Wikiquote:Quote of the day/December

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Today is Monday, November 30, 2009; it is now 14:12 (UTC)


November << December 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 >> January

This page lists quote of the day proposals specifically for dates in the month of December, and quotes proposed should ideally have some relation to the day, or persons born on it, though sometimes exceptions can be made, usually for notable quotes that relate to recent events, such as the death of prominent individuals. Developing ideas of people or works to quote on specific days can be explored through the Wikipedia page: List of historical anniversaries. The numeric section heading of each date is also a direct link to the Wikipedia list of births, deaths, and other events which occured on that date.

See also: December 2007 - December 2008

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.
2003
For myself, I am an optimist — it does not seem to be much use being anything else. ~ Winston Churchill
2004
Ooh, with a little luck — December will be magic again. ~ Kate Bush
2005
The important thing, I think, is not to be bitter... if it turns about that there is a God, I don't think that he is evil. I think that the worst thing you could say is that he is, basically, an under-achiever. ~ Woody Allen (born 1 December 1935)
2006
If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank. ~ Woody Allen
2007
December will be magic again.
Don't miss the brightest star.
Kiss under mistletoe.
I want to hear you laugh.
Don't let the mystery go now.
~ Kate Bush ~
2008
There's an old joke... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life — full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness — and it's all over much too quickly. ~ Woody Allen
2009

[edit] Suggestions

If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert. ~ David Ben-Gurion (date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:28, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:27, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 15:17, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The AIDS crisis is evidence of a world in which nothing important is regional, local, limited; in which everything that can circulate does, and every problem is, or is destined to become, worldwide. ~ Susan Sontag (anniversary of World AIDS Day)

  • 4 InvisibleSun 09:28, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:27, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:17, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 17:44, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

I have always been amazed at the way an ordinary observer lends so much more credence and attaches so much more importance to waking events than to those occurring in dreams... Man... is above all the plaything of his memory. ~ Andre Breton

—This unsigned comment is by 123.201.89.84 (talk • contribs) .
  • 2 Kalki 21:23, 20 December 2007 (UTC) Good quote, but no clear relation to the date; it would be better on a birthday, but might be usable here if there's ever a shortage of date-related quotes.
  • 1 Zarbon 15:17, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time we need wages. ~ Terry Pratchett

—This unsigned comment is by 123.201.89.84 (talk • contribs) .
  • 2 Kalki 21:23, 20 December 2007 (UTC) Another good quote, but no clear relation to the date.
  • 2 Zarbon 15:17, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 76.0.79.210 02:48, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

If the nation only knew their hands dripped with innocent blood, it would have met them not with applause but with stones. ~ Georgy Zhukov (born December 1)

  • 4 because hell hath no fury like that of a scorned nation. Zarbon 04:11, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia - Page 3 by Alexander N. Yakovlev, Anthony Austin - Political Science - 2002
  • 1 Kalki 00:08, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 17:44, 30 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 19:08, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

The mere existence of atomic weapons implies the possibility of their use. ~ Georgy Zhukov (born December 1)

  • 3 Zarbon 02:47, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:08, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 17:44, 30 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:08, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

I really feel pressure to create something that is as strong as possible.The war has really swept away eveything from the past. ~ Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

  • 2 Zarbon 03:32, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:08, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Is your mind so big that it can encompass galaxies or is the universe little enough to fit in one's head? ~ John Crowley

  • 2 Zarbon 03:32, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Note: This is a paraphrase. I have corrected the author article. Ningauble 16:57, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

  • 3 Kalki 00:08, 29 November 2008 (UTC) — originally ranked for the first suggestion, but ranking remains the same for the corrected version added to the author's page by Ninguable:
She wondered whether her head were so big as to be able to contain all this starry universe, or whether the universe were so little that it would fit within the compass of her human head. She alternated between these feelings, expanding and diminishing.

Seasons don't fear the reaper, nor do the wind, the sun, or the rain. ~Eric Bloom, singer and songwriter of Blue Öyster Cult

  • 3 Lyle 20:31, 10 December 2008 (UTC) * 0 I misattributed these lyrics. Lyle 14:56, 11 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. ~ Helen Keller
2005
I do not believe that friendship today can flower out — can come out — of political life. I do believe that if there is something like a political life-to-be — to remain for us, in this world of technology — then it begins with friendship. ~ Ivan Illich (died 2 December 2002)
2006
The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring. ~ Ivan Illich (date of death)
2007
Ultimately, leadership requires action: daring to take steps that are necessary but unpopular, challenging the status quo in order to reach a brighter future. And to push for peace is ultimately personal sacrifice, for leadership is not easy. It is born of a passion, and it is a commitment. Leadership is a commitment to an idea, to a dream, and to a vision of what can be. And my dream is for my land and my people to cease fighting and allow our children to reach their full potential regardless of sex, status, or belief. ~ Benazir Bhutto (became first female Prime Minister of Pakistan on 2 December 1988)
2008
Learned and leisured hospitality is the only antidote to the stance of deadly cleverness that is acquired in the professional pursuit of objectively secured knowledge. I remain certain that the quest for truth cannot thrive outside the nourishment of mutual trust flowering into a commitment to friendship. ~ Ivan Illich (date of death)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

At all times, in every century, every age, there has been such a connection between despotism and religion that it is infinitely apparent and demonstrated a thousand times over, that in destroying one, the other must be undermined, for the simple reason that the first will always put the law into the service of the second. ~ Marquis de Sade (date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 18:40, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I do think that if I had to choose one word to which hope can be tied it is "hospitality". ~ Ivan Illich (date of death)

There is no point in hiding that before the war we mostly learned to attack, and did not pay enough attention to such an important manoeuvre as retreat. Now we have paid for this. It turned out that the commanders and the staff were not sufficiently prepared to prepare and execute the retreat manoeuvre. Now, in the second week of war, we had in fact to learn from the beginning the most difficult art - the art of the execution of retreat. ~ Hovhannes Bagramyan (born December 2)

  • 3 because the art of retreat is important, whether it be for a military tactician or merely someone who needs to escape from a dangerous situation. Zarbon 06:39, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The System of the International Organizations of the Communist Countries - Page 36 by Richard Szawlowski - Law - 1976
  • 1 Kalki 00:18, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 20:35, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:41, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Eastern Prussia (Germany) was a battlefield during World War I years. And right from here, on September 1, 1939, began the spark of fire for the coming of the second world war. And in 1941, Eastern Prussia invaded Soviet soil with a powerful military onslaught, unleashing a grip of heavy burden, tragedy, and torture into the Soviet pre-Baltic and also the inhabitants of Leningrad, Pskov, and the Novgorod regions. Right from the very first days of the second world war, Eastern Prussia was completely transformed into a diabolic system of concentration camp strongholds for captured military people, and became a cruel prison for the young and females, who were brought from many European countries. In the first place, from the Soviet Union. And, aha! Now, after the winter of 1945, Soviet forces captured the descendants of these royal hounds in their very own doghouse! ~ Hovhannes Bagramyan (born December 2)

  • 4 because it states what happened, when Bagramyan's forces entered the Berlin bunker, because I like the ending of this description heavily. Especially the bit "And aha! Now, after the winter of 1945, Soviet forces captured the descendants of these royal hounds in their very own doghouse!" The comparison of the high ranking Germans to royal hounds is very powerful and just as the German shepherd was slain, so was its master. And in its very own doghouse no less. A magnificent and enthralling quote, but it might be best if trimmed, a matter of personal preference to just "And aha! Now, after the winter of 1945, Soviet forces captured the descendants of these royal hounds in their very own doghouse!" but still great either way. Zarbon 06:39, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: I. C. Bagramyan: A Photo Album About A Soviet Marshal - Yerevan - 1987
  • 1 Kalki 00:18, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 20:35, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:41, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

No matter what you do, at the end of the day you can't please everybody. ~ Britney Spears

  • 2 Zarbon 03:49, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:18, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Ningauble 17:35, 1 December 2008 (UTC) (unremarkably unoriginal)
  • 1 Antiquary 20:35, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:41, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Some say I have a beautiful voice, some say I have not. It is a matter of opinion. All I can say, those who don't like it shouldn't come to hear me. ~ Maria Callas

  • 2 Kalki 00:45, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:03, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 20:35, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:41, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

I would not kill my enemies, but I will make them get down on their knees. I will, I can, I must. ~ Maria Callas

  • 2 Kalki 00:45, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:03, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 20:35, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:41, 1 December 2008 (UTC)


2003
I have never let my schooling get in the way of my education. ~ Mark Twain
2004
The free expression of the hopes and aspirations of a people is the greatest and only safety in a sane society. ~ Emma Goldman
2005
All idealization makes life poorer. To beautify it is to take away its character of complexity - it is to destroy it. ~ Joseph Conrad in The Secret Agent (born 3 December 1857)
2006
There is no credulity so eager and blind as the credulity of covetousness, which, in its universal extent, measures the moral misery and the intellectual destitution of mankind. ~ Joseph Conrad
2007
All creative art is magic, is evocation of the unseen in forms persuasive, enlightening, familiar and surprising, for the edification of mankind, pinned down by the conditions of its existence to the earnest consideration of the most insignificant tides of reality. ~ Joseph Conrad
2008
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. ~ Joseph Conrad
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Our business in this world is not to succeed, but to continue to fail, in good spirits. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson (date of death)

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson (date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • This one was used in July 2004 ~ Kalki 00:17, 4 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The truth is that there is no terror untempered by some great moral idea. ~ Jean-Luc Godard (born December 3, 1930)

All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl. ~ Jean-Luc Godard.

The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second. ~ Jean-Luc Godard.

  • 4. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 23:18, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:19, 1 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:53, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 19:32, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

The good author is he who contemplates without marked joy or excessive sorrow the adventures of his soul amongst criticisms. ~ Joseph Conrad

  • 3 Kalki 21:58, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:29, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

He who wants to persuade should put his trust, not in the right argument, but in the right word. ~ Joseph Conrad

  • 3 Kalki 21:58, 2 December 2006 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:29, 2 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 19:32, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most. ~ Ozzy Osbourne

  • 2 Zarbon 04:09, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:53, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


2003
I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. ~ George Carlin
  • selected by IP 68.227.198.159
2004
Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels'
hierarchies? and even if one of them suddenly
pressed me against his heart, I would perish
in the embrace of his stronger existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~
2005
Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke (born 4 December 1875)
2006
No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men. ~ Thomas Carlyle (date of birth)
2007
You don't get very far in life without having to be brave an awful lot. Because we all have our frightening moments and difficult trials and we don't have much of a choice but to get through them, and it takes a lot of bravery to do that. The most important thing about bravery is this — It's not about not being scared — it's about being scared and doing it anyway — that's bravery. ~ Ysabella Brave
2008
Is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other? If so, this should be enough. I find the nicest and best people generally profess no religion at all, but are ready to like the best men of all religions. ~ Samuel Butler
2009

[edit] Suggestions

That there should one Man die ignorant who had capacity for Knowledge, this I call a tragedy. ~ Thomas Carlyle (date of birth)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 ~ Kalki 00:08, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 15:36, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 21:12, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books. ~ Thomas Carlyle (date of birth)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 ~ Kalki 00:08, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:36, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 21:12, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. ~ Frank Zappa (date of death)

  • 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 08:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:55, 3 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:36, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • Note: The quote on the Frank Zappa page is now: "I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe." - InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Every new idea has something of the pain and peril of childbirth about it; ideas are just as mortal and just as immortal as organised beings are. ~ Samuel Butler (born December 4, 1835)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:55, 3 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:36, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The great characters of fiction live as truly as the memories of dead men. For the life after death it is not necessary that a man or woman should have lived. ~ Samuel Butler

  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:55, 3 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 and I seriously don't agree with the second half of this. It's fine to believe that a work of fiction is as grandiose as that which lived, but to say that a life is worth nothing after its death is just plain wrong, for a life truly never dies if it is kept alive in the minds of many. Zarbon 15:36, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

If people were to demand cash payment in irrefragable certainty for everything that they have taken hitherto as paper money on the credit of the bank of public opinion, is there money enough behind it all to stand so great a drain even on so great a reserve? ~ Samuel Butler

  • 4 InvisibleSun 08:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:55, 3 December 2007 (UTC) This is good, and I like it, but I much prefer the Butler quote above as a QOTD, and might rank it a 4 eventually.
  • 1 Zarbon 15:36, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

You need to laugh more. Life is filled with too many problems, to not laugh every day. ... We need to have a sense of humor going into this because it's too tough without it. ~ Ysabella Brave (born 4 December 1979)

  • 3 Kalki 22:55, 3 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:36, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

It's like not only does he shit on our heads, we're supposed to say thanks for the hat. ~ from The Sopranos Brendan Filone Anthony DeSando (born December 4)

  • 3 because I like the message behind the quote. I'm curious if the word "shit" is considered profanity. I don't agree with curses appearing on quote of the day, but is that specific word excessive, I'd like Kalki's thoughts since we both seem to disagree with profanity for the most part. Zarbon 16:41, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC) this is fine by me as a quote within the article, but a bit too extreme for QOTD.
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Kids, you think you can protect 'em, well you can't. ~ from The Sopranos Brendan Filone Anthony DeSando (born December 4)

  • 4 because children seem to do things that places them in danger and no matter how hard one may try, a child finds a way. Zarbon 16:41, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon. ~ Samuel Butler

  • 3 Zarbon 22:24, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0. This is the 17th century Samuel Butler, whose DOB has now been corrected as February 8, 1612. - InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Neither have they hearts to stay,
Nor wit enough to run away.
~ Samuel Butler

  • 2 Zarbon 22:24, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0. This is the 17th century Samuel Butler, whose DOB has now been corrected as February 8, 1612. - InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

I have no fear nor shrinking; I have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me. ~ Edith Cavell

  • 3 Zarbon 23:19, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

I thank God for this ten weeks' quiet before the end... Life has always been hurried and full of difficulty... This time of rest has been a great mercy. ~ Edith Cavell

  • 2 Zarbon 23:19, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards any one. ~ Edith Cavell

  • 3 Kalki 16:51, 3 December 2008 (UTC) 4 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)



2004
To be a catalyst is the ambition most appropriate for those who see the world as being in constant change, and who, without thinking that they can control it, wish to influence its direction. ~ Theodore Zeldin
2005
If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse. ~ Walt Disney (born 5 December 1901)
2006
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning. ~ Werner Heisenberg (born 5 December 1901)
  • proposed by Fys
2007
Leadership means that a group, large or small, is willing to entrust authority to a person who has shown judgement, wisdom, personal appeal, and proven competence. ~ Walt Disney
2008
Fantasy, if it's really convincing, can't become dated, for the simple reason that it represents a flight into a dimension that lies beyond the reach of time. ~ Walt Disney
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Some things are so serious that one can only joke about them. ~ Werner Heisenberg.

