Wikiquote:Quote of the day/March

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Today is Thursday, May 15, 2008; it is now 15:20 (UTC)

February << March 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 >> April

This page lists quote of the day proposals specifically for dates in the month of March, 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: March 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.
2004
Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think. ~ John Stuart Mill
2005
Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining. ~ Jef Raskin (recent death)
2006
I dreamt the past was never past redeeming:
But whether this was false or honest dreaming
I beg death's pardon now. And mourn the dead.
~ Richard Wilbur (born 1 March 1921)
2007
We should not be simply fighting evil in the name of good, but struggling against the certainties of people who claim always to know where good and evil are to be found. ~ Tzvetan Todorov ( born 1 March 1922)
  • proposed by Fys
2008
Try to remember this: what you project
Is what you will perceive; what you perceive
With any passion, be it love or terror,
May take on whims and powers of its own.
~ Richard Wilbur ~
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Military cemeteries in every corner of the world are silent testimony to the failure of national leaders to sanctify human life. ~ Yitzhak Rabin, born 1 March 1922

  • 3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 10:12, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I am standing on the threshold of another trembling world. May God have mercy on my soul. ~ Diary entry by Bobby Sands, 1 March 1981.

  • 4. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 10:12, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

People who believe themselves to be the incarnation of good have a distorted view of the world. ~ Tzvetan Todorov, born 1 March 1939.

  • 3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 10:12, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full. ~ Lucius Cornelius Sulla (sacking of Athens occurred on this date)

  • 2 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because revenge is sweet and loyalty is that much sweeter. Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Those who are free from common prejudices acquire others. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte (returned to France from Elba on this date)

  • 3 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A great people may be killed, but they cannot be intimidated. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

  • 3 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A form of government that is not the result of a long sequence of shared experiences, efforts, and endeavors can never take root. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

  • 3 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

  • 3 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is somewhat true. Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Your hands hold roses always in a way that says
They are not only yours; the beautiful changes
In such kind ways,
Wishing ever to sunder
Things and things' selves for a second finding, to lose
For a moment all that it touches back to wonder.
~ Richard Wilbur ~

  • 3 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A thrush, because I'd been wrong,
Burst rightly into song
In a world not vague, not lonely,
Not governed by me only.
~ Richard Wilbur ~

  • 3 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The relation between the artist and reality is an oblique one, and indeed there is no good art which is not consciously oblique. If you respect the reality of the world, you know that you can approach that reality only by indirect means. ~ Richard Wilbur

  • 3 Kalki 20:44, 28 February 2007 (UTC) (but leaning towards a 4)
  • 1 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)


2004
We may afirm absolutely that nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion. ~ Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel
2005
From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere. ~ Dr. Seuss (born 2 March 1904)
2006
Our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: "Our country — when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right." ~ Carl Schurz (born 2 March 1829)
2007
Of course, there is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country that allowed the police to search your home at any time for any reason; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to open your mail, eavesdrop on your phone conversations, or intercept your email communications; if we lived in a country that allowed the government to hold people in jail indefinitely based on what they write or think, or based on mere suspicion that they are up to no good, then the government would no doubt discover and arrest more terrorists. But that probably would not be a country in which we would want to live. And that would not be a country for which we could, in good conscience, ask our young people to fight and die. In short, that would not be America. ~ Russ Feingold (born 2 March 1953)
2008
I'm telling you this 'cause you're one of my friends.
My alphabet starts where your alphabet ends!
... So, on beyond Z!
It's high time you were shown
That you really don't know
All there is to be known.
~ Dr. Seuss ~
2009

[edit] Suggestions

I do not like green eggs and ham.
I do not like them Sam I Am.
~ Dr. Seuss ~

Don’t give up! I believe in you all
A person’s a person, no matter how small!
And you very small persons will not have to die
If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!
~ Dr. Seuss ~

  • 3 Kalki 13:30, 1 March 2007 (UTC) (Might rank this a 4 on the date the movie adaptation opens this year)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:55, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 03:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)


2004
It is only by preserving faith in human dreams that we may, after all, perhaps some day make them come true. ~ James Branch Cabell
2005
Leave the beaten track behind occasionally and dive into the woods. Every time you do you will be certain to find something you have never seen before. ~ Alexander Graham Bell (born 3 March 1847)
2006
In mathematics the art of asking questions is more valuable than solving problems. ~ Georg Cantor (born 3 March 1845)
2007
You cannot force ideas. Successful ideas are the result of slow growth. Ideas do not reach perfection in a day, no matter how much study is put upon them. ~ Alexander Graham Bell
2008
Consent in virtue knit your hearts so fast,
That still the knot, in spite of death, does last;
For as your tears, and sorrow-wounded soul,
Prove well that on your part this bond is whole,
So all we know of what they do above,
Is that they happy are, and that they love.
Let dark oblivion, and the hollow grave,
Content themselves our frailer thoughts to have;
Well-chosen love is never taught to die,
But with our nobler part invades the sky.
~ Edmund Waller ~ (born 3 March 1606)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

The following quote is a pick me up, for those that are wealthy, compared with where they started... ie... Rags to riches folk, who are feeling down, for whatever reason. "Never lose sight of how far you've come... then... You'll never cease to appreciate what you have."

