[2] Virtute et armis (Latin "By valor and arms") is a state motto of Mississippi.

It may have been suggested by the motto of Lord Gray De Wilton Virtute non armis fido ("I trust in virtue not arms").

The committee recommended for the coat of arms a "Shield in color blue, with an eagle upon it with extended pinions, holding in the right talon a palm branch and a bundle of arrows in the left talon, with the word "Mississippi" above the eagle; the lettering on the shield and the eagle to be in gold; below the shield two branches of the cotton stalk, saltierwise, as in submitted design, and a scroll below extending upward and one each side three-fourths of the length of the shield; upon the scroll, which is to be red, the motto be printed in gold letters upon white spaces, as in design accompanying, the motto to be – "Virtute et armis", which means by valor and arms.

[3] On February 7, 2001, Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove signed Senate Bill No.

[4] Many governmental seals of Mississippi use the state coat of arms in their designs.