Wikipedia:Motto of the day/Nominations

Motto criteria

Your motto should:

• Reflect the community or purpose of Wikipedia.
• Be short; it's a motto, not an essay.
• Be funny or serious; but nevertheless, interesting.
• Be powerful; it should provoke a reaction or draw attention, not just another "blah blah".

Your motto should not:

• Be similar to another approved motto.
• Be offensive or inflammatory.
• Be too obscure (so no little-known Yoda quotes, please).
• Contain redundant links (e.g. We want you! …to join Wikipedia., where the meaning is clear without the links).

Tip: avoid rarely used words that not everyone will understand. Remember, a lot of non-English speakers read Wikipedia.

Nomination procedure

To nominate a motto for review, simply add it at the top of the In review section using this format:

=== Example motto ===
Origin of the motto and your comments. ~~~~
*First comment goes here. ~~~~
*:Any replies get indented again. ~~~~

==== Edit 1 of Example motto ====
'''Edit 1'''. Reason for edit, what was changed, etc. ~~~~

• Anyone can comment on a nomination. Simply type Support or Oppose ('''Support''' or '''Oppose'''), and, if possible, leave a reason. Remember to always sign your posts on discussion pages. However, it is generally frowned upon if you vote twice in one motto so please stick to one, although multiple comments are allowed.
  • Please do not support yourself.
• Please note that this page uses the bulleted !voting style, the same as on Featured picture candidates (see below).
• If you find a motto that is the same or similar to a previously nominated motto, please leave a comment on the new nomination that links to the old nomination, so that others will be able to compare the two.
• Simple spelling mistakes or punctuation errors may be corrected without creating a new edit; just be sure to leave a comment explaining exactly what you have changed. If you have an idea that might improve a motto by rewording, changing the links, etc., nest a new heading (see the above example) under the motto.
• After 14 days, it’s decision time—the motto should be moved to the top of the decision section. Anyone in the discussion is welcome to judge the consensus to either accept, reject, or reopen a motto. See below for the procedure on how to do this. Also please note that determining consensus should not be just based on counting votes.

Remember, new nominations for mottos go AT THE TOP of the In review section

Reusing a motto

Sometimes you may think of an idea and then find it has already been suggested a while ago. It is possible to reuse a motto that has been suggested in the past. However, there are some provisos:

• If the motto has been declined in the past nomination, this means it can be reused at any time.
• If the motto has been approved in the past nomination, so long as a year has passed since its nomination and it also has different links it can be reused.
• If a motto has been nominated and approved many times in the past it should be added to WP:Motto of the day/Nominations/Frequently used ideas. These mottoes are generally frowned upon unless a long time has passed.

Please check the archives and search for your motto or variation to check its status before nominating

How to comment for nominations

• Write Support, if you approve of the nomination. A reason is optional.
• Write Oppose, followed by your reasoning, if you disapprove of the nomination. All objections should be accompanied by a specific rationale that, if addressed, would make you support the nomination.
• You can weak support or weak oppose instead, so that your opinion will be weighed as half of a "full" opinion.
  • To change your opinion, strike it out (with <s>...</s>) rather than removing it.
• If you think a nominated motto obviously fails the general criteria, write Speedy close followed by your reasons. Nominations may be closed early if this is the case.

Recommendations added early in the process may be disregarded if they do not address concerns and/or improvements that arise later in the debate. Reviewers are advised to monitor the progress of a nomination and update their votes accordingly.

In review

Note: If you are adding nominations for specific dates, holidays or other special reasons please add to the Specials section and NOT HERE.
Also, please check the archives in case the motto has been submitted and subsequently approved before. If this is the case try to think up another motto instead. Please check Wikipedia:Motto of the day/Nominations.
Otherwise feel free to add your suggestion, express your opinion on a nomination or create an edited version of a nomination by using these formats:

===[[wlink to the author/work or nearest article, if exists|→]] [[WP:MOTD|Motto]] with words/phrases linked to the [[WP:PRJ|Wikipedia namespace]].===
Origin of the motto and your comments. ~~~~

