Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Love loves to love love. ~ James Joyce in Ulysses
  • selected by Kalki (selected on the 100th "anniversary" of Bloomsday, but a day late to mark the "centennial" celebrations themselves...)
2005
I observed, "Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment." It is not only "the first and great" command, but all the commandments in one. "Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise," they are all comprised in this one word, love. ~ John Wesley (born 17 June 1703 — but this was in Old Style reckonings, actually 28 June by the modern Gregorian calendar)
  • selected by Kalki
2006
Some would say that it is too idealistic to believe in a society based on tolerance and the sanctity of human life, where borders, nationalities and ideologies are of marginal importance. To those I say, this is not idealism, but rather realism, because history has taught us that war rarely resolves our differences. Force does not heal old wounds; it opens new ones. ~ Mohamed ElBaradei (born 17 June 1942)
  • proposed by Kalki
2007
Nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our cities where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail. ~ Ken Livingstone (born 17 June 1945)
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2008
Our security strategies have not yet caught up with the risks we are facing. The globalization that has swept away the barriers to the movement of goods, ideas and people has also swept with it barriers that confined and localized security threats. ~ Mohamed ElBaradei
  • proposed by Kalki
2009
Whether one believes in evolution, intelligent design, or Divine Creation, one thing is certain. Since the beginning of history, human beings have been at war with each other, under the pretext of religion, ideology, ethnicity and other reasons. And no civilization has ever willingly given up its most powerful weapons. We seem to agree today that we can share modern technology, but we still refuse to acknowledge that our values — at their very core — are shared values. ~ Mohamed ElBaradei
  • proposed by Kalki
2010
The result of the struggle between the thought and the ability to express it, between dream and reality, is seldom more than a compromise or an approximation. ~ M. C. Escher
  • proposed by Kalki
2011
In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power...
Green Lantern's light!
~ Green Lantern ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2012 
My work is a game, a very serious game.
~ M. C. Escher ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2013
The global community has become irreversibly interdependent, with the constant movement of people, ideas, goods and resources. In such a world, we must combat terrorism with an infectious security culture that crosses borders — an inclusive approach to security based on solidarity and the value of human life. In such a world, weapons of mass destruction have no place.
~ Mohamed ElBaradei ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2014
We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction, yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security — and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use.
~ Mohamed ElBaradei ~
  • proposed by Liquidice5
2015
Coercion never produces harmony. How harmonious are people who are being forced to act against their will? Most likely, those who are coerced will resent those who benefit from the coercion. This sets group against group; it doesn't bring them together.
~ Harry Browne ~
  • proposed by allixpeeke
2016
We live in a beautiful and orderly world, not in a chaos without norms, as we sometimes seem to.
~ M. C. Escher ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2017
We have severely underestimated the Russians, the extent of the country and the treachery of the climate. This is the revenge of reality.
~ Heinz Guderian ~
  • proposed by Zarbon
2018
Most men are difficult to buy presents for. Last year I gave up and handed my father a hundred dollars and said, "Just buy yourself something that will make your life easier." He went out and bought a gift for my mother.
~ Rita Rudner ~
  • proposed by Kalki, in regard to the Father's Day holiday (in the US).
2019
It has been deduced from Hitler’s great power over the masses that the Germans are an unusually suggestible race. But in all countries and at all times men have succumbed to the suggestive powers of unusual personalities, even if the wielders of those powers were not always good men in the Christian sense.
~ Heinz Guderian ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2020 
Rank or add further suggestions…

The Quote of the Day (QOTD) is a prominent feature of the Wikiquote Main Page. Thank you for submitting, reviewing, and ranking suggestions!

Ranking system
4 : Excellent – should definitely be used. (This is the utmost ranking and should be used by any editor for only one quote at a time for each date.)
3 : Very Good – strong desire to see it used.
2 : Good – some desire to see it used.
1 : Acceptable – but with no particular desire to see it used.
0 : Not acceptable – not appropriate for use as a quote of the day.
An averaging of the rankings provided to each suggestion produces it’s general ranking in considerations for selection of Quote of the Day. The selections made are usually chosen from the top ranked options existing on the page, but the provision of highly ranked late additions, especially in regard to special events (most commonly in regard to the deaths of famous people, or other major social or physical occurrences), always remain an option for final selections.
Thank you for participating!