  • 4. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 22:13, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 0 (for this date) Kalki 01:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC) This appears to be a misattribution, with at least one published citation indicating it was made by Niels Bohr.
  • 1 Zarbon 15:38, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Girls bored me — they still do. I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I've ever known. ~ Walt Disney

  • 2 because this quote is just plain...comical. I believe what he meant to say is that the image of Mickey Mouse entertained him moreso. But I like the comparison of a cartoon character to all females of the planet. We can see Disney's perspective is a cute one, assessing the difficulty women have most likely posed for him in his life, annoying him...and probably boring him as he stated. Zarbon 04:25, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

For every laugh, there should be a tear. ~ Walt Disney

  • 2 because laughter is all fine and good, but a drama and tragedy does so much more...for me at least. Zarbon 04:25, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter. ~ Walt Disney

  • 2 because it's good to be optimistic, but one must also stay attuned and be realistic enough to expect difficulties under some circumstances. Zarbon 04:25, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Without inspiration, we would perish. ~ Walt Disney

  • 2 because inspiration keeps many people from cracking under pressure. Zarbon 04:25, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

To be defeated and not submit, is victory; to be victorious and rest on one's laurels, is defeat. ~ Józef Piłsudski (born December 5)

  • 4 because this is the ideology which I believe in most of all. This is the grand soldier principle, more important than petty squabbles and emotional derelict conversation. There is, quite frankly, a beauty in defeat without submission. But to be a slave to another country willingly is a fate worse than death. This is why some of the greatest rulers in history committed suicide before being captured by their enemies. Magnificent charm in never surrendering to the enemy, taking one's own life in order to be spared the wrath of the enemy. This is most commonly referenced in the Roman Emperor deaths, whom cut their own veins while laying in the bathtub in order to escape the clutches of the oncoming enemy. The same can be said of previous and future military minds that I hold respect for, for sheer honor and admiration comes from the ferocity of this, to choose to die by one's own hand instead of face the enemy knocking on heaven's door. What a charming quote this is. Zarbon 05:52, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 I like the quote, but I do not see it the way you do. To me, suicide is submission, or acceptance of defeat. Fighting till the end is victorious. Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Whenever we proceed from the known into the unknown we may hope to understand, but we may have to learn at the same time a new meaning of the word "understanding." ~ Werner Heisenberg

  • 3 Kalki 01:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:01, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

There is a fundamental error in separating the parts from the whole, the mistake of atomizing what should not be atomized. Unity and complementarity constitute reality. ~ Werner Heisenberg

  • 3 Kalki 01:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:01, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

The existing scientific concepts cover always only a very limited part of reality, and the other part that has not yet been understood is infinite. ~ Werner Heisenberg

  • 3 Kalki 01:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:01, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 True, but uninspired. Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows. Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality. The important thing is to teach a child that good can always triumph over evil, and that is what our pictures attempt to do. ~ Walt Disney

  • 3 Kalki 23:23, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 00:09, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them. ~ Walt Disney

  • 3 Kalki 23:23, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 00:09, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 This is too much like the famous "If you can dream it, you can do it." Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Faith I have, in myself, in humanity, in the worthwhileness of the pursuits in entertainment for the masses. But wide awake, not blind faith, moves me. My operations are based on experience, thoughtful observation and warm fellowship with my neighbors at home and around the world. ~ Walt Disney

  • 4 Kalki 23:23, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 this is like a descriptive narrative. Zarbon 00:09, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 18:05, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 I very much dislike the "worthwhileness of the pursuits in entertainment for the masses" part. This bit seems very introverted, referring specifically to his career, for a quote that is supposed to be about fellowship. Lyle 21:00, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:54, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 23:13, 4 December 2008 (UTC)


2003
What we cannot speak of we must pass over in silence. ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein
2004
Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself. ~ Samuel Butler
2005
Love is made out of ecstasy and wonder;
Love is a poignant and accustomed pain.
It is a burst of Heaven-shaking thunder;
It is a linnet's fluting after rain.
~ Joyce Kilmer (born 6 December 1886)
2006
Never think that you're not good enough. A man should never think that. People will take you very much at your own reckoning. ~ Anthony Trollope ( (died 6 December 1882))
2007
It is stern work, it is perilous work, to thrust your hand in the sun and pull out a spark of immortal flame to warm the hearts of men: but Prometheus, torn by the claws and beaks whose task is never done, would be tortured another eternity to go stealing fire again. ~ Joyce Kilmer (date of birth)
2008
The Science of Language has taught us that there is order and wisdom in all languages, and even the most degraded jargons contain the ruins of former greatness and beauty. The Science of Religion, I hope, will produce a similar change in our views of barbarous forms of faith and worship. ~ Max Müller
2009

[edit] Suggestions

There is no royal road to learning; no short cut to the acquirement of any art. ~ Anthony Trollope in Barchester Towers (date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 07:29, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:44, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 17:49, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 20:00, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Book love... is your pass to the greatest, the purest, and the most perfect pleasure that God has prepared for His creatures. ~ Anthony Trollope (date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 07:29, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:44, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 17:49, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

They shall not live who have not tasted death. They only sing who are struck dumb by God. ~ Joyce Kilmer (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 21:10, 5 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:29, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 17:49, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 20:00, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Is Freedom only a Will-o'-the-wisp
To cheat a poet's eye?
Be it phantom or fact, it's a noble cause
In which to sing and to die!
~ Joyce Kilmer ~ (date of birth)

  • 2 Kalki 15:34, 5 December 2008 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 21:10, 5 December 2005 (UTC) I will probably again rank this a 3 or even a 4 eventually, but I don't feel inclined to use this one for this year.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:29, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 4 Zarbon 15:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 17:49, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 20:00, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

The difficulties which trouble us, have troubled the hearts and minds of men as far back as we can trace the beginnings of religious life. The great problems touching the relation of the Finite to the Infinite, of the human mind as the recipient, and of the Divine Spirit as the source of truth, are old problems indeed; and while watching their appearance in different countries, and their treatment under varying circumstances, we shall be able, I believe, to profit ourselves, both by the errors which others committed before us, and by the truth which they discovered. We shall know the rocks that threaten every religion in this changing and shifting world of ours, and having watched many a storm of religious controversy and many a shipwreck in distant seas, we shall face with greater calmness and prudence the troubled waters at home. ~ Max Müller

  • 3 Zarbon 23:32, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:44, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 17:49, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 20:00, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:21, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Whenever we can trace back a religion to its first beginnings, we find it free from many of the blemishes that offend us in its later phases. The founders of the ancient religions of the world, as far as we can judge, were minds of a high stamp, full of noble aspirations, yearning for truth, devoted to the welfare of their neighbors, examples of purity and unselfishness. What they desired to found upon earth was but seldom realized, and their sayings, if preserved in their original form, offer often a strange contrast to the practice of those who profess to be their disciples. ~ Max Müller

  • 4 Kalki 01:44, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:07, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 17:49, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 20:00, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:21, 5 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
Oh, if a man tried to take his time on earth and prove before he died what one man's life could be worth, I wonder what would happen to this world? ~ Harry Chapin
2005
That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. ~ Willa Cather (born (7 December 1873)
2006
I know that every good and excellent thing in the world stands moment by moment on the razor-edge of danger and must be fought for. ~ Thornton Wilder (died 7 December 1975)
2007
It's an alethiometer. It's one of only six that were ever made. Lyra, I urge you again: keep it private. ... It tells you the truth. As for how to read it, you'll have to learn by yourself. Now go — it's getting lighter... ~ Philip Pullman (Quote from The Golden Compass (1995) the movie adaptation opening on 7 December 2007)
2008
Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness. The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is. ~ Willa Cather
2009

Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

[edit] Suggestions

My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate — that's my philosophy. ~ Thornton Wilder in The Skin of Our Teeth (date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:49, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Nice quote, but in general, and mostly for consistency, I'd rather see quotes on the writer's date of birth (April 17 in this case, which already has used two of his quotes and has several more suggested) than death. Matchups 18:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Providence has nothing good or high in store for one who does not resolutely aim at something high or good. A purpose is the eternal condition of success. ~ Thornton Wilder (date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 07:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:49, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1, as above Matchups 18:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day. ~ Thornton Wilder (date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:49, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1, as above Matchups 18:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

In a three-minute stretch between commercials, or in seven hundred words, it is impossible to present unfamiliar thoughts or surprising conclusions with the argument and evidence required to afford them credibility. Regurgitation of welcome pieties faces no such problem. ~ Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928}

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:49, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Being able to do as one pleases is the natural goal of the libertarian, but having nothing to do is not. While it may be correct to say that the human species is badly prepared for having nothing to do, it is quite a different matter to say that it is badly prepared for the freedom to do as one pleases. People who are able to do as they please may work very hard, given the opportunity to do interesting work. ~ Noam Chomsky

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:49, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Matchups 18:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations. ~ Noam Chomsky

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:49, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Matchups 18:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Jingoism, fear, racism, religious fundamentalism: these are the ways of appealing to people if you’re trying to organize a mass base of support for policies that are really intended to crush them. ~ Noam Chomsky

A reporter can write equally well about everything that is presented to his view, but a creative writer can do his best only with what lies within the range and character of his deepest sympathies. ~ Willa Cather

  • 3 Kalki 23:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 06:02, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:49, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Matchups 18:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. ~ Willa Cather

  • 3 Kalki 23:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 06:02, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 15:49, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Matchups 18:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Ever hear the old saying that beauty is only skin deep? Well, right now, all you can see is the beauty. ~ DragonBall Z's Zarbon Paul Dobson (born December 7)

  • 4 because the quote defines me. And furthermore, the dynamic parallel of beauty outside and beast inside is drawn here. Zarbon 06:11, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:58, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:13, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

You only saw the beauty side of me before, now with great pleasure, I introduce you to the beast! ~ DragonBall Z's Zarbon Paul Dobson (born December 7)

  • 3 because anger compensates where beauty cannot and in all fury, takes a life of its own. Zarbon 06:11, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:58, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:13, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

God made the integers, all the rest is the work of man. ~ Leopold Kronecker

  • 2 Zarbon 03:45, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:58, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 This is an important statement in the history of mathematics. Matchups 18:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

No one conquers who doesn't fight. ~ Gabriel Biel (date of death)

  • 2 Zarbon 03:45, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:58, 29 November 2008 (UTC) Omnia Vincit Amor
    • I think the concept of "love conquers all" is being abused ruthlessly by you. But to make things clear, this quote means that you cannot conquer someone who does not fight...meaning a peaceful person is protected against the most powerful attack. I don't think you understood the idea behind the quote. Zarbon 06:23, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
      • Nay, "who" refers to the subject "no one", it is not the object of "conquers." (Cf. "They also serve who only stand and wait." —John Milton, On His Blindness, 1652 ) Contemporary vernacular, seemingly wary of the relative clause, favors a conditional particular construction, "If you don't fight then you can't conquer," to express the qualified universal intended here. ~ Ningauble 14:11, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. - Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • 4 This seems to me a defining quote for this day. Matchups 18:55, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 20:08, 7 December 2008 (UTC) Might eventually rank it higher, but might also wish it extended more.
  • 1 this can be moved to Roosevelt's birthday. Otherwise, I don't see the point of detailing the Pearl Harbor attack or we'd have to take note of all the other historic events that occurred. Zarbon 04:48, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
If there is a well-known quote associated with a historic event, by all means make note of it. See July 4 and July 20 for examples of what has already been done. Matchups 04:33, 9 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one; I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will live as one. ~ John Lennon
2005
It is better to ask some of the questions than to know all the answers. ~ James Thurber (born 8 December 1894)
2006
May memory restore again and again
The smallest color of the smallest day:
Time is the school in which we learn,
Time is the fire in which we burn.
~ Delmore Schwartz ~ (born 8 December 1913)
2007
A hero is someone who rebels or seems to rebel against the facts of existence and seems to conquer them. Obviously that can only work at moments. It can't be a lasting thing. That's not saying that people shouldn't keep trying to rebel against the facts of existence. Someday, who knows, we might conquer death, disease and war. ~ Jim Morrison (born 8 December 1943)
2008
The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the world; the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing, he identifies himself with people — that is, people everywhere, not for the purpose of taking them apart, but simply revealing their true nature. ~ James Thurber
2009

[edit] Suggestions

You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave
~ Hotel California, The Eagles (from the Hotel California album, released that day 1976

  • 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 03:11, 1 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 0 Zarbon 15:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC) but would extend it a bit for context.
  • 2 Antiquary 13:59, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

There is a distinction between fact and truth. Truth has an element of revelation about it. If something is true, it does more than strike one as merely being so. ~ Lucian Freud (born December 8, 1922)

Force without wisdom falls of its own weight. ~ Horace (born December 8, 65 B.C.)

