“Enter to grow in wisdom. / Depart to serve better thy country and thy kind.”
Over entrance (“Enter”) and exit (“Depart”) of Dexter gate (gift of Class of 1890) to Harvard Yard, erected 1901.
Alternatives Eliot considered included “Enter daily to grow in wisdom,” and “Depart to serve better thy country and mankind.”
Widely paraphrased as:
Enter to learn; go forth to serve.
Used by schools including Brigham Young University, Delaware State University, Tennessee State University, Keene State College, and Oakland City College.
Sometimes credited (in abbreviated form) to Margaret Sanger.
Sometimes parodied as: “Enter to learn; go forth to earn.”
Source: Enter to grow in wisdom: A tour of Harvard’s gates https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/12/enter-to-grow-in-wisdom/, Ken Gewertz, The Harvard Gazette, December 15, 2005
Source: The Yale Book of Quotations, 2006, p. 232 https://books.google.com/books?id=ck6bXqt5shkC&pg=PA232&dq="enter+to+grow+in+wisdom"
Source: The Gates of Harvard Yard https://harvardmagazine.com/2013/07/gates-of-harvard-yard, Harvard Magazine, 2013 July 18
Source: The Gates of Harvard Yard: The Complete Story, in Words and Pictures, of a Great University’s Iconic Portals
Source: BYU not alone in using motto 'enter to learn' https://www.deseretnews.com/article/695197761/BYU-not-alone-in-using-motto-enter-to-learn.html, Tad Walch, Deseret News, August 4, 2007
Source: “Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve.” https://sangerpapers.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/enter-to-learn-go-forth-to-serve/, Jill Grimaldi, Margaret Sanger Papers Project, 2010-11-30