*'''Support''' your reason... (optional). ~~~~
*'''Oppose''' your reason.... ~~~~
*'''Weak support'''/'''oppose''' your reason.... ~~~~
*''Comment''/''Note'': your comment/note.... ~~~~
*'''Speedy close''' your reason.... ~~~~

====[[wlink to the author/work or nearest article, if exists|→]] [[WP:EDIT|Edited]] [[WP:MOTD|motto]].====
'''Edit n''' reason for edit, what was changed, etc.. ~~~~

---

"If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

It's an African proverb that doesn't just have to mean travel. In Wikipedia, if you are removing a red link, that does not need any help (hopefully). But, if you are creating an article, then get some people on board. ^Pingy/_Pongy 🍉 23:13, 16 June 2024 (UTC)

"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."

Based on a quote from Walt Disney. Creating your first article can seem daunting at first, but overcoming that first hurdle is the first step for many of our editors in order for them to eventually become proficient contributors. Besides, we all dream of bringing an article to good status. --(Roundish ⋆t) 23:41, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

"Your legacy is all you will leave behind in this world. So why not leave behind a good one?"

Based on the thought that after you die you won't be able to leave behind anything in this world except for how people think of you. I think it's important to remember that our impressions on people is what will live on after us, so why not leave a good one? Our legacy is who we are after we leave this world. Natalius (talk) 10:01, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

• Support. Minkai (boop that talk button!-contribs-ANI Hall of Fame) 17:28, 8 March 2022 (UTC)

"Believe you can and you are halfway there."

Quote by Theodore Roosevelt. In my opinion, this is representative of the 5th pillar (Wikipedia has no firm rules) because it encourages you to believe you can do something and do it. The 5th pillar also supports that. Many editors don't think they are capable of editing wikipedia. I was the same when I started. TigerScientist Chat > contribs 20:11, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

→ "Veni, vidi vikipedia. Erat in computum."

Based on the famous latin quote (Veni, vidi, vici — I came, I saw, I conquered). The variant means "I came, I saw wikipedia. It was on the computer.", which seems a fitting modern-day variant reflecting the omnipresence of Wikipedia on the world's screens. — WT79 ^{(speak to me | editing patterns | what I been doing)} 12:44, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.”

― Karl Marx, in the book: Eleven Theses on Feuerbach These words are also inscribed upon his grave, also just because he was a communist, it doesn't rid the quote of its universality. Excutient^Talk 06:28, 4 November 2020 (UTC)

"It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill"

-Wilbur Wright said this, pertaining to how everyone needs to know something to succeed. WolfKanin (talk) 18:59, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

Support Gog the Mild (talk) 16:00, 27 February 2020 (UTC)

Support Prairie Astronomer (talk) 21:55, 11 March 2020 (UTC)

Support - Flori4nK ^{t • c} 10:54, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

Faber est quisque Vicipaedia suae.

-'Each is the maker of their encyclopedia'. Adapted from a quote of Sallust in a speech to Caesar. JonsterMonster (talk) 05:06, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

Support – nicely quirky. Gog the Mild (talk) 16:01, 27 February 2020 (UTC)

Support – nice adaption of quote. WT79 ^{(speak to me | editing patterns | what I been doing)} 13:00, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

Support – there was a time when motto of the day was almost dead User:Pedant (talk) 05:54, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard, be evil

Unknown. Landryoliver (talk) 02:36, 6 January 2019 (UTC)

Support - I love it! (I have tweaked it into sentence case.) Gog the Mild (talk) 16:03, 27 February 2020 (UTC)

"We do have a lot in common. The same Earth, the same air, the same sky. Maybe if we started looking at what's the same instead of what's different... well, who knows?"

-Meowth says this in Pokemon: The First Movie. Definitely words to live by. WikiSquirrel42 (talk) 00:59, 22 April 2017 (UTC)

If you can't create or help in an article, kick rocks!

This came into my mind when I was researching for my homework. I modified it to make it related to Wikipedia. Democratics (talk) 08:47, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

If questionable questions are not questioned, questioning will occur.

User:Nikolaiho20:10, 7 February 2016

→ Luke, Join the Dark Side. It's Really Really Cool!