The covetous man is ever in want. ~ Horace

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:55, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 13:59, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

He wins every hand who mingles profit with pleasure, by delighting and instructing the reader at the same time. ~ Horace

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:55, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 13:59, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else. ~ James Thurber

Child labor! The child must carry
His fathers on his back.
~ Delmore Schwartz (born December 8, 1913)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:55, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 13:59, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Whence, if ever, shall come the actuality
Of a voice speaking the mind's knowing,
The sunlight bright on the green windowshade,
And the self articulate, affectionate, and flowing,
Ease, warmth, light, the utter showing,
When in the white bed all things are made.
~ Delmore Schwartz

For we are incomplete and know no future,
And we are howling or dancing out our souls
In beating syllables before the curtain:
We are Shakespearean, we are strangers.
~ Delmore Schwartz

How could I think the brief years were enough
To prove the reality of endless love?
~ Delmore Schwartz

  • 3 Kalki 21:41, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:13, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

All we are saying is give peace a chance! ~ John Lennon (Died that die in 1980 after being shot by Mark David Chapman)

—This unsigned comment is by Mrfandango (talk • contribs) .
  • 3 Kalki 03:49, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:13, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 13:59, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country. ~ Horace

  • 4 Zarbon 04:10, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 13:59, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

I am not bound over to swear allegiance to any master; where the storm drives me I turn in for shelter. ~ Horace

  • 3 Zarbon 04:10, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 13:59, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I very much consider the Internet a garden, and I'm a gardener, and I plant things in it and I work within the framework of the soil, the seasons, the climate, and the temperature, to produce plants. ~ Mark Pesce

  • 3 Zarbon 04:10, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 13:59, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the storm, even so the wise are not affected by praise or blame. ~ Gautama Buddha (Bodhi Day a traditional date of celebration of his enlightenment)

  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 04:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Better than a thousand hollow words
Is one word that brings peace.
Better than a thousand hollow verses
Is one verse that brings peace.
Better than a hundred hollow lines
Is one line of the law, bringing peace.
~ Gautama Buddha (Bodhi Day a traditional date of celebration of his enlightenment)

  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 this is very repetitive. Zarbon 04:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

No one saves us but ourselves, no one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path but Buddhas clearly show the way.~ Gautama Buddha (Bodhi Day a traditional date of celebration of his enlightenment)

  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

To flee vice is the beginning of virtue, and to have got rid of folly is the beginning of wisdom. ~ Horace

  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be recalled. ~ Horace

  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 what's been said has been said. Zarbon 04:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

It is difficult to speak of what is common in a way of your own. ~ Horace

  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin! ~ Horace

  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 because taking a chance counts. Zarbon 04:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)


2003
If your morals make you dreary, depend upon it, they are wrong. I do not say give them up, for they may be all you have, but conceal them like a vice lest they spoil the lives of better and simpler people. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
2004
Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
2005
We take men for what they are worth — and that is why we hate the government of man by man, and that we work with all our might — perhaps not strong enough — to put an end to it. ~ Peter Kropotkin (born 9 December 1842)
2006
Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to my conscience, above all liberties. ~ John Milton (born 9 December 1608)
2007
Man is appealed to to be guided in his acts, not merely by love, which is always personal, or at the best tribal, but by the perception of his oneness with each human being. In the practice of mutual aid, which we can retrace to the earliest beginnings of evolution, we thus find the positive and undoubted origin of our ethical conceptions; and we can affirm that in the ethical progress of man, mutual support not mutual struggle — has had the leading part. ~ Peter Kropotkin
2008
A ship in port is safe; but that is not what ships are built for. Sail out to sea and do new things. ~ Grace Hopper
2009

Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

  • The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven. ~ John Milton
  • As good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. ~ John Milton in Areopagitica
  • One single war — we all know — may be productive of more evil, immediate and subsequent, than hundreds of years of the unchecked action of the mutual-aid principle may be productive of good. ~ Peter Kropotkin

[edit] Suggestions

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A
It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A
They have everything for you men to enjoy,
You can hang out with all the boys ~ Y-M-C-A, The Village People in honor of the first YMCA established in North America, this day on 1851

  • 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 ~ Kalki 19:29, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 0 Zarbon 16:01, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Lyle 21:35, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 21:45, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:14, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment is this so much of the song that there is a potential copyvio issue? Matchups 15:34, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

When we ask for the abolition of the State and its organs we are always told that we dream of a society composed of men better than they are in reality. But no; a thousand times, no. All we ask is that men should not be made worse than they are, by such institutions! ~ Peter Kropotkin (born December 9, 1842)

With thee conversing I forget all time,
All seasons, and their change; all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,
With charm of earliest birds.
~ John Milton (born December 9, 1608)

Freely we serve,
Because we freely love, as in our will
To love or not; in this we stand or fall.
~ John Milton

  • 3 InvisibleSun 05:51, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:01, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:35, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 21:45, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Accuse not Nature: she hath done her part;
Do thou but thine.
~ John Milton

  • 3 InvisibleSun 05:51, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 16:01, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 21:35, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 21:45, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights, and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorrèd shears,
And slits the thin-spun life.
~ John Milton

Sabrina fair,
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lillies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair;
Listen for dear honor's sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save.
~ John Milton

A different conception of society, very different from that which now prevails, is in process of formation. ... Acknowledging, as a fact, the equal rights of all its members to the treasures accumulated in the past ... it seeks to establish a certain harmonious compatibility in its midst — not by subjecting all its members to an authority that is fictitiously supposed to represent society, not by trying to establish uniformity, but by urging all men to develop free initiative, free action, free association. ~ Peter Kropotkin

For never can true reconcilement grow, Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep. ~ John Milton

  • 3 Zarbon 06:28, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:20, 8 December 2008 (UTC) I might rank this higher if extended for more context.
  • 2 Antiquary 21:45, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:14, 8 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, therefore, The General Assembly, Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations...
~ From the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ~
Adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, 10 December 1948
2005
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind —
~ Emily Dickinson (born 10 December 1830)
2006
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. ~ Elie Wiesel, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on this date in 1986.
2007
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. ~ Desmond Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on this day in 1984.
2008

[edit] Suggestions

We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life, but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, from his Nobel prize speech, the prize was awarded to him this day on 1906

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:10, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:33, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 because I don't despise any of those people, neither the oppressor, nor the coward. Zarbon 16:07, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons. ~ Desmond Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on this day in 1984.

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:10, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:33, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:07, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. ~ Emily Dickinson (date of birth)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
This is a statement that is the motto of the "The Christophers", which they state is derived from a Chinese proverb (which has sometimes been attributed to Confucius); it has also sometimes been rendered as "It is better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness" or "Don't curse the darkness — light a candle." It was added to the Dickinson page by an anonymous editor some time ago, but it does not seem to be commonly attributed to her, so I am removing it from there. ~ Kalki 21:02, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 4 if it is correctly attributed because it is one of my favorite sayings. Zarbon 16:07, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Hey, what's up with the Weasel? She's locked herself in the bathroom singing, 'On the first day of Christmas, I murdered Santa Claus.' ~ Eric Matthews from A Boy Meets World (episode with quote aired first today in 1993)

Dreams — are well — but Waking's better,
If One wake at morn —
If One wake at Midnight — better —
Dreaming — of the Dawn —
~ Emily Dickinson ~

  • 3 Kalki 21:02, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 4 InvisibleSun 23:33, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:07, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

"Hope" is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all —
And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard —
And sore must be the storm —
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm —
~ Emily Dickinson ~

  • 4 Kalki 00:26, 8 December 2008 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 18:10, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:33, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 16:07, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

A Grave — is a restricted Breadth —
Yet ampler than the Sun —
And all the Seas He populates
And lands he looks upon

To Him who on its small Repose
Bestows a single Friend —
Circumference without Relief —
Or Estimate — or End
~ Emily Dickinson

  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:33, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:53, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:07, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

More than the Grave is closed to me —
The Grave and that Eternity
To which the Grave adheres —
I cling to nowhere till I fall —
The Crash of nothing, yet of all —
How similar appears —
~ Emily Dickinson

  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:33, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:53, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:07, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

If Aims impel these Astral Ones
The ones allowed to know
Know that which makes them as forgot
As Dawn forgets them — now
~ Emily Dickinson

  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:33, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:53, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:07, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

You can't get too attached to stuff. And you have to remember that people must never become possessions. People are spheres intersecting. You have to make sure that one sphere doesn't ever take over the other. Individuality is absolutely the most important thing. ~ Brian Molko

  • 2 Zarbon 05:27, 9 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:26, 8 December 2008 (UTC) (but a page should be created for the author before this is ever used)

GLEE! the great storm is over!
Four have recovered the land;
Forty gone down together
Into the boiling sand.

Ring, for the scant salvation!
Toll, for the bonnie souls,—
Neighbor and friend and bridegroom,
Spinning upon the shoals!

How they will tell the shipwreck
When winter shakes the door,
Till the children ask, “But the forty?
Did they come back no more?”

Then a silence suffuses the story,
And a softness the teller’s eye;
And the children no
further question,
And only the waves reply.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

IF I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

MUCH madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
’T is the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur,—you ’re straightway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3.5 and very strong lean toward 4. - Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

I NEVER hear the word “escape”
Without a quicker blood,
A sudden expectation,
A flying attitude.

I never hear of prisons broad
By soldiers battered down,
But I tug childish at my bars,—
Only to fail again!
- Emily Dickinson

  • 4 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

SURGEONS must be very careful
When they take the knife!
Underneath their fine incisions
Stirs the culprit,—Life!
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

IT tossed and tossed,—
A little brig I knew,—
O’ertook by blast,
It spun and spun,
And groped delirious, for morn.

It slipped and slipped,
As one that drunken stepped;
Its white foot tripped,
Then dropped from sight.

Ah, brig, good-night
To crew and you;
The ocean’s heart too smooth, too blue,
To break for you.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

I TOOK my power in my hand
And went against the world;
’T was not so much as David had,
But I was twice as bold.

I aimed my pebble, but myself
Was all the one that fell.
Was it Goliath was too large,
Or only I too small?
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

MINE enemy is growing old,—
I have at last revenge.
The palate of the hate departs;
If any would avenge,—

Let him be quick, the viand flits,
It is a faded meat.
Anger as soon as fed is dead;
’T is starving makes it fat.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 and lean toward 4. Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

IT ’S such a little thing to weep,
So short a thing to sigh;
And yet by trades the size of these
We men and women die!
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 and strong lean toward 4. - Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

DROWNING is not so pitiful
As the attempt to rise.
Three times, ’t is said, a sinking man
Comes up to face the skies,
And then declines forever
To that abhorred abode

Where hope and he part company,—
For he is grasped of God.
The Maker’s cordial visage,
However good to see,
Is shunned, we must admit it,
Like an adversity.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

WHO has not found the heaven below
Will fail of it above.
God’s residence is next to mine,
His furniture is love.

UPON the gallows hung a wretch,
Too sullied for the hell
To which the law entitled him.
As nature’s curtain fell
The one who bore him tottered in,
For this was woman’s son.
“’T was all I had,” she stricken gasped;
Oh, what a livid boon!
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 and very strong lean toward 4. - Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

FATE slew him, but he did not drop;
She felled—he did not fall—
Impaled him on her fiercest stakes—
He neutralized them all.

She stung him, sapped his firm advance,
But, when her worst was done,
And he, unmoved, regarded her,
Acknowledged him a man.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

IT might be easier
To fail with land in sight,
Than gain my blue peninsula
To perish of delight.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

HOW happy is the little stone
That rambles in the road alone,
And does n’t care about careers,
And exigencies never fears;
Whose coat of elemental brown
A passing universe put on;
And independent as the sun,
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute decree
In casual simplicity.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

NEW feet within my garden go,
New fingers stir the sod;
A troubadour upon the elm
Betrays the solitude.

New children play upon the green,
New weary sleep below;
And still the pensive spring returns,
And still the punctual snow!
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

THE PEDIGREE of honey
Does not concern the bee;
A clover, any time, to him
Is aristocracy.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

THE GRASS so little has to do,—
A sphere of simple green,
With only butterflies to brood,
And bees to entertain,

And stir all day to pretty tunes
The breezes fetch along,
And hold the sunshine in its lap
And bow to everything;

And thread the dews all night, like pearls,
And make itself so fine,-
A duchess were too common
For such a noticing.

And even when it dies, to pass
In odors so divine,
As lowly spices gone to sleep,
Or amulets of pine.

And then to dwell in sovereign barns,
And dream the days away,—
The grass so little has to do,
I wish I were a hay!
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

PRESENTIMENT is that long shadow on the lawn
Indicative that suns go down;
The notice to the startled grass
That darkness is about to pass.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

IT makes no difference abroad,
The seasons fit the same,
The mornings blossom into noons,
And split their pods of flame.

Wild-flowers kindle in the woods,
The brooks brag all the day;
No blackbird bates his jargoning
For passing Calvary.

Auto-da-fé and judgment
Are nothing to the bee;
His separation from his rose
To him seems misery.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

LOVE is anterior to life,
Posterior to death,
Initial of creation, and
The exponent of breath.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

THERE is a word
Which bears a sword
Can pierce an armed man.
It hurls its barbed syllables,—
At once is mute again.
But where it fell
The saved will tell
On patriotic day,
Some epauletted brother
Gave his breath away.

Wherever runs the breathless sun,
Wherever roams the day,
There is its noiseless onset,
There is its victory!
Behold the keenest marksman!
The most accomplished shot!
Time’s sublimest target
Is a soul “forgot”!
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

HEART, we will forget him!
You and I, to-night!
You may forget the warmth he gave,
I will forget the light.

When you have done, pray tell me,
That I my thoughts may dim;
Haste! lest while you’re lagging,
I may remember him!
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

I NEVER saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 and lean toward 4. Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

I REASON, earth is short,
And anguish absolute.
And many hurt;
But what of that?

I reason, we could die:
The best vitality
Cannot excel decay;
But what of that?

I reason that in heaven
Somehow, it will be even,
Some new equation given;
But what of that?
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 and lean toward 3. Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

NO rack can torture me,
My soul ’s at liberty.
Behind this mortal bone
There knits a bolder one

You cannot prick with saw,
Nor rend with scymitar.
Two bodies therefore be;
Bind one, and one will flee.

The eagle of his nest
No easier divest
And gain the sky,
Than mayest thou,

Except thyself may be
Thine enemy;
Captivity is consciousness,
So’s liberty.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

A DEATH-BLOW is a life-blow to some
Who, till they died, did not alive become;
Who, had they lived, had died, but when
They died, vitality begun.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

OUR journey had advanced;
Our feet were almost come
To that odd fork in Being’s road,
Eternity by term.

Our pace took sudden awe,
Our feet reluctant led.
Before were cities, but between,
The forest of the dead.

Retreat was out of hope,—
Behind, a sealed route,
Eternity’s white flag before,
And God at every gate.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

THAT such have died enables us
The tranquiller to die;
That such have lived, certificate
For immortality.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

THE DISTANCE that the dead have gone
Does not at first appear;
Their coming back seems possible
For many an ardent year.

