< Badass Creed

Badass Creed/Real Life

Real Life -- Military

  • The Royal Navy has gone through a fair few of these:
    • The Royal Navy of England has ever been her greatest defence and ornament - its ancient and natural strength, the floating bulwarks of our island.
    • Hearts of oak are our ships, hearts of oak are our men
    • Britain's best bulwarks are her wooden walls.
    • The current motto is pretty damn good too:
Se vis pacem, para bellum.
—If you want peace, prepare for war.
  • 2nd battalion, 5 th marine regiment, 1st marine division: "retreat hell"
  • British SAS: "Who dares, wins."
    • The DC comic book Hitman by Garth Ennis actually used Who Dares Wins as the title of one of its trade paperbacks, where a squad of British SAS soldiers is hired to kill the titular character and his friend (because of a friendly fire incident in the Gulf War).
    • This creed has been parodied multiple times, notably in the title of a staff training video from The Office.
  • Originally from the 95th Rifles of the Napoleonic wars, and now by default part of the Rifles, "First on the field, and last off it."
  • U.S. Marines: "This is my rifle. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My rifle, without me is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than any enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me."
    • "Semper Fi!", which is shortened from "Semper Fidelis", which is Latin for "Always Faithful".
    • "Forgiveness is between them and God. It's our job to arrange the meeting."
    • "Once A Marine, Always A Marine."
    • "To err is human; to forgive, divine. Neither is Marine Corps policy."
    • "On bended knee is not a tradition of our Corps".
    • "No better friend, no worse enemy."
    • From 1st Recon: "Swift, silent, deadly."
    • The Marines also have the more light hearted, "This is my rifle/ This is my gun./ One is for killing/ The other's for fun." Three guesses what the "gun" is.
    • "Warrior by day, lover by night, drunkard by choice, Marine by the grace of God."
    • "If the Army and the Navy ever gaze on Heaven's scenes, they will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines." Boy, these guys have a lot of creeds.
      • That one gets bonus points for being a lyric in the Marine Corps Hymn.
    • A much more understated one from the Marines: every Marine a rifleman. And it's true. Unlike any of the other American service branches, the Marines make everyone in their uniform go through full basic and qualify as an infantryman. That includes the lawyers who work for JAG, the musicians who play for the band, the doctors, everyone. They all went through Training from Hell to become combat soldiers, even if what they do has nothing to do with combat.
    • Also: "Hard things we can do right away. Impossible things may take a bit longer."
  • Leo Marks, a Communications Officer at the headquarters of the SOE during World War II, had the creed There Will Be No Such Thing as an Agent's Indecipherable -- meaning if headquarters was incapable of making allowances for a radioman or radiowoman that shivers every time a siren is heard or a pedestrian tramps past the door, then they are betraying their comrades at the front lines.
  • The US navy has the Sailor's Creed:

I am a United States Sailor.
I will support the constitution of the United Stated of America and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me.
I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who came before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world.
I proudly serve my country's naval combat team with Honor, Courage & Commitment.
I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all.