Glen James Thomas

  • —This unsigned comment is by User:Glent (talk • contribs) .
  • This doesn't seem to be a quote of anyone already highly noted in some field. ~ Kalki 01:07, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

A set is a Many that allows itself to be thought of as a One.. ~ Georg Cantor

  • 3 Kalki 23:29, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Mathematics, in the development of its ideas, has only to take account of the immanent reality of its concepts and has absolutely no obligation to examine their transient reality. ~ Georg Cantor

  • 3 Kalki 23:29, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The fear of infinity is a form of myopia that destroys the possibility of seeing the actual infinite, even though it in its highest form has created and sustains us, and in its secondary transfinite forms occurs all around us and even inhabits our minds.. ~ Georg Cantor

  • 3 Kalki 23:29, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus. ~ Alexander Graham Bell

  • 3 Kalki 23:29, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with — a man is what he makes of himself. ~ Alexander Graham Bell

  • 3 Kalki 23:29, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. ~ Alexander Graham Bell

  • 3 Kalki 23:29, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse,
And every conqueror creates a Muse.
~ Edmund Waller ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:10, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Poets lose half the praise they should have got,
Could it be known what they discreetly blot.
~ Edmund Waller ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:10, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd,
Lets in new light through chinks that time has made;
Stronger by weakness, wiser men become,
As they draw near to their eternal home.
Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view,
That stand upon the threshold of the new.
~ Edmund Waller ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:10, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)


2004
The day may dawn when fair play, love for one's fellow men, respect for justice and freedom, will enable tormented generations to march forth triumphant from the hideous epoch in which we have to dwell. Meanwhile, never flinch, never weary, never despair. ~ Winston Churchill
2005
One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching it. ~ Knute Rockne (born 4 March 1888)
2006
There was a young fellow from Trinity,
Who took the square root of infinity.
But the number of digits, Gave him the fidgets;
He dropped Math and took up Divinity.
~ George Gamow ~ (born 4 March 1904)
2007
In all living nature (and perhaps also in that which we consider as dead) love is the motive force which drives the creative activity in the most diverse directions. ~ P. D. Ouspensky (born 4 March 1878)
2008
Philosophy is based on speculation, on logic, on thought, on the synthesis of what we know and on the analysis of what we do not know. Philosophy must include within its confines the whole content of science, religion and art. ~ P. D. Ouspensky
2009

[edit] Suggestions

The greatest barrier to consciousness is the belief that one is already conscious. ~ P. D. Ouspensky

  • 3 Kalki 00:29, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:02, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I've found that the chief difficulty for most people was to realize that they had really heard new things: that is things that they had never heard before. They kept translating what they heard into their habitual language. They had ceased to hope and believe there might be anything new. ~ P. D. Ouspensky

  • 3 Kalki 00:29, 4 March 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:02, 23 April 2008 (UTC)


2004
When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth. ~ Dawn of the Dead (1978) by George Romero
2005
The most dangerous phrase in the language is, "We've always done it this way." ~ Grace Hopper
2006
Freedom only for the members of the government, only for the members of the Party — though they are quite numerous — is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters. ~ Rosa Luxemburg (born 5 March 1870 or 1871)
2007
I've always wanted to make the world a more rational place. I'm still working on it. ~ Penn Jillette (born 5 March 1955)
2008
Technology adds nothing to art. Two thousand years ago, I could tell you a story, and at any point during the story I could stop, and ask, Now do you want the hero to be kidnapped, or not? But that would, of course, have ruined the story. Part of the experience of being entertained is sitting back and plugging into someone else's vision. ~ Penn Jillette
2009

[edit] Suggestions

HOPE

Sees the invisible
Feels the intangible
Achieves the impossible
  • initially proposed on the posting page as "A saying qouted often from memory by my sister (source is unknown)" by Tara 11:40, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:24, 4 March 2006 (UTC) (good statement, but I greatly prefer using traceable quotes to anonymous ones for QOTD)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:04, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

War unleashes — at the same time as the reactionary forces of the capitalist world — the generating forces of social revolution which ferment in its depths. ~ Rosa Luxemburg

I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or another two words that the FCC likes less. ~ Penn Jillette

All the world's most powerful governments pay millions of dollars for seas and deserts, 100's of acres of land bought for ownership, and improvement done for later benefit. Because it's land that is forever stable, money is just paper. ~ Vazgen Sargsyan (born March 5)

  • 3 because land has remained stagnant although many things are not. Zarbon 04:15, 18 April 2008 (UTC)


