Question: Whose quote, beginning “Neither snow nor rain nor heat…,” is famously inscribed above New York’s main post office?
Answer: Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian. Around 500 B.C., he wrote the line in his Histories to describe the messengers of the Persian Empire under King Darius I, who carried dispatches across vast distances on horseback through harsh terrain and weather. The full inscription on the James Farley Post Office in Manhattan reads: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” It was chosen by the building’s architect, William Mitchell Kendall, when the post office opened in 1914. Although it is often mistaken for the official motto of the U.S. Postal Service, USPS has never formally adopted it.
