The Ever-Expanding List of Ship's Mottos
I've cribbed from namesakes or canon dedication plaques for previous/future ships wherever possible. I'll keep updating the post as I find new ones or make new ones up.
@OneirosTheWriter, dunno if you want to threadmark this as a informational thing or omaker's resource or whatever.
EDIT: With the assistance of the redoubtable
@anon_user I update once more.
Ambassadors
Enterprise-C "To boldly go where no man has gone before." (CANON to all Enterprises.)
Excelsiors
Excelsior "No matter where you go, there you are." (CANON)
Courageous "Fortiter in Angustis" (
HMS Courageous)
Endurance "Fortitudine Vincimus" (
HMS Endurance, also Shackleton's family motto)
Stargazer "We look to the stars as they are, never blinking." (
This omake here, can't imagine why I remember it.) or "To bring light to the darkness." (CANON)
Pathfinder "Make safe the way for those who will follow." (An apt summation of
why Starfleet boldly goes, in the end.)
Odyssey "Its origin and purpose, still a total mystery." (via anon_user: from
2001: A Space Odyssey and
semi-canon in that the plaque was made but not in the final cut shots.)
Sojourner "The spirit calls me, and I must go." (a quote from Sojourner Truth, the namesake of the Sojourner rover, via anon_user)
Spirit "I looked up at the sparkly sky and felt better." (
from the original student essay that got the rovers Spirit & Opportunity their names, via anon_user)
Opportunity "I dreamed I could fly there." (Same source, but my fault this time.)
Salnas "We are one among many." (Salnas herself,
via Iron Wolf here, suggested by anon_user)
Constellations
Kearsage "Proud – Trustworthy – Bold." (
USS Kearsage)
Stalwart "Cor Roboris Cona Fors" (
HMAS Stalwart the first)
Sappho "Surpassing all the stars" (Taken from one of Sappho's poems, via anon_user)
Constitutions
Defiant "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by." (CANON)
Valiant "We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained and new fights to be won." (CANON)
Exter "Semper Fidelis" (
HMS Exter)
Saratoga "Invictus Gallus Gladiator" (
USS Saratoga)
Hood "Ventis Secundis" (
HMS Hood)
Korolev "There is no such thing as an unsolvable problem." (Quote from namesake.)
Cheron "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." (Named for a battle with the Romulans, probably built during the Romulan isolation that was only broken by the Bird of Prey attack; it just fits.)
Huáscar "When there is no longer a single man aboard to uphold it." (The response of Nicolás de Piérola to the British demand the original
Huáscar strike her colors, which precipitated the Battle of Pacocha where
HMS Shah and
HMS Amethyst failed to capture
Huáscar.)
Mirandas
Lion "Concordat Nomine Facta" (
HMS Lion, unofficial; would say she's earned it though)
Intrepid "In Mare In Caelo" (
USS Intrepid; "On the sea in heaven" works a lot better for a starship than
HMS Intrepid's "That goes without saying")
Shield "I am not afraid." (While pretty generic, this is a direct reference to a story about Kahless the Unforgettable, chosen because I believe
Shield and
T'Kumbra were commissioned close to the Khitomer Accords.)
T'Kumbra "But I promise one day I will return." (Again, quoting Kahless the Unforgettable because of a closeness between commissioning day and the Khitomer Accords.)
Bantam "All that has been sundered can be remade." (Credit to anon_user for the idea,
Bantam commissioned the same year as the Mars Accords; the reference to The Sundering between Vulcans and Romulans is obvious.)
Agile "Let none doubt the bravery of these people." (I combed through the whole Biophage arc looking for a good motto for a ship to go with anon_user's idea about the Mars Accords. There weren't any. So I'm making one up;
Agile's motto is a quote from a Romulan statement on the Amarki and Admiral Aelin's death at Kadesh.) or "Drive it like you stole it." (Unofficial; I warned you I was thinking about it!)
Centaurs
Zephyr "The wind does not respect a fool." (Kahless the Unforgettable. I believe
Zephyr was the Centaur laid down during the Biophage Crisis and commissioned in 2306; the motto was chosen as gesture to the Klingons for their timely assistance in Kadesh orbit.)
Typhoon: "E Malacia ad Fulmina" (from the actual
USS Typhoon via anon_user; "Out of the calm, into the storm")
Oberths
Hawking "My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all." (Stephen Hawking via anon_user)