    • US Navy Operations Specialist motto: "In God We Trust, All Others We Track"
    • The Office of Naval Research has a wing devoted to bringing railguns out of the realm of science fiction. Their motto? Velocitas Eradico. Translation? Speed Destroys.
    • From a US Navy recruitment campaign: "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of all who threaten it."
    • US Navy SEALs don't advertise, but they are fond of saying, "The only easy day was yesterday."
    • From Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen: "On time! On target! Never quit!" Their job? Providing More Dakka and Gunship Rescue when the SEALs need both.
      • A more formalised creed: "I will close and engage the enemy with the power of my craft. I will never quit, and I will leave no one behind."
  • US Army: "I am an American Soldier. I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values. I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade. [1] I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills. I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself. I am an expert and I am a professional. I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat. I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life. I am an American Soldier." (Hooah)[2]
    • The Army motto, from the seal-- "This we'll defend."
    • Army Infantry: "I am the Infantry. I am my country's strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight -- wherever, whenever. I carry America's faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be -- the best trained soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country's trust. Always I fight on -- through the foe, to the objective, to triumph over all. If necessary, I fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, for I am mentally tough,physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
    • US Army Combat Arms training: "Men? We're not men, we're animals, and you made us this way! We don't eat; we don't sleep; all we do is dress-right-dress-right-dress! Straight between the second and third ribs -- kill!" Also said in response to being called 'soldiers' or 'ladies'.
    • US 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment: Allons "We Go"
    • US 2nd ACR: Toujour Pret "Always Ready."
    • US Army Combat Engineers: Essayons! translates to "Let us try".
      • Also "Rangers lead the way...after Engineers clear it."
    • US Army Special Forces (the "Green Berets"): De oppresso liber ("From Oppression We Will Liberate Them").
    • US Army 10th Mountain Division: Climb to Glory. Nowadays, their specialty is airborne assault.
    • US Army 3rd Infantry Division: Nous Resterons La translates as "We're staying here." Said in response to an ally's suggestion that the division should retreat.
    • 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) aka the "Night Stalkers" aka the chopper pilots in Black Hawk Down "Night Stalkers don't quit" and "Death waits in the dark."
    • US Army Rangers: "Rangers Lead The Way!"
      • 75th Ranger Regiment: Sua Sponte, translates as "Of Their Own Accord."
    • The personal creed of Dick Winters and every infantry officer, summing up infantry leadership: "Follow me!"
    • US Army Military Police Corps: "Of the troops, For the troops. Assist, Protect, Defend."
  • US Coast Guard: I am America's maritime guardian. I serve the citizens of the United States. I will protect them. I will defend them. I will save them. I am their shield. For them I am always ready. I live the Coast Guard core values. I am a guardian. We are the United States Coast Guard.
    • The official motto is Semper Paratus, Always Ready--for drug smugglers, for hurricanes, for burning oil slicks, for swimming in seas one degree above ice, etc.
    • How long have you been in the Coast Guard?

All me bloomin' life, shipmate!
Me father was King Neptune, me mother was a mermaid
I was born on de crest of a wave, and rocked in de cradle of the deep!
Me eyes is stars, me teeth is spars, me hair is hemp and seaweed
and when I spits *spit* I spits tar!
I's tough, I is, I am, I are, shipmate!

    • There's also the unofficial mottoes lampshading the Coast Guard's frequent lack of funding: "Do more with less," "Semper Gumby" (always flexible), "Adapt, improvise, and overcome"
    • More to the point, considering what they do: "You have to go out. You don't have to come back."
  • The U.S. Air Force has the Airman's creed: I am an American Airman. I am a warrior. I have answered my nation's call. I am an American Airman. My mission is to fly, fight, and win. I am faithful to a proud heritage, A tradition of honor, And a legacy of valor. I am an American Airman, Guardian of freedom and justice, My nation's sword and shield, Its sentry and avenger. I defend my country with my life. I am an American Airman; Wingman, leader, warrior. I will never leave an airman behind, I will never falter, And I will not fail.
    • Pararescue's motto is no less badass: "That Others May Live."
  • US National Security Agency unofficial motto: "In God we Trust. All Others we monitor."
    • CIA's counterintelligence division has a variant -- "In God we trust, all others we polygraph."
  • This is Older Than They Think: The Romans had one. Vae Victis, literally meaning 'woe to the conquered'.
    • More colloquially, "Go to hell." They'd shout it as they ran into battle.
  • There's the very first one that the United States Army ever used; "Don't Tread On Me."
  • From the US Merchant Marine: acta, non verba - "act, don't talk".
  • Soviet and then Russian Marines: "Where we are, there's victory."
    • Also "We're few in number, but we wear telnyashkas!" (telnyashka being a striped sailor shirt)
  • Soviet and then Russian Airborne Forces: "Nobody but us!"
  • Soviet war cry at WWII: "For the Motherland! For Stalin!"
  • William III's slogan of the Glorious Revolution of 1689 (in England) - "For the Protestant Religion and the Liberty of England I Will Maintain."
  • The code of bushido practiced by the Samurai of ancient Japan.

