Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven. ~ John Milton
  • selected by Kalki
2005
Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God: but only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries, and daub their natural faces unaware... ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning (born 6 March 1806)
  • selected by Kalki
2006
Give thought to life and liberty. ~ Cyrano de Bergerac (born 6 March 1619)
  • proposed by Kalki
2007
For all eternity has God not occupied His intellect with the cabbage's birth as well as yours? It also seems that He has necessarily provided more for the birth of the vegetable than for the thinking being... Will anyone say that we are born in the image of the Sovereign Being, while cabbages are not? ~ Cyrano de Bergerac
  • proposed by Kalki
2008
You imagine that what you can't understand is either spiritual or does not exist. The conclusion is quite wrong; rather there are obviously a million things in the universe that we would need a million quite different organs to understand … someone blind from birth cannot imagine the beauty of a landscape, the colors of a painting or the shadings of an iris. He will imagine them as something palpable, edible, audible or olfactory. Likewise, if I were to explain to you what I perceive by the senses you do not have, you would interpret it as something that could be heard, seen, touched, smelled or tasted; but it is not like that. ~ Cyrano de Bergerac
  • proposed by Kalki
2009
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Who watches the Watchmen?
~ Juvenal ~
(release date of the Watchmen film)
  • proposed by Kalki
2010
A man contains all that is needed to make up a tree; likewise, a tree contains all that is needed to make up a man. Thus, finally, all things meet in all things, but we need a Prometheus to distill it. ~ Cyrano de Bergerac
  • proposed by Kalki
2011
Most men judge only by their senses and let themselves be persuaded by what they see... On top of that, insufferable vanity has convinced humans that nature has been made only for them, as though the sun, a huge body four hundred and thirty-four times as large as the earth, had been lit only to ripen our crab apples and cabbages. … Do people really think that because the sun gives us light every day and year, it was made only to keep us from bumping into walls? No, no, this visible god gives light to man by accident, as a king's torch accidentally shines upon a working man or burglar passing in the street. ~ Cyrano de Bergerac
  • proposed by Kalki
2012
If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all. ~ Michelangelo
  • proposed by Zarbon
2013
A famous writer who wants to continue writing has to be constantly defending himself against fame. I don't really like to say this because it never sounds sincere, but I would really have liked for my books to have been published after my death, so I wouldn't have to go through all this business of fame and being a great writer. In my case, the only advantage to fame is that I have been able to give it a political use. Otherwise, it is quite uncomfortable. The problem is that you're famous for twenty-four hours a day, and you can't say, "Okay, I won't be famous until tomorrow," or press a button and say, "I won't be famous here or now."
~ Gabriel García Márquez ~
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2014
Who are you and who am I
To say we know the reason why
Some are born, some men die,
Beneath one infinite sky?
There'll be war, there'll be peace,
But everything one day will cease,
All the iron turned to rust,
All the proud men turned to dust,
And so all things time will mend,
So this song will end.
~ David Gilmour ~
  • proposed by Kalki, after a suggestion by bystander
2015
Even if a king defeats his enemy in battle, that still doesn't settle anything. There are other, less numerous armies of philosophers and scientists, and their contests determine the true triumph or defeat of nations.
One scholar is matched with another; one creative mind with another; and one judicious temperament with his counterpart. A victory won on that field counts for three won by force of arms.
~ Cyrano de Bergerac ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2016
Politics: a Trojan horse race.
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2017
If you say that there are elephants flying in the sky, people are not going to believe you. But if you say that there are four hundred and twenty-five elephants flying in the sky, people will probably believe you.
~ Gabriel García Márquez ~
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2018
In a war of ideas it is people who get killed.
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2019
All is in the hands of Man. Therefore you should wash them often.
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
  • proposed by bystander
2020
When everything has to be right, something isn't.
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2021 
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

The key to happiness is having dreams; the key to success is making them come true. ~ James Allen

  • initially proposed on the posting page (without author) by Tara who had "read it off a 'Hallmark e-card" 11:48, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:24, 4 March 2006 (UTC) no clear linkage to the date, but the suggestion prompted me to do some research and create a page for James Allen.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:46, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:09, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

I seek no copy now of life's first half:
Leave here the pages with long musing curled,
And write me new my future's epigraph,
New angel mine, unhoped for in the world!
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning (born March 6, 1806)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 01:38, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:23, 5 March 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 04:09, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 UDScott 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Some people think that friendliness is a sign of weakness, when in reality it is a sign of strength. ~ Wolfgang Singer

  • I just kike this quote and think someday it should be qotm.--McNoddy 14:24, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:23, 5 March 2007 (UTC) This might fare better if placed on his birthdate (29 November), though I am assuming that Wolfgang Singer is Hans Wolfgang Singer.
  • 3, to be used on a more appropriate date. InvisibleSun 23:46, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:09, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3, but on a different date, as suggested above. UDScott 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Take from my head the thorn-wreath brown!
No mortal grief deserves that crown.
O supreme Love, chief misery,
The sharp regalia are for Thee
Whose days eternally go on!