And then, that we have followed them
We more than half suspect,
So intimate have we become
With their dear retrospect.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

BLESS God, he went as soldiers,
His musket on his breast;
Grant, God, he charge the bravest
Of all the martial blest.

Please God, might I behold him
In epauletted white,
I should not fear the foe then,
I should not fear the fight.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

IMMORTAL is an ample word
When what we need is by,
But when it leaves us for a time,
’T is a necessity.

Of heaven above the firmest proof
We fundamental know,
Except for its marauding hand,
It had been heaven below.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

SO proud she was to die
It made us all ashamed
That what we cherished, so unknown
To her desire seemed.

So satisfied to go
Where none of us should be,
Immediately, that anguish stooped
Almost to jealousy.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

FAME is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate,
Whose table once a Guest, but not
The second time, is set.
Whose crumbs the crows inspect,
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the Farmer’s corn;
Men eat of it and die.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 and strong lean toward 4. Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

THE BLUNDER is to estimate,—
“Eternity is Then,”
We say, as of a station.
Meanwhile he is so near,
He joins me in my ramble,
Divides abode with me,
No friend have I that so persists
As this Eternity.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

THERE is a solitude of space,
A solitude of sea,
A solitude of death, but these
Society shall be,
Compared with that profounder site,
That polar privacy,
A Soul admitted to Itself:
Finite Infinity.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

NATURE is what we see,
The Hill, the Afternoon—
Squirrel, Eclipse, the Bumble-bee,
Nay—Nature is Heaven.

Nature is what we hear,
The Bobolink, the Sea—
Thunder, the Cricket—
Nay,—Nature is Harmony.

Nature is what we know
But have no art to say,
So impotent our wisdom is
To Her simplicity.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 2 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

SOME Days retired from the rest
In soft distinction lie,
The Day that a companion came—
Or was obliged to die.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

THE SWEETS of Pillage can be known
To no one but the Thief,
Compassion for Integrity
Is his divinest Grief.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

THE FACE we choose to miss,
Be it but for a day—
As absent as a hundred years
When it has rode away.
- Emily Dickinson

  • 3 Zarbon 20:21, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

The history of the human race has generated several papers articulating basic moral imperatives, or fundamental principles, of human coexistence that… substantially influenced the fate of humanity on this planet. Among these historic documents, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights … holds a very special, indeed, unique position. It is the first code of ethical conduct that was not a product of one culture, or one sphere of civilization only, but a universal creation, shaped and subscribed to by representatives of all humankind. Since its very inception, the Declaration has thus represented a planetary, or global commitment, a global intention, a global guideline. For this reason alone, this exceptional document — conceived as a result of a profound human self-reflection in the wake of the horrors of World War II, and retaining its relevance ever since — deserves to be remembered today. ~ Václav Havel (quote from a speech on the 50th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, 10 December 1948)

  • 3 Kalki 20:07, 4 October 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.


2003
Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps. ~ Emo Phillips
2004
I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference after another. ~ Ellen Goodman
2005
Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (born 11 December 1918)
2006
In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim — that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people. ~ George Mason
2007
Let us not forget that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his METHOD must inexorably choose falsehood as his PRINCIPLE. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
2008
The belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession of it, seems to me the deepest root of all that is evil in the world. ~ Max Born (born 11 December 1882)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Oh, Be A Fine Girl - Kiss Me! ~ Mnemonic for remembering the star classification established by Annie Jump Cannon, born that day

  • 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:37, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:35, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:10, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Taught to regard a part of our own Species in the most abject and contemptible Degree below us, we lose that Idea of the dignity of Man which the Hand of Nature had implanted in us, for great and useful purposes. ~ George Mason (born December 11, 1725)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:37, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:35, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:10, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. ~ George Mason

  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:37, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:35, 10 December 2006 (UTC) - but truncated without the article's prefatory "That"
  • 1 Zarbon 16:10, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

There are metaphysical problems, which cannot be disposed of by declaring them meaningless. ... We have to accept this fact to be honest. There are two objectionable types of believers: those who believe the incredible and those who believe that "belief" must be discarded and replaced by "the scientific method." ~ Max Born (born December 11, 1882)

  • 3 Kalki 21:26, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:51, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 16:10, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Sins are not forgiven to anyone, unless when the priest forgives them he believes they are forgiven. ~ Pope Leo X (born December 11, 1475)

  • 3 Zarbon 05:37, 9 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Nobody can teach you love. Love you have to find yourself, within your being, by raising your consciousness to higher levels. ~ Osho (born December 11, 1931)

  • 2 Zarbon 05:37, 9 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  • 4 Zarbon 06:34, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC), but one of my favorites by Solzhenitsyn, and I might also give it a 4 eventually

Can a man who's warm understand one who's freezing? ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

  • 3 Zarbon 06:34, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? `John Kerry, Testimony before subcommittees of the U.S. Senate, April, 1971 (this is his birthday)

  • 3 Matchups 20:51, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 06:08, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Any mundane activity can become meditative. Digging a hole in the garden, planting new roses in the garden — you can do it with such tremendous love and compassion, you can do it with the hands of a buddha. There is no contradiction ... I say unto you, your every act should be a ceremony. ~ Osho

  • 3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 Zarbon 05:12, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Existence is a mystery, and one should accept it as a mystery and not pretend to have any explanation. No, explanation is not needed — only exclamation, a wondering heart, awakened, surprised, feeling the mystery of life each moment. Then, and only then, you know what truth is. And truth liberates. ~ Osho

  • 3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 05:12, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Be realistic: Plan for a miracle. ~ Osho

  • 3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 05:12, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

He who writes poetry is not a poet. He whose poetry has become his life, and who has made his life his poetry — it is he who is a poet. ~ Subramanya Bharathi

  • 3 Kalki 10:47, 28 October 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
2004
Every single moment of a person's life, both of the understanding and of the will, is a new beginning. ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
2005
I had some great things and I had some bad things. The best and the worst... In other words, I had a life. ~ Richard Pryor (recent death)
2006
The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments. ~ Gustave Flaubert (Date of birth)
2007
I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or to speak, or write, with moderation. ... I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD. ~ William Lloyd Garrison
2008
Klaatu barada nikto! ~ Patricia Neal as "Helen Benson" in The Day the Earth Stood Still
(The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), the remake of the classic movie, which also uses the line is opening in wide release on 12·12·2008)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. ~ Frank Sinatra, born that day

  • 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 19:28, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

That which is not just is not law. ~ William Lloyd Garrison (Date of birth)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 0 Kalki 23:11, 11 December 2007 (UTC) 3 Kalki 19:28, 11 December 2006 (UTC) Though Garrison used this phrase, he was quoting Algernon Sydney: "That which is not just is not law, and that which is not law ought not to be obeyed."
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. ~ Robert Browning (Date of death)

  • 4 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 0 for this date, as this a mis-attribution... it is widely attributed to Nolan Bushnell (Founder of Atari), not to Browning.
  • 0 - InvisibleSun 23:43, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 0 for the reason stated above Zarbon 16:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

What is beautiful is moral, that is all there is to it. ~ Gustave Flaubert

  • 1 Kalki 22:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC) 3 Kalki 19:28, 11 December 2006 (UTC) would probably rank this higher in future, but going for Klaatu barada nikto! this year. ~ Kalki (2008)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 4 because this is what it's all about. Zarbon 16:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

An ignorant doctor is the aide-de-camp of death. ~ Avicenna (born 980, died 1037, I couldn't find a specific date to relate him to)

  • 2 I think this means that a doctor who is not helpful, aids in killing the patient...am I understanding this right...? Zarbon 04:43, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

It seems to me that understanding that our theories are the source of all our conflicts would go a long way in helping people with different belief systems to get along. ~ Michael Gazzaniga

  • 3 Zarbon 04:43, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

We should have known better after the first war. ~ Gerd von Rundstedt

  • 3 Zarbon 04:43, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in. ~ Gustave Flaubert

  • 2 Zarbon 04:43, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere. ~ Gustave Flaubert

  • 3 Zarbon 04:43, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment, we can start now, start slowly changing the world! How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway... And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness! ~ Anne Frank
2005
The maple tree that night
Without a wind or rain
Let go its leaves
Because its time had come.
~ Eugene McCarthy (recent death)
2006
We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race. ~ Kofi Annan, elected Secretary General of the United Nations on this date, in 1996.
2007
Where they burn books, they will also burn people. ~ Heinrich Heine (born 13 December 1797)
2008
Mark this well, you proud men of action: You are nothing but the unwitting agents of the men of thought who often, in quiet self-effacement, mark out most exactly all your doings in advance. ~ Heinrich Heine
2009

[edit] Suggestions

As long as the differences and diversities of mankind exist, democracy must allow for compromise, for accommodation, and for the recognition of differences. ~ Eugene McCarthy (recent death)

  • 2 Kalki 00:11, 12 December 2007 (UTC) 3 Kalki 23:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC) link to date no longer strong.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:52, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 16:18, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

They that won't be counselled, can't be helped. ~ Benjamin Franklin

  • 1. No stated relevance for this day. InvisibleSun 21:52, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:11, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 16:18, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

But genius is an enormous littleness, a trickling
Of heart that covers alike the hare and the hunter.
~ Kenneth Patchen (born December 13, 1911)

Have you wondered why all the windows in heaven were
broken?
Have you seen the homeless in the grave of God's
hand?
Do you want to acquaint the larks with the fatuous
music of war?
~ Kenneth Patchen

The animal I wanted
Couldn't get into the world...
I can hear it crying
When I sit like this away from life.
~ Kenneth Patchen

O my love there are larks in our morning
And the finding flame of your hands
And the moss on the bank of the river
And the butterflies
And the whirling-mad
Butterflies!
~ Kenneth Patchen

The best of ideas is hurt by uncritical acceptance and thrives on critical examination. ~ George Pólya (date of birth)

  • 3 Ningauble 17:32, 30 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:01, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4
  • 3 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in cases where it does not fit, is pedantry... To apply a rule with natural ease, with judgment, noticing the cases where it fits, and without ever letting the words of the rule obscure the purpose of the action or the opportunities of the situation, is mastery. ~ George Pólya (date of birth)

  • 3 Ningauble 17:32, 30 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 05:01, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 Kalki 02:43, 14 September 2009 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

A proper home can provide the bridge across that terrible gulf between poverty and a better future. ~ Aga Khan IV

  • 3 Zarbon 05:01, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 14:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

If our animosities are born out of fear, then confident generosity is born out of hope. One of the central lessons I have learned after a half century of working in the developing world is that the replacement of fear by hope is probably the single most powerful trampoline of progress. ~ Aga Khan IV

  • 3 although I personally believe that the authoritarian principle of instilling fear creates a powerful dynamic. Zarbon 05:01, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC) but might rank this 4 eventually
  • 3 Ningauble 14:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Life's an awfully lonesome affair. You can live close against other people yet your lives never touch. You come into the world alone and you go out of the world alone yet it seems to me you are more alone while living than even coming and going. ~ Emily Carr

  • 3 and I'm leaning toward a 4 for this one. Zarbon 05:01, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC) I might also eventually give this a 4.
  • 3 Ningauble 14:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

One should forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged. ~ Heinrich Heine

  • 3 for a living enemy is more deadly than one that is gone. Zarbon 05:01, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC) Might give this a 2 or even a 3 eventually, though I don't actually agree with it, in the normal interpretations of the words used.
  • 1 Ningauble 14:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

At first I was almost about to despair, I thought I never could bear it — but I did I bear it. The question remains: how? ~ Heinrich Heine

  • 4 because after the initial act, one may be stunned as to how they lived through it. Whatever "it" is characterized by, I assume any difficult and strenuous task may be applied into the equation. Zarbon 05:05, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC) I might rank this higher in the future.
  • 1 Ningauble 14:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

He who will establish himself on a certain height must yield according to circumstances, like the weather-cock on a church-spire, which, though it be made of iron, would soon be broken by the storm-wind if it remained obstinately immovable, and did not understand the noble art of turning to every wind. ~ Heinrich Heine

  • 3 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:34, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 14:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

What! Think you that my flashes show me
Only in lightnings to excel?
Believe me, friends, you do not know me,
For I can thunder quite as well.
~ Heinrich Heine ~

  • 3 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:34, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 14:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

When words leave off, music begins. ~ Heinrich Heine

  • 3 Kalki 21:48, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:34, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 14:01, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Antiquary 19:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:29, 12 December 2008 (UTC)



2004
Loving kindness is greater than laws; and the charities of life are more than all ceremonies. ~ The Talmud
2005
My creed is that public service must be more than doing a job efficiently and honestly. It must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation with full recognition that every human being is entitled to courtesy and consideration, that constructive criticism is not only to be expected but sought, that smears are not only to be expected but fought, that honor is to be earned but not bought. ~ Margaret Chase Smith (born 14 December 1897)
2006
My deepest impulses are optimistic; an attitude that seems to me as spiritually necessary and proper as it is intellectually suspect. ~ Ellen Willis (born 14 December 1941)
2007
I had determined to go as far as declaring in abstruse and puzzling utterances the future causes of the "common advent", even those truly cogent ones that I have foreseen. Yet lest whatever human changes may be to come should scandalise delicate ears, the whole thing is written in nebulous form, rather than as a clear prophecy of any kind. ~ Nostradamus‎ (born 14 December 1503)
2008
The Art of Peace is not easy. It is a fight to the finish, the slaying of evil desires and all falsehood within. On occasion the Voice of Peace resounds like thunder, jolting human beings out of their stupor. ~ Morihei Ueshiba (born 14 December 1883)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company. ~ George Washington (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 0 Kalki 19:51, 13 December 2007 (UTC) 3 Kalki 18:14, 13 December 2006 (UTC) This isn't actually a quote of Washington himself but one of lessons he copied out of a book as a school boy.
  • 0 because for one I do not agree with it and second, because it wasn't said by him originally. Zarbon 16:23, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I think that it is high time that we remembered that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation. ~ Margaret Chase Smith (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:54, 13 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:23, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 14:07, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Individuals bearing witness cannot do the work of social movements, but they can break a corrosive and demoralizing silence. ~ Ellen Willis (born December 14, 1941)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:14, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 16:23, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 14:07, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

It's as crucial to defend secular culture as to preserve secular law. And in fact the two projects are inseparable: When religion defines morality, the wall between church and state comes to be seen as immoral. ~ Ellen Willis

  • 4 InvisibleSun 07:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:14, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 16:23, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 14:07, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

The project of organizing a democratic political movement entails the hope that one's ideas and beliefs are not merely idiosyncratic but speak to vital human needs, interests and desires, and therefore will be persuasive to many and ultimately most people. But this is a very different matter from deciding to put forward only those ideas presumed (accurately or not) to be compatible with what most people already believe. ~ Ellen Willis

In recent years, conservatives bent on reinstating an essentially religious vocabulary of absolute good and evil as the only legitimate framework for discussing social values have redefined "relative" as "arbitrary." That conflation has been reinforced by social theorists and advocates of identity politics who argue that there is no universal morality, only the value systems of particular cultures and power structures. ~ Ellen Willis

  • 3 Kalki 18:14, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:23, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 14:07, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Tis well. ~ George Washington

  • 3 Kalki 19:51, 13 December 2007 (UTC) Last words. (died 14 December 1799)
  • 0 Zarbon 16:23, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,
But we left him alone with his glory. ~ Charles Wolfe

  • 3 Zarbon 06:40, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Tomorrow, I shall no longer be here. ~ Nostradamus

  • 2 Zarbon 06:40, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

When twenty years of the Moon's reign have passed
another will take up his reign for seven thousand years.
When the exhausted Sun takes up his cycle
then my prophecy and threats will be accomplished. ~ Nostradamus

  • 2 Zarbon 06:40, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. ~ Margaret Chase Smith

  • 4 Zarbon 06:40, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 14:07, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Regarding technique, from ancient times it has been said that movements must fly like lightning and attacks must strike like thunder. ~ Morihei Ueshiba

  • 3 Zarbon 06:40, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC) I like this, but prefer the verse version of a similar statement which I am adding directly below this for easier comparison.

