Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003
I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, 'Verify your quotations.' ~ Winston Churchill
  • selected by Nanobug
2004
I'll tell you this — No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn. ~ Jim Morrison
  • selected by Kalki
2005
The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic in every sense but one, that one sense being that in life as we know it such a man would not be a private detective. ~ Raymond Chandler (born 23 July 1888)
  • proposed by MosheZadka
2006
Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor. He talks as the man of his age talks, that is, with rude wit, a lively sense of the grotesque, a disgust for sham, and a contempt for pettiness. ~ Raymond Chandler (born 23 July 1888)
  • proposed by Kalki
2007
Our system presumes that there are certain principles that are more important than the temper of the times. ~ Anthony Kennedy (born 23 July 1936)
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2008
Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph. ~ Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia (born 23 July 1892)
  • proposed by Kalki
2009
The preservation of peace and the guaranteeing of man's basic freedoms and rights require courage and eternal vigilance: courage to speak and act — and if necessary, to suffer and die — for truth and justice; eternal vigilance, that the least transgression of international morality shall not go undetected and unremedied. These lessons must be learned anew by each succeeding generation, and that generation is fortunate indeed which learns from other than its own bitter experience. ~ Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
  • proposed by Kalki
2010
There are two kinds of truth: the truth that lights the way and the truth that warms the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Neither is independent of the other or more important than the other. Without art science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber. Without science art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional quackery. The truth of art keeps science from becoming inhuman, and the truth of science keeps art from becoming ridiculous. ~ Raymond Chandler
  • last sentence proposed by Ningauble; extension suggested and used by Kalki
2011
The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is beside the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech. ~ Anthony Kennedy
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2012
A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.
~ Raymond Chandler ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2013
The dilemma of the critic has always been that if he knows enough to speak with authority, he knows too much to speak with detachment.
~ Raymond Chandler ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2014
Leadership does not mean domination. The world is always well supplied with people who wish to rule and dominate others.
The true leader is a different sort; he seeks effective activity which has a truly beneficient purpose. He inspires others to follow in his wake, and holding aloft the torch of wisdom, leads the way for society to realize its genuinely great aspirations.
~ Haile Selassie ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2015
Everything written with vitality expresses that vitality: there are no dull subjects, only dull minds. All men who read escape from something else into what lies behind the printed page; the quality of the dream may be argued, but its release has become a functional necessity. All men must escape at times from the deadly rhythm of their private thoughts. It is part of the process of life among thinking beings.
~ Raymond Chandler ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2016
We must never lose sight of the fact that the law has a moral foundation, and we must never fail to ask ourselves not only what the law is, but what the law should be.
~ Anthony Kennedy ~
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2017
The law isn’t justice. It’s a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.
~ Raymond Chandler ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2018
The perfect detective story cannot be written. The type of mind which can evolve the perfect problem is not the type of mind that can produce the artistic job of writing.
~ Raymond Chandler ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2019
The Charter of the United Nations expresses the noblest aspirations of man: abjugation of force in the settlement of disputes between states; the assurance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion; the safeguarding of international peace and security.
But these, too, as were the phrases of the Covenant, are only words; their value depends wholly on our will to observe and honour them and give them content and meaning. The preservation of peace and the guaranteeing of man's basic freedoms and rights require courage and eternal vigilance: courage to speak and act — and if necessary, to suffer and die — for truth and justice; eternal vigilance, that the least transgression of international morality shall not go undetected and unremedied.
These lessons must be learned anew by each succeeding generation, and that generation is fortunate indeed which learns from other than its own bitter experience.
~ Haile Selassie ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2020 
Rank or add further suggestions…

Ranking system:

4 : Excellent - should definitely be used.
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.

Suggestions

I knew one thing: as soon as anyone said you didn't need a gun, you'd better take one along that worked. ~ Raymond Chandler (born 23 July 1888)

  • 3 Kalki 21:53, 22 July 2005 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:19, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because trust is fine, but sometimes it is better to be prepared. Zarbon 06:36, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 13:38, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

Chess is as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you can find outside an advertising agency. ~ Raymond Chandler (born 23 July 1888)

  • 3 Kalki 21:53, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:19, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 06:36, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 13:38, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

The solution, once revealed, must seem to have been inevitable. At least half of all the mystery novels published violate this law. ~ Raymond Chandler

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 19:59, 19 July 2010 (UTC)
  • 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 13:38, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

I am a writer, and there comes a time when that which I write has to belong to me, has to be written alone and in silence, with no one looking over my shoulder, no one telling me a better way to write it. It doesn't have to be great writing, it doesn't even have to be terribly good. It just has to be mine. ~ Raymond Chandler

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 19:59, 19 July 2010 (UTC)
  • 2.5 //Gbern3 (talk) 13:38, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

I write in a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss-waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will remain split, and when I interrupt the velvety smoothness of my more or less literate syntax with a few sudden words of barroom vernacular, this is done with the eyes wide open and the mind relaxed and attentive. The method may not be perfect, but it is all I have. ~ Raymond Chandler

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 19:59, 19 July 2010 (UTC)
  • 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 13:38, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

There are no vital and significant forms of art; there is only art, and precious little of that. ~ Raymond Chandler

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 19:59, 19 July 2010 (UTC)
  • 3 //Gbern3 (talk) 13:38, 14 July 2013 (UTC)


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