Labor omnia vincit orLabor omnia vincit improbus is aLatin phrase meaning "Work conquers all". The phrase is adapted fromVirgil'sGeorgics, Book I, lines 145–6:...Labor omnia vicit / improbus ("Steady work overcame all things"). The poem was written in support ofAugustus Caesar's "Back to the land" policy, aimed at encouraging moreRomans to become farmers.[citation needed]
A frequent motto within the U.S labor movement, the phrase is a historically significantslogan. Used by the earliest U.S labor unions such as theAmerican Federation of Labor and other precursors to the modernAFL-CIO, the motto continues to be a traditional and defining statement of purpose on contemporary labor union emblems including theInternational Union of Operating Engineers and theUnited Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. The motto also appears on the original 1925 flag of theBrotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the labor union of African-AmericanPullman Company porters founded by civil rights leaderA. Philip Randolph. The College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai, India and founded in the year 1794 has the phrase "Labor Omnia Vincit" in its logo. This may be the earliest adoption of the phrase by any organization.
The phrase is also a frequent motto across many townships, cities, and states. Currently thestate motto of the State ofOklahoma and incorporated into its state seal in 1907, the slogan originally appeared on the territorial seal ofOklahoma Territory. In addition, it has been known to be the motto of the city ofEl Eulma,Algeria as shown on itscoat of arms, of the towns and cities ofBradford,West Yorkshire,West Bromwich, andIlkeston in England, the motto ofWrexham County Borough Council inWales and the state motto ofZacatecas granted by King Phillip II in 1588 and the city ofLeón,State of Guanajuato,Mexico, and in the city ofPresidente Prudente,Brazil. It is also the motto ofFerraz de Vasconcelos, a municipality in the state ofSão Paulo inBrazil, as well as the city of Polokwane, formerly known as Pietersburg in South Africa. It is the motto ofCarlton Cricket Club inBarbados. It is also the motto ofKajang High School and St Jago High School (Jamaica), St Paul's Secondary School, Kabwe Zambia, as well as Mitchell High School in Durban, South Africa. It is a slogan of the football clubs Rasta IL in Norway and Luton Borough Youth in England. The phrase can be seen written in the golden letters on the so-calledKroch-Hochhaus in the center of German cityLeipzig. It is also the motto ofWest Bromwich Albion FC andThe Royal Marsden Hospital. • In cinema this slogan was used in a landmark French picture "Le Voyage dans la lune" or "A Trip To The Moon" a silent film brought to life in 1902 by director Georges Méliès. This is a classic vision about a group of men venturing to the moon and back. The scene in which the slogan is depicted comes at the end when they return to earth. Celebrating the triumph, a statue is brought forth with a scholar pointing to the heavens with the word SCIENCE surrounded by olive branches on the base, above this states the term LABOR • OMNIA • VINCIT
^"UBC Emblem". United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. Archived fromthe original on 2010-03-07. Retrieved2009-09-12.
^Hocquél, Wolfgang (2023).Architekturführer Leipzig. Von der Romanik bis zur Gegenwart (in German). Leipzig: Passage Verlag. pp. 120–122.ISBN978-3-95415-128-8.
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