Move like a beam of light;
Fly like lightning,
Strike like thunder,
Whirl in circles around
A stable center.
~ Morihei Ueshiba ~

  • 3 Kalki 22:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:18, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

If your opponent strikes with fire, counter with water, becoming completely fluid and free-flowing. Water, by its nature, never collides with or breaks against anything. On the contrary, it swallows up any attack harmlessly. ~ Morihei Ueshiba

  • 3 Zarbon 06:40, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

In the Art of Peace we never attack. An attack is proof that one is out of control. Never run away from any kind of challenge, but do not try to suppress or control an opponent unnaturally. Let attackers come any way they like and then blend with them. Never chase after opponents. Redirect each attack and get firmly behind it. ~ Morihei Ueshiba

  • 3 Kalki 22:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 05:18, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Instructors can impart only a fraction of the teaching. It is through your own devoted practice that the mysteries of the Art of Peace are brought to life. ~ Morihei Ueshiba

  • 3 Kalki 22:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:18, 11 December 2008 (UTC)


2003
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
2004
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. ~ Albert Einstein
2005
Trouble arises when either science or religion claims universal jurisdiction, when either religious dogma or scientific dogma claims to be infallible. Religious creationists and scientific materialists are equally dogmatic and insensitive. By their arrogance they bring both science and religion into disrepute. ~ Freeman Dyson (born 15 December 1923)
2006
To talk about the end of science is just as foolish as to talk about the end of religion. Science and religion are both still close to their beginnings, with no ends in sight. ~ Freeman Dyson (date of birth)
2007
It is not the right angle that attracts me,
Nor the hard, inflexible straight line, man-made.
What attracts me are free and sensual curves.
The curves in my country’s mountains,
In the sinuous flow of its rivers,
In the beloved woman’s body.
~ Oscar Niemeyer (his 100th Birthday — born 15 December 1907)
2008
It appears that mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every atom. The universe as a whole is also weird, with laws of nature that make it hospitable to the growth of mind. I do not make any clear distinction between mind and God. God is what mind becomes when it has passed beyond the scale of our comprehension. ~ Freeman Dyson
2009

Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

  • In the end it is how you fight, as much as why you fight, that makes your cause good or bad. ~ Freeman Dyson

[edit] Suggestions

It's kind of fun to do the impossible. ~ Walt Disney (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:32, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Liquidice5 17:58, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 16:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:37, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

The deepest pleasure in science comes from finding an instantiation, a home, for some deeply felt, deeply held image. ~ Wolfgang Pauli (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:32, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:37, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

We stand, in a manner of speaking, midway between the unpredictability of atoms and the unpredictability of God. ~ Freeman Dyson (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 18:54, 14 December 2005 (UTC) but might rank this a 4 eventually
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:32, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Architecture was my way of expressing my ideals: to be simple, to create a world equal to everyone, to look at people with optimism, that everyone has a gift. I don’t want anything but general happiness. Why is that bad? ~ Oscar Niemeyer

  • 3 Kalki 15:21, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:59, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

My ambition has always been to reduce a building’s support to a minimum. The more we diminish supporting structures, the more audacious and important the architecture is. That has been my life’s work. ~ Oscar Niemeyer

  • 3 Kalki 15:21, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:59, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I had some good opportunities. I was lucky to have had the chance to do things differently. Architecture is about surprise. ~ Oscar Niemeyer

  • 3 Kalki 15:21, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:59, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

What an artist dies in me! ~ Nero (born December 15)

  • 2 Zarbon 03:33, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: Nero by Edward Champlin - History - 2003 - Page 51
  • 2 Kalki 22:37, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Hidden talent counts for nothing. ~ Nero (born December 15)

  • 3 because talent is worth nothing if it isn't seen. The same can be said for decisions, ideas, and solutions. Hiding qualities will never allow others to comprehend and understand them. Zarbon 03:33, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Flames of Rome - Page 221 by Paul L. Maier - 1991
  • 1 Kalki 22:37, 10 December 2008 (UTC) the ultimate measure of the effectiveness of both talent and genius is knowing when to show it, and when not to. Hidden talents can sometimes count a great deal.

I keep thinking what happens when the power of love is twisted into the love of power. ~ Maurice Davis

  • 2 Zarbon 07:00, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:37, 10 December 2008 (UTC) though I might rank this 3 eventually, especially if more can be found of it for clearer context.

I am acutely aware of the fact that the marriage between mathematics and physics, which was so enormously fruitful in past centuries, has recently ended in divorce. ~ Freeman Dyson

  • 3 Zarbon 07:00, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:37, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

A good cause can become bad if we fight for it with means that are indiscriminately murderous. A bad cause can become good if enough people fight for it in a spirit of comradeship and self-sacrifice. In the end it is how you fight, as much as why you fight, that makes your cause good or bad. ~ Freeman Dyson

  • 4 Zarbon 07:00, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:20, 14 December 2008 (UTC) 3 Kalki 22:37, 10 December 2008 (UTC) reduced my ranking on this for this year, because of a preference for another Dyson quote, and as part of this has already been used. I probably will rank it at 3 again eventually, even though the last sentence has been used already.

I love the war because there is victory at its end. ~ Alp Arslan

  • 2 Zarbon 07:00, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 22:37, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

The Universe is made of stories, not of atoms. ~ Muriel Rukeyser

  • 4 Kalki 07:14, 30 January 2009 (UTC)


2004
The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange. ~ G. K. Chesterton
2005
Fear... can make you do more wrong than hate or jealousy. If you're afraid you don't commit yourself to life completely; fear makes you always, always hold something back. ~ Philip K. Dick (born 16 December 1928)
2006
What renders man an imaginative and moral being is that in society he gives new aims to his life which could not have existed in solitude: the aims of friendship, religion, science, and art. ~ George Santayana (born 16 December 1863)
2007
Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
2008
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. ~ Philip K. Dick
2009

Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

[edit] Suggestions

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. ~ Mao Zedong in the Little Red Book, published in Beijing that day.

  • 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 but 4 on correct date because the assurance of artillery is a very true factor to rely on. However, I'd prefer to see this on his date of birth (December 26). Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
    • I would also like to mention that MosheZadka gave this one a 3 on the date of September 9. Zarbon 16:35, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors. ~ Ludwig van Beethoven (Date of birth)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Liquidice5 18:02, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is very true. It is easy to search for error in others, but to find it in oneself is majestic and remains a difficult task, and for someone of nobility, that much harder. Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. ~ Arthur C. Clarke (Date of birth)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones. ~ William Somerset Maugham (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The world is a king, and like a king, desires flattery in return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse — it will not submit to the mold of flattery. ~ Ludwig van Beethoven (born December 16, 1770)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is rather true. Artists who want their work kept in its originality will not submit to any offers, because their art is who they are. Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:13, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

The present has its élan because it is always on the edge of the unknown and one misunderstands the past unless one remembers that this unknown was once part of its nature. ~ V. S. Pritchett (born December 16, 1900)

The dinosaurs disappeared because they could not adapt to their changing environment. We shall disappear if we cannot adapt to an environment that now contains spaceships, computers — and thermonuclear weapons. ~ Arthur C. Clarke (born 16 December 1917)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing. ~ Philip K. Dick (born December 16, 1928)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~ Arthur C. Clarke

  • 3 Kalki 05:27, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:57, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

If I had know it was harmless, I would have killed it myself. Philip K. Dick

  • 3 Zarbon 03:13, 5 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice; and yet everybody is content to hear. ~ John Selden

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC) A bit too cynical to be true.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain. ~ John Selden

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. ~ Amy Carmichael

  • 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

At times it may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good. ~ Margaret Mead

  • 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things. ~ Margaret Mead

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment. ~ George Santayana

  • 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:46, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

That life is worth living is the most necessary of assumptions and, were it not assumed, the most impossible of conclusions. ~ George Santayana

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:46, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~ George Santayana

  • 4 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC) but will also will probably give this a 4 eventually, prefer one by Philip K. Dick for this year.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Injustice in this world is not something comparative; the wrong is deep, clear, and absolute in each private fate. ~ George Santayana

  • 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself. ~ George Santayana

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Only the dead have seen the end of war. ~ George Santayana

  • 3 with a strong lean towards a 4. Because the fighting continues for the living. Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the older man who will not laugh is a fool. ~ George Santayana

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

The God to whom depth in philosophy bring back men’s minds is far from being the same from whom a little philosophy estranges them. ~ George Santayana

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

You shall not, for the sake of one individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity, nor endeavour to persuade yourself or me, that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of danger security for happiness. ~ Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me. ~ Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, to be secure of judging properly at first. ~ Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Great artists are always far-seeing. They easily avoid the big stumbling blocks of fact. They rely on their own simplicity and vision. ~ V. S. Pritchett

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Life — how curious is that habit that makes us think it is not here, but elsewhere. ~ V. S. Pritchett

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

When two people dream the same dream, it ceases to be an illusion. ~ Philip K. Dick

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


2003
Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education. ~ Bertrand Russell
2004
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring,
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
~ "Arwen" in the film The Return of the King ~
2005
I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. ~ Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol (first published 17 December 1843)
2006
To even mention all the things the bird must constantly keep in mind in order to fly securely through the air would take a considerable part of the evening... The bird has learned this art of equilibrium, and learned it so thoroughly that its skill is not apparent to our sight. We only learn to appreciate it when we try to imitate it. ~ Wilbur Wright (designed the Wright Flyer which flew on 17 December 1903)
  • proposed by Fys
2007
It is a queer and fantastic world. Why can't people have what they want? The things were all there to content everybody; yet everybody has got the wrong thing. Perhaps you can make head or tail of it; it is beyond me. ~ Ford Madox Ford
2008
Alas for maiden, alas for Judge,
For rich repiner and household drudge!
God pity them both! and pity us all,
Who vainly the dreams of youth recall;
For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: "It might have been!"
~ John Greenleaf Whittier ~
2009

[edit] Suggestions

I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. ~ Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, published that day.

  • 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 0 Zarbon 19:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC) (but the publication date is actually 19 December 1843)

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess? ~ Ludwig van Beethoven (baptized December 17, 1770; his date of birth is unknown)

  • 2. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 00:17, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 07:27, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 20:10, 16 December 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 2 Zarbon 19:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Those who have served the cause of the revolution have plowed the sea. ~ Attributed to Simon Bolivar (died December 17, 1830)

  • 3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 00:17, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:27, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 16 December 2007 (UTC) (though this is one of several variants attributed to him.)
  • 2 Zarbon 19:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 20:07, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. ~ Attributed to William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (died December 17, 1907, four years to the day after this prediction turned out to be untrue)

  • 3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 00:17, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 07:27, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 19:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 It doesn't appear that William Thomas had anything to do with the pursuit of flight... Lyle 20:07, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, in honour of the Wright brothers' first flight on December 17, 1903.

  • 2. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 00:17, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:27, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 but preferable on date of birth. Zarbon 19:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 20:07, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

For it is not unusual in human beings who have witnessed the sack of a city or the falling to pieces of a people to set down what they have witnessed for the benefit of unknown heirs or of generations infinitely remote; or, if you please, just to get the sight out of their heads. ~ Ford Madox Ford (born December 17, 1873)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:27, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:10, 16 December 2007 (UTC), might eventually give this a 4, but only if extended for context:
You may well ask why I write. And yet my reasons are quite many. For it is not unusual in human beings who have witnessed the sack of a city or the falling to pieces of a people to set down what they have witnessed for the benefit of unknown heirs or of generations infinitely remote; or, if you please, just to get the sight out of their heads. ~ Ford Madox Ford
  • 1 Zarbon 19:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 20:07, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

We can do without any article of luxury we have never had; but when once obtained, it is not in human natur’ to surrender it voluntarily. ~ Thomas Chandler Haliburton

  • 2 Zarbon 06:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 2 Cheers to the internet! Lyle 20:07, 16 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:44, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Fortunately science, like that nature to which it belongs, is neither limited by time nor by space. It belongs to the world, and is of no country and of no age. The more we know, the more we feel our ignorance; the more we feel how much remains unknown; and in philosophy, the sentiment of the Macedonian hero can never apply,- there are always new worlds to conquer. ~ Humphry Davy

  • 2 Zarbon 06:40, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 20:07, 16 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:44, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

All he desired in life was that — that he could pick himself together again and go on with his daily occupations if — the girl, being five thousand miles away, would continue to love him. He wanted nothing more, He prayed his God for nothing more. ~ Ford Madox Ford

  • 3 Kalki 00:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a VERY strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 05:26, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 Lyle 20:07, 16 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:44, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. ~ William Safire in a speech written for Spiro Agnew (Safire born on 17 December 1929)

  • 3 Kalki 18:57, 13 October 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.


