Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed. ~ Joseph Campbell
  • selected by Kalki
2005
For most of human history we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Who are we? What are we? We find that we inhabit an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions, and by the depth of our answers. ~ Carl Sagan (died 20 December 1996)
  • proposed by UDScott
2006
Learn this lesson, that to be self-contented is to be vile and ignorant, and that to aspire is better than to be blindly and impotently happy. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott (Born 20 December 1838)
  • proposed by Kalki
2007
This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost. ~ John Steinbeck
  • proposed by Kalki
2008
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. ~ John Steinbeck
  • proposed by UDScott
2009
Man is his own star, and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all light, all influence, all fate.
Nothing to him falls early, or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
~ John Fletcher (baptized 20 December 1579)
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2010
We have reversed the usual classical notion that the independent "elementary parts" of the world are the fundamental reality, and that the various systems are merely particular contingent forms and arrangements of these parts. Rather, we say that inseparable quantum interconnectedness of the whole universe is the fundamental reality, and that relatively independent behaving parts are merely particular and contingent forms within this whole. ~ David Bohm
  • proposed by Kalki
2011
Men are divided in opinion as to the facts. And even granting the facts, they explain them in different ways. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott
  • proposed by Kalki
2012
Individuality is only possible if it unfolds from wholeness.
~ David Bohm ~
  • proposed by Zarbon
2013
You call me a Circle; but in reality I am not a Circle, but an infinite number of Circles... For even a Sphere — which is my proper name in my own country — if he manifest himself at all to an inhabitant of Flatland — must needs manifest himself as a Circle.
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2014
Why should the thirst for knowledge be aroused, only to be disappointed and punished? My volition shrinks from the painful task of recalling my humiliation; yet, like a second Prometheus, I will endure this and worse, if by any means I may arouse in the interiors of Plane and Solid Humanity a spirit of rebellion against the Conceit which would limit our Dimensions to Two or Three or any number short of Infinity.
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2015
I see a fulfilment of the great Law of all worlds, that while the wisdom of Man thinks it is working one thing, the wisdom of Nature constrains it to work another, and quite a different and far better thing.
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2016
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!
~ Rocky Balboa ~
  • proposed by DanielTom
2017
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה', אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר חֲנֻכָּה.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.
~ Traditional blessing in lighting the lights of Hanukkah ~
  • proposed by Kalki for the last day of Hanukkah, 2017.
2018
I exist in the hope that these memoirs, in some manner, I know not how, may find their way to the minds of humanity in Some Dimension, and may stir up a race of rebels who shall refuse to be confined to limited Dimensionality.
That is the hope of my brighter moments.
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2019
Our enemy really isn't capitalism, it's cynicism. That's one the things I learned from Woody … Not to be cynical … That cynicism … It destroys you, it rots you away from the inside. So that sense of optimism and humanity … which 20 years ago I would have called socialism but now I'll call compassion … You know, that idea is still out there and alive and if you can plug into that and encourage that it makes it all worth while.
~ Billy Bragg ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2020 
Rank or add further suggestions…

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Suggestions

There is no jesting with edge tools. ~ John Fletcher

  • 3 Kalki 23:39, 19 December 2006 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 19:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC). The connection with John Fletcher (and hence December 20) is rather loose, since he was only using a long-established proverb. The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs records it from 1510.

I looked, and, behold, a new world! There stood before me, visibly incorporate, all that I had before inferred, conjectured, dreamed, of perfect Circular beauty. What seemed the centre of the Stranger's form lay open to my view: yet I could see no heart, nor lungs, nor arteries, only a beautiful harmonious Something — for which I had no words; but you, my Readers in Spaceland, would call it the surface of the Sphere. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott

  • 3 Kalki 23:39, 19 December 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 19:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

If I am right in saying that thought is the ultimate origin or source, it follows that if we don't do anything about thought, we won't get anywhere. We may momentarily relieve the population problem, the ecological problem, and so on, but they will come back in another way. ~ David Bohm

  • 4 a hint of "history repeats itself." Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki (talk · contributions) 05:11, 16 December 2010 (UTC) 3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)with a lean toward 2, or perhaps 3 eventually, but prefer to trim it to the first sentence.
    • The coming back in another way is the part that I like though... Zarbon 18:15, 18 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained. ~ David Bohm

  • 2 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3 or even 4, now that it is sourced.

This is our culture; fight for it. This is our flag; pick it up. This is our country; take it back. ~ Tom Tancredo

  • 3 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

A patriot is someone who cares what happens in their country. ~ Billy Bragg

  • 2 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Art is the objectification of feeling. ~ Susanne Langer

  • 3 or in other words...bringing feelings to life through artwork. Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Music is the tonal analogue of emotive life. ~ Susanne Langer

  • 2 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

From dreams I proceed to facts. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott

  • 3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 05:31, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
I was rapidly descending; and I knew that return to Flatland was my doom. One glimpse, one last and never-to-be-forgotten glimpse I had of that dull level wilderness — which was now to become my Universe again — spread out before my eye. Then a darkness. Then a final, all-consummating thunder-peal; and, when I came to myself, I was once more a common creeping Square, in my Study at home, listening to the Peace-Cry of my approaching Wife.
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 10:04, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
Besotted Being! You think yourself the perfection of existence, while you are in reality the most imperfect and imbecile. You profess to see, whereas you can see nothing but a Point!
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 10:04, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
My Lord, your own wisdom has taught me to aspire to One even more great, more beautiful, and more closely approximate to Perfection than yourself. As you yourself, superior to all Flatland forms, combine many Circles in One, so doubtless there is One above you who combines many Spheres in One Supreme Existence, surpassing even the Solids of Spaceland. And even as we, who are now in Space, look down on Flatland and see the insides of all things, so of a certainty there is yet above us some higher, purer region, whither thou dost surely purpose to lead me — O Thou Whom I shall always call, everywhere and in all Dimensions, my Priest, Philosopher, and Friend — some yet more spacious Space, some more dimensionable Dimensionality, from the vantage-ground of which we shall look down together upon the revealed insides of Solid things, and where thine own intestines, and those of thy kindred Spheres, will lie exposed to the view of the poor wandering exile from Flatland, to whom so much has already been vouchsafed.
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 10:04, 20 December 2013 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
It is not for me to classify human faculties according to merit. Yet many of the best and wisest in Spaceland think more of the affections than of the understanding, more of your despised Straight Lines than of your belauded Circles.
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 10:04, 20 December 2013 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
To be self-contented is to be vile and ignorant, and that to aspire is better than to be blindly and impotently happy.
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 10:04, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
"I am indeed, in a certain sense a Circle," replied the Voice, "and a more perfect Circle than any in Flatland; but to speak more accurately, I am many Circles in one."
~ Edwin Abbott Abbott ~
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 10:04, 20 December 2013 (UTC)


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