Non scholae, sed vitae discimus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

Non scholae, sed vitae discimus is a Latin phrase meaning We do not learn for the school, but for life, indicating that one should not gain knowledge and skill to please a teacher or master, but because of the benefits you will gain in your life.

This is the motto of many schools, all over the world, possibly in the abbreviated form Non scholae, sed vitae. Among them are Adelaide High School, Archbishop Molloy High School, Carroll College (Montana), the Convent of the Visitation, Hathaway Brown School, Hermann-Böse-Gymnasium, Istanbul Bilgi University, Oslo katedralskole, Plymouth High School for Girls, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Southland Boys' High School, Spence School, the University of Nueva Caceres, and West Elgin Secondary School.

The motto is the inversion of the original, a lamentation by the Roman philosopher and playwright Seneca, in reproaching armchair philosophers: Non vitae sed scholae discimus.^[1]