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

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

's '' Moral Letters to Lucilius'' 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 literaturenot 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 Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to ''non scholae, sed vitae discendum est'' ("We must learn not for school but for life").

References

{{reflist, 2 Latin mottos Seneca the Younger