For us, — whatever's undergone,
Thou knowest, willest what is done,
Grief may be joy misunderstood;
Only the Good discerns the good.
I trust Thee while my days go on.
~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning ~

  • 3 Kalki 23:23, 5 March 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:46, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:09, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 UDScott 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

As when, O lady mine!
With chiselled touch
The stone unhewn and cold
Becomes a living mould.
The more the marble wastes,
The more the statue grows.
~ Michelangelo

  • 4 Zarbon 02:37, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 02:50, 3 March 2009 (UTC) Though I might rank it a 2 or even a 3 some other year.
  • 2 UDScott 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:29, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Yet I am learning. ~ Michelangelo

  • 2 Zarbon 02:37, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:50, 3 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 UDScott 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:29, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

A little work, a little play
To keep us going—and so good-day!

A little warmth, a little light
Of love’s bestowing—and so, good-night.

A little fun, to match the sorrow
Of each day’s growing—and so, good-morrow!

A little trust that when we die
We reap our sowing—and so—good-bye!
~ George du Maurier

  • 2 Zarbon 02:49, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:53, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 UDScott 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:29, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Ah, brief is Life,
Love’s short sweet way,
With dreamings rife,
And then—Good-day!

And Life is vain—
Hope’s vague delight,
Grief’s transient pain,
And then—Good-night.
~ George du Maurier

  • 3 Zarbon 02:49, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:53, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
  • This is not by DuMaurier; as the article shows, it is by Léon Montenaeken. InvisibleSun 23:29, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Mortality, behold and fear!
What a change of flesh is here!
Think how many royal bones
Sleep within this heap of stones:
Here they lie had realms and lands,
Who now want strength to stir their hands.
~ Francis Beaumont (birth unknown/date of death)

  • 3 and strong lean toward a 4. Zarbon 02:49, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:53, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC) - I like the quote, but I'm not sure what ties it to this date.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:29, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. ~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec (date of birth)

  • 3 N6n 10:40, 16 October 2010 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki (talk · contributions) 16:04, 27 February 2011 (UTC) but I might eventually rank it higher.
  • 3 bystander (talk) 18:09, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

There were grammatical errors even in his silence. ~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec (born 1909 March 6)

  • 3 bystander (talk) 18:09, 3 March 2012 (UTC)
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:41, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

Capitalism is based on self-interest and self-esteem; it holds integrity and trustworthiness as cardinal virtues and makes them pay off in the marketplace, thus demanding that men survive by means of virtue, not vices. It is this superlatively moral system that the welfare statists propose to improve upon by means of preventative law, snooping bureaucrats, and the chronic goad of fear. ~ Alan Greenspan (born 1926 March 6)

  • 3 bystander (talk) 18:09, 3 March 2012 (UTC)
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:41, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

If displeased with any man, do all you can to prevent his seeing it, for otherwise he will become estranged. And occasions often arise when he might and would have served you had you not lost him by showing your dislike. Of this I have had experience to my own profit. For once and again I have felt ill-disposed towards some one who not being aware of my hostility has afterwards helped me when I needed help and proved my good friend. ~ Francesco Guicciardini (born 1483 March 6)

  • 3 bystander (talk) 18:09, 3 March 2012 (UTC)
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:41, 3 March 2012 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

I'm a little embarrassed about how long it took me to see the folly of most government intervention. It was probably 15 years before I really woke up to the fact that almost everything government attempts to do, it makes worse. ~ John Stossel (born 1947 March 6)

  • 3 bystander (talk) 18:09, 3 March 2012 (UTC)
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:41, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

  • 3 DanielTom (talk) 09:35, 11 May 2013 (UTC)
  • This was already used, on 14 February 2009. ~ ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 22:42, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
Do not trust people. They are capable of greatness.
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:23, 5 March 2016 (UTC)
It is the high priests that make demands — not the gods they serve.
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:23, 5 March 2016 (UTC)
He who had dug his own grave
looks attentively
at the gravedigger's work,
but not pedantically:
for this one
digs a grave
not for himself.
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:23, 5 March 2016 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
Is it progress if a cannibal uses a knife and fork?
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:23, 5 March 2016 (UTC)
All of our separate fictions add up to joint reality.
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 01:01, 6 March 2018 (UTC)


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