Oakland University - Motto

Motto

Oakland University's motto is Seguir virtute e canoscenza ("Seek virtue and knowledge"). It is a quotation from Dante's Inferno, Canto XXVI, 1. 120. These are the final words of Ulysses' speech to his men urging them to sail on in pursuit of knowledge and experience of the world – even beyond the pillars of Hercules, traditionally the frontier and limit of legitimate exploration.

The three-line stanza:

Considerate la vostra semenza
Fatti non foste a viver come bruti
Ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza.

Consider your birth
You were not made to live like brutes
But to follow virtue and wisdom.

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Famous quotes containing the word motto:

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