Made me laugh the first time I heard this. TF ^{{ Contribs }} 15:06, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

Does anyone know of any shortcuts for the wikipediaholism page? TF ^{{ Contribs }} 15:08, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

WP:WHT Eman235/talk 21:57, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

→ Luke, Join the Dark Side. It's Really Really Cool!

Edit 1: adds links TF ^{{ Contribs }} 10:36, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

The Wiki is not the World.

By analogy with "the map is not the territory".

Almonaster (talk) 05:32, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

• Support: An interesting take-off from "the map is not the territory". Ventric (talk) 21:16, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
• Comment: Clearer with a link (ie, not the territory) Larataguera (talk) 12:58, 14 March 2023 (UTC)
• Support: as per Larataguera User:Pedant (talk) 05:57, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

Edit Wikipedia, edit the world!

BlAcKhAt9(9 (talk) 18:25, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

• Support A nice riff on Hack the Planet! or something of the like. Ventric (talk) 01:58, 19 September 2016 (UTC)

→ • Wikipedia pro omnibus, omnes pro Wikipedia • derived from Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno

Since there was no reaction to: Has this motto been suggested before? this might be a better place to ask Lotje (talk) 15:35, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

"i am manado, i was here from the beginning and now i will proclaim the end. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Okamialvis (talk • contribs) 19:04, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose Lacking relatable language. Latin is cool, but this is not. Ventric (talk) 21:18, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

→ • Just because something is funny, it doesn't mean that it it's not important.
• Just because something is important, it doesn't mean that it's not funny.
• One of the few things worth taking seriously is humor.

From Mick Goodrick's book The Advancing Guitarist, where he sets you up for some examples of "the effective use of space" in music, and presents you with a nearly blank page.

It's a useful reminder not to take yourself too seriously, and that humorous essays do have a use. Eman235/talk 14:08, 4 August 2015 (UTC)

• Support. True. --Warp3 (talk) 04:27, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

→ Yet I'll not shed her blood;
Nor soar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Othello (1565), Act V, Scene II. –pjoef (talk • contribs) 15:34, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

→ Kid — the next time I say, 'Let's go someplace like Bolivia', let's go someplace like Bolivia.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 11:27, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

→ Thou who hast
The fatal gift of beauty.

Lord George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824), Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1818), Canto IV. –pjoef (talk • contribs) 08:02, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

→ Except for a single, very powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter the four million year old black monolith has remained completely inert, its origin and purpose still a total mystery.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 07:56, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

→ A rosebud set with little wilful thorns.
And sweet as English air could make her, she.

Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892), The Princess: Prologue (1847). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 08:34, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

→ They're not gonna catch us. We're on a mission from God.

The Blues Brothers (1978). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 08:17, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

→ Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene V (1597). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 10:10, 23 June 2015 (UTC)

→ It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It's a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.

A Tale of Two Cities (1935), based upon Charles Dickens' 1859 historical novel. –pjoef (talk • contribs) 10:07, 23 June 2015 (UTC)

→ Old as I am, for ladies' love unfit,
The power of beauty I remember yet.

John Dryden (1631–1700), Fables, Ancient and Modern (1700), "Cymon and Iphigenia (From Boccace)". –pjoef (talk • contribs) 07:38, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

→ — "I'm in love with you." — "Snap out of it!"

Moonstruck (1987). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 07:38, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

→ Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616), As You Like It, Act I, Scene III (1623). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 10:26, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

• Support I enjoy this one. Ventric (talk) 21:18, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Yup, definitely like this one, despite my mild contempt for anything Shakespearean. Ghinga7 (talk) 18:28, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

• Support. Sweet and simple. Huggums537 (talk) 21:46, 8 April 2024 (UTC)

→ Well, if you get a good break, you'll be out of Tehachapi in 20 years and you can come back to me then. I hope they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck... Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means if you're a good girl, you'll be out in 20 years. I'll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I'll always remember you.

The Maltese Falcon (1931). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 10:26, 9 June 2015 (UTC)

→ And she is fair, and fairer than that word.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616), The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene I (1623). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 09:20, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

→ I'm such a fool, such an old fool. These are only tears of gratitude — an old maid's gratitude for the crumbs offered...You see, no one ever called me darling before.

Now, Voyager (1942). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 09:11, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

→ Is she not passing fair?

