Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003
He caught glimpses of everything, but saw nothing. ~Victor Hugo in Les Miserables
  • selected by Nanobug
2004
Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair. ~ Elie Wiesel
  • selected by Kalki
2005
The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved. ~ Confucius
  • proposed by Kalki
2006
Not curiosity, not vanity, not the consideration of expediency, not duty and conscientiousness, but an unquenchable, unhappy thirst that brooks no compromise leads us to truth. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (born 27 August 1770)
  • proposed by Kalki
2007
The most futile thing in this world is any attempt, perhaps, at exact definition of character. All individuals are a bundle of contradictions — none more so than the most capable. ~ Theodore Dreiser (born 27 August 1871)
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2008
In every science, after having analysed the ideas, expressing the more complicated by means of the more simple, one finds a certain number that cannot be reduced among them, and that one can define no further. These are the primitive ideas of the science; it is necessary to acquire them through experience, or through induction; it is impossible to explain them by deduction. ~ Giuseppe Peano (born 27 August 1858)
  • proposed by Kalki
2009
For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. ~ Ted Kennedy (recent death)
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2010
Ambiguity of language is philosophy's main source of problems. That is why it is of the utmost importance to examine attentively the very words we use. ~ Giuseppe Peano
  • proposed by Kalki
2011
There are fixed points throughout time where things must stay exactly the way they are. This is not one of them. This is an opportunity! Whatever happens here will create its own timeline, its own reality, a temporal tipping point. The future revolves around you, here, now, so do good! ~ The Doctor in Doctor Who : Cold Blood
  • proposed by Kalki (lines from the Eleventh Doctor, for the date of the opening episode of the autumnal 2011 series: "Let's Kill Hitler!")
2012
It is easier to discover a deficiency in individuals, in states, and in providence, than to see their real import or value.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2013
Poetry is the universal art of the spirit which has become free in itself and which is not tied down for its realization to external sensuous material; instead, it launches out exclusively in the inner space and the inner time of ideas and feelings.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ~
  • proposed by bystander
2014
Instead of insight, maybe all a man gets is strength to wander for a while. Maybe the only gift is a chance to inquire, to know nothing for certain. An inheritance of wonder and nothing more.
~ William Least Heat-Moon ~
  • proposed by bystander
2015
I believe in man's capacity for achieving great things and in the combined force resulting from encounters and exchanges. I plead for greater liberty and a more open world … because it provides a setting which liberates individuals and their creativity as no other system can. It spurs the dynamism which has led to human, economic, scientific, and technical advances, and which will continue to do so.
~ Johan Norberg ~
  • proposed by allixpeeke
2016
Among the forces which sweep and play throughout the universe, untutored man is but a wisp in the wind. Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason.
~ Theodore Dreiser ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2017
Development and diversity depend on independent initiatives and competition.  When everyone thinks alike not much gets thought.
~ Johan Norberg ~
  • proposed by allixpeeke
2018
I’d like to see our politics begin to return to the purposes and practices that distinguish our history from the history of other nations. I would like to see us recover our sense that we are more alike than different. We are citizens of a republic made of shared ideals forged in a new world to replace the tribal enmities that tormented the old one. Even in times of political turmoil such as these, we share that awesome heritage and the responsibility to embrace it. Whether we think each other right or wrong in our views on the issues of the day, we owe each other our respect, as long as our character merits respect, and as long as we share, for all our differences, for all the rancorous debates that enliven and sometimes demean our politics, a mutual devotion to the ideals our nation was conceived to uphold, that all are created equal, and liberty and equal justice are the natural rights of all. Those rights inhabit the human heart, and from there, though they may be assailed, they can never be wrenched. I want to urge Americans, for as long as I can, to remember that this shared devotion to human rights is our truest heritage and our most important loyalty.
~ John McCain ~
  • proposed by Kalki in regard to his recent death.
2019
At any particular moment in a man's life, he can say that everything he has done and not done, that has been done and not been done to him, has brought him to that moment. If he's being installed as Chieftain or receiving a Nobel Prize, that's a fulfilling notion. But if he's in a sleeping bag at ten thousand feet in a snowstorm, parked in the middle of a highway and waiting to freeze to death, the idea can make him feel calamitously stupid.
~ William Least Heat-Moon ~
  • proposed by bystander
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

A young man should serve his parents at home and be respectful to elders outside his home. He should be earnest and truthful, loving all, but become intimate with humaneness. After doing this, if he has energy to spare, he can study literature and the arts. ~ Confucius (b. August 27, 551 BC)

  • 3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 08:11, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 ~ Kalki 22:28, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 19:37, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:16, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 (leaning toward 2) allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (born 27 August 1770)

  • 3 Kalki 00:55, 26 August 2006 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:37, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:16, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 (leaning toward 2) allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Opportunities multiply as they are seized. ~ Sun Tzu

—This unsigned comment is by 71.252.139.117 (talk • contribs) .
  • 2 Kalki 07:23, 26 August 2007 (UTC) no clear relation to the date, but might lean toward 3 if there weren't an abundance of other good quotes to use.
  • 2 Zarbon 16:16, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

To comprehend what is, is the task of philosophy: and what is is Reason. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

  • 3 Kalki 21:47, 26 August 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 16:16, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

And I just want to tell you this — we're in favor of a lot of things and we're against mighty few. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

  • 2 Zarbon 06:17, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

There is no issue of States' rights or National rights. There is only the struggle for human rights. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

  • 2 Zarbon 06:17, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC) (There is no such thing as states' "rights" nor national "rights."  Only individuals can possess rights, never governments.  Moreover, what the tenth amendment clearly references are states' powers, nor states' "rights.")