2003
That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as anothers. We see so much only as we possess. ~ Henry David Thoreau
2004
The Tree that was withered shall be renewed, and he shall plant it in the high places, and the City shall be blessed. Sing all ye people! ~ J. R. R. Tolkien
(From The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King (Book VI, Chapter 5, "The Steward and the King"); in the novel this is a song of a great Eagle heralding the victory of Aragorn's forces against those of Sauron and the Dark Tower.)
2005
It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die. ~ Steve Biko (born 18 December 1946)
2006
Formerly we used to represent things visible on earth, things we either liked to look at or would have liked to see. Today we reveal the reality that is behind visible things, thus expressing the belief that the visible world is merely an isolated case in relation to the universe and that there are many more other, latent realities. Things appear to assume a broader and more diversified meaning, often seemingly contradicting the rational experience of yesterday. There is a striving to emphasize the essential character of the accidental. ~ Paul Klee (born 18 December 1879)
2007
I cannot be grasped in the here and now. For I reside just as much with the dead as with the unborn. Somewhat closer to the heart of creation than usual. But not nearly close enough. ~ Paul Klee
2008
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new born King!"

~ Charles Wesley ~ (born 18 December 1707, and song for the Christmas season)

2009

[edit] Suggestions

Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible. ~ Paul Klee

  • 3 InvisibleSun 03:26, 16 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 03:22, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 19:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 15:31, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Nature can afford to be prodigal in everything, the artist must be frugal down to the last detail. Nature is garrulous to the point of confusion, let the artist be truly taciturn. ~ Paul Klee

  • 3 InvisibleSun 03:26, 16 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 03:22, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 19:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 I'll admit I had to look up a few of these words... Lyle 15:31, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

The beautiful, which is perhaps inseparable from art, is not after all tied to the subject, but to the pictorial representation. In this way and in no other does art overcome the ugly without avoiding it. ~ Paul Klee

  • 3 InvisibleSun 16:51, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:20, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 19:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 15:31, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

The main thing now is not to paint precociously but to be, or at least become, an individual. The art of mastering life is the prerequisite for all further forms of expression, whether they are paintings, sculptures, tragedies, or musical compositions. ~ Paul Klee

  • 3 InvisibleSun 16:51, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:20, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 19:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Lyle 15:31, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

God buries his workmen, but carries on his work. ~ Charles Wesley

  • 3 Zarbon 06:54, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 15:31, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise.
Join the triumph of the skies.
With th'angelic hosts proclaim
Christ is born in Bethlehem!

~ Charles Wesley ~ (born 18 December 1707, and song for the Christmas season)

  • 3 Kalki 21:25, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:36, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 18:13, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman's conquering Seed,
bruise in us the serpent's head.
Adam's likeness, Lord, efface;
stamp thine image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new born King!"

~ Charles Wesley ~ (born 18 December 1707, and song for the Christmas season)

  • 3 Kalki 21:34, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:36, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 18:13, 18 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
In the winter season, for seven days of calm, Alcyone broods over her nest on the surface of the waters while the sea-waves are quiet. Through this time Aeolus keeps his winds at home, and ocean is smooth for his descendants’ sake. ~ Ovid
2005
The tyrant grinds down his slaves and they don't turn against him, they crush those beneath them. ~ Emily Brontë (died 19 December 1848)
2006
It is wrong to expect a reward for your struggles. The reward is the act of struggle itself, not what you win. Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make that attempt. That's morality, that's religion. That's art. That's life. ~ Phil Ochs (born 19 December 1940)
2007
In such an ugly time the true protest is beauty. ~ Phil Ochs
2008

[edit] Suggestions

A person who has not done one half his day's work by ten o clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone. ~ Emily Brontë (Date of death)

And the evil is done in hopes that evil surrenders
but the deeds of the devil are burned too deep in the embers
and a world of hunger in vengeance will always remember
So please be reassured, we seek no wider war,
we seek no wider war.
~ Phil Ochs

  • 3 InvisibleSun 12:50, 17 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 19:44, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

And I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone
Can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here.
~ Phil Ochs

  • 3 InvisibleSun 12:50, 17 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 19:44, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!" ~ Charles Dickens

  • 3 InvisibleSun 16:45, 6 February 2007 (UTC) [proposed originally at 7 February on Dickens birthdate, added here by Kalki]
  • 3 Kalki 23:11, 6 February 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 19:44, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

After the final no there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.
~ Wallace Stevens ~

  • 4 Kalki 01:23, 11 December 2008 (UTC) A perfect excuse to use one of my all-time favorite quotes by Stevens (or anyone else, for that matter), with the release date for Yes Man starring Jim Carrey — a movie which has its roots in the statement of a mysterious stranger who once told Danny Wallace to "Say Yes more." It also fits in well as a progression with last year's "In such an ugly time the true protest is beauty" by Phil Ochs, and what seems the likely choice for the 18th : "It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die" by Steve Biko.
  • 3 Zarbon 05:29, 11 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed. ~ Joseph Campbell
2005
For most of human history we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Who are we? What are we? We find that we inhabit an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions, and by the depth of our answers. ~ Carl Sagan (died 20 December 1996)
2006
Learn this lesson, that to be self-contented is to be vile and ignorant, and that to aspire is better than to be blindly and impotently happy. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott (Born 20 December 1838)
2007
This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost. ~ John Steinbeck
2008
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. ~ John Steinbeck
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Man is his own star, and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all light, all influence, all fate.
Nothing to him falls early, or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
~ John Fletcher (baptized December 20, 1579)

There is no jesting with edge tools. ~ John Fletcher

  • 3 Kalki 23:39, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 19:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC). The connection with John Fletcher (and hence December 20) is rather loose, since he was only using a long-established proverb. The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs records it from 1510.

You call me a Circle; but in reality I am not a Circle, but an infinite number of Circles... For even a Sphere — which is my proper name in my own country — if he manifest himself at all to an inhabitant of Flatland — must needs manifest himself as a Circle. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott (Born 20 December 1838)

  • 3 Kalki 23:39, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 19:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

I looked, and, behold, a new world! There stood before me, visibly incorporate, all that I had before inferred, conjectured, dreamed, of perfect Circular beauty. What seemed the centre of the Stranger's form lay open to my view: yet I could see no heart, nor lungs, nor arteries, only a beautiful harmonious Something — for which I had no words; but you, my Readers in Spaceland, would call it the surface of the Sphere. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott

  • 3 Kalki 23:39, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 19:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

If I am right in saying that thought is the ultimate origin or source, it follows that if we don't do anything about thought, we won't get anywhere. We may momentarily relieve the population problem, the ecological problem, and so on, but they will come back in another way. ~ David Bohm

  • 4 a hint of "history repeats itself." Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC) but prefer to trim it to the first sentence.
    • The coming back in another way is the part that I like though... Zarbon 18:15, 18 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Individuality is only possible if it unfolds from wholeness. ~ David Bohm

  • 3 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC) but I will probably give this a 3 or even a 4 eventually.

The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained. ~ David Bohm

  • 2 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

This is our culture; fight for it. This is our flag; pick it up. This is our country; take it back. ~ Tom Tancredo

  • 3 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

A patriot is someone who cares what happens in their country. ~ Billy Bragg

  • 2 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Art is the objectification of feeling. ~ Susanne Langer

  • 3 or in other words...bringing feelings to life through artwork. Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Music is the tonal analogue of emotive life. ~ Susanne Langer

  • 2 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

We have reversed the usual classical notion that the independent "elementary parts" of the world are the fundamental reality, and that the various systems are merely particular contingent forms and arrangements of these parts. Rather, we say that inseparable quantum interconnectedness of the whole universe is the fundamental reality, and that relatively independent behaving parts are merely particular and contingent forms within this whole. ~ David Bohm

  • 3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:31, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 23:07, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Men are divided in opinion as to the facts. And even granting the facts, they explain them in different ways. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott

  • 3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:31, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

From dreams I proceed to facts. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott

  • 3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:31, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)


2003
We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it. ~ Thomas Jefferson
2004
i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun's birthday... ~ e. e. cummings
2005
I don't measure a man's success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom. ~ George S. Patton (died 21 December 1945)
2006
This is the stillness behind motion, when time itself stops; the center is also the circumference of all.
We are awake in the night.
We turn the Wheel to bring the light.
We call the sun from the womb of night.
Blessed Be!
~ Starhawk ~
2007
If there is a God, I don't think He would demand that anyone bow down or stand up to Him. I often have a suspicion that God is still trying to work things out and hasn't finished. ~ Rebecca West (born 21 December 1892)
2008
There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald (died 21 December 1940)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Once one is caught up into the material world, not one person in ten thousand finds the time to form literary taste, to examine the validity of philosophic concepts for himself, or to form what, for lack of a better phrase, I might call the wise and tragic sense of life. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 00:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 06:46, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 and I would prefer if this was moved to his date of birth, September 24. Zarbon 20:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:14, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

I feel no shame in asserting that this whole region engirdled by the moon, and the center of the earth, traverse this grand circle amid the rest of the planets in an annual revolution around the sun. ~ Nicolaus Copernicus

Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts, as they say, 'with both eyes open'. ~ Nicolaus Copernicus

  • 3 Kalki 17:04, 20 December 2005 (UTC) (Date of the solstice, and Yule, or Jul celebrations)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The tide has turned!
The light will come again!
In a new dawn, in a new day,
The sun is rising!
Io! Evohe! Blessed Be!
~ Starhawk

  • 3 Kalki 17:04, 20 December 2005 (UTC) (Date of the solstice, and Yule, or Jul celebrations)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 00:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Religion cannot be true which needs such instruments of violence to uphold it so. ~ Roger Williams (born December 21, 1603)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 06:29, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because forcing others to believe in a faith is in itself negligent to truth. Zarbon 20:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth. ~ Benjamin Disraeli (born December 21, 1804)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 06:29, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because errors committed are done very much in earnest and this says it rather well. Zarbon 20:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

All of us encounter, at least once in our life, some individual who utters words that make us think forever. There are men whose phrases are oracles; who condense in one sentence the secrets of life; who blurt out an aphorism that forms a character or illustrates an existence. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 06:29, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 20:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Property has its duties as well as its rights. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 06:29, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

God forbid that any book should be banned. The practice is as indefensible as infanticide. ~ Rebecca West (born December 21, 1892)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 06:29, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 although infanticide is widely accepted in many places across the planet in order to keep population crowding, such as China, for example. I don't think infanticide is indefensible either, especially if the parents agree not to keep the child. But I do understand the comparison West is trying to make here and although I don't particularly agree with using infanticide as a comparison, the quote still holds some truth...the value of a book is indeed sacred. Zarbon 20:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I myself have never been able to find out what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute. ~ Rebecca West

  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:50, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 06:29, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

History shows that there are no invincible armies and that there never have been. ~ Joseph Stalin (born December 21)

  • 3 because he is more than right. Caesar, Khan, Napoleon, and Hitler all succumbed and their armies with them. Zarbon 16:54, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Stalin Era - Page 122 by Philip Boobbyer - History - 2000
  • 2 Kalki 02:14, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:10, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

A Lieutenant is not worth a General ...even if that Lieutenant is my son! I do not change the soldier for the marshal! ~ Joseph Stalin (born December 21)

  • 3 because this is true honor. It is never respectable to protect one's own son just for the sake of the person being one's own son. It is better to be loyal to military principle and follow military code. When Stalin's son was captured and was used as a trump card in order for Stalin to give up one of his highest generals, Stalin said this statement, obliterating the chances of allowing the enemy to feel any reassurance. And truly, this statement is magnificent and sheer brilliance. Zarbon 16:54, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography - Page 476 by Edvard Radzinsky - Biography & Autobiography - 1997
  • 2 Kalki 02:14, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed. ~ Joseph Stalin

  • 4 because knowledge is power. Zarbon 03:25, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:14, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:10, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

The German army is a machine, and machines can be broken! ~ Konstantin Rokossovsky (born December 21)

  • 3 because the comparison of a machine and an army is very true, and moreso beautiful if anything. The fact that a machine can be broken is also a nice recreation of the imagery brought about here, the destruction of an army on par with the destruction of a machine. Zarbon 16:59, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: Current Biography - Page 562 by H.W. Wilson Company - Current biography - 1945
  • 2 Kalki 02:14, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:10, 20 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
Good fortune attend each merry man's friend
That doth but the best that he may,
Forgetting old wrongs with carols and songs
To drive the cold winter away.
~ "All Hail to The Days" (or "The Praise of Christmas") ~
Traditional 17th century English carol
2005
My own experience and development deepen every day my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy. ~ George Eliot (died 22 December 1880)
2006
It takes great labor to uncover the convincing simple speech of the heart. Poetic candor comes with hard labor, so even does impetuosity and impudence. ~ Kenneth Rexroth
2007
The holiness of the real
Is always there, accessible
In total immanence. The nodes
Of transcendence coagulate
In you, the experiencer,
And in the other, the lover.
~ Kenneth Rexroth ~
2008

[edit] Suggestions

When the newspapers have got nothing else to talk about, they cut loose on the young. The young are always news. If they are up to something, that's news. If they aren't, that's news too. ~ Kenneth Rexroth (born December 22, 1905)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:00, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 21:05, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 21:27, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps this is what really happens in life to most good men. They are not crucified. They simply pass through life and then die, and their passing influences just a few people to make them just a little happy. ~ Kenneth Rexroth

  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:00, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 21:05, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 21:27, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Marriage is the last sacrament available to modern man, and with the terrible destruction of interpersonal relations by capitalism and its war-making State, it is not very available, nor is it surely enduring. But then, vision does not come with guarantees. ~ Kenneth Rexroth

  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:00, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 21:05, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Your Dollar is your only Word,
The wrath of it your only fear.
You build it altars tall enough
To make you see, but you are blind;
You cannot leave it long enough
To look before you or behind.
~ Edwin Arlington Robinson

  • 2 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Are we no greater than the noise we make
Along one blind atomic pilgrimage
Whereon by crass chance billeted we go
Because our brains and bones and cartilage
Will have it so?
~ Edwin Arlington Robinson

