State Mottoes

Updated May 30, 2019 | Infoplease Staff

Words to live by

Read the following alphabetical list of the 50 states to discover each state's motto. Looking for each state's abbreviation or postal code? Keep our cheatsheet handy. 

State

Motto

Audemus jura nostra defendere (We dare defend our rights)

North to the Future

Ditat Deus (God enriches)

Regnat populus (The people rule)v

Eureka (I have found it)

Nil sine Numine (Nothing without Providence)

Qui transtulit sustinet (He who transplanted still sustains)

Liberty and Independence

In God we trust (1868)

Wisdom, justice, and moderation

Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono (The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness)

Esto perpetua (It is forever)

State sovereignty, national union

The Crossroads of America

Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain

Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties)

United we stand, divided we fall

Union, justice, and confidence

Dirigo (I lead)

Fatti maschii, parole femine (Manly deeds, womanly words)

Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem (By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty)

Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice (If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you)

L'Étoile du Nord (The North Star)

Virtute et armis (By valor and arms)

Salus populi suprema lex esto (The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law)

Oro y plata (Gold and silver)

Equality before the law

All for Our Country

Live Free or Die

Liberty and prosperity

Crescit eundo (It grows as it goes)

Excelsior (Ever upward)

Esse quam videri (To be rather than to seem)

Liberty and union, now and forever: one and inseparable

With God all things are possible

Labor omnia vincit (Labor conquers all things)

Alis volat Propriis (She flies with her own wings)

Virtue, liberty, and independence

Animis opibusque parati (Prepared in mind and resources) and Dum spiro spero (While I breathe, I hope)

Under God the people rule

Agriculture and Commerce

Friendship

Industry

Freedom and Unity

Sic semper tyrannis (Thus always to tyrants)

Al-Ki (Chinook Jargon meaning “bye and bye”)

Montani semper liberi (Mountaineers are always free)

Forward

Equal rights

 
The 50 States of America | U.S. State Information
Sources +