:

Sporting organisations

  • Kingswood Rugby Football Club, Bristol, UK, use a variant 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.
  • Outcast Cyclists, U.K. and worldwide use Esse Quam Videri as their club motto.

Companies

Other organizations

Esse quam videri is also the motto of

Popular culture

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.


This page was last updated at 2023-06-26 00:54 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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