The United States Postal Service has no official creed or motto.
An inscription on the James Farley Post Office in New York City reads:
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.It derives from a quote from Herodotus' Histories, referring to the courier service of the ancient Persian Empire:
It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed. —Herodotus, Histories (8.98) (trans. A.D. Godley, 1924)In 2001, the USPS created a television commercial edited to Carly Simon's song "Let the River Run". The commercial, which ran after the September 11, 2001, attacks and the anthrax mailings, featured no voice over, only the following text interspersed on title cards. A portion of this variation also appeared without citation in the USPS 2001 Comprehensive Statement on Postal Operations (1.A-1):
We are mothers and fathers. And sons and daughters. Who every day go about our lives with duty, honor and pride. And neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Ever.The "creed" is also quoted in the lyrics of the 1981 Laurie Anderson single, "O Superman," and in the 1997 film The Postman, starring Kevin Costner.
In Adventures in Odyssey, the character Wooton Bassett said the mailman's motto is:
Rain or shine, snow or sleet, we deliver your mail! (But sunny days are optional...)In Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Going Postal, the motto for the Ankh-Morpork Post Office is very similar, reading "Neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night can stay these messengers about their duty."
The creed is mentioned in the Seinfeld episode "The Calzone."
The creed is said by a mail carrier in the Arthur episode "What's Cooking? / Buster's Special Delivery".
A variation of this creed is part of the lyrics of the Motown hit song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", which was done as a duet by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1967 and by Diana Ross in 1970.
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, postal, service and/or creed:
“I hate to do what everybody else is doing. Why, only last week, on Fifth Avenue and some cross streets, I noticed that every feminine citizen of these United States wore an artificial posy on her coat or gown. I came home and ripped off every one of the really lovely refrigerator blossoms that were sewn on my own bodices.”
—Carolyn Wells (1862–1942)
“On the whole, yes, I would rather be the Chief Justice of the United States, and a quieter life than that which becomes at the White House is more in keeping with the temperament, but when taken into consideration that I go into history as President, and my children and my children’s children are the better placed on account of that fact, I am inclined to think that to be President well compensates one for all the trials and criticisms he has to bear and undergo.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“I make this direct statement to the American people that there is far less chance of the United States getting into war, if we do all we can now to support the nations defending themselves against attack by the Axis than if we acquiesce in their defeat, submit tamely to an Axis victory, and wait our turn to be the object of attack in another war later on.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“This is the Night Mail crossing the Border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner, the girl next door.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“I can counterfeit the deep tragedian,
Speak, and look back, and pry on every side,
Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
Intending deep suspicion. Ghastly looks
Are at my service like enforced smiles,
And both are ready in their offices
At any time to grace my stratagems.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The Iliad represents no creed nor opinion, and we read it with a rare sense of freedom and irresponsibility, as if we trod on native ground, and were autochthones of the soil.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)