- Esto perpetua
"Esto perpetua" (Latin "Let it be perpetual") is the state motto of
Idaho . The motto appears on the back of the 2007 Idaho quarter. It was also adopted byThe National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry , a farm organization constituted inWashington D.C. onDecember 4 ,1867 .The words are traced back to the Venetian theologian and mathematician
Paolo Sarpi (1552 -1623 ), also known as "Fra Paolo". The day before his death he had dictated three replies to questions on affairs of state, and his last words were "Esto perpetua" reportedly in reference to his beloved Venice and translated as "Mayest thou endure forever!" When the designer of the state sealEmma Edwards Green described the motto on the seal, she translated it as "It is perpetuated" or "It is forever".It is also the motto of
St Thomas' College , Mount Lavinia,Sri Lanka , and is translated as "Be Thou Forever."
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