' (English: "not for ourselves alone") is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

. Common variations are ' ("not for us, but for everyone") and '. It means that people should contribute to the general greater good of humanity, apart from their own interests.

Origin

The motto is derived from a sentence in

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

's most influential philosophical work, his treatise ''On Duties'' (Latin: ''

De Officiis ''De Officiis'' (''On Duties'', ''On Obligations'', or ''On Moral Responsibilities'') is a 44 BC treatise by Marcus Tullius Cicero divided into three books, in which Cicero expounds his conception of the best way to live, behave, and observe mor ...

''). In full, Cicero writes, "'" ("Not for us alone are we born; our country, our friends, have a share in us"; ''De Officiis'', 1:22). The sentence, as Cicero himself says, is a literal translation of a sentiment from

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

's Epistle to Archytas. In the context of the passage, the sentence means that "humans have been created for the sake of others of their kind, indeed, to benefit each other as much as possible". Cicero associates this concept with the

Stoic Stoic may refer to: * An adherent of Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed i ...

ideal of

cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings are members of a single community. Its adherents are known as cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. Cosmopolitanism is both prescriptive and aspirational, believing humans can and should be " world citizen ...

, according to which all men have a natural kinship with all other men and need to "contribute to the general good by an interchange of acts of kindness (''officia''), by giving and receiving."

Usage by organizations

The motto is used by numerous organizations, including the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

1st Maintenance Company and schools including Massanutten Academy, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Pennthorpe School,

Lower Canada College Lower Canada College (LCC) is an English-language Elementary school, elementary and Secondary school, secondary level independent school located in Montreal, Quebec. It is located in the Monkland Village area of the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourho ...

University College, Durham University College, informally known as Castle, is the oldest constituent college of Durham University in England. Centred on Durham Castle on Palace Green, it was founded in 1832 by William van Mildert, Bishop of Durham. As a constituent ...

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

's St. Joseph School of Nursing,

Washburn University Washburn University (WU), formally Washburn University of Topeka, is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs as well as professional programs in law and business. The university enroll ...

Willamette University Willamette University is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college with locations in Salem, Oregon, Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United ...

, Swarthmore College (Class of 1918's motto), and Camp Kanawana, a

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

camp north of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. It is the motto of the

Baron Haden-Guest Baron Haden-Guest, of Great Saling, Saling in the County of Essex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 2 February 1950 for the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician Leslie Haden-Guest. He had previously represe ...

and appears in the Baron's coat of arms. The motto was also incorporated into the coat of arms for

Frank Seiberling Franklin Augustus "Frank" Seiberling (October 6, 1859 – August 11, 1955), also known as F.A. Seiberling, was an American innovator and entrepreneur best known for co-founding the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in 1898 and the Seiberling Rubber ...

and appears over the entrance to Stan Hywet, their Akron, Ohio mansion built in the early 1900s. This motto was also part of the crest of the family of George Fosberry, soldier and arms designer. The crest and motto can be seen on the breech of the surviving example of his

breechloading A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel (i.e., from the rearward, open end of the gun's barrel), as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the ( muzzle ...

prototype rifle.

References

External links

* * {{wikiquote-inline, Cicero Cicero Latin words and phrases

Origin

Usage by organizations

See also

References

External links