June 4

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
We all have ability. The difference is how we use it. ~ Stevie Wonder
2005
I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. ~ Socrates
2006
Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul. ~ Victor Hugo in Les Misérables
  • proposed by Kalki earliest recorded solar eclipse (disputed), in China, 4 June 780 BC.
2007
I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge —
That myth is more potent than history.
I believe that dreams are more powerful than facts —
That hope always triumphs over experience —
That laughter is the only cure for grief.
And I believe that love is stronger than death.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2008
To insist on one's place in the scheme of things and to live up to that place.
To empower others in their reaching for some place in the scheme of things.
To do these things is to make fairy tales come true.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2009
I recall an old Sufi story of a good man who was granted one wish by God. The man said he would like to go about doing good without knowing about it. God granted his wish. And then God decided that it was such a good idea, he would grant that wish to all human beings.
And so it has been to this day. ~ Robert Fulghum
2010
Knowledge is meaningful only if it is reflected in action. The human race has found out the hard way that we are what we do, not just what we think. This is true for kids and adults — for schoolrooms and nations. ~ Robert Fulghum
2011
Be aware of wonder. And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned — the biggest word of all — LOOK. ~ Robert Fulghum
2012
Yelling at living things does tend to kill the spirit in them. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2013
Love the battle between chaos and imagination.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2014
Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A Beauty Bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air — explode softly — and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth — boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap either — not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination instead of death. A child who touched one wouldn't have his hand blown off.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2015
The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2016
One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you've got a problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the difference.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2017
There’s another thing not everyone figures out right away: It’s almost impossible to go through life all alone. We need to find our support group — family, friends, companion, therapy gatherings, team, church or whatever. The kindergarten admonition applies as long as we live: “When you go out into the world, hold hands and stick together.” It’s dangerous out there — lonely, too. Everyone needs someone. Some assembly is always required.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2018
I don't think the thing is to be well known, but being worth knowing.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2019
If every one of those good wordsliberty, equality, fraternity, democracy, human rights — has been called "bourgeois", what on earth does that leave for us?
~ Fang Lizhi ~
2020
Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2021
The older I get, the more I realize the importance of exercising the various dimensions of my body, soul, mind and heart. Taken together, these aspects give me a sense of wholeness. I want to be a whole human being rather than one who limps on one leg because I don't know how to use all of my parts. Intellectual, emotional, and physical activity are not separate entities. Rather, they are dimensions of the same human being.
~ Robert Fulghum ~
2022
Exactly one hundred days ago we all woke up in a different reality. Exactly one hundred days ago, different us woke up. When Ukrainians are awakened not by the sun's rays, but by the explosions of missiles that hit our homes, then completely different Ukrainians wake up.
In 2014, Russia came to us with one word, with a new word. And this is the word "war". On February 24, Russia added another word to it, making the phrase "full-scale war."
~ Volodymyr Zelenskyy ~
2023
I know bipartisanship is hard and unity is hard, but we can never stop trying, because in moments like this one — the ones we just faced, where the American economy and the world economy is at risk of collapsing — there is no other way.
No matter how tough our politics gets, we need to see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans. Treat each other with dignity and respect. To join forces as Americans to stop shouting, lower the temperature, and work together to pursue progress, secure prosperity, and keep the promise of America for everybody.
~ Joe Biden ~
2024
Rank or add further suggestions…

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Suggestions[edit]

Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Then no friends would not be like yourself (all friends would be as loyal as yourself). If you make a mistake, do not be afraid to correct it. --Confucius

  • 4 Aphaia 11:16, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 and I like the quote...I just don't see any relevance. On what day would Confucius be best to quote...considering his birth is unknown. I would rate this quote high, a 3 most likely, on a relevant date. Zarbon 03:27, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 20:52, 3 June 2008 (UTC) as there is no clear relevance to the date, but clearly also not any that would be... this is a problem on the QOTD with most of the more ancient philosophers. There is actually a celebration date for Confucius on 28 September, but if this quote were used then or here, I would prefer a sourced version; this seems derived from the Analects, Ch. 7, as translated by James Legge (1861):
Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.
Have no friends not equal to yourself.
When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.

Remember: Acting is living truthfully in imaginary circumstances.
Remember: Acting is the way to live the greatest number of lives.
Remember: Acting is the same as real life, lived intentionally.
Never forget: The Fruit is out on the end of the limb. Go there.
~ Robert Fulghum ~

My convictions have validity for me because I have experimented with the compounds of ideas of others in the laboratory of my mind. And I've tested the results in the living out of my life. At twenty-one, I had drawn an abstract map based on the evidence of others. At sixty, I have accumulated a practical guide grounded in my own experience. At twenty-one, I could discuss transportation theory with authority. At sixty, I know which bus to catch to go where, what the fare is, and how to get back home again. It is not my bus, but I know how to use it.
~ Robert Fulghum ~

Once Japan is destroyed as an aggressive force, we know of no other challenging power that can appear in the Pacific…. Japan is the one enemy, and the only enemy, of the peaceful peoples whose shores overlook the Pacific Ocean.
~ Jospeh C. Grew, address for United China Relief, Carnegie Hall, New York City (October 10, 1942); in The Department of State Bulletin (October 10, 1942), p. 798. Grew was the U.S. ambassador to Japan, 1932–1941. ~

- Anniversary of the start of The Battle of Midway.


Girls are made of water and boys are made of mud. When I am with girls I feel fresh and clean, but when I am with boys I feel stupid and nasty.
~ Cao Xueqin
Dream of the Red Chamber ~