"Death is lighter than a feather. Duty is heavier than a mountain."

    • Please note that Bushido as it is understood now was fabricated by the idle samurai caste of the (relatively civil-war free) Tokugawa shogunate as an ideal to stick to, because some of these guys (not unreasonably) concluded that samurai as a class had gone soft.
      • Yes and no. Bushido was a real thing, similar to Western Chivalry and dating back to the 12th century at least. What occurred during the Tokugawa era was a codification and a writing into law of what had previously been a somewhat vague ideal.
    • The Samurai Creed, written by an anonymous 13th century samurai:

I have no parents; I make Heaven and Earth my parents.
I have no home; I make the Tan T'ien my home.
I have no life and death; I make the tides of breathing my life and death.
I have no divine power; I make honesty my divine power.
I have no means; I make understanding my means.
I have no magic secrets; I make character my magic secret.
I have no body; I make endurance my body.
I have no eyes; I make the flash of lightning my eyes.
I have no ears; I make sensibility my ears.
I have no limbs; I make promptness my limbs.
I have no strategy; I make “unshadowed by thought” my strategy
I have no designs; I make opportunity my design.
I have no miracles; I make right action my miracle.
I have no principles; I make adaptability my principles.
I have no tactics; I make emptiness and fullness my tactics.
I have no talents; I make ready wit my talent.
I have no friends; I make my mind my friend.
I have no enemy; I make carelessness my enemy.
I have no armor; I make Benevolence my armor.
I have no castle; I make Immovable Mind my castle.
I have no sword; I make No Mind my sword.

  • Informally, various US special operations units have had their personnel adopt this adaptation of a well-known psalm:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest motherfucker in the whole damn valley.

  • At the entrance to a SR-71 base in Kadena, Japan:

Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing.

  • Canada's Black Watch uses the classic "Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" ("No one provokes me with impunity")
    • It's worth noting that this is because the Black Watch are a Scots regiment, and this is the motto of Scotland itself - most frequently rendered as "Wha daur meddle wi' me?"
      • This particular Badass Creed is inscribed around the edge of Scottish-issue pound coins, along with various others from the other nations making up the UK on their respective versions.
      • This particular Badass Creed was employed in Poe's The Cask of Amontillado: Montresor reminds Fortunato of this, his family's motto, before bricking him into a niche as revenge for an insult.
  • While we're on the topic of the Canadian Military, let us not forget the motto of the Canadian Forces' Intelligence Branch: E Tenebris Lux (From the Darkness, Light).
  • The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding): "Fortune Favours The Brave". Considering this regiment was so Badass that the Duke, himself no slacker in the Badass rankings, once said of them "I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me", it's safe to say they were seriously fucking Badass.
  • 487 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force. Squadron Motto: Ki Te Mutunga (Maori for "Staying Until it Ends")
  • 617 Squadron. The Dambusters. Squadron Motto: "Après Moi Le Déluge" (After Me the Flood).
  • The French Foreign Legion: "You are in the Legion to die and we will send you where you can die."
    • Also La Legion meurt, elle ne se rend pas ("The Legion dies, it does not surrender")
    • And unofficial, "Marche ou crève!" ("March or die!"). It seems these FFL guys are pretty fatalistic.
  • Mossad: Proverbs 11:4: "Where there is no guidance a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety."
    • Formerly Proverbs 24:6: "Through misdirection/wise guidance, thou shalt do war."
  • The Badass Boast "Come and take them" of Leonidas at Thermopylae, when asked to give up his weapons, is currently the Badass Creed of the Greek First Army Corps, and is also the motto of United States Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT).
  • In a similar vein, the epitaph above a World War I trench where the Devonshire Regiment fought a particularly fierce battle, and which was subsequently used as a mass grave for them:

The Devonshires held this trench.
The Devonshires hold it still.

