Optimum Cuique

Optimum cuique is the motto of Lochgelly High School in the Scottish region of Fife. It translates as "the best for everyone".  Cuique is the dative of quisque, which means each one, each person, anyone.

Tecum habita

I saw this Latin motto tecum habita above a closed doorway in the City of Edinburgh's Central Library today.  Looking it up on the net, I find that it is the start of an epigram from the satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus.  The full epigram is: Tecum habita: noris quam sit tibi curta supellex.  [Satire IV, line 52]  In
English, it reads: "Live with yourself: get to know how poorly furnished you are."

To find out more about Persius visit Wikipedia and to read some of his other epigrams visit Wikiquote.

In principio erat verbum

Walking through St Andrews the other day, this Latin motto above a doorway caught my eye.  In English it reads: "In the beginning was the word", which are of course the opening words of St John's gospel.

Doing a little research I find that this is the entrance to  St Andrews University's St Mary's College, which was founded in 1538 by Archbishop James Beaton as the New College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  St Mary's adopted these words as its motto, because it was founded on the site of the former St John's College, which had itself been founded early in the fifteenth century. To find out more about St Mary's College visit Wikipedia.

The first five verses of St John's gospel read: "In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est. In ipso vita erat et vita erat lux hominum. Et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt."