With God, all things are possible is the motto of the U.S. state of Ohio. Quoted from the Gospel of Matthew, verse , it is the only state motto taken directly from the Bible. It is defined in section 5.06 of the Ohio Revised Code and sometimes appears beneath the Seal of Ohio. The motto was adopted in 1959 and survived a federal constitutional challenge in 2001. The state maintains that it is a generic expression of optimism rather than an endorsement of a particular religion.
The motto appears beneath the Seal of Ohio on the official letterhead of some state agencies. A large-scale version is displayed in a plaza near the Ohio Statehouse. The state motto appears on the flag of Franklin County, beneath the county seal, which is based on the state seal.School districts in Ohio are required to accept and display any donated copy of the motto that meets certain criteria.
The motto is also one of 46 phrases printed on the "Ohio Pride" license plate design introduced on April 15, 2013. It is located on two lines in the center-left of the baseplate, below "Inventors Hall of Fame" and above "Beautiful Ohio".
Until 1997, the motto was found most commonly on income tax forms issued by the Ohio Department of Taxation. The department stopped using the motto in its annual report in 2002.
Ohio is considered the successor to the Northwest Territory, whose seal bore the Latin motto Meliorem lapsa locavit, meaning "He has planted one better than the one fallen." This motto, which may have come from the Seal of South Carolina, celebrated the internal improvements that succeeded in pushing back the wilderness. The seal's first recorded use was on a proclamation on July 26, 1788. Ohio's statehood in 1803 left it without a motto, though Meliorem lapsa locavit remains the motto of Belmont County.