2004
The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven. ~ John Milton
2005
Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God: but only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries, and daub their natural faces unaware... ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning (born 6 March 1806)
2006
Give thought to life and liberty. ~ Cyrano de Bergerac (born 6 March 1619)
2007
For all eternity has God not occupied His intellect with the cabbage's birth as well as yours? It also seems that He has necessarily provided more for the birth of the vegetable than for the thinking being... Will anyone say that we are born in the image of the Sovereign Being, while cabbages are not? ~ Cyrano de Bergerac
2008
You imagine that what you can't understand is either spiritual or does not exist. The conclusion is quite wrong; rather there are obviously a million things in the universe that we would need a million quite different organs to understand ... someone blind from birth cannot imagine the beauty of a landscape, the colors of a painting or the shadings of an iris. He will imagine them as something palpable, edible, audible or olfactory. Likewise, if I were to explain to you what I perceive by the senses you do not have, you would interpret it as something that could be heard, seen, touched, smelled or tasted; but it is not like that. ~ Cyrano de Bergerac
2009

[edit] Suggestions

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

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

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

If you say that there are elephants flying in the sky, people are not going to believe you. But if you say that there are four hundred and twenty-five elephants in the sky, people will probably believe you. ~ Gabriel García Márquez (born March 6, 1927)

A famous writer who wants to continue writing has to be constantly defending himself against fame. I don't really like to say this because it never sounds sincere, but I would really have liked for my books to have been published after my death, so I wouldn't have to go through all this business of fame and being a great writer. In my case, the only advantage to fame is that I have been able to give it a political use. Otherwise, it is quite uncomfortable. The problem is that you're famous for twenty-four hours a day, and you can't say, "Okay, I won't be famous until tomorrow," or press a button and say, "I won't be famous here or now." ~ Gabriel García Márquez

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

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

Most men judge only by their senses and let themselves be persuaded by what they see... On top of that, insufferable vanity has convinced humans that nature has been made only for them, as though the sun, a huge body four hundred and thirty-four times as large as the earth, had been lit only to ripen our crab apples and cabbages. ~ Cyrano de Bergerac

A man contains all that is needed to make up a tree; likewise, a tree contains all that is needed to make up a man. Thus, finally, all things meet in all things, but we need a Prometheus to distill it. ~ Cyrano de Bergerac

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

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

Even if a king defeats his enemy in battle, that still doesn't settle anything. There are other, less numerous armies of philosophers and scientists, and their contests determine the true triumph or defeat of nations. ~ Cyrano de Bergerac

  • 3 Kalki 00:47, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:09, 23 April 2008 (UTC)


2004
May Heaven exist, even if my place is Hell. ~ Jorge Luis Borges
2005
Man is constituted as a speculative being; he contemplates the world, and the objects around him, not with a passive indifferent eye, but as a system disposed with order and design. ~ John Herschel (born 7 March 1792)
2006
Burn all the statutes and their shelves:
They stir us up against our kind;
And worse, against ourselves.
We have a passion — make a law,
Too false to guide us or control!
And for the law itself we fight
In bitterness of soul.
And, puzzled, blinded thus, we lose
Distinctions that are plain and few:
These find I graven on my heart:
That tells me what to do.
~ William Wordsworth in "Rob Roy's Grave" ~ (Rob Roy born 7 March 1671)
2007
Everything that depends on the action of nature is by nature as good as it can be, and similarly everything that depends on art or any rational cause, and especially if it depends on the best of all causes. To entrust to chance what is greatest and most noble would be a very defective arrangement. ~ Aristotle (date of death)
2008
Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game. ~ Gary Gygax (recent death)

[edit] Suggestions

Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue. ~ John Herschel

  • 2 because one who does not respect himself/herself, will not respect others. Zarbon 16:22, 1 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's. ~ J. D. Salinger
2005
We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (born 8 March 1841)
2006
The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (born 8 March 1841)
2007
Animals arrived, liked the look of the place, took up their quarters, settled down, spread, and flourished. They didn't bother themselves about the past — they never do; they're too busy. ~ Kenneth Grahame (born March 8, 1859)
2008

[edit] Suggestions

The whole thing's nonsense, and conventionality, and popular thick-headedness. There's absolutely nothing to fight about, from beginning to end. And anyhow I'm not going to, so that settles it! ~ The Dragon in "The Reluctant Dragon" by Kenneth Grahame

  • 3 Kalki 23:55, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:11, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

As a rule, indeed, grown-up people are fairly correct on matters of fact; it is in the higher gift of imagination that they are so sadly to seek. ~ Kenneth Grahame

  • 3 Kalki 23:55, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:11, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Nature uses as little as possible of anything. ~ Johannes Kepler (first discovered his third law of planetary motion on this day)

  • 3 Kalki 23:55, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:11, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens. The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh enrichment. ~ Johannes Kepler

  • 3 Kalki 23:55, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:11, 23 April 2008 (UTC)


2004
People often say to me, "I understand what you are talking about intellectually, but I don't really feel it, I don't realize it," and I am apt to reply, "I wonder whether you do understand it intellectually, because if you did you would also feel it." ~ Alan Watts
2005
When I orbited the Earth in a spaceship, I saw for the first time how beautiful our planet is. Mankind, let us preserve and increase this beauty, and not destroy it! ~ Yuri Gagarin (born 9 March 1934)
2006
Some choices will choose you. How you face these choices, these turns in the road, with what kind of attitude, more than the choices themselves, is what will define the context of your life. ~ Dana Reeve (recent death)
2007
Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book. ~ Mickey Spillane (born 9 March 1918)
2008
If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes. ~ Mickey Spillane
2009