William Shakespeare (1564–1616), The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV, Scene IV (1623). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 07:24, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

→ I didn't recognize you. You should lay off those candy bars...You're a mess, honey.

Touch of Evil (1958). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 07:17, 26 May 2015 (UTC)

→ Non sum qualis eram
("I am not what I was")

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65–8 BC), Carmina 4/1:3. –pjoef (talk • contribs) 09:11, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

→ Never be it said
That Fate itself could awe the soul of Richard.
Hence, babbling dreams; you threaten here in vain;
Conscience, avaunt, Richard's himself again!
Hark! the shrill trumpet sounds. To horse! away!
My soul's in arms, and eager for the fray.

Colley Cibber (1671–1757), Shakespeare's Richard III (Altered), Act V, Scene III.

• Oppose. Too much Shakespearean babble over a single link about edit warring. These are usually much shorter and are able to compact more informative useful links into a smaller structure. Huggums537 (talk) 21:35, 8 April 2024 (UTC)

→ No patty fingers, if you please. The proprieties at all times.

The Quiet Man (1952). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 08:57, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose Unidentifiable and vague. Ventric (talk) 21:20, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

→ Non qui parum habet, set qui plus cupit, pauper est
("It is not he who has little, but he who wants more, who is the pauper")

Seneca the Younger, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium, 2:6. –pjoef (talk • contribs) 08:27, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

→ Non qui parum habet, set qui plus cupit, pauper est
("It is not he who has little, but he who wants more, who is the pauper")

Edit 1 with a different set of links. –pjoef (talk • contribs) 08:27, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

→ We must have bloody noses and cracked crowns,
And pass them current too. God's me, my horse!

William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Henry IV, Part 1 (1598), act 2, scene 3. –pjoef (talk • contribs) 08:07, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose. Too esoteric for my taste and probably for the basic understanding of the general public as well. Huggums537 (talk) 21:23, 8 April 2024 (UTC)

→ Frau Bleucher.

Young Frankenstein (1974). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 07:57, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

→ Non possunt primi esse omnes omni in tempore
("Not everyone can occupy the first rank forever")

Decimus Laberius (c. 105 – 43 BC). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 07:30, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

→ Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yeomen!
Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!
Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood;
Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!

William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Richard III, act V, scene VIII. –pjoef (talk • contribs) 07:16, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose. I think the last two lines and links got mixed up with each other because neither fits either one... Huggums537 (talk) 21:05, 8 April 2024 (UTC)

→ Did you ever reach a point in your life, where you say to yourself: 'This is the best I'm ever going to look, the best I'm ever going to feel, the best I'm ever going to do', and it ain't that great?

City Slickers (1991). –pjoef (talk • contribs) 06:58, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose Memorable scene in the movie, but taken without all that context it's just whiny and depressing. Peter J. Mello (talk) 06:42, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose Too long. A motto should be quick and simple. It doesn't ring out and last in your head because it is long. I don't want whole long sentences as mottos. TigerScientist Chat > contribs 20:14, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

→ Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around.

Vanilla Sky (2001) DrkBlueXG (talk) 20:49, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

• Support Great one. Ventric (talk) 21:21, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
• Support Hard to think of a way this isn't perfectly suited to the project. Peter J. Mello (talk) 06:38, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
• Support short and sweet. Jake (talk) 06:42, 26 August 2018 (UTC)

"When the plumbing gets tough, the tough get plumbing!" -Salvador Drainato Long John Spaghetti, Meme Lord 02:13, 29 January 2019 (UTC) (Added by Long John Spaghetti) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Long John Spaghetti (talk • contribs)

"Live a life that you think someday you will be proud of. If you think you don't, have the courage to start all over again." -benjamin button — Preceding unsigned comment added by 221.121.187.253 (talk) 05:58, 23 September 2016 (UTC)

"The day's young but I'm not." -Hey breej Hey breej (talk) 20:00, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

"In a week, I will be donating $1,000,000 to a recipient determined by the word count of the Wikipedia article about this event. If it's even, the money goes to pro-choice activists. If it's odd, pro-life." -[XKCD 545] 'Ridge^{(Conversation|Fascination|Imagination)} 22:32, 14 June 2021 (UTC)