U.S. State Mottoes

Question: What is South Carolina’s motto?: Answer: The motto “Animis opibusque parati” (“Prepared in mind and resources”) appeared on the front of South Carolina’s original seal, first used in 1777. The reverse of that seal carried another motto: “Dum spiro spero” (“While I breathe I hope”). Both appear on the state’s current seal and are considered the official mottoes. The first is taken from Virgil’s Aeneid. The second was used as a motto by dozens of British families and by King Charles I.

Question: What is Massachusetts’s motto?: Answer: “Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem” (“By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty”) was incorporated into Massachusetts’s state seal in 1775. It is attributed to 17th-century English politician Algernon Sidney.

Question: What is Alaska’s motto?: Answer: Alaska adopted the motto “North to the future” in 1967 as part of the state’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Alaska Purchase.

Question: What is South Dakota’s motto?: Answer: South Dakota’s motto, “Under God the people rule,” was approved as part of the state’s original seal in 1885.

Question: What is Rhode Island’s motto?: Answer: In 1664 the colony of Rhode Island approved a seal that included the image of an anchor below the word Hope. The word persisted as the state’s motto and was incorporated into Rhode Island’s flag (adopted 1877) and coat of arms (adopted 1882). “Hope” and the anchor are likely derived from the Letter to the Hebrews.

Question: What is Oregon’s motto?: Answer: Oregon first adopted its motto, “She flies with her own wings,” in 1854. In 1957 the state’s legislature changed the motto to “The union,” to align Oregon with the North’s victory in the American Civil War nearly a century earlier. Oregon reinstituted “She flies with her own wings” in 1987.

Question: What is Virginia’s motto?: Answer: Virginia’s motto, “Sic semper tyrannis” (“Thus always to tyrants”), was included in the state’s original seal, adopted in 1776. It remained part of the seal throughout the American Civil War, when Virginia’s two governments—one Unionist, the other Confederate—used different seals with different designs.

Question: What is Delaware’s motto?: Answer: Delaware adopted its motto, “Liberty and Independence,” in 1847. It appears in the state’s coat of arms beneath figures of a soldier, a farmer, an ox, and a ship, among other symbols.

Question: What is New York’s motto?: Answer: New York’s motto “Excelsior” (“Ever upward”) appears in its coat of arms, which was adopted in 1778.

Question: What is Ohio’s motto?: Answer: Ohio adopted its motto, “With God, all things are possible,” in 1959. It is a quotation from the Gospel According to Matthew.

Question: What is West Virginia’s motto?: Answer: West Virginia’s motto, “Montani semper liberi” (“Mountaineers are always free”), was adopted in 1863 as part of the state’s seal.

Question: What is Arkansas’s motto?: Answer: Arkansas’s motto appeared on the state’s seal in 1836. It read “Regnant populi,” which can be translated as “The peoples rule” or “Some peoples rule.” The General Assembly changed the motto in 1907 to the singular form.

Question: What is Montana’s motto?: Answer: Montana’s Spanish-language motto, “Oro y plata” (“Gold and silver”), reflects its mining history.

Question: What is Missouri’s motto?: Answer: Missouri’s motto, “Salus populi suprema lex esto,” can be translated as “The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law” or “Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law.” It appears at the feet of two grizzly bears in the state’s seal, which was adopted in 1822.

Question: What is Minnesota’s motto?: Answer: Minnesota adopted its motto, “L'Étoile du nord” (“The North Star”), in 1861, three years after Minnesota became a state.

Question: What is Kentucky’s motto?: Answer: Kentucky’s motto, “United we stand, divided we fall,” was specified in a 1792 act describing the state’s first seal. It was officially made the state motto in 1942. In 2002 Kentucky also adopted a Latin motto: “Deo gratiam habeamus” (“Let us be grateful to God”).

Question: What is Indiana’s motto?: Answer: Indiana adopted its motto, “Crossroads of America,” in 1937.