[edit] Suggestions

You can figure things out as quickly as I can, but you haven't got the ways and means of doing the dirty work. That's where I come in. You'll be right behind me every inch of the way, but when the pinch comes I'll get shoved aside and you slap the cuffs on. That is, if you can shove me aside. I don't think you can. ~ Mickey Spillane

  • 3 Kalki 00:35, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

You have to be quick, and you have to be able, or you become one of the devoured, and if you can kill first, no matter how and no matter who, you can live and return to the comfortable chair and the comfortable fire. But you have to be quick. And able. Or you'll be dead. ~ Mickey Spillane

  • 3 Kalki 00:35, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Movies are open doors, and at every door, I change character and life... I live for the present always. I accept this risk. I don't deny the past, but it's a page to turn. ~ Juliette Binoche (born 9 March 1964)

  • 3 Kalki 00:35, 9 March 2008 (UTC) I might rank this a 4 if a definite published source can be found for it.
  • 1 Zarbon 04:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I looked and looked but I didn't see God. ~ Yuri Gagarin

  • 2 because sometimes God need not be found by eyes, even when floating in outer space, through the eyes of an astronaut. Zarbon 15:29, 3 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. ~ Carl Jung
2005
A loser doesn't know what he'll do if he loses, but talks about what he'll do if he wins, and a winner doesn't talk about what he'll do if he wins, but knows what he'll do if he loses. ~ Eric Berne
2006
All that separates, whether of race, class, creed, or sex, is inhuman, and must be overcome. ~ Kate Sheppard (born 10 March 1847)
2007
I'm not aware of too many things.
I know what I know if you know what I mean.
~ Edie Brickell ~
2008
We are tired of having a "sphere" doled out to us, and of being told that anything outside that sphere is "unwomanly". We want to be natural just for a change … we must be ourselves at all risks. ~ Kate Sheppard
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Sail through the sea of sad faces with love.
Love. Love for everyone.
Drift like a little boat on a wave.
~ Edie Brickell ~

Choke me in the shallow water before I get too deep. ~ Edie Brickell

  • 2 Zarbon 16:26, 1 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed. That can make life a garden. ~ Goethe
2005
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. ~ Douglas Adams (born 11 March 1950)
2006
Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all. ~ Douglas Adams (born 11 March 1950)
2007
Science has a simple faith, which transcends utility. Nearly all men of science, all men of learning for that matter, and men of simple ways too, have it in some form and in some degree. It is the faith that it is the privilege of man to learn to understand, and that this is his mission. If we abandon that mission under stress we shall abandon it forever, for stress will not cease. Knowledge for the sake of understanding, not merely to prevail, that is the essence of our being. None can define its limits, or set its ultimate boundaries. ~ Vannevar Bush
2008
The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it. ~ Vannevar Bush
2009

[edit] Suggestions

I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day. ~ Douglas Adams

  • 3 because to be astonished at something one had yet to learn is fine, but to ignore is a crime to oneself. Zarbon 16:36, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others. ~ Douglas Adams

  • 3 because some ideology holds moral meaning, argument, and sophisticated support while other perspectives hold close to no logic. Zarbon 16:36, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

We are not an endangered species ourselves yet, but this is not for lack of trying. ~ Douglas Adams

  • 3 because mankind will always try to obliterate itself. Zarbon 16:36, 1 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it. ~ André Gide
2005
I want to work in revelations, not just spin silly tales for money. I want to fish as deep down as possible into my own subconscious in the belief that once that far down, everyone will understand because they are the same that far down. ~ Jack Kerouac (born 12 March 1922)
2006
Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite." ~ Edward Albee (born 12 March 1928)
2007
They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!" ~ Jack Kerouac (born 12 March 1922)
2008
All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together. ~ Jack Kerouac
2009

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

  • Every now and then a clear harmonic cry gave new suggestions of a tune that would someday be the only tune in the world and would raise men's souls to joy. ~ Jack Kerouac in On The Road

[edit] Suggestions

What difference does it make after all? — anonymity in the world of men is better than fame in heaven, for what's heaven? what's earth? All in the mind. ~ Jack Kerouac

  • 3 InvisibleSun 10:39, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:43, 11 March 2008 (UTC) but trimmed to begin at "Anonymity in the world of men..." though I might rank it a 3 if trimmed to simply state "What's heaven? what's earth? All in the mind."
  • 2 In its entirety Zarbon 04:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was — I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds. I wasn't scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost. I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future. ~ Jack Kerouac

  • 3 InvisibleSun 10:39, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:43, 11 March 2008 (UTC) but only if trimmed a bit to start at "I looked at the cracked high ceiling..."
  • 1 Zarbon 04:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Our final excited joy in talking and living to the blank tranced end of all innumerable riotous angelic particulars that had been lurking in our souls all our lives. ~ Jack Kerouac

