''Non scholæ sed vitæ'' is a

Latin phrase __NOTOC__ This is a list of Wikipedia articles of Latin phrases and their translation into English. ''To view all phrases on a single, lengthy document, see: List of Latin phrases (full)'' The list also is divided alphabetically into twenty page ...

. Its longer form is ''non scholæ sed vitæ discimus'', which means "We do not learn for school, but for life". The ''scholae'' and ''vitae'' are first-declension

feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered fe ...

datives of purpose. The motto is an inversion of the original, which appeared in Seneca the Younger's ''

Moral Letters to Lucilius The ' (Latin for "Moral Letters to Lucilius"), also known as the ''Moral Epistles'' and ''Letters from a Stoic'', is a collection of 124 letters that Seneca the Younger wrote at the end of his life, during his retirement, after he had worked for ...

'' around AD 65. It appears in an ''

occupatio ''Occupatio'' (occupation) was an original method of acquiring ownership of un-owned property (''res nullius'') by occupying with intent to own. Roman legal writings on acquisition by ''occupatio'' Nicholas argues this is the "archetype" of a ...

'' passage wherein Seneca imagines Lucilius's objections to his arguments. ''Non vitae sed scholae discimus'' ("We learn

uch literature Uch ( pa, ; ur, ), frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf ( pa, ; ur, ; ''"Noble Uch"''), is a historic city in the southern part of Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexand ...

not for life but for classtime") was thus already a complaint, the implication being that Lucilius would argue in favor of more practical education and that mastery of literature was overrated. During the early 19th century, this was emended in Hungary and Germany to ''non scholae, sed vitae discendum est'' ("We must learn not for school but for life").

References

{{reflist, 2 Latin mottos Seneca the Younger