  • 2 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

My only hope lies in my despair. ~ Jean Racine

  • 2 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

There are few joys to compare with the telling of a well-told tale. ~ Charles de Lint

  • 3 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

When all's said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it's not so much which road you take, as how you take it. ~ Charles de Lint

  • 3 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

If you're not ready to die, then how can you live? ~ Charles de Lint

  • 2 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

That's the thing with magic. You've got to know it's still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you. ~ Charles de Lint

  • 3 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

It may sound trite, but using the weapons of the enemy, no matter how good one's intentions, makes one the enemy. ~ Charles de Lint

  • 4 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC) might give this a 3 eventually
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Without mysteries, life would be very dull indeed. What would be left to strive for if everything were known? ~ Charles de Lint

  • 3 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

By enlarging your knowledge of things, you will find your knowledge of self is enlarged. ~ Charles de Lint

  • 3 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Life's like art. You have to work hard to keep it simple and still have meaning. ~ Charles de Lint

  • 2 Zarbon 05:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

While you live ... you have a duty to life. ... The fey wonders of the world only exist while there are those with the sight to see them. ... Otherwise they fade away. ~ Charles de Lint

  • 4 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 14:59, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

It's not the work or the personality of the founder of a religion that's important, but what its followers do with what they learn... ~ Charles de Lint

  • 3 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 14:59, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds ~ George Eliot ~

  • 3 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 14:59, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another. ~ George Eliot ~

  • 3 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 14:59, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

The song shall spread and swell as rivers do,
And I will teach our youth with skill to woo
This living lyre, to know its secret will;
Its fine division of the good and ill.
So shall men call me sire of harmony,
And where great Song is, there my life shall be.
~ George Eliot ~

  • 3 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 14:59, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

I'm proof against that word failure. I've seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure of cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best. ~ George Eliot ~

  • 3 Kalki 17:13, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 14:59, 22 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
~ Joseph Brackett ~
2005
Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way . . . out of that a new holiday was born . . . a Festivus for the rest of us! ~ Jerry Stiller as "Frank Costanza" in Seinfeld (Festivus holiday)
2006
The final frontier is perhaps the most difficult, but it's also the most important — and that's the frontier of the human spirit. For too long, people have allowed differences on the surface — differences of color, ethnicity, and gender — to tear apart the common bonds they share. And the human spirit suffers as a result.
Imagine a world in which we saw beyond the lines that divide us, and celebrated our differences, instead of hiding from them. Imagine a world in which we finally recognized that, fundamentally, we are all the same. And imagine if we allowed that new understanding to build relations between people and between nations. ~ Wesley Clark
2007
I think we should be very clear on this... this country was founded on the principles of the Enlightenment... It was the idea that people could talk, reason, have dialogue, discuss the issues. It wasn't founded on the idea that someone would get struck by a divine inspiration and know everything right from wrong. I mean, people who founded this country had religion, they had strong beliefs, but they believed in reason, in dialogue, in civil discourse. We can’t lose that in this country. We've got to get it back. ~ Wesley Clark (born 23 December 1944)
2008

[edit] Suggestions

It's a Festivus miracle! ~ Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld, celebrating this "holiday" on this date.

  • 2 ~ UDScott 21:51, 30 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:15, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Working together, we can build a world in which the rule of law — not the rule of force — governs relations between states. A world in which leaders respect the rights of their people, and nations seek peace, not destruction or domination. And neither we nor anyone else should live in fear ever again. ~ Wesley Clark

  • 4 Kalki 18:26, 21 December 2008 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 15:56, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 12:56, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:15, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change. ~ Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

  • 3 Zarbon 05:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:26, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

No laws, however stringent, can make the idle industrious, the thriftless provident, or the drunken sober. ~ Samuel Smiles

  • 4 Zarbon 05:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:26, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

"Heaven helps those who help themselves" is a well tired maxim, embodying in a small compass the results of a vast human experience. The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigour and strength. ~ Samuel Smiles

  • 3 Zarbon 05:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:26, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Nothing could be a more serious violation of public trust than to consciously make a war based on false claims. ~ Wesley Clark

  • 2 Zarbon 05:52, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:26, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery. ~ Samuel Smiles

  • 3 Kalki 18:26, 21 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:01, 22 December 2008 (UTC)


2003
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. ~ Yeshua (Jesus Christ)
2004
I danced in the morning
When the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon
And the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven
And I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem
I had my birth.
Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he.
~ Sydney Carter ~
2005
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
~ "A Visit from St. Nicholas"
2006
A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings, while incense is ever flowing from the balsam bells and leaves. No wonder the hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself. ~ John Muir
2007
Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. ~ Francis Pharcellus Church in "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"
2008

[edit] Suggestions

Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another. ~ John Muir (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:32, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 4 Kalki 15:23, 23 December 2008 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 23:50, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 and would prefer to keep quotes related to him on his date of birth. Zarbon 20:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success. ~ Norman Vincent Peale (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 09:32, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:50, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Calm soul of all things! make it mine
To feel, amid the city’s jar,
That there abides a peace of thine,
Man did not make, and cannot mar.
~ Matthew Arnold (born December 24, 1822)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:32, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:50, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 20:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

But often, in the world’s most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;
A thirst to spend our fire and restless force
In tracking out our true, original course;
A longing to inquire
Into the mystery of this heart which beats
So wild, so deep in us, to know
Whence our lives come and where they go.
~ Matthew Arnold

  • 4 InvisibleSun 09:32, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:50, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The strongest part of our religion today is its unconscious poetry. ~ Matthew Arnold

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:32, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:50, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

It is important, therefore, to hold fast to this: that poetry is at bottom a criticism of life; that the greatness of a poet lies in his powerful and beautiful application of ideas to life — to the question: How to live. ~ Matthew Arnold

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:32, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 ~ Kalki 23:50, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

To see a red stone is less than seeing it as jasper —
metamorphic quartz, cousin to the flint the Kiowa
carved as arrowheads. To name is to know and remember.
~ Dana Gioia (born December 24, 1950)

The purpose of arts education is not to produce more artists, though that is a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive lives in a free society. ~ Dana Gioia

  • 3 InvisibleSun 13:09, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:29, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:25, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

So listen to them, heed them: Who never touch the earth, can never be in heaven. ~ Adam Mickiewicz

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:23, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

If one has not given everything, one has given nothing. ~ Georges Guynemer

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:23, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

So you're tired of living
Feel like you might give in
Well don't.
It's not your time ~ Tomas Kalnoky

  • 4 Zarbon 06:11, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:23, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

So tell me: how long do you think you can go before you lose it all?
Before they call you bluff and watch you fall?
I don't know, but I'd like to think I had control
At some point, but I let it go and lost my soul ~ Tomas Kalnoky

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:23, 23 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. ~ Yeshua (Jesus Christ)
2005
My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that? ~ Bob Hope
2006
Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. ~ Calvin Coolidge
2007
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
~ Isaac Watts ~
2008

[edit] Suggestions

Christmas is an awfulness that compares favorably with the great London plague and fire of 1665-66. No one escapes the feelings of mortal dejection, inadequacy, frustration, loneliness, guilt and pity. No one escapes feeling used by society, by religion, by friends and relatives, by the utterly artifical responsiblities of extending false greetings, sending banal cards, reciprocating unsolicated gifts, going to dull parties, putting up with acquaintances and family one avoids all the rest of the year... in short, of being brutalized by a 'holiday' that has lost virtually all of its original meanings and has become a merchandising ploy for color tv set manufacturers and ravagers of the woodlands. ~ Harlan Ellison

  • 4 - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 0 Kalki 14:51, 22 December 2007 (UTC) I might give this a 1 or even a 2 some other date of the Christmas season, but I feel it ranks as a zero for Christmas day itself. 1 ~ Kalki 22:35, 23 December 2005 (UTC) (Ellison is an interesting writer and personality, but on this I am inclined to quote an old cartoon: "Bah, Humbug to you too, you old fart!")
  • 1 Zarbon 20:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart. ~ Helen Keller

  • 3 Kalki 14:51, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 4 because Helen Keller knew exactly what to say to get past her condition of blindness. I like this quote a lot. Zarbon 20:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear.
War is over, if you want it
War is over now.
~ John Lennon and Yoko Ono ~

  • 3 Kalki 14:51, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Except the Christ be born again tonight
In dreams of all men, saints and sons of shame,
The world will never see his kingdom bright.
~ Vachel Lindsay ~

  • 3 Kalki 14:51, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes, or bags!
And he puzzled and puzzled, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more." ~ Dr. Seuss

  • 3 Ningauble 15:13, 2 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 06:12, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Think 100 times before you take a decision, But once that decision is taken, stand by it as one man. ~ Muhammad Ali Jinnah

  • 3 Zarbon 03:55, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

A man of knowledge lives by acting, not by thinking about acting. ~ Carlos Castaneda

  • 2 Zarbon 03:55, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. ~ Erma Bombeck (in relation to Christmas)

  • 2 Zarbon 03:55, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep holidays than commandments. ~ Benjamin Franklin (in relation to Christmas)

  • 3 Zarbon 03:55, 9 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
There isn't anyone anywhere that isn't Seymour's Fat Lady. Don't you know that? Don't you know that goddam secret yet? And don't you know — listen to me, now — don't you know who that Fat Lady really is? . . . Ah, buddy. Ah, buddy. It's Christ Himself. Christ Himself, buddy. ~ J. D. Salinger
2005
It is not the facts which guide the conduct of men, but their opinions about facts; which may be entirely wrong. We can only make them right by discussion. ~ Norman Angell (born 26 December 1872)
2006
Let us face squarely the paradox that the world which goes to war is a world, usually, genuinely desiring peace. War is the outcome, not mainly of evil intentions, but on the whole, of good intentions which miscarry or are frustrated. It is made, not usually by evil men knowing themselves to be wrong, but is the outcome of policies pursued by good men usually passionately convinced that they are right. ~ Norman Angell (date of birth)
2007
The responsibility of the great states is to serve and not to dominate the world. ~ Harry S. Truman (died 26 December 1972)
2008
Hear from the grave, great Taliessin, hear;
They breathe a soul to animate thy clay.
Bright Rapture calls, and soaring, as she sings,
Waves in the eye of Heav'n her many-colour'd wings.
~ Thomas Gray ~
2009

[edit] Suggestions

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. ~ Harry S. Truman (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 - Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
    • This was already used, as the second Wikiquote quote of the day, on 12 July 2003 ~ Kalki 23:53, 25 December 2005 (UTC) -->

Every nation sincerely desires peace; and all nations pursue courses which if persisted in, must make peace impossible. ~ Norman Angell (date of birth)

  • 2 Kalki 23:32, 25 December 2008 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 23:53, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 16:14, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:33, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile,
The short and simple annals of the poor.
~ Thomas Gray (born December 26, 1716)

  • 4 InvisibleSun 16:14, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:32, 25 December 2008 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 18:01, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:33, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. ~ Mao Zedong (born December 26)

  • 4 and this was brought up on many other dates but it's nice to keep it on his birthday. The other dates were December 16 and September 9. I gave it a 4 in the other occasions as well. Zarbon 06:47, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
    • I would also like to mention that MosheZadka gave this one a 3 on the date of September 9. UDScott, InivisibleSun, and Kalki all gave it a 2 on the date of December 16. Zarbon 16:35, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 14:09, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. ~ Mao Zedong (born December 26)

  • 3 because this is highly true, both are intertwined and a part of each other. Zarbon 06:47, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Logic of Violence in Civil War - Page 38 by Stathis N. Kalyvas - History - 2006
  • 2 Kalki 14:09, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Without an army for the people, there is nothing for the people. ~ Mao Zedong (born December 26)

  • 3 because the army is what maintains and sustains. It is the epitome of power. Zarbon 05:25, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 14:09, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

War has no longer the justification that it makes for the survival of the fittest; it involves the survival of the less fit. The idea that the struggle between nations is a part of the evolutionary law of man's advance involves a profound misreading of the biological analogy.
The warlike nations do not inherit the earth; they represent the decaying human element....
~ Norman Angell ~

  • 3 Kalki 14:09, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:47, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

The fight for ideals can no longer take the form of fight between nations, because the lines of division on moral questions are within the nations themselves and intersect the political frontiers. ~ Norman Angell

  • 3 Kalki 14:09, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:47, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

The force which makes for war does not derive its strength from the interested motives of evil men; it derives its strength from the disinterested motives of good men ~ Norman Angell

  • 3 Kalki 14:09, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 15:47, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

The obstacles to peace are in the minds and hearts of men. 
In the study of matter we can be honest, impartial, true. That is why we succeed in dealing with it. But about the things we care for — which are ourselves, our desires and lusts, our patriotisms and hates — we find a harder test of thinking straight and truly. Yet there is the greater need. Only by intellectual rectitude and in that field shall we be saved. There is no refuge but in truth, in human intelligence, in the unconquerable mind of man. ~ Norman Angell

  • 3 Kalki 14:09, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 15:47, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Behind the steps that Misery treads
Approaching Comfort view:
The hues of bliss more brightly glow
Chastised by sabler tints of woe,
And blended form, with artful strife,
The strength and harmony of life.
~ Thomas Gray ~

  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:17, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

To each his suff'rings: all are men,
Condemn'd alike to groan,
The tender for another's pain;
Th' unfeeling for his own.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies.
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.
~ Thomas Gray ~

  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 23:17, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Sweet is the breath of vernal shower,
The bee's collected treasures sweet,
Sweet music's melting fall, but sweeter yet
The still small voice of gratitude.
~ Thomas Gray ~

  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:17, 25 December 2008 (UTC)



2003
The time is always right to do what is right ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
2004
Shall we make a new rule of life from tonight — always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary? ~ J. M. Barrie (100th Anniversary of first performance of Peter Pan)
2005
Except for the people who were there that one day they discovered the polio vaccine, being part of history is rarely a good idea. History is one war after another with a bunch of murders and natural disasters in between. ~ Sarah Vowell (born 27 December 1969)
2006
I am on the edge of mysteries and the veil is getting thinner and thinner. ~ Louis Pasteur (born 27 December 1822)
2007
I am utterly convinced that Science and Peace will triumph over Ignorance and War, that nations will eventually unite not to destroy but to edify, and that the future will belong to those who have done the most for the sake of suffering humanity. ~ Louis Pasteur
2008
There never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic art. There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, tease each other, are blind to each other. Sometimes you feel you have the truth of a moment in your hand, then it slips through your fingers and is lost. ~ Harold Pinter (recent death)
2009

Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

[edit] Suggestions

Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. ~ Louis Pasteur

  • 3 Kalki 01:44, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:10, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:43, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

One does not ask of one who suffers: What is your country and what is your religion? One merely says: You suffer, that is enough for me... ~ Louis Pasteur

  • 3 Kalki 01:44, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:10, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:43, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Let me tell you the secret that has lead me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity. ~ Louis Pasteur

  • 3 Kalki 01:44, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:10, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:43, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Owing to this struggle for life, any variation, however slight and from whatever cause proceeding, if it be in any degree profitable to an individual of any species, in its infinitely complex relationship to other organic beings and to external nature, will tend to the preservation of that individual, and will generally be inherited by its offspring. ~ Charles Darwin (Embarked on his "Voyage of the Beagle" on this date in 1831)

  • 3 Kalki 02:37, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:10, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 because there are too many better Darwin quotes. Zarbon 20:43, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Whether or not Big Brother is watching us, we certainly have to watch him, which may be even worse. ~ Wilfrid Sheed (born December 27, 1930)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:10, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:06, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:43, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The desire not to destroy the palace but to move into it oneself has always been the occupational curse of revolutionaries. ~ Wilfrid Sheed

  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:10, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:06, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is true. In history, many have abolished and created revolutions only to do the same their predecessors have done or even worse. Well said Sheed. Zarbon 20:43, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

It is a fallacy to think that carping is the strongest form of criticism: the important work begins after the artist's mistakes have been pointed out, and the reviewer can't put it off indefinitely with sneers, although some neophytes might be tempted to try: "When in doubt, stick out your tongue" is a safe rule that never cost one any readers. But there's nothing strong about it, and it has nothing to do with the real business of criticism, which is to do justice to the best work of one's time, so that nothing gets lost. ~ Wilfrid Sheed

  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:10, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:06, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:43, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

There is a thin line between genius and insanity.
I have erased this line. ~ Oscar Levant

  • 4 Zarbon 04:17, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 14:15, 25 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 03:05, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

I have no trouble with my enemies. But my god damn friends... they are the ones that keep me walking the floors at night. ~ Oscar Levant

  • 3 Zarbon 04:17, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 14:15, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

There are two sides to every question: my side and the wrong side. ~ Oscar Levant

  • 3 Zarbon 04:17, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 14:15, 25 December 2008 (UTC)


2004
Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is. ~ Richard Feynman
  • selected by Kalki, — This statement has been discovered to very probably be a misattribution, and seems to have been created as part of a paraphrase of Feynman's note to the mother of Marcus Chown: "Tell your son to stop trying to fill your head with science — for to fill your heart with love is enough." ~ Kalki 01:29, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
2005
No nation is fit to sit in judgement upon any other nation. ~ Woodrow Wilson, (born 28 December 1856)
2006
The length of one's days matters less than the love of one's family and friends. ~ Gerald Ford (recent death)
2007
The forces of moderation and democracy must, and will, prevail against extremism and dictatorship. I will not be intimidated. ... Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead the fight against it. ~ Benazir Bhutto (recent death)
2008
Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from the birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear. ~ Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (Date of death)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to The Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ~ Pledge of Allegience, officially recognized by the U.S. Congress on this date in 1945

  • 3 ~ UDScott 15:03, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 0 (not everyone is American) - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 4 Significant historical event worth commemoration. Ezratrumpet 06:38, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 15:39, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 07:13, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 0 because I completely agree with Mister Six. Zarbon 20:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

There is such thing as a man being too proud to fight. ~ Woodrow Wilson (born December 28, 1856)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:13, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:31, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 20:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Only a peace between equals can last. ~ Woodrow Wilson

  • 4 InvisibleSun 07:13, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:31, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Our neighbors use searchlights, for they want more light. I tell you... we need more darkness. ~ Ivan Konev (born December 28)

  • 4 because this has deep meaning...sometimes it is better to have a century of peace (darkness) and serenity rather than one that sparks (light) problems. Very beautiful dynamic here. Zarbon 06:43, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Last Battle - Page 354 by Cornelius Ryan - History - 1995
  • 2 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

...the best teacher is one who learns in the process of teaching. ~ Mortimer Adler

  • 3 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

The great books of ancient and medieval as well as modern times are a repository of knowledge and wisdom, a tradition of culture which must initiate each generation. ~ Mortimer Adler

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Any kid who has two parents who are interested in him and has a houseful of books isn't poor. ~ Sam Levenson

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. ~ Sam Levenson

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

When I was a boy I used to do what my father wanted. Now I have to do what my boy wants. My problem is: When am I going to do what I want? ~ Sam Levenson

  • 2 for comic value. Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

A film is just like a muffin. You make it. You put it on the table. One person might say, "Oh, I don't like it". One might say it's the best muffin ever made. One might say it's an awful muffin. It's hard for me to say. It's for me to make the muffin. ~ Denzel Washington

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Face front, true believer! ~ Stan Lee

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them. ~ John von Neumann

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

You wake me up early in the morning to tell me that I'm right? Please wait until I'm wrong. ~ John von Neumann

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

In the transmuted world new significances arise which are scarcely to be traced in the world of symbols; so that it becomes a world of beauty and purpose — and, alas, suffering and evil. ~ Arthur Stanley Eddington

  • 3 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC) — but would extend this to end with "The frank realisation that physical science is concerned with a world of shadows is one of the most significant of recent advances."
  • 3 for extended quote. - InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

It is not too much to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star.

OR

At terrestrial temperatures matter has complex properties which are likely to prove most difficult to unravel; but it is reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star. ~ Arthur Stanley Eddington

  • 3 for both short and long versions. Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC) slightly prefer the short version.
  • 3 for shorter version. - InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about 'and'. ~ Arthur Stanley Eddington

  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:22, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

It is difficult for the matter-of-fact physicist to accept the view that the substratum of everything is of mental character. But no one can deny that mind is the first and most direct thing in our experience, and all else is remote inference — inference either intuitive or deliberate. ~ Arthur Stanley Eddington

  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:22, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

The universe is of the nature of a thought or sensation in a universal Mind... To put the conclusion crudely — the stuff of the world is mind-stuff. ~ Arthur Stanley Eddington

  • 4 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:22, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
  • The emperor needs all the headmasters he can get. If a quarter of his people were headmasters he would be perfectly happy. But more than two poets would tear his kingdom apart. ~ Alasdair Gray
  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation. ~ Alasdair Gray

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 18 March 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.



2004
I will make company with creators, with harvesters, with rejoicers; I will show them the rainbow and the stairway to the Superman. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche in Thus Spoke Zarathustra
2005 & 2006 (mistakenly used twice)
If I am shot at, I want no man to be in the way of the bullet. ~ Andrew Johnson (born 29 December 1808)
2007
For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
2008
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border? There is a brotherhood among all men. This must be recognized if life is to remain. We must learn the love of man. ~ Pablo Casals
2009

[edit] Suggestions

If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 15:09, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 - --inhuman14 11:03, 29 January 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 15:51, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:17, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 20:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, the springtime was in need of you. Often a star
waited for you to espy it and sense its light.
A wave rolled toward you out of the distant past,
or as you walked below an open window,
a violin gave itself to your hearing.
All this was trust. But could you manage it?
Were you not always distraught by expectation,
as if all this were announcing the arrival
of a beloved?
~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

  • 3 Kalki 15:51, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:17, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home. ~ William Ewart Gladstone (born December 29, 1809)

  • 4 InvisibleSun 23:17, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 20:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

There should be a sympathy with freedom, a desire to give it scope, founded not upon visionary ideas, but upon the long experience of many generations within the shores of this happy isle, that in freedom you lay the firmest foundations both of loyalty and order; the firmest foundations for the development of individual character; and the best provision for the happiness of the nation at large. ~ William Ewart Gladstone

  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:17, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 20:54, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I care not what happens when I am dead and gone. ~ Madame de Pompadour

  • 2 Zarbon 06:29, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:23, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you. ~ Mary Tyler Moore

  • 3 Zarbon 06:29, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:23, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Though life seems painful, at the same time it is wonderful. ~ Ritsuko Okazaki

  • 3 Zarbon 06:29, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:23, 27 December 2008 (UTC)


2003
They were nothing like the French people I had imagined. If anything, they were too kind, too generous and too knowledgable in the fields of plumbing and electricity. ~ David Sedaris
2004
I sometimes hold it half a sin
To put in words the grief I feel;
For words, like Nature, half reveal
And half conceal the Soul within.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~
2005 & 2006 (mistakenly used twice)
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too...

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And — which is more — you'll be a Man, my son!
~ Rudyard Kipling ~ (born 30 December 1865)

2007
The greatest book is not the one whose message engraves itself on the brain, as a telegraphic message engraves itself on the ticker-tape, but the one whose vital impact opens up other viewpoints, and from writer to reader spreads the fire that is fed by the various essences, until it becomes a vast conflagration leaping from forest to forest. ~ Romain Rolland (died 30 December 1944)
2008
It is the artist's business to create sunshine when the sun fails. ~ Romain Rolland
2009

[edit] Suggestions

For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack. ~ Rudyard Kipling, born that day

  • 2 ~ UDScott 15:16, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 3, including the expansion as shown below. - InvisibleSun 22:12, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 because united they stand and divided they fall. The wolf is a grandiose example, and happens to be one of my most favorite animals, if not my most favorite. Furthermore, the wolf pack ideology is a powerful one. Zarbon 20:57, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:38, 27 December 2008 (UTC) but I would also probably eventually rank it 3 or maybe even a 4 with the use of these complete stanzas:
Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.

As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the Law runneth forward and back;
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

It goes without saying that when survival is threatened, struggles erupt between peoples, and unfortunate wars between nations result. ~ Hideki Tojo

  • 3 Zarbon 16:25, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:38, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:18, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Justice has nothing to do with victor nations and vanquished nations, but must be a moral standard that all the world's peoples can agree to. To seek this and to achieve it - that is true civilization. ~ Hideki Tojo

  • 4 Zarbon 16:25, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:38, 27 December 2008 (UTC) though I might someday rank this a 3.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:18, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

If you think it's simple, then you have misunderstood the problem. ~ Bjarne Stroustrup

  • 2 Zarbon 16:25, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:38, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:18, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so. ~ Romain Rolland

  • 3 Kalki 00:38, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 I don't agree with this. Zarbon 02:02, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:18, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

One makes mistakes; that is life. But it is never a mistake to have loved. ~ Romain Rolland

  • 3 Kalki 00:38, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 and leaning toward a 3 but preferring the quote by Tojo. Zarbon 02:02, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:18, 29 December 2008 (UTC)


2003
I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
2004
Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,
Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep
And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged
Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame:
And down the wave and in the flame was borne
A naked babe...
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson in Idylls of the King ~
2005
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
~ "Auld Lang Syne" by Robert Burns ~
2006
When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward to your next objective. ~ George Marshall
2007
For my part I have never avoided the influence of others. I would have considered it cowardice and a lack of sincerity toward myself. ~ Henri Matisse (born December 31, 1869)
2008
It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy... Let's go exploring! ~ Bill Watterson - Final strip of Calvin and Hobbes, published December 31, 1995
2009

[edit] Suggestions

There is no freedom without justice. ~ Simon Wiesenthal

  • There was a quotation by him in September, 2005 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 08:55, 4 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 11:11, 30 December 2006 (UTC) Good quote, but no clear relation to the date.
  • 1 InvisibleSun 14:34, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 0 Zarbon 21:00, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Lyle 18:35, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
~ Robert Burns ~ (Traditional New Year's Eve song)

  • 1 Kalki 11:11, 30 December 2006 (UTC) 4 ~ Kalki 23:33, 29 December 2005 (UTC) Downgraded from 4 to 1 as a variant of this has already been used — last year... and which indicates to me I better start updating the date pages more regularly — one of my resolutions for the coming year... ~ Kalki 01:11, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 14:34, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 21:00, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have the light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me. ~ Henri Matisse (born December 31, 1869)

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 30 December 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 15:18, 30 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 21:00, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 18:35, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

You study, you learn, but you guard the original naiveté. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover. ~ Henri Matisse (born December 31, 1869)

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 15:18, 30 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 21:00, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Lyle 18:35, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

At each stage I reach a balance, a conclusion. At the next sitting, if I find that there is a weakness in the whole, I make my way back into the picture by means of the weakness — I re-enter through the breach — and I reconceive the whole. Thus everything becomes fluid again. ~ Henri Matisse (born December 31, 1869)

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 30 December 2006 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 15:18, 30 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 21:00, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 18:35, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

War is very uncertain in its results, and often when affairs look most desperate they suddenly assume a more hopeful state. ~ George Meade

  • 3 Zarbon 05:59, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Lyle 18:35, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:30, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:25, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Never fear your enemies, fear your actions. ~ George Meade

  • 2 Zarbon 05:59, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 18:35, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:30, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it. ~ George Marshall

  • 4 Zarbon 05:59, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 18:35, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:30, 11 December 2008 (UTC) though leaning toward a 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:25, 30 December 2008 (UTC)

Military power wins battles, but spiritual power wins wars. ~ George Marshall

  • 3 Zarbon 05:59, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 I'm having a hard time thinking of historic examples where this quote would apply. More like spiritual power starts wars. Lyle 17:15, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
I must disagree strongly: It is not any form of true spiritual power or will that starts wars, but an extreme lack of it, and of any confidence in it or in the ideals of Liberty and Justice, and rather a reliance and confidence in material and military power and strategies, which often have been fostered in ways that create extreme indifference and even hostility to these ideals. Often, but not always, amidst the long trials of war, spiritual strength comes to the fore, despite many defeats, setbacks, and retreats, amidst many battles against those who might be well armed and skilled in the use of military or political weaponry and tactics. ~ Kalki 17:29, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:30, 11 December 2008 (UTC), but eventually might give this a 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:25, 30 December 2008 (UTC)


Ranking system:

4 : Excellent - should definitely be used. (Perhaps, at most, only one quote per day should be ranked thus by any user, as to avoid confusions.)
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.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/December"
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