  • 3 InvisibleSun 10:39, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:43, 11 March 2008 (UTC) (but I would prefer to include a little more context of this statement by extending it to begin with "The car was swaying as Dean and I both swayed to the rythm and the IT of our final excited joy..."
  • 1 Zarbon 04:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Who knows, but that the universe is not one vast sea of compassion actually, the veritable holy honey, beneath all this show of personality and cruelty? ~ Jack Kerouac

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I am skeptical about preventing wars. I doubt if they can be prevented. There will always be wars. Judging by past experiences, working for peace now would be as ineffective as ever. It's a law of nature. ~ Wilhelm Frick (born March 12)

  • 3 Zarbon 04:26, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Nuremberg Interviews by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004 - Page 45

Hitler was undoubtedly a genius but he lacked self-control. He recognized no limits. Otherwise the thousand-year Reich would have lasted more than twelve years. ~ Wilhelm Frick (born March 12)

  • 3 Zarbon 04:26, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Nuremberg Interviews by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004 - Page 44

I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humour. ~ Edward Albee

  • 2 because one can understand the laughable but does not have to laugh about it. Zarbon 15:36, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

A play is fiction — and fiction is fact distilled into truth. ~ Edward Albee

  • 2 because all fiction is derived from some form of fact. Zarbon 15:36, 3 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
The greatest friend of Truth is time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion Humility. ~ Charles Caleb Colton
2005
What I have known with respect to myself, has tended much to lessen both my admiration, and my contempt, of others. ~ Joseph Priestley (born 13 March 1733)
2006
Don't play for safety. It's the most dangerous thing in the world. ~ Hugh Walpole (born 13 March 1884)
2007
Man becomes aware of the sacred because it manifests itself, shows itself, as something wholly different from the profane... something sacred shows itself to us ... something of a wholly different order, a reality that does not belong to our world, in objects that are an integral part of our natural "profane" world. ~ Mircea Eliade
2008
Don’t give up! I believe in you all
A person’s a person, no matter how small!
And you very small persons will not have to die
If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!
~ Dr. Seuss ~ (from Horton Hears a Who!, the movie adaptation of which is opening tomorrow)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

The joy of life discovered by the Greeks is not a profane type of enjoyment: it reveals the bliss of existing, of sharing — even fugitively — in the spontaneity of life and the majesty of the world. Like so many others before and after them, the Greeks learned that the surest way to escape from time is to exploit the wealth, at first sight impossible to suspect, of the lived instant. ~ Mircea Eliade

  • 3 Kalki 00:17, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:18, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

For those to whom a stone reveals itself as sacred, its immediate reality is transmuted into supernatural reality. In other words, for those who have a religious experience all nature is capable of revealing itself as cosmic sacrality. ~ Mircea Eliade

  • 3 Kalki 00:17, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:18, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Tisn't life that matters! 'Tis the courage you bring to it. ~ Hugh Walpole

  • 3 because it's what you do that matters...actions speak louder than words, and in this case, actions are remembered, unfettered by the mortal body. Zarbon 00:54, 3 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace. ~ Helen Keller
2005
Measured objectively, what a man can wrest from Truth by passionate striving is utterly infinitesimal. But the striving frees us from the bonds of the self and makes us comrades of those who are the best and the greatest. ~ Albert Einstein (born 14 March 1879)
2006
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. ~ Albert Einstein (born 14 March 1879)
2007
Let us not forget that human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth. What humanity owes to personalities like Buddha, Moses, and Jesus ranks for me higher than all the achievements of the enquiring and constructive mind.
What these blessed men have given us we must guard and try to keep alive with all our strength if humanity is not to lose its dignity, the security of its existence, and its joy in living. ~ Albert Einstein
2008
Today we must abandon competition and secure cooperation. This must be the central fact in all our considerations of international affairs; otherwise we face certain disaster. Past thinking and methods did not prevent world wars. Future thinking must prevent wars... The stakes are immense, the task colossal, the time is short. But we may hope — we must hope — that man’s own creation, man’s own genius, will not destroy him. ~ Albert Einstein
2009

[edit] Suggestions

One may say the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility. ~ Albert Einstein (born March 14, 1879)

  • 4 InvisibleSun 06:46, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:16, 13 March 2007 (UTC) I've never actually thought this was one of Einstien's best stated quips, and in Out of My Later Years (1956) this reads : One may say "the eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility" as if he is quoting or paraphrasing the statement of someone else — perhaps Immanuel Kant. I also tend to prefer the variant translations which previous to today were not sourced at all: "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible." or "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible." — this might be the oldest version or translation as quoted in Scripta Mathematica (1932) by Yeshiva University; it also appears in "Physics and Reality" (1936) as quoted in Einstein: A Biography (1954) by Antonina Vallentin, p. 24. — Lately I love using "Google Books" which now permits far easier sourcing of many quotes than was previously available.
  • Note: Of the quote and its variations, I would opt for the one from 1932. - InvisibleSun 20:30, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:20, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavour in art and science. ~ Albert Einstein

  • 3 InvisibleSun 06:46, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:16, 13 March 2007 (UTC) (similar to one translation already used, on 25 July 2003, but there are many variant translations of this statement and I would not want to totally exclude any of them.)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:20, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Without creative, independently thinking and judging personalities the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personality without the nourishing soil of the community.

