Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003
That man is an Euclidian point: position without substance. ~ Ernest Rutherford
  • selected by Nanobug
2004
I don't get no respect! ~ Rodney Dangerfield (recent death)
  • selected by Kalki
2005
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~ (died 6 October 1892)
  • proposed by Kalki
2006
Behold, we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last — far off — at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.

So runs my dream; but what am I?
An infant crying in the night;
An infant crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~

  • proposed by Kalki
2007
Are God and Nature then at strife,
That Nature lends such evil dreams?
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~ (died 6 October 1892)
  • proposed by Kalki
2008
It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. ~ David Brin
  • proposed by Zarbon
2009
Every marvel of our age arose out of the critical give and take of an open society. No other civilization ever managed to incorporate this crucial innovation, weaving it into daily life. And if you disagree with this … say so! ~ David Brin
  • proposed by Kalki
2010
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.

~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~

  • proposed by Kalki
2011
Modern life demands, and is waiting for, a new kind of plan, both for the house and the city. ~ Le Corbusier
  • proposed by Kalki
2012
Learn to control ego. Humans hold their dogmas and biases too tightly, and we only think that our opponents are dogmatic! But we all need criticism. Criticism is the only known antidote to error.
~ David Brin ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2013
Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.
~ Le Corbusier ~
  • proposed by InvisibleSun
2014
Change is the principal feature of our age and literature should explore how people deal with it. The best science fiction does that, head-on.
~ David Brin ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2015
I hate the whole übermensch, superman temptation that pervades science fiction. I believe no protagonist should be so competent, so awe-inspiring, that a committee of 20 really hard-working, intelligent people couldn't do the same thing.
~ David Brin ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2016
Knowledge isn’t restrained by the limits of Malthus. Information doesn’t need topsoil to grow in, only freedom. Given eager minds and experimentation, it feeds itself like a chain reaction.
~ David Brin ~
  • proposed by Kalki
2017
Perhaps … I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of my day. After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.
~ Kazuo Ishiguro ~
  • proposed by DanielTom in regard to the author's winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
2018
The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.
~ David Brin ~
  • proposed by Zarbon
2019
One of life’s joys was to have friends who gave you reality checks...who would call you on your crap before it rose so high you drowned in it.
~ David Brin ~
  • 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

Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
And thinking of the days that are no more.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~ (died 6 October 1892)

  • 3 Kalki 09:19, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 13:47, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:03, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 AdamKadmon 00:48, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
  • 3 //Gbern3 (talk) 03:31, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

One should never make an offer without knowing full well what will happen if it is accepted. ~ David Brin

  • 3 Zarbon 04:44, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 17:45, 5 October 2009 (UTC) * 2 Kalki 19:20, 2 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 AdamKadmon 00:48, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
  • 3 //Gbern3 (talk) 03:31, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light. Our eyes are made to see forms in light; light and shade reveal these forms; cubes, cones, spheres, cylinders or pyramids are the great primary forms which light reveals to advantage; the image of these is distinct and tangible within us without ambiguity. It is for this reason that these are beautiful forms, the most beautiful forms. Everybody is agreed to that, the child, the savage and the metaphysician. ~ Le Corbusier

  • 3 Kalki 17:44, 5 October 2009 (UTC)
  • 2.5 //Gbern3 (talk) 03:31, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

It is a question of building which is at the root of the social unrest of today: architecture or revolution. ~ Le Corbusier

  • 3 Kalki 17:44, 5 October 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 03:31, 16 August 2013 (UTC)
Anyone who tries to predict the future is inevitably a fool. Present company included. A prophet without a sense of humor is just stupid.
~ David Brin ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 22:09, 4 October 2014 (UTC)
Beware of assumptions that seem “obvious” in one decade. They may become quaint in the next.
~ David Brin ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 00:13, 6 October 2016 (UTC)
Nation states are archaic leftovers from when each man feared the tribe over the hill, an attitude we can’t afford anymore.
~ David Brin ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 00:13, 6 October 2016 (UTC)
For every good idea, ten thousand idiotic ones must first be posed, sifted, tried out, and discarded. A mind that's afraid to toy with the ridiculous will never come up with the brilliantly original.
~ David Brin ~
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 00:13, 6 October 2016 (UTC)
In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.
~ Michael Jackson ~


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