Countries and organizations create mottoes, mission statements, pledges and songs to express their beliefs.
The Olympic motto has inspired generations of athletes.
Sometimes individuals create personal mottoes to give them direction for the future and motivation to succeed. Product mottoes help people recognize a product.
The Olympic motto
Citius, altius, fortius
With its roots traced to a Paris school entrance, the Olympic motto of citius, altius, fortius has resulted in different interpretations from Latin over the years.
Originally, the three-word Latin phrase was translated as faster, higher, braver, while recent clarifications suggest swifter, higher, stronger as a more accurate interpretation.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, attributed the phrase to Father Henri Martin Dideon of Paris, who as headmaster of Arcueil College used the Latin words in 1895 in praising the athleticism of students at the college.
But Dideon himself had borrowed the Latin phrase from a previous employment. The three Latin words were found at the main entrance carved in stone at the Albert LeGrand school.
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Athletes oath
In the name of all the competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams.
The athletes oath is taken by all Olympic athletes at the start of the Olympic Games. One athlete is selected from the host nation to repeat the oath at the opening ceremonies.
Olympic creed
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
The Olympic creed has gone through refining and revision through the years somewhat different from the creed originally adopted by Pierre de Coubertin and quite modified from the original quote that initially inspired the founder of the modern Olympics.
De Coubertin is said to have adopted the quote after listening to an Anglican bishop from the United States speak to Olympic athletes during services at the 1908 London Games.
Said Ethelbert Talbot, the bishop of central Pennsylvania: The important thing in these Olympics is not so much winning as taking part.
In recent years, the Olympic creed is displayed prominently on stadium scoreboards during the opening ceremonies.