sic semper tyrannis

Sic semper tyrannis is Latin for "thus always to tyrants," expressing the idea that tyrants inevitably meet violent ends.

The phrase is Virginia's state motto and was notoriously shouted by John Wilkes Booth after assassinating Abraham Lincoln.

It typically appears in political contexts suggesting that oppressors deserve their fate: The revolutionary spray-painted sic semper tyrannis on the toppled statue.