Unseen University - Motto and Coat of Arms

Motto and Coat of Arms

The official motto of Unseen University is "Nunc Id Vides, Nunc Ne Vides", loosely translated as "Now you see it, now you don't". The unofficial motto is "η β π", or "Eta Beta Pi" (Eat a Bit of Pie or Eat a Better Pie (according to the Hogfather novel).

The coat of arms is azure, a livre des sortilèges, attaché en cuivre, sur un chapeau pointu. (That is: a blue field bearing a book of magic spells, with copper clasps, over a pointed hat.) As usually rendered, the coat bears a strong resemblance to the coat of arms of the University of Oxford.

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Famous quotes containing the words motto, coat and/or arms:

    “My friend devotes himself to his life, whenever he can find the spare time. His motto is: ‘Don’t just sit there: live!’ So he’s too busy to stand, to walk, to do anything, except to live. He even refused to kiss a girl, when invited, on the grounds that it was time again to be living. Schedules are sacred to him.”
    —Marvin Cohen, U.S. author and humorist. The Self-Devoted Friend, New Directions (1967)

    “An aged man is but a paltry thing,
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    —William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    “It has been proposed that the town should adopt for its coat of arms a field verdant, with the Concord circling nine times round.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)