February 18

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts. ~ George Bernard Shaw
2005 
Teachers are those who use themselves as bridges, over which they invite their students to cross; then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis (born 18 February 1883)
2006 
At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough. No record of it needs to be kept and you don't need someone to share it with or tell it to. When that happens — that letting go — you let go because you can. ~ Toni Morrison (born 18 February 1931)
2007
The doors of heaven and hell are adjacent and identical. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis
2008
My prayer is not the whimpering of a beggar nor a confession of love. Nor is it the petty reckoning of a small tradesman: Give me and I shall give you. My prayer is the report of a soldier to his general: This is what I did today, this is how I fought to save the entire battle in my own sector, these are the obstacles I encountered, this is how I plan to fight tomorrow. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis
2009
The heart unites whatever the mind separates, pushes on beyond the arena of necessity and transmutes the struggle into love. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis
2010
Where are we going? Do not ask! Ascend, descend. There is no beginning and no end. Only this present moment exists, full of bitterness, full of sweetness, and I rejoice in it all. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis
2011
The Great Spirit does not toil within the bounds of human time, place, or casualty.

The Great Spirit is superior to these human questionings. It teems with many rich and wandering drives which to our shallow minds seem contradictory; but in the essence of divinity they fraternize and struggle together, faithful comrades-in-arms.
The primordial Spirit branches out, overflows, struggles, fails, succeeds, trains itself. It is the Rose of the Winds. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis
2012 
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.

[edit] Suggestions

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ~ Mark Twain (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published for the first time)

  • proposed by user Sir John Alexander Macdonald
  • 0 Kalki 19:50, 16 February 2007 (UTC) 2 Kalki 23:38, 17 February 2006 (UTC) I would rank this higher with a stronger date tie-in, but I don't believe it's actually from Huckleberry Finn I had suspected this wasn't Twain, but was pretty certain that it wasn't from Huckleberry Finn; as JeffQ's research below indicates there is no reason to accept Twain as the author of this.
  • 0 Jeff Q (talk) 04:51, 29 April 2006 (UTC), unless we can find the correct source. Neither Wikisource nor Project Gutenberg, both of which include Huckleberry Finn, appear to have any Twain work with both the words "belittle" and "ambitions", so we can't even confirm Twain said it, let alone the appropriateness of this date.
  • 0 Zarbon 22:28, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

You forgot the first rule of the fanatic: when you become obsessed with the enemy, you become the enemy. ~ The Real Ghost Busters - Season 5 Episode 9 "The Halloween Door" - (Original Air Date—29 October 1989)...... Michael O'Hare as "Jeffrey Sinclair", Babylon 5 episode "Infection" (first aired 18 February 1994)

  • 2 Jeff Q (talk) 04:51, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 19:33, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 11:09, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is true. Many times opponents have become the very thing they hate. I like this quote. Zarbon 22:28, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

The highest point a man can obtain is not Knowledge, or Virtue, or Goodness, or Victory, but something even greater, more heroic and more despairing: Sacred Awe! ~ Nikos Kazantzakis

  • 3 Kalki 19:33, 16 February 2007 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 11:09, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:28, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis OR perhaps a variant translation of this: "I expect nothing. I fear no one. I am free."

  • 3 Kalki 19:33, 16 February 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 11:09, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:28, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I choose the ascending path because my heart drives me toward it. "Upward! Upward! Upward!" my heart shouts, and I follow it trustingly. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis

  • 3 Kalki 10:39, 17 February 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4, but would now extend this to read:
I choose the ascending path. Why? For no intelligible reason, without any certainty; I know how ineffectual the mind and all the small certainties of man can be in this moment of crisis.
I choose the ascending path because my heart drives me toward it. "Upward! Upward! Upward!" my heart shouts, and I follow it trustingly. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis

All hopes and despairs vanish in the voracious, funneling whirlwind of God. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis

You are not a miserable and momentary body; behind your fleeting mask of clay, a thousand-year-old face lies in ambush. Your passions and your thoughts are older than your heart or brain. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis

With clarity and quiet, I look upon the world and say: All that I see, hear, taste, smell, and touch are the creations of my mind. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis

Future generations do not move far from you in an uncertain time. They live, desire, and act in your loins and your heart.
In this lightning moment when you walk the earth, your first duty, by enlarging your ego, is to live through the endless march, both visible and invisible, of your own being. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis

I said to the almond tree: "Speak to me of God."
and the almond tree blossomed.
~ Nikos Kazantzakis ~

I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. That the speaking profits me, beyond any other effect. ~ Audre Lorde (born 1934 Feb 18)

I know of nothing more terrible than the poor creatures who have learned too much. Instead of the sound powerful judgement which would probably have grown up if they had learned nothing, their thoughts creep timidly and hypnotically after words, principles and formulae, constantly by the same paths. What they have acquired is a spider's web of thoughts too weak to furnish sure supports, but complicated enough to provide confusion. ~ Ernst Mach (born 1838 Feb 18)

In reality, the law always contains less than the fact itself, because it does not reproduce the fact as a whole but only in that aspect of it which is important for us, the rest being intentionally or from necessity omitted. ~ Ernst Mach (born 1838 Feb 18)

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