Esse quam videri

History

Usage as a motto

North Carolina

Schools and colleges

• Academy of the Holy Names, Tampa, Florida
• Academy at the Lakes, Land O Lakes, Florida
• Accra Academy, Accra, Ghana
• Albert Academy, Freetown, Sierra Leone
• Amarillo High School, Amarillo, Texas
• S. Anselm's Preparatory School, Bakewell, England
• Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina
• Ashford School, Ashford, Kent, England
• Ashville College, Harrogate, England
• Augusta Preparatory Day School, Augusta, Georgia, USA
• Bedford College, University of London until c.1990, when Bedford and Royal Holloway Colleges merged and it became the motto of the joint college
• Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, USA and Valencia, Spain
• Bordentown Military Institute,, Bordentown, NJ, USA
• Boys' Latin School of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• Brigham Young University Men's Chorus, Provo, Utah, USA
• Chania High School, Thika, Kenya
• Clifton House Preparatory School, Harrogate, England
• Colyton Grammar School, Colyford, England
• Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Connells Point Public School, Sydney, Australia
• Cranbrook School, Sydney, Sydney, Australia
• Darwin High School, Darwin, Australia
• Desert Heights Preparatory Academy, Glendale, Arizona
• Dubbo High School
• Ellis Robins High School, Harare, Zimbabwe
• The Ellis School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
• The Episcopal Academy, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA
• Esquimalt High School, Esquimalt, British Columbia
• The Forest School, Winnersh, Wokingham, Berkshire, England
• Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts, USA. The motto changed to Cui Servire est Regnare shortly after the school's founding.
• Hartford Public High School, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
• The Hemel Hempstead School, Hemel Hempstead, England.
• The Hermitage School, Geelong, Australia; which has subsequently become that of The Hermitage House, Geelong Grammar School.
• Highsted Grammar School, Sittingbourne, Kent, England
• Homewood School, Tenterden, Kent, England
• Hudson Catholic High School, Hudson, Massachusetts
• Instituto Metodista Bennett, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• JMA Armstrong High School, Salisbury, New Brunswick, Canada
• John Caldwell School, Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada
• The King's College, New York
• Kingsley School, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England
• Kutama College, Norton, Zimbabwe
• Lane College, Jackson, Tennessee, USA
• Magee Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia
• Miami Coral Park Senior High School, Miami, Florida, USA
• Montego Bay High School for Girls, Jamaica
• Montreat College, Montreat, North Carolina
• Moravian Academy, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; current motto is "mind, body, spirit",
• Mountlake Terrace High School, Mountlake Terrace, Washington
• National University of Health Sciences, Lombard, Illinois
• Peace College, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
• Providence Christian Academy, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
• Queen's College, Queenstown, South Africa
• Regent's University London, England
• Rhodesway School, Bradford, UK
• Rockridge Secondary School, West Vancouver, British Columbia
• Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, England
• Salisbury School, Salisbury, Connecticut, USA
• Selaiyur Hall, Madras Christian College, Chennai, India
• Seton Hall High School, Patchogue, New York, United States
• Southampton Grammar School for Girls Southampton, UK
• St Audries School, West Quantoxhead, Taunton, Somerset, England
• St Thomas à Becket Catholic Secondary School, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
• St. Joseph's College in Patchogue, New York, United States.
• St. Malachy's Memorial High School, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
• St. Peter's School, Mazgaon, Mumbai, India
• Streetsville Secondary School, Streetsville, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
• Suffield Academy, Suffield, Connecticut, USA
• The Taieri High School, Mosgiel, Otago, New Zealand
• Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, Rutherford County, North Carolina
• Trevecca Nazarene University, Nashville, Tennessee
• Truro School, Truro, Cornwall, England
• University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
• University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida
• Villa Devoto School, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Wavell State High School, Brisbane, Australia
• Woodward Career Technical High School, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
• Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School, Wyomissing, Pennsylvania
• Yeovil School, Yeovil, Somerset, England

  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

• Phi Gamma Nu, National Professional Fraternity in Business, est. Northwestern University 1924.
• Lambda Kappa Sigma, founded in 1913 at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy.
• Phi Beta Fraternity, National Professional Association for the Creative and Performing Arts, founded in 1912 at Northwestern University.

  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

• Brepols Publishers, as found on their older books: Melius esse quam videri
• Swire Group esp. its shipping branch, The China Navigation Company.
• The phrase is found on the Sibley Mill along the Augusta Canal in Augusta, Georgia. The structure was completed in 1882 and operated until 2006.
• The phrase is found on the bottom of bottles of gin from the Isle of Harris, Scotland.

  Other organizations

• the honor society The Order of Scroll and Key at Dickinson College.
• The honor society The Society of 1910 at The University of Southern Mississippi
• The Archon Society at Kenyon College.
• The National Honor & Merit Scholars Society.
• the Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship, a wilderness EMS training program based in western North Carolina.
• the Brigham Young University Men's Chorus.
• No. 77 Squadron RAF used the variant, Esse potius quam videri with the same meaning.
• The U. S. Consortium of Metropolitan Medical Directors.
• The Pan Hellenic Society of Silliman University, Philippines.
• In the 2017 film Only the Brave, the saying is stated to be the motto of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. The phrase is the motto of the Eric Marsh Foundation for Wildland Firefighters.

  Popular culture