  • Sri Lankan Special Forces - "Determined, Dared and Done"
  • Singapore Guards Formation - "Ready to Strike", Commando Formation - "Honour & Glory", Singapore Combat Engineers - "Advance and Overcome"
  • The Dahomey Amazons, an all-female army that kicked ass for almost three centuries:

"We are men not women.
Those coming back from war without having conquered must die.
If we beat a retreat our life is at the king's mercy.
Whatever town is to be attacked we must overcome it or we bury ourselves in its ruins.
[Current ruler] is the king of kings.
 As long as he lives we have nothing to fear."

  • The 1st Sount Ranger Regiment, the Philippine Army's primary special forces unit, has a very blunt and simple motto: "We Strike". It has better impact in Filipino, though.
    • Its airborne equivalent, the The 1st Special Forces Regiment (Airborne), has "Strike Anywhere". Philippine special forces men are apparently men of few words.
  • The official motto of the The Parachute Regiment (1st Battalion) in the British army is simply "Ready For Anything".
  • The Rats of Tobruk, the Australian soldiers who held Tobruk for eight months against Rommel during WW 2: No surrender.
  • 101st Airborne: "NUTS!"
    • For context, this was the reply by Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st Division guarding Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII, to the German commander Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz when he sent a communique requesting the town surrender.
      • The Germans then had to ask for a translation for this reply; Americans told them it meant "Go to hell!"
  • USAF 7th Bomb Wing:Moris Ab Alto (translated: Death From Above)
  • The US army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment AKA "The Night Stalkers" has two creeds that can be considered badass: "Night Stalkers Don't Quit" and Death Waits in in the Dark.
  • The Royal Gurkha Rifles- "Better to die than be a coward". Bad. Fucking. Ass.
    • So badass their battle cry (Gurkhali AYO!= the Gurkhas Are Upon You!) was taken by Tolkien for the Dwarves, and Star Trek borrowed their name for "Sergeant" (Jemadar) for the Jem'Hadar.
    • Their full battle cry is "Jai Mahakali, Ayo Gurkhali!" - Blood for Kali, the Gurkhas are Coming!
  • Inspired by the Maori, the New Zealand Army got a Haka composed specifically for them. Tu Taua a Tumatauenga.
    • The New Zealand Army as a whole has a Badass Creed: Ngāti Tumatauenga (The Tribe of the God of War)
  • The battle cry of the Almogavars, a group of Spanish mercenaries that were around during the 13th and 14th centuries, which translated as: Listen! listen! Wake up, O iron! Help us God!...Just seeing us coming the villages are already ablaze. Just seeing us passing the crows are wiping their beaks. War and plunder, there are no greater pleasures. Forward Almogavars! Let them call the gravediggers! The voice of the somatent is calling us to war. Weariness, rains, snow and heat we shall endure. And if sleep overtakes us, we will use the earth as our bed. And if we get hungry, we shall eat raw meat. Wake up, O iron! Forward! Fast as the lightning let us fall over their camp! Forward Almogavars! Let us go there to make flesh, the wild beasts are hungry!
  • In Finland there was "One Finn stands for ten Russians!" which was in wide use during the second world war. Famously featured on The Unknown Soldier.
    • Hilarious in Hindsight, as the Russian invasion of Finland was stalled by excessive casualties. 2.5 Russians died for every fallen Finn.
    • Even more badass is The Jäger March, written by one of the Jägers in WWI. Goes something like this:

Deep is our blow, our wrath invincible/we have no mercy, no homeland / Our fortunes are at the tip of our swords / our hearts may not give in / Our war cry rings, enchanting the country / which is severing its chains / Our defiance may not tire / until the nation of Finland are free. The song in question.