The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion. ~ Albert Einstein

  • 3 InvisibleSun 06:46, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:16, 13 March 2007 (UTC) (but would prefer to extend it to begin with : "Only the individual can think, and thereby create new values for society...")
  • 1 Zarbon 04:20, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. ~ Albert Einstein


2004
I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against. ~ Malcolm X
2005
Beware the ides of March. ~ William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar (The Ides of March)
  • proposed by IP 84.56.18.77
2006
Fortune, which has a great deal of power in other matters but especially in war, can bring about great changes in a situation through very slight forces." ~ Julius Caesar (died 15 March 44 BC)
2007
There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. ~ Andrew Jackson
2008
As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and property, liberty of conscience, and of the press, it will be worth defending. ~ Andrew Jackson
2009

[edit] Suggestions

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth can not be produced by human institutions. In the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society — the farmers, mechanics, and laborers — who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government. ~ Andrew Jackson (born March 15, 1767)

Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in. ~ Andrew Jackson


2004
Do not say, "I follow the one true path of the Spirit", but rather, "I have found the Spirit walking on my path", for the Spirit walks on all paths. ~ Khalil Gibran
2005
If in my lifetime the problem of non-free software is solved, I could perhaps relax and write software again. But I might instead try to help deal with the world's larger problems. Standing up to an evil system is exhilarating, and now I have a taste for it. ~ Richard Stallman (born 16 March 1953)
2006
Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor. He talks as the man of his age talks, that is, with rude wit, a lively sense of the grotesque, a disgust for sham, and a contempt for pettiness. ~ Raymond Chandler
  • proposed by IP 220.233.188.149
2007
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. ~ James Madison (born 16 March 1751)
2008
Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents. ~ James Madison
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Of all the enemies to public liberty war, is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. ~ James Madison (born 16 March 1751)

I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. ~ James Madison (born 16 March 1751)

Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne (from The Scarlet Letter first published on this date in 1850)


2004
Try to have a good day today, wherever you are, whatever you do, whoever is near, if no one is near. Try to be happy, because you may not see tomorrow. There is someone this morning, who didn't wake up, who will never see this day. Try to feel lucky that this is not you. ~ Margaret Cho
  • proposed by IP 172.169.22.135
2005
I am imperfect in many things, nevertheless I want my brethren and kinsfolk to know my nature so that they may be able to perceive my soul's desire. ~ Saint Patrick (died 17 March 1493; St. Patrick's Day)
2006
Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. There is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof. ~ "V" in V for Vendetta (opened 17 March 2006)
2007
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, don't you blow your top.
~ Nat King Cole ~ (born 17 March 1919)
2008
Let anyone laugh and taunt if he so wishes. I am not keeping silent, nor am I hiding the signs and wonders that were shown to me by the Lord many years before they happened, who knew everything, even before the beginning of time. ~ Saint Patrick
2009

[edit] Suggestions

2004
I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. ~ Booker T. Washington
2005
We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable. ~ John Updike (born 18 March 1932)
2006
The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or a party. ~ John C. Calhoun (born 18 March 1782)
2007
I mistake the American people if they favor the odious doctrine that there is no such thing as international morality; that there is one law for a strong nation and another for a weak one, and that even by indirection a strong power may with impunity despoil a weak one of its territory. ~ Grover Cleveland (born 18 March 1837)
2008
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. ~ Wilhelm Stekel
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Suspect each moment, for it is a thief, tiptoeing away with more than it brings. ~ John Updike

  • 3 because this is a very nice personification of "moments". The idea that a thief exists, taking more than giving, in the form of time...is but a chiefly grand understanding, for one grows older and physically gains nothing from it. Zarbon 01:09, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

From infancy on, we are all spies; the shame is not this but that the secrets to be discovered are so paltry and few. ~ John Updike

  • 2 because this is somewhat true. What Updike is trying to dictate here is the bitterness of life. Although the attribution of being a spy is admirable to some degree, the fact that life holds few surprises and secrets is what is being stressed. This image is well illustrated with this statement. Zarbon 01:09, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Candor is always a double-edged sword; it may heal or it may separate. ~ Wilhelm Stekel

  • 3 because this is very true. One person's freedom from malice equates to another's agony from it. Something good for someone may not be good for another. Zarbon 01:14, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

Truth is not always the best basis for happiness. There are certain lies which may constitute a far better and more secure foundation of happiness. There are people who perish when their eyes are opened. ~ Wilhelm Stekel

  • 3 because sometimes is is better to live a lie than to open eyes to see the truth. The truth may make things more difficult than they are, hence maintaining a camouflage of one's foundation of happiness will furthermore create happiness for that person. I love this quote. Zarbon 01:14, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