Suggestions

Films and gramophone records, music, books and buildings show clearly how vigorously a man's life and work go on after his death, whether we feel it or not, whether we are aware of the individual names or not. There is no such thing as death according to our view! ~ Martin Bormann (born June 17)

  • 4 because death is never an end, and life will always continue in memories. Zarbon 04:17, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:03, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:19, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

You hit somebody with your fist and not with your fingers spread. ~ Heinz Guderian (born June 17)

  • 3 because this is a good comparison between tank attacks and actual fighting. Zarbon 06:47, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:03, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:19, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Once its considered proper to use government force to solve one person's problem, force can be justified to solve anyone's problem. ~ Harry Browne

Note: Browne's birthday was 17 June.
This quote is from page 18 of Why Government Doesn't Work.  The entire sentence is italicised in the original source.
  • 2 allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

They seem to think the government that can't stop violence in American cities can somehow bring peace to the rest of the world.
But one can support the newest foreign military adventures only by ignoring the wreckage left by all the previous military adventures. ~ Harry Browne

Note: Browne's birthday was 17 June.
This quote is from page 26 of Why Government Doesn't Work.
  • 2 (leaning toward 3) allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

The government that's strong enough to give you what you want by taking it from someone else is strong enough to take everything you have and give it to someone else.
The government you want to suppress your enemies can be used as easily by your enemies to attack you. ~ Harry Browne

Note: Browne's birthday was 17 June.
This quote is from page 27 of Why Government Doesn't Work.
  • 2 (leaning toward 3) allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 16 June 2015 (UTC) though this is derived from earlier statements of others.

A government that tries to help those who can't help themselves will turn into a government that helps those with the most political power. ~ Harry Browne

Note: Browne's birthday was 17 June.
This quote is from page 32 of Why Government Doesn't Work.
  • 2 (leaning toward 3) allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

A government we try to use as our servant inevitably will become our master. ~ Harry Browne

Note: Browne's birthday was 17 June.
This quote is from page 32 of Why Government Doesn't Work.
  • 2 (leaning toward 3) allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 1 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

[A] government formed to do for the people what they can't do so well for themselves will instead do to people what they don't want done. ~ Harry Browne

Note: Browne's birthday was 17 June.
This quote is from page 32 of Why Government Doesn't Work.
  • 2 (leaning toward 3) allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 1 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

Government doesn't work.  That's the first lesson we must learn if we want to improve society. ~ Harry Browne

Note: Browne's birthday was 17 June.
This quote is from page 35 of Why Government Doesn't Work.
  • 3 (leaning toward 4) allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 1 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

Politicians always justify the human tragedies [of war] as being necessary for the greater good.  They speak movingly of giving one's life for one's country.  But it's always someone else's life they're talking about.

…

The politicians' stirring phrases are meant to keep our eyes averted from the reality of war—to make us imagine heroic young men marching in parades, winning glorious battles, and bringing peace and democracy to the world.

But war is something quite different from that.

It is your children or your grandchildren dying before they're even fully adults, or being maimed or mentally scarred for life.  It is your brothers and sisters being taught to kill other people—and to hate people who are just like themselves and who don't want to kill anyone either.  It is your children seeing their buddies' limbs blown off their bodies.

It is hundreds of thousands of human beings dying years before their time.  It is millions of people separated forever from the ones they love.

It is the destruction of homes for which people worked for decades.  It is the end of careers that meant as much to others as your career means to you.

It is the imposition of heavy taxes on you and on other Americans and on people in other countries—taxes that remain long after the war is over. It is the suppression of free speech and the jailing of people who criticize the government.

It is the imposition of slavery by forcing young men to serve in the military.

It is goading the public to hate foreign people and races—whether Arabs of Japanese or Cubans or Serbs.  It is numbing our sensibilities to cruelties inflicted on foreigners.

It is cheering at the news of enemy pilots killed in their planes, of young men blown to bits while trapped inside tanks, of sailors drowned at sea.

Other tragedies inevitably trail in the wake of war.  Politicians lie even more than usual.  Secrecy and cover-ups become the rule rather than the exception.  The press becomes even less reliable.

War is genocide, torture, cruelty, propaganda, and slavery.

War is the worst cruelty government can inflict upon its subjects.  It makes every other political crime—corruption, bribery, favoritism, vote-buying, graft, dishonesty—seem petty. ~ Harry Browne

Note: Browne's birthday was 17 June.
This quote is from pages 140 and 144 of Why Government Doesn't Work.
  • 4 allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 16 June 2015 (UTC) but a bit long.

Government is good at one thing: It knows how to break your legs, hand you a crutch, and say, "See, if it weren't for the government, you wouldn't be able to walk." ~ Harry Browne

Note: Browne's birthday was 17 June.
  • 3 (strongly leaning toward 4) allixpeeke (talk) 20:09, 22 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 1 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:37, 16 June 2015 (UTC)
To imitate the ostrich in political matters has never been a satisfactory method of avoiding danger; yet this is what Hitler, as well as his more important political, economic and even military advisers, chose to do over and over again. The consequences of this deliberate blindness in the face of hard facts were devastating; and it was we who now had to bear them.
~ Heinz Guderian ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 03:43, 17 June 2017 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon (talk) 01:35, 1 April 2019 (UTC) yes, I like this one as well as it depicts usage of the ostrich in the sense of going into danger as opposed to backing out of it and characterizes it in a historic sense.
New weapons require new tactics. Never put new wine into old bottles.
~ Heinz Guderian ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 03:43, 17 June 2017 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon (talk) 01:35, 1 April 2019 (UTC) I was deliberating adding this one but didn't as it might lack context, but it's one of my favorite quips by him.


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