    • "No friend is left behind."
      • This motto was used during the Winter and the Continuation Wars. It applied both in life and in death - Finns never used any mass graves, all the dead were sent back to their hometowns. No friend was left behind, not even a dead one.
  • The motto of the Royal Marines is wonderfully simple and understated: "Per Mare, Per Terram." By Sea, By Land. Referring to where you will be fucked up from.
    • Also, unofficially "first in, last out" which has proven accurate because of both their amphibious role and lately their role as one of the British "spearhead" units that rotate 24 hour worldwide notice to move between them, the Paras and the Rifles.
  • "One Shot, One Kill" - Almost every Sniper who has ever lived works to uphold this policy.
  • The Austrian Jagdkommando: "Numquam Retro" (Never back)
  • The Paris Fire Brigade (a French army unit, so it does belong here) motto: Sauver ou périr. Save or perish.
  • The 17th century Polish Hussars: "Kill First, calculate later."
  • Genghis Khan: "I am the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."
  • Chilean Army Engineers: "Obstacles exist to be overcome"
  • The 11th and 12th Century Crusaders: "Deus le vult". This means, "God wills it". Since they regularly pulled off victories that should have been impossible, they may have felt this was justified.
  • The motto of certifiable Badass, Richard the Lionheart: Dieu et Mon Droit. It is translated many ways, one of which is: God and my right hand. Basically, all I need is my right hand and God. Sometimes translated as a simple Badass Boast, God and my right, meaning that the speaker has a God given right to rule. It is the current motto of the British Royal Family.
  • The motto of the Rifles: 'Celer Audax'. In English: 'Swift and Bold'. Since they almost always march at 140 paces per minute, 20 more than the rest of the British Army, they may have a point.
    • Also attributed to them is 'First on the field, last off it'.
  • The British Army: Be The Best.
    • The RAF: Rise Above The Rest. Simple and to the point.
    • The British Army has had a long time to come up with a lot of these. A short list of the ones not previously covered.
      • SBS (the SAS but on the sea): By Strength and Guile
      • Royal Irish Rangers: Faugh a ballagh. Translated as, 'clear the way'.
      • Royal Regiment of Artillery and Royal Engineers: Everywhere! Where Right and Glory Lead
      • Royal Tank Regiment: Fear naught
      • The Kings (presumably now Queen's) Own Yorkshire Regiment: CEDE NULLIS, or 'Yield to No One'
      • Another RAF one: "Per Ardua Ad Astra" (Through Adversity to the Stars)
      • The Royal Air Force Regiment: "Per Ardua" (Through Adversity)
      • "Death or Glory" Queen's Royal Lancers
      • "Nec aspera terrent" (Difficulties be damned)

The Prince of Wale's own Regiment of Yorkshire

      • "Nec aspera terrent"(Difficulties be damned) King's Regiment, King's Liverpool Regiment
      • "Faithful" Durham Light Infantry
      • "Firm" WSFR, Worcestershire, 36th Foot
      • "Sans peur" (Without fear) A&SH, 93rd Highlanders
      • "Merebimur" (We shall be worthy) 15/19 KRH, 15th King's Hussars
      • "Pristinae virtutis memores" (Mindful of former valour) 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars
      • "FIRST IN LAST OUT" Royal Engineers
      • "Nulli Secondi" ("Second to None") The Coldstream Guards
      • "Ready, Aye Ready" The Sea Cadet Corps
      • "Venture Adventure" Air Training Corps (ATC)
      • "To inspire, to achieve" Army Cadet Force (ACF)