The surrender of life is nothing to sinking down into acknowledgment of inferiority. ~ John C. Calhoun

  • 3 because death is nowhere near as terrible as comparative to being lesser...being pathetic...or best described, unaccomplished. Zarbon 01:18, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

It is harder to preserve than to obtain liberty. ~ John C. Calhoun

  • 2 because obtaining is easier than maintaining, sustaining, and in the long run, preserving. Zarbon 01:18, 3 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
Education: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. ~ Ambrose Bierce in The Devil's Dictionary
2005
The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior. ~ Earl Warren (born 19 March 1891)
2006
Who save the madman dares to cry: "'Tis I am right, you all are wrong"?
"You all are right, you all are wrong," we hear the careless Soofi say,
"For each believes his glimm'ering lamp to be the gorgeous light of day."
~ Sir Richard Francis Burton ~ (born 19 March 1821)
2007
All Faith is false, all Faith is true: Truth is the shattered mirror strown
In myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own.
~ Sir Richard Francis Burton ~
2008
Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause;
He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws.
~ Sir Richard Francis Burton ~
2009

[edit] Suggestions

"He who wants to protect everything, protects nothing," is one of the fundamental rules of defense. ~ Adolf Galland (born March 19)

  • 3 because it is very true. Basically, he who tries to do everything all at once, fails miserably. Time and patience are virtues. And protection works well as a perfect example to this fundamental military practice. Zarbon 04:30, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The First and the Last: The Rise and Fall of the German Fighter Forces - Page 165 by Adolf Galland - World War, 1939-1945 - 1954

The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself. ~ Richard Francis Burton

  • 3 because man truly has shamelessly used religion as an excuse to further man's own purposes. Zarbon 05:51, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

Cease, Man, to mourn, to weep, to wail; enjoy thy shining hour of sun;
We dance along Death's icy brink, but is the dance less full of fun? ~ Richard Francis Burton

  • 3 because regardless of the fact that death awaits, the time in between isn't spent waiting for death. The fact that the end comes is never a detrimental factor to people's actual enjoyment while they are alive. Zarbon 05:51, 2 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
Where there is great love there are always miracles. ~ Willa Cather
2005
Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour. ~ Ovid (born 20 March 43 BC)
2006
The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom — these are the pillars of society. ~ Henrik Ibsen (born 20 March 1828)
2007
It is not only what we have inherited from our fathers and mothers that exists again in us, but all sorts of old dead ideas and all kinds of old dead beliefs and things of that kind. They are not actually alive in us; but there they are dormant, all the same, and we can never be rid of them. Whenever I take up a newspaper and read it, I fancy I see ghosts creeping between the lines. There must be ghosts all over the world. They must be as countless as the grains of the sands, it seems to me. And we are so miserably afraid of the light, all of us. ~ Henrik Ibsen (born 20 March 1828)
2008
If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run — and often in the short one — the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative. ~ Arthur C. Clarke (recent death)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

You see, the point is that the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone. ~ Henrik Ibsen

  • 3 because strength is heightened ten-fold by serenity, devoid of human obsessions and needs. Zarbon 05:33, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm. ~ Henrik Ibsen

  • 3 because unlike the dictatorship where one person steers the ship, the community steers the ship. This, in some cases, is both damaging and positive...a mixture of thought and deduction, never solid, and moreso governed by the changing of times, parallel to how hard the wind blows the ship in a comparative image. Zarbon 05:33, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

We can learn even from our enemies. ~ Ovid

  • 3 because learning from friends and allies alone will never be enough. In order to understand one's enemies, one must study them and learn from them. Very militaristic strategist persona taken here. Zarbon 05:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

Nothing is stronger than habit. ~ Ovid

  • 3 because those governed by habit will become accustomed to it and the harder it will become to separate oneself from it. Zarbon 05:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are. ~ Ovid

  • 3 because convenience is a very powerful ally. To decipher motives based on convenience and to conceive of opportunities solely based on belief when needed, is how people become successful...it takes more than being at the right place at the right time. Zarbon 05:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

Time, the devourer of all things. ~ Ovid

  • 3 because the description of time here is solid, a personification of the very word, characterizing time as a learner of man's history, and a devourer who has never subsided or been subdued. Zarbon 05:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
Always, Sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord, will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you. ~ Samuel Johnson
2005
Between individuals, as between nations, respect for the rights of others is peace. ~ Benito Juárez (born 21 March 1806)
2006
The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth. ~ Jean Cocteau
2007
Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring
The Winter Garment of Repentance fling
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To fly — and Lo! The Bird is on the Wing.
~ Omar Khayyám ~ (Quote relating to Spring, on the date of the Vernal equinox for most of the world this year.)
2008
If Spring came but once in a century, instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake, and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change! But now the silent succession suggests nothing but necessity. To most men only the cessation of the miracle would be miraculous and the perpetual exercise of God's power seems less wonderful than its withdrawal would be. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
2009

