Motto
The school's motto, Porta Vacat Culpa ("the gate is free from blame"), is a quotation from Ovid's Fasti. 'The gate' (Porta) refers to the school's famous arch and, by a synecdoche of pars pro toto, the school itself, whilst also being a pun on the name of the school's founder, Sir John Port. It is an unusual motto for a public school in that it does not form an exhortation to, or a claim of, virtue or excellence but seems rather to act as a disclaimer: the school cannot be held responsible for the shortcomings of those educated there.
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Famous quotes containing the word motto:
“I always say, my motto is Art for my sake. If I want to write, I writeand if I dont want to, I wont. The difficulty is to find exactly the form ones passionwork is produced by passion with me ... Mwants to take.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Ex oriente lux may still be the motto of scholars, for the Western world has not yet derived from the East all the light which it is destined to receive thence.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“My motto is: Lord I disbelievehelp thou my unbelief.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)