The Arms of the University of Oxford show an open book with the inscription 'Dominus illuminatio mea' (The Lord is my light), surrounded by three golden crowns.
A blazon of this would be:
Azure, upon a book open proper, leathered gules, garnished or, having on the dexter side seven seals of the last, the words DOMINVS ILLVMINATIO MEA; all between three open crowns, two and one, or.
The arms have been in existence since around 1400, varying in appearance over the centuries. The number of seals and the text, for example, have both varied. The modern version of the arms in which they are not borne on a shield, but rather surrounded by a garter bearing the text 'UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD' was designed in 1993 and is a registered trademark.
Famous quotes containing the words arms of, arms, university and/or oxford:
“Now you know Danton: in a few hours he will fall asleep in the arms of glory.”
—Georg Büchner (1813–1837)
“Time is like a fashionable host,
That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand,
And with his arms outstretched, as he would fly,
Grasps in the comer: the welcome ever smiles,
And farewell goes out sighing.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Within the university ... you can study without waiting for any efficient or immediate result. You may search, just for the sake of searching, and try for the sake of trying. So there is a possibility of what I would call playing. It’s perhaps the only place within society where play is possible to such an extent.”
—Jacques Derrida (b. 1930)
“The logical English train a scholar as they train an engineer. Oxford is Greek factory, as Wilton mills weave carpet, and Sheffield grinds steel. They know the use of a tutor, as they know the use of a horse; and they draw the greatest amount of benefit from both. The reading men are kept by hard walking, hard riding, and measured eating and drinking, at the top of their condition, and two days before the examination, do not work but lounge, ride, or run, to be fresh on the college doomsday.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)