Real Life -- Civilian

  • "The Mountie always gets his man."
    • Also, "One riot, one Mountie".
      • And that one was either appropriated from or by the Texas Rangers: "One Riot, One Ranger." Given the structure of the phrase, this one is more inclined to believe the latter was the original.
  • Note that the actual motto of the RCMP is "Maintiens le droit" or "Maintain that which is right" which is also a pretty badass creed in and of itself.
  • NASA: Failure is not an option.
    • Parodied with Adam Savage's motto, "Failure is always an option".
      • Because if "failure" means "blowing stuff up," they not only do it a lot, they like doing it.
      • Well for them failure means something blowing up, in a way it's not supposed to instead of the way there trying to make it blow up.
      • More seriously, this refers to the experimental process. Any result that yields useful data is a good result, even if it doesn't fall in line with expectations. Hence, failure (to replicate the circumstances of the myth) is always an option.
    • Also, Ad Astra Per Aspera ("Through Hardships to the Stars").
  • The United States Postal Service: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
  • While the mottos of Canada and most of the provinces are sweeping and boastful (Canada: "A Mari Usque Ad Mare", rendered in English as "From Sea to Shining Sea"; British Columbia: "Splendor Sine Occasu", best translated as "Splendor Undiminished") Quebec's motto is the chilling "Je me souviens": "I Remember".
    • For any who are confused by this, the chilling part is that it can be understood to mean "I remember that I am a French citizen, living under English conquest" thus arguably making english Canada the enemy.
      • This is a common misconception. The actual full line is "Je me souviens / que né sous le lys / je croîs sous la rose", which translates as "I remember that born under the lily (representing France) I grew under the rose (representing England)." While this most likely represents a neutral point of fact, the actual meaning of this line was never fully explained by its original author.
    • Which leads to another Canadian motto: "Get over it already."
    • Which is reminiscent of the former Confederate boast "The South shall rise again," and the less known Yankee rejoinder: "And the North shall slap you down – Again!"
  • The Mafia, on the topic of assassination - "Only blood can wash away blood."
  • Never say die, say kill!
  • The code of combat between masters of Irish stick-fighting includes the standard stuff - never back down, announce the name of your clan without fear, and so on - but the real chilling line is how a shillelagh fighter explains his intent to avoid mortal injury.

The only fear I have is the fear of killing you.

  • The Irish National Anthem, "Amhrán na bFhian" ("A Soldier's Song")has some kickass moments, like in the chorus: "Tonight we man the breach / For Ireland's cause, live or die / 'Mid cannon's roar and rifle's peal / We'll sing a soldier's song".
  • Gott zur Ehr, dem Nächsten zur Wehr." Traditional motto of german firefighters, meaning: "To the glory of God and the protection of our neighbours"
  • "Tsuyoku naritai!" is Japanese for "I want to become stronger", something Eliezer Yudkowsky considers a motto for aspiring rationalists.

Tsuyoku naritai is Japanese. Tsuyoku is "strong"; naru is "becoming" and the form naritai is "want to become". Together it means "I want to become stronger" and it expresses a sentiment embodied more intensely in Japanese works than in any Western literature I've read. You might say it when expressing your determination to become a professional Go player - or after you lose an important match, but you haven't given up - or after you win an important match, but you're not a ninth-dan player yet - or after you've become the greatest Go player of all time, but you still think you can do better. That is tsuyoku naritai, the will to transcendence.

