Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004 
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. ~ Carl Jung
  • selected by Kalki
2005 
I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom. ~ Bob Dylan (born 24 May 1941)
  • selected by Kalki
2006 
Every failure is a step to success. ~ William Whewell (born 24 May 1794)
  • proposed by UDScott
2007
Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom. ~ Benjamin N. Cardozo (born 24 May 1870)
  • proposed by Kalki
2008
Every failure is a step to success. Every detection of what is false directs us towards what is true: every trial exhausts some tempting form of error. ~ William Whewell
  • proposed by Kalki (proposed and chosen without recognition that part of it had been used in 2006)
2009
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
~ Bob Dylan ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2010
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
~ Bob Dylan ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2011
Magic words and incantations are as fatal to our science as they are to any other. Methods, when classified and separated, acquire their true bearing and perspective as a means to an end, not as ends in themselves. We seek to find peace of mind in the word, the formula, the ritual. The hope is illusion. ~ Benjamin N. Cardozo
  • proposed by Zarbon
2012
Life consists not simply in what heredity and environment do to us but in what we make out of what they do to us.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2013
Peace is an awareness of reserves from beyond ourselves, so that our power is not so much in us as through us. Peace is the gift, not of volitional struggle, but of spiritual hospitality.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2014
The fact that astronomies change while the stars abide is a true analogy of every realm of human life and thought, religion not least of all. No existent theology can be a final formulation of spiritual truth.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2015
God of grace and God of glory,
On Thy people pour Thy power.
Crown Thine ancient church’s story,
Bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour,
For the facing of this hour.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2016
Our course of advance ... is neither a straight line nor a curve. It is a series of dots and dashes. Progress comes per saltum, by successive compromises between extremes, compromises often … between "positivism and idealism". The notion that a jurist can dispense with any consideration as to what the law ought to be arises from the fiction that the law is a complete and closed system, and that judges and jurists are mere automata to record its will or phonographs to pronounce its provisions.
~ Benjamin N. Cardozo ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2017
No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined. One of the widest gaps in human experience is the gap between what we say we want to be and our willingness to discipline ourselves to get there.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2018
There is truth and then again there is truth. For all that the world is full of people who go around believing they've got you or your neighbor figured out, there really is no bottom to what is not known. The truth about us is endless. As are the lies.
~ Philip Roth ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2019
Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world — making the most of one's best.
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2020 
Rank or add further suggestions…

Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

  • I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it. ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
    • used 2 May 2004; selected by Kalki

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

Man is the interpreter of nature, science the right interpretation. ~ William Whewell (born May 24)

  • 3 because science is a deciphered truth, based on fact and fact alone. Misinterpretation has never played a role in the scientific defense, even when man has interpreted as such from nature itself. Zarbon 05:34, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 J.A.R.N.Y.🗣 01:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

If a nation does not want a monarchy, change the nation's mind. If a nation does not need a monarchy, change the nation's needs. ~ Jan Smuts (born May 24)

  • 3 because the needs and wants of man can be changed. Zarbon 05:33, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 J.A.R.N.Y. 00:58, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

The emotional appeal of nature is tremendous, sometimes almost more than one can bear. ~ Jan Smuts (born May 24)

  • 2 because the effects of nature on one can be irreperable. Zarbon 05:33, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 but would extend this to "The intimate rapport with nature is one of the most precious things in life. Nature is indeed very close to us; sometimes closer than hands and feet, of which in truth she is but the extension. The emotional appeal of nature is tremendous, sometimes almost more than one can bear."
  • 3 For the extended quotation. - InvisibleSun 22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 J.A.R.N.Y.🗣 01:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

It is the army that finally makes a citizen of you; without it you still have a chance, however slim, to remain a human being. ~ Joseph Brodsky

  • 3 Zarbon 04:03, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

The formula for prison is a lack of space counterbalanced by a surplus of time. ~ Joseph Brodsky

  • 4 Zarbon 04:03, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 16:52, 16 May 2009 (UTC) * 2 Kalki 19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Five or six hundred [aristocratic] heads lopped off would have assured you repose and happiness; a false humanity has restrained your arm and suspended your blows; it will cost the lives of millions of your brothers. ~ Jean-Paul Marat

  • 2 Zarbon 04:07, 22 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

We may try to see things as objectively as we please. None the less, we can never see them with any eyes except our own. ~ Benjamin N. Cardozo

  • 3 Kalki 19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 00:08, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 DanielTom (talk) 23:31, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
  • 1 J.A.R.N.Y.🗣 01:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

No force however great can stretch a cord however fine into an horizontal line which is accurately straight. ~ William Whewell

  • 2 Kalki 19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 I remember seeing this quotation, beginning "Hence no force," etc., cited in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations as "an example of accidental rhyme and metre." In Bartlett's the quotation begins with "And so no force," etc. It might be better to restore the original phrasing, whichever it might be, so as to emphasize, by the cadence of the words, the serendipity of this rhymed-and-metered prose. - InvisibleSun 22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 00:08, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 J.A.R.N.Y.🗣 01:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

I renounce war for its consequences, for the lies it lives on and propagates, for the undying hatred it arouses, for the dictatorships it puts in place of democracy, for the starvation that stalks after it. I renounce war, and never again, directly or indirectly, will I sanction or support another. ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 09:26, 4 April 2010 (UTC)
  • 1 J.A.R.N.Y.🗣 01:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. Bitterness paralyzes life; love empowers it. Bitterness sours life; love sweetens it. Bitterness sickens life; love heals it. Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes. ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 09:26, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determine the end. ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 09:26, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Real Christians do not carry their religion, their religion carries them. It is not weight, it is wings. It lifts them up, it sees them over hard places. It makes the universe seem friendly, life purposeful, hope real, sacrifice worthwhile. It sets them free from fear, futility, discouragement, and sin — the great enslaver of men's souls. You can know a real Christian when you see him, by his buoyancy. ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 09:26, 4 April 2010 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.


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