Question: What is Utah’s motto?: Answer: The word Industry has been paired with an image of a beehive throughout Utah’s history. In 1959 “Industry” became the state’s official motto (and the beehive its official emblem).

Question: What is Washington’s motto?: Answer: The Chinook word Alki (or Al-ki) appeared on Washington’s territorial seal, created in 1853. It can be translated as “By and by” or “In the future.” It is not an official motto.

Question: What is North Dakota’s motto?: Answer: A speech given in 1830 by Daniel Webster is the source of North Dakota’s motto, “Liberty and union now and forever, one and inseparable.” (North Dakota’s constitution specifies only one comma, between “forever” and “one.” Other sources add another comma, between “union” and “now”; the state’s seal uses no punctuation.) North Dakota also has a Latin motto, “Serit ut alteri caeclo prosit” (“One sows for the benefit of another age”), adopted in 2011.

Question: What is New Mexico’s motto?: Answer: The use of “Crescit eundo” (“It grows as it goes”) as a motto for New Mexico can be traced to the 1850s. It officially became part of the future state’s territorial seal in 1882. It comes from a poem by the 1st-century Roman philosopher Lucretius.

Question: What is Tennessee’s motto?: Answer: Tennessee’s motto, “Agriculture and commerce,” appeared on the state’s original seal, which was first used in 1802.

Question: What is Kansas’s motto?: Answer: “Ad astra per aspera” was included in Kansas’s first state seal, adopted in 1861. Among the difficulties Kansas faced on its path to statehood was a civil war called Bleeding Kansas, fought from 1854 to 1859 over slavery.

Question: What is North Carolina’s motto?: Answer: North Carolina adopted its motto, “Esse quam videri” (“To be rather than to seem”), in 1893. It is taken from Marcus Tullius Cicero’s essay De amicitia (“On Friendship”).

Question: What is New Jersey’s motto?: Answer: New Jersey’s motto, “Liberty and prosperity,” appears on the state’s coat of arms, which was adopted in 1776. It appears on a banner beneath two female figures: Liberty (Libertas) and Ceres (the Roman goddess of the growth of food plants).

Question: What is Mississippi’s motto?: Answer: “Virtute et armis” (“By valor and arms”) was incorporated into Mississippi’s official coat of arms, adopted in 1894.

Question: What is Illinois’s motto?: Answer: Illinois’s motto, “State sovereignty, national union,” appeared on the state’s first seal, in 1819. In 1867, in the wake of the American Civil War, an effort to reverse the motto’s order—”National union, state sovereignty”—failed, though the phrase “State sovereignty” was rendered subordinate (and difficult to read) in the revised seal adopted that year.

Question: What is Wyoming’s motto?: Answer: Wyoming’s motto, “Equal rights,” appeared on the state’s seal, which was adopted in 1893. It invokes the equal voting rights granted to women by Wyoming’s territorial constitution, which was the first constitution in the world to do so.

Question: What is Pennsylvania’s motto?: Answer: Pennsylvania’s motto, “Virtue, liberty, and independence,” appears on its coat of arms, which dates to 1777.

Question: What is Maine’s motto?: Answer: Maine law specifies that its motto, “Dirigo,” can be translated as “I direct” or “I guide.”

Question: What is Hawaii’s motto?: Answer: Hawaii officially adopted its Hawaiian-language motto, “Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘āina i ka pono,” when it achieved statehood, in 1959.

Question: What is Vermont’s motto?: Answer: Vermont’s motto, “Freedom and unity,” appears on the state’s seal, which dates to 1779. In 2015 the state also adopted a Latin motto: “Stella quarta decima fulgeat” (“May the fourteenth star shine bright”).

Question: What is Maryland’s motto?: Answer: In 2017 Maryland passed a bill specifying that its motto “generally means ‘Strong deeds, gentle words.’” The literal translation of the motto “Fatti maschii parole femine,” an Italian proverb, is “Manly deeds, womanly words.” It was the motto of the Calvert family, founders of Maryland in the 17th century.