  • The All Blacks Haka. "All Blacks, let me become one with the land! This is our land that rumbles! It’s my time! It’s my moment! This defines us as the All Blacks! It’s my time! It’s my moment! Our dominance, Our supremacy will triumph! And be placed on high Silver fern! All Blacks! Silver fern! All Blacks!"
  • A simple, yet poignant one for actors since at least the time of William Shakespeare: The Show Must Go On.
  • It is also a Pretentious Latin Motto, but the motto of the New South Wales Police Force is culpam poena premit comes, which translates to "Punishment closely follows guilt," also quite accurately translated as "Vengeance follows guilt swiftly."
  • "We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us."
    • "Anonymous: Because none of us is as cruel as all of us."
  • The Habsburgs used for centuries the A.E.I.O.U acronym as a motto, first introduced in the 15th century. There were several interpretations but most of them as badass as anything: 1) "Alles Erdreich ist Oesterreich untertan" (German: All the world is subject to Austria), 2) "Austria est imperio optime unita" (Latin: Austria is the empire best united), 3) "Austria erit in orbe ultima" (Latin: Austria will be the last [surviving] in the world), 4) "Austriae est imperare orbi universo" (Latin: It is Austria's destiny to rule the whole world).
    • Noble bloodlines and families tend to have badass mottoes in general. Friend of mine comes from a relatively minor line whose motto (ripped from Virgil, apparently) is "Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos": Forgive the weak, vanquish the proud. Pretty metal no matter how you choose to interpret it.
  • "Somerville girls can take care of themselves." The unofficial motto of Somerville College, Oxford University. 'Somerville girls' include the first female Prime Ministers of India (Indira Gandhi) and Britain (Margaret Thatcher)(both of whom were 'wartime' PMs), the first-ever Indian woman lawyer (in 1892!), and several Nobel-winners, that's a deliberately-massive understatement.
  • Firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch used to use "In a world of compromise some men don't." This was later amended to "In a world of compromise some don't." Reasonably badass either way. They also used "When lives are at stake, leave nothing to chance."
    • Speaking of firearms manufacturers, Colt had one of their own: "God created all men equal; Sam Colt made them so."
  • FBI Hostage Rescue Team: Servare Vitas - To Save Lives.
  • A few of the USA states have some badass mottoes:
    • New Hampshire's is probably the most famous: "Live Free or Die."
    • West Virginia's is similar: "Montani Semper Liberi" or "Mountaineers are Always Free."
    • Virginia's qualifies, too: "Sic Semper Tyranis" meaning "Thus always to tyrants" especially if you also consider the state's seal (which appears on its flag): the figure of Virtus standing over the defeated figure of Tyrany
    • North Carolina's qualifies, too. Esse Quam Videri - "To Be, Rather than to Seem"
    • New York's might be familiar to readers of Marvel Comics "Excelsior" or, as it's usually translated "Ever Upward" (though more colloquially it just means "Higher") That's a Motto that New York City has taken to heart.
  • The city of San Francisco has a pretty good one too - oro en paz, fiero en guerra - "gold in peace, iron in war".
  • Small, but still used. In the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, when the militias from Lexington and Concord asked Acton's (who had bayonets) to lead the charge on the Old North Bridge, Captain Isaac Davis was heard to say "I haven't a man who is afraid to go." (There are different recorded versions, but they're all just as powerful.)
  • The various branches of the Scouts have a number of mottoes but the one most fitting is the Scout Promise (called the "Scout Oath" by some organisations, most notably the "Boyscouts of America"), different branches of the movement have different variations, but the original was (given while making the scouting salute[3]);

On my honour I promise that--
1.I will do my duty to God and the King.

2.I will do my best to help others, whatever it costs me.

3.I know the scout law, and will obey it.

  • The Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, depending on where you are, are even more hard core about honour, honesty, trust and sisterhood. The Girl Guides of Canada have the Guiding Promise, as an example:

I promise to do my best,
To be true to myself, my beliefs and Canada.
I will take action for a better world
And respect the Guiding Law.

  • Several Las Vegas Security departments have the unofficial motto "First In, Last Out", pointing out that they are there dealing with stuff before the police, fire departement, or paramedics. And are often the last to leave after tying up all the loose ends.
  • Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, labor activist (primarily anti-child labor), suffragette, anarchist, general hellraiser, and "The most dangerous womain in America" charged in with the motto: "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!"
  • Scotland, as you might expect, also has one: Nemo me impune lacessit ("Nobody injures me with impunity"). It has a rather more direct, official translation into Scots: "Who daur meddle wi' me?" Its unofficial translation, much beloved of Scottish soldiers, is "No-one fucks wi' me an' gets awa' wi' it."
    • The Latin form was appropriated by Edgar Allan Poe for "The Cask of Amontillado."
  • The WHO AM I speech by Coach Flowers, it's just... awesome
  • Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, America as a whole has adopted a few. The most prominent mottoes are "United We Stand" and "Let's Roll", the latter after Todd Beamer's Dying Moment of Awesome on United Airlines Flight 93.
  • The motto of the Olympics has been "Citius, Altius, Fortius" since 1924. Literally? "Faster, Higher, Stronger." a pretty Badass Creed for a sporting event.
  • Many national anthems, but especially those 6 ones. Several of them were military song originally.
  1. ↑ These four sentences are known as the "Warrior Ethos" and are often quoted by themselves as a separate creed unto itself.
  2. ↑ See also: this commercial.
  3. ↑ Described thus as "right hand raised level with his shoulder, palm to the front, thumb resting on the nail of the digitus minimus (little finger) and the other three fingers upright, pointing upwards"
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