Rotary Mottoes
Rotary’s official mottoes are:
although the first is the more readily recognized. However, both trace back to the early days of the organization.
In 1911, He Profits Most Who Serves Best was approved as the Rotary motto at the second Rotary convention of the National Association of Rotary Clubs of America, in Portland, Oregon. (This National organization was the forerunner to what is now known as Rotary International.) It was adapted from a speech made by Rotarian Arthur Frederick Sheldon to the first Rotary convention, held in Chicago the previous year.
That same Portland convention also inspired the motto Service Above Self. Coined by a Seattle Rotarian J.E. Pinkham from the principle, Service, Not Self, used by his Club, it attracted the attention of Paul Harris who asked Collins to address the convention with regard to this principle. The phrase, Service, Not Self, met with the enthusiasm of the convention attendees.
Ultimately, at the 1950 RI Convention in Detroit, slightly modified versions of the two slogans were formally approved as the official mottoes of Rotary: He Profits Most Who Serves Best and Service Above Self. The 1989 Rotary International Council on Legislation established Service Above Self as the principal motto of Rotary, because it best conveys the philosophy of unselfish volunteer service.
He Profits Most Who Serves Best was modified by the 2004 Council to its current wording, They Profit Most Who Serve Best. This was done to acknowledge the admission of women to the Rotary movement in 1987.