Question: What is Arizona’s motto?: Answer: Arizona adopted its motto, “Ditat Deus” (“God enriches”), in 1863. It appears on the state’s seal.

Question: What is Connecticut’s motto?: Answer: Connecticut’s motto, “Qui transtulit sustinet” (“He who transplanted still sustains”), has its origins in the 1711 seal of the colony of Connecticut. It is most likely derived from the 80th psalm of the Bible.

Question: What is Iowa’s motto?: Answer: Iowa’s motto, “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain,” was adopted in 1847. On the state’s flag it appears on a banner trailing from a bald eagle’s mouth.

Question: What is New Hampshire’s motto?: Answer: New Hampshire adopted its motto, “Live free or die,” in 1945. It was derived from a toast written in 1809 by John Stark, New Hampshire’s most significant military leader of the American Revolution.

Question: What is Texas’s motto?: Answer: Texas’s motto, “Friendship,” was adopted in 1930. As the Texas State Historical Association explains, “The word was probably chosen because the name Texas, or Tejas, was the Spanish pronunciation of a Caddo Indian word sometimes translated to mean ‘friends’ or ‘allies.’”

Question: What is Michigan’s motto?: Answer: Michigan’s motto, “Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice” (“If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you”), was adopted in 1835 as part of the future state’s seal. The motto likely was intended to refer to the Lower Peninsula; the Upper Peninsula was made part of Michigan in 1837, as one of the outcomes of the Toledo War.

Question: What is Alabama’s motto?: Answer: Alabama’s motto is derived from the Latin “Audemus jura nostra defendere” that appears on the state’s coat of arms and was created in the 1920s. It has been translated as “We dare defend our rights” and “We dare maintain our rights.”

Question: What is Oklahoma’s motto?: Answer: “Labor omnia vincit” (“Labor conquers all things”) appears in Oklahoma’s state seal. In 2012 a state legislator claimed that Oklahoma did not have an official motto and introduced a resolution to make it “Oklahoma—in God we trust!”

Question: What is Idaho’s motto?: Answer: Idaho’s motto, “Esto perpetua,” can be translated in a variety of ways: “Let it be perpetual,” “Be eternal,” “May she endure forever,” or “It is perpetual.”

Question: What is Wisconsin’s motto?: Answer: Wisconsin adopted its motto, “Forward,” in 1851. Legend holds that a University of Wisconsin administrator proposed either “Excelsior” (a motto already being used by New York) or “Civilitas successit barbarum” (“Civilization succeeds barbarism”). Wisconsin’s governor and one of its future chief justices were dissatisfied and improvised “Forward” along with a state seal.

Question: What is Nebraska’s motto?: Answer: Nebraska adopted its motto, “Equality before the law,” in 1867. Its intent is disputed: one of its creators claimed that it referred to settlers’ land rights, but others have argued that it was an expression of Nebraska’s commitment to racial equality.

Question: What is Georgia’s motto?: Answer: Georgia’s motto is derived from the state’s seal adopted in 1799. It includes three pillars, one labelled “Wisdom,” another “Justice,” and the third “Moderation.”

Question: What is Nevada’s motto?: Answer: Nevada’s territorial seal, approved in 1861, used the motto “Volens et potens” (“Willing and able”). The motto was changed to “All for our country” in 1866. Though “Battle born” is often used in Nevada and has about as long a history as “All for our country,” it is not the state’s official motto.

Question: What is Florida’s motto?: Answer: “In God we trust” was included in Florida’s seal in 1868. It became the state’s official motto in 2006.

Question: What is Colorado’s motto?: Answer: An executive order issued in 1976 required the motto “Nil sine Numine” to be rendered in black lettering on a white banner in Colorado’s state seal. The motto dates to 1861.

Question: What is California’s motto?: Answer: “Eureka” appeared on California’s state seal in 1849. It became the state’s official motto in 1963.

Question: What is Louisiana’s motto?: Answer: Louisiana’s motto, “Union, justice, confidence,” appears on the state’s seal, which was adopted in 1902.