The top-ranked motto was created in the 1980s by either Al Moran, the then VP for Communications at Oberlin; or Anne Paine, who was publications director at the time. It also might have been a group effort that included Moran, Paine, and others. The motto was dropped in 2006 and replaced with We are Oberlin: Fearless. Negative student and alumni reaction to the new motto finally compelled the university, through the efforts of Ben Jones, VP for Communications, to bring back “Think one person...” in 2013. Enjoying widespread acceptance, the motto is regarded as timeless because it serves as an empowering call to action and recognizes the individual as a self-determining force in society. By the way, the official motto of Oberlin is Learning and labor, which harkens back to the school’s founding in 1833. Prior to the 1980s, the school’s motto was the lackluster phrase A place to thrive.

The motto is a translation from the Latin: Vox clamantis in deserto. It’s also been translated as The voice of one crying out in the wilderness. The origin of the expression is Isaiah 40:3, which has been translated as A voice crieth: clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Vox clamantis in deserto was chosen as the school’s motto in 1770 by Eleazar Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth College, who wanted it embossed on the seal. Intended to be religious in nature (e.g., the search for God or pursuit of a higher truth), the motto has assumed a more secular meaning today (the search to find oneself), especially considering Dartmouth’s solitary location in rural New Hampshire!

The motto was coined by Horace Mann (1796-1859), Antioch’s first president, in his final commencement speech in 1859. The school, which has been associated with many social causes throughout its history, adopted the phrase as its motto soon afterwards. An obelisk on campus, which marks Mann’s original grave, bears the college's motto. Apparently, Antioch was the first co-ed college in the nation to offer the same educational opportunities to both men and women, and was the first to appoint a woman to its faculty and to its board of trustees. Unique among college and university mottos, this expression throws down the gauntlet to every student to live a meaningful life that serves humankind in the cause of peace, freedom, human rights, and the like.

The motto was adopted in 1968 and appears in Latin (Splendor sine occasu) on the university seal, which features Boise’s natural environment. It should be noted that the same Latin motto has graced the provincial coat of arms of British Columbia since 1895. The motto was created by the Reverend Arthur Beanlands (1857-1917), a minister in the Anglican Church in Victoria, B.C., and is translated as Splendour without diminishment. It may not be as catchy as Splendor without end, but it’s the undeniable inspiration for the Boise State motto.

The motto is translated from the Aramaic word Ephphatha, which literally means “Be Thou opened." It was uttered by Christ when healing the man who was deaf and dumb (Mark 7:34). The motto was probably adopted at the time of the school’s founding. Gallaudet was the first school for the advanced education of the deaf and hard of hearing in the world. The motto itself refers to opening up the horizons of deaf people and empowering them to assume a greater role in society. Some have suggested that the motto’s original intent was to foster the development of a deaf pastoral ministry that would bring Christ to people who share similar disabilities.

The motto was created in 1999 by Nancy Hensel, the former president of the University of Maine at Presque Isle, who served from 1999 to 2004. The motto was designed to capture the extraordinary nature of Presque Isle, which is located in Northern Maine. The motto, along with the compass, globe, and North Star depicted in the school’s logo, play upon the university’s northern location (Presque Isle is known as the “Star City.”) while promoting its positive and enduring qualities. For many, North of Ordinary suggests a life and education filled with robust physical, intellectual, and cultural adventures that cannot be experienced anywhere else.

Founded by Presbyterian missionaries as a farm school for mountain youth, Warren Wilson is a small college with a strong emphasis on community, sustainability, and the value of service. It has a working farm and a carefully managed forest, and requires its students to perform volunteer work for 15 hours per week outside of school. U.S. News & World Report ranks Warren Wilson among the best regional liberal arts colleges in the South, and Time magazine rates it as one of the 20 prettiest colleges in the United States. So it may not be for everyone, but its special appeal, as reflected in its motto, speaks directly to the individual – to the one person for whom Warren Wilson would be the ideal choice.

The motto and coat of arms for the U S. Military Academy were adopted in 1898 under the auspices of Col. Charles W. Larned, a professor of drawing, who headed up the committee to create an enduring symbol for the Academy. Duty, Honor, Country was intended to represent the time-honored ideals of West Point. The word, honor, is in the center of the motto and forms the keystone of the arch depicted on the coat of arms. Since 1923, the coat of arms has been in regular use at West Point and is carved on many of the older buildings. In 1980, the coat of arms was registered with the Library of Congress as the logo for the Academy.

On May 12, 1962, General Douglas MacArthur accepted the Sylvanus Thayer Award at West Point, and in his remarks to the cadets he spoke eloquently of the motto and its meaning: “Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn…The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule. But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the Nation's defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid…”

The motto, originally expressed in Latin as Cognitio, virtus, successus, means “Knowledge, character, success.” It remains unchanged to this day but Bryant’s current day motto is translated into The character of success, which has decidedly better flow and more depth. In either case, the motto is designed to express the purpose of the university, namely, to encourage and instill character development in the classroom, on the field, and in the community. The school actually developed a task force to provide a benchmark for measuring progress in the areas of character development – from self-management and integrity to responsibility and respect for self and others.

The only motto in the “Top 100” to be translated from the German is Die luft der freiheit weht, which, although depicted on the university seal and elsewhere, is considered Stanford’s unofficial motto. Translated as The wind of freedom blows, the phrase is a quote from Ulrich von Hutten, a 16th century scholar, reformer, and humanist. Stanford’s first president, David Starr Jordan, embraced the spirit of von Hutten’s words and included them (as the story goes) on his presidential seal. Scholars may find it noteworthy that the motto is actually von Hutten’s German translation from a phrase he originally wrote in Latin: Videtis illam spirare libertatis auram. He could have translated it as "Recognize that the wind of freedom blows" or the rhetorical "See you not that the wind of freedom is blowing?" For all practical purposes, the current translation is clearer and more economical. Although it is generally argued that the motto alludes to academic freedom, the pursuit of knowledge, and the scientific spirit, President Jordan also interpreted the meaning of the motto to evoke the “spirit of the West…the vital breath of the Pacific, coming in to us over the mountains.” Who knows, The wind of freedom blows may even have inspired Bob Dylan.