[edit] Suggestions

"Let the strivings of us all, prove Martin Luther King Jr. to have been correct, when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war. Let the efforts of us all, prove that he was not a mere dreamer when he spoke of the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace being more precious than diamonds or silver or gold." - Nelson Mandela, acceptance and Nobel lecture, 1993-12-10

  • proposed by Jeandré
  • 3 Kalki 21:51, 20 March 2007 (UTC) but without the hyperlinks within the quote: I generally have avoided these in QOTDs, and generally commend them for quotes on any page only for use of persons (as they are here with MLK) and on relatively obscure words or concepts, vs common ones (such as "war"). Despite the merits of the quote, I am inclined to seek to use it another day, and focus on "Spring" quotes for this date.
  • 3, to be used on a day associated with King or Mandela. - InvisibleSun 23:23, 20 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

In the scenery of spring,
nothing is better, nothing worse;
The flowering branches are
of themselves, some short, some long.
~ Ryōkan ~

  • 3 Kalki 21:51, 20 March 2007 (UTC) This too is short and simple, but for this year I am slightly inclined to favor the Omar Khayyam verse.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:23, 20 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)


2004
Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right. ~ Martin Luther King
2005
Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without words? ~ Marcel Marceau (born 22 March 1923)
2006
As I understand it, laws, commands, rules and edicts are for those who have not the light which makes plain the pathway. ~ Anne Hutchinson (banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 22 March 1638)
2007
Man’s destiny appears as a thread lost in an endless labyrinth... I have tried to shed some gleams of light on the shadow of man startled by his anguish. ~ Marcel Marceau
2008
Music and silence... combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music. ~ Marcel Marceau
2009

[edit] Suggestions

If you please to give me leave I shall give you the ground of what I know to be true. ~ Anne Hutchinson

  • 3 Kalki 12:33, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I have spent more than half a lifetime trying to express the tragic moment. ~ Marcel Marceau

  • 2 because tragedy isn't easily explained. The expression of "sad clown", hence crying inside, laughing outside, best signifies this persona, beautifully painted. Zarbon 05:24, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

To communicate through silence is a link between the thoughts of man. ~ Marcel Marceau

  • 2 because anyone can hold a conversation, but to understand through movement is grandiose. Personally, the way in which dolphins are able to communicate, similarly, and moreso amazingly through a telekinetic manner, if you will, has always been interesting to me. Zarbon 05:24, 2 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives. ~ Albert Einstein
2005
Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. ~ Erich Fromm (born 23 March 1900)
2006
Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! ~ Patrick Henry, in a speech to the House of Burgesses (23 March 1775)
2007
No work which is destined to become a classic can look like the classics which have preceded it. In art, as in biology, there is heredity but no identity with the ascendants. Painters inherit characteristics acquired by their forerunners; that is why no important work of art can belong to any period but its own, to the very moment of its creation. It is necessarily dated by its own appearance. The conscious will of the painter cannot intervene. ~ Juan Gris (born 23 March 1887)
2008
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
~ Yeshua (Jesus Christ) ~ (For Easter Sunday 2008)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence. ~ Erich Fromm

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape. ~ Erich Fromm

In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead; in the twentieth century the problem is that man is dead. ~ Erich Fromm

  • 2 because this is rather comical...regardless of the apparent situation. It holds true that people have digressed to disbelief not only from God, but many have found peace in doing nothing and serving absolutely no cause. Zarbon 05:17, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others. ~ Erich Fromm

  • 3 because in order for one to spread faith, one must believe in it. Zarbon 05:17, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable. ~ Erich Fromm

  • 3 because it is one thing to die...but to die wasted, unaccomplished and senseless is another. Zarbon 05:17, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

Selfish persons are incapable of loving others, but they are not capable of loving themselves either. ~ Erich Fromm

  • 3 because selfishness hounds the soul, creating bitterness within. By damaging others, a selfish person damages oneself. Zarbon 05:17, 2 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry. ~ Thomas Paine
2005
Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life. They should also govern it. ~ Wilhelm Reich (born 24 March 1897)
2006
With the arrogance of youth, I determined to do no less than to transform the world with Beauty. If I have succeeded in some small way, if only in one small corner of the world, amongst the men and women I love, then I shall count myself blessed, and blessed, and blessed, and the work goes on. ~ William Morris (born 24 March 1834)
2007
What is humility but truthfulness? There is no real difference. ~ Walter Hilton (died March 24, 1396; date of birth unknown)
2008
I do not want art for a few, any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few. ~ William Morris
2009

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

  • Man's right to know, to learn, to inquire, to make bona fide errors, to investigate human emotions must, by all means, be safe, if the word FREEDOM should ever be more than an empty political slogan. ~ Wilhelm Reich

[edit] Suggestions

I desire the love of God not because I am worthy, but because I am unworthy. ~ Walter Hilton

There are many who are hypocrites although they think they are not, and there are many who are afraid of being hypocrites although they certainly are not. Which is the one and which is the other God knows, and none but He. ~ Walter Hilton

We therefore need to know the gifts given us by God, so that we may use them, for by these we shall be saved. ~ Walter Hilton

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