Credo

A credo — from the Latin 'I believe' — is a compact statement of the beliefs that guide a person, an institution, or a movement. The word originates in the opening line of the Christian Creeds ('Credo in unum Deum…') but has long since escaped its liturgical setting: a company can have a credo, a designer can have a credo, and journalists routinely refer to a writer's credo when introducing a signature quotation.

As a quotation type, credos are unusually candid. They are one of the few forms in which the speaker openly signals, 'This is what I stand for; hold me to it.' That candour is part of their power and part of their risk. When a credo is quoted back to its author under changed circumstances, it becomes a test of consistency, which is why organisations often revise their credos every few decades and mark the revisions.

When quoting a credo, treat the phrase as owned. Do not silently trim it. If you shorten a five-line credo to a single line, mark the abridgement with an ellipsis and, ideally, link to the full version. A credo is a promise in prose. It should be quoted at the length its author intended to be held to.