I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

  • 2 Zarbon 06:17, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC) (And yet he did.)

If two men agree on everything, you can be sure one of them is doing the thinking. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

  • 3 Zarbon 06:17, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

If you have had your foot on the neck of a man for three hundred years, and then take it off, do you expect him to get up and thank you? ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

  • 3 Zarbon 06:17, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Not every painter has a gift for painting, in fact, many painters are disappointed when they meet with difficulties in art. Painting done under pressure by artists without the necessary talent can only give rise to formlessness, as painting is a profession that requires peace of mind. The painter must always seek the essence of things, always represent the essential characteristics and emotions of the person he is painting... ~ Titian (died 27 August 1576; date of birth unknown)

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 00:45, 24 March 2010 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 (leaning toward 3) allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

This is to show the world that I can paint like Titian. … Only technical details are missing. ~ Wolfgang Pauli (Would probably accompany this with an image of a blank rectangle as well as some self portrait of Titian, who died 27 August 1576; date of birth unknown)

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 00:45, 24 March 2010 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 (leaning toward 3) allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

The sensualist will find sensuality in Titian; the thinker will find thought; the saint, sanctity; the colourist, colour; the anatomist, form; and yet the picture will never be a popular one in the full sense, for none of these narrower people will find their special taste so alone consulted, as that the qualities which would ensure their gratification shall be sifted or separated from others; they are checked by the presence of the other qualities which ensure the gratification of other men. ~ John Ruskin

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 00:45, 24 March 2010 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Although Titian's works seem to many to have been created without much effort, this is far from the truth and those who think so are deceiving themselves. In fact, it is clear that Titian retouched his pictures, going over them with his colours several times, so that he must obviously have taken great pains. The method he used is judicious, beautiful, and astonishing, for it makes pictures appear alive and painted with great art, but it conceals the labour that has gone into them. ~ Giorgio Vasari

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 00:45, 24 March 2010 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 (leaning toward 1) allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
The thing most feared in secret always happens.
I write: oh Thou, have mercy. And then?
All it takes is a little courage.
The more the pain grows clear and definite, the more the instinct for life asserts itself and the thought of suicide recedes.
It seemed easy when I thought of it. Weak women have done it. It takes humility, not pride.
All this is sickening.
Not words. An act. I won't write any more. ~ Cesare Pavese
  • proposed by Nemo 13:49, 18 January 2012 (UTC)
  • 3, it's the day of his suicide. Nemo 13:49, 18 January 2012 (UTC)
  • 1 ♞☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 23:03, 23 August 2012 (UTC) I am generally opposed to promoting any statements which can be perceived to glorify suicide or any other form of homicide or destruction of life potentials, save as an apparently necessary means to prevent worse forms of homicide or destruction of life potentials.
My aim is freedom and voluntary relations in all fields.  The market economy is the result of this in the economic realm; in the cultural realm it means freedom of expression; in politics, democracy and the rule of law; in social life, the right to live according to one's own values and to choose one's company.
~ Johan Norberg ~

Note: Johan Norberg was born 27 August 1973.

  • 3 (leaning toward 4) allixpeeke (talk) 04:00, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 13:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
Hey, hey, L. B. J.,
How many kids did you kill today?
~ antiwar protesters of the 1960s ~

Note: Lyndon Baines Johnson was born 27 August 1908.

  • 3 (leaning toward 4) allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 13:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
I was interested in making a different kind of instrument.
~ Léon Theremin ~

Note: Léon Theremin, inventor the theremin, was born 27 August 1896.

  • 3 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
    Addendum: With or without images, my vote remains 3.  To be clear, I've no problem with images being added.  Allixpeeke (talk) 20:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 13:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC) but with reservations, as most people would not immediately know what a theremin is, or what he is referring to; use of images could help remedy that.
I wanted to invent some kind of an instrument that would not operate mechanically, as does the piano, or the cello and the violin, whose bow movements can be compared to those of a saw.  I conceived of an instrument that would create sound without using any mechanical energy, like the conductor of an orchestra.
~ Léon Theremin ~

Note: Léon Theremin, inventor the theremin, was born 27 August 1896.

  • 3 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
    Addendum: With or without images, my vote remains 3.  To be clear, I've no problem with images being added.  Allixpeeke (talk) 20:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 13:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC) but with reservations, as most people would not immediately know what a theremin is, or what he is referring to; use of images could help remedy that.

"We have become a grandmother." -- Margaret Thatcher

  • Suggested by DarcyTy 1 (talk · contributions)
  • 1, with a lean toward 0; this appears to have no strong relation to this date, and does not seem a highly noteworthy statement. ~ ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 07:04, 26 August 2018 (UTC)


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