Palindromes are ancient. One that was written on fountains in Greece was this:

NI{PS}ON ANOMÊMATA MÊ MONAN O{PS}IN

This means "wash my sins, not just my face". It's a palindrome in Greek because the {PS} is the single letter psi.

The Romans had a clever one:

IN GIRUM IMUS NOCTE ET CONSUMIMUR IGNI

"Into the circle we go by night and are consumed by fire" -- which they said about moths.

In English they go on and on:

Straw? No, too stupid a fad; I put soot on warts.
Campus motto: Bottoms up, Mac
Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?
etc etc