Symbols
The pin, the emblem of Phi Delta Epsilon, is a three lettered one, forming the Greek letters Phi, Delta and Epsilon. Joining the Phi and the Epsilon is a bow, emblematic of friendship. In the center of the bow is a ruby in honor of Alpha, the mother Chapter organized at Cornell. The sides of the Delta are set with pearls and the angles with amethysts. These are the colors of the Phi Delta Epsilon - purple and ivory. These stones are identical in all Chapters. From the Delta to the bow is a torch, the torch of knowledge, with which ignorance is dispelled. The center of the Delta is empty but as occasion demands various stones be placed therein in order to designate successful completion of a term in a specific office.
The seal of the Fraternity consists of the scales of justice (with the hopes that the member will keep at an even balance) with the letters Phi, Delta and Epsilon on the sides and at the bottom. The scale is balanced upon a caduceus with a Delta as its base. Above the scale are the spread wings of the Phoenix, a bird which is said never to die, signifying an everlasting life for Phi Delta Epsilon. The letter Alpha appears beside the left wing and the letter Sigma beside the right. Above the center of the wings is a star containing the letter Phi. These letters, Alpha, Phi and Sigma represent the amalgamation with Alpha Phi Sigma Fraternity in 1918.
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Famous quotes containing the word symbols:
“Luckless is the country in which the symbols of procreation are the objects of shame, while the agents of destruction are honored! And yet you call that member your pudendum, or shameful part, as if there were anything more glorious than creating life, or anything more atrocious than taking it away.”
—Savinien Cyrano De Bergerac (1619–1655)
“And into the gulf between cantankerous reality and the male ideal of shaping your world, sail the innocent children. They are right there in front of us—wild, irresponsible symbols of everything else we can’t control.”
—Hugh O’Neill (20th century)
“Many older wealthy families have learned to instill a sense of public service in their offspring. But newly affluent middle-class parents have not acquired this skill. We are using our children as symbols of leisure-class standing without building in safeguards against an overweening sense of entitlement—a sense of entitlement that may incline some young people more toward the good life than toward the hard work that, for most of us, makes the good life possible.”
—David Elkind (20th century)