Wikiquote:Quote of the day/May

From Wikiquote

Jump to: navigation, search
QOTD : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
Today is Friday, December 5, 2008; it is now 13:16 (UTC)


April << May 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 >> June

This page lists quote of the day proposals specifically for dates in the month of May, 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: May 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
The month of May was come, when every lusty heart beginneth to blossom, and to bring forth fruit; for like as herbs and trees bring forth fruit and flourish in May, in likewise every lusty heart that is in any manner a lover, springeth and flourisheth in lusty deeds. For it giveth unto all lovers courage, that lusty month of May. ~ Sir Thomas Malory
2005
"DON'T PANIC"
~ Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2006
I react pragmatically. Where the market works, I'm for that. Where the government is necessary, I'm for that. I'm deeply suspicious of somebody who says, "I'm in favor of privatization," or, "I'm deeply in favor of public ownership." I'm in favor of whatever works in the particular case. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith (recent death)
2007
A man must be excessively stupid, as well as uncharitable, who believes that there is no virtue but on his own side, and that there are not men as honest as himself who may differ from him in political principles. ~ Joseph Addison
2008
What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul. ~ Joseph Addison
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty. ~ Joseph Addison (born May 1, 1672)

The man who will live above his present circumstances is in great danger of living in a little time much beneath them; or as the Italian proverb runs, "The man who lives by hope, will die by hunger." ~ Joseph Addison

  • 3 InvisibleSun 03:59, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 13:12, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because hope alone is not enough to live, especially under difficult circumstances. Zarbon 04:50, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Nature does nothing without purpose or uselessly. ~ Joseph Addison

  • 3 Kalki 14:00, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:22, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 4 Aphaia 19:24, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because what happens, happens for reason. Zarbon 04:50, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men. ~ Joseph Addison

  • 3 Kalki 14:00, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:22, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 19:24, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:50, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart, his next to escape the censures of the world. ~ Joseph Addison

  • 3 Kalki 14:00, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:22, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 19:24, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:50, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

When an angel by divine command
With rising tempests shakes a guilty land,
Such as of late o'er pale Britannia past,
Calm and serene he drives the furious blast;
And, pleas'd th' Almighty's orders to perform,
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.
~ Joseph Addison ~

OR

When an angel by divine command with rising tempests shakes a guilty land... calm and serene he drives the furious blast; and, pleas'd th' Almighty's orders to perform, rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm. ~ Joseph Addison

  • 3 Kalki 14:00, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 in verse form. - InvisibleSun 18:22, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 in verse form. Aphaia 19:24, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 in either form Zarbon 04:50, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

On you, my lord, with anxious fear I wait,
And from your judgment must expect my fate.
~ Joseph Addison (born May 1, 1672)

  • 3 because as the main agenda of Greek philosophy has always been, one can not escape from one's own fate, especially when one does not know one's own fate to begin with. Beautiful. Zarbon 15:08, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:03, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerable. ~ Joseph Addison (born May 1, 1672)

  • 2 because sometimes it is truly hard to reply to a woman of sheer beauty. Zarbon 15:08, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:03, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Better to die ten thousand deaths,
Than wound my honour.
~ Joseph Addison (born May 1, 1672)

  • 4 because dying is nothing compared to destroying or tainting one's honor, and moreso reputation. Zarbon 15:08, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:03, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue!
Who would not be that youth? What pity is it
That we can die but once to serve our country!
~ Joseph Addison (born May 1, 1672)

  • 3 because true virtue and loyalty comes from service to one's country. Zarbon 15:08, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:03, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

In doing what we ought we deserve no praise,
Because it is our duty.
~ Joseph Addison (born May 1, 1672)

  • 3 because this is very true. It is a gift in itself to do one's duty, and rightly so. Zarbon 15:08, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:03, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

My death and life,
My bane and antidote, are both before me.
~ Joseph Addison (born May 1, 1672)

  • 3 because in some instances, everything flashes before one's eyes, life and death alike, before the end. The comparison of bane and suffering to that of life and the antidote expressed in the form of death is also magnificent. Zarbon 15:08, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:03, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

I shall endeavor to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality. ~ Joseph Addison (born May 1, 1672)

  • 3 because there is a healthy balance expressed here. I'd go along moreso with tempering the wit with morality though. Zarbon 15:08, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:03, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

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. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing until it embraces the totality of men and the earth. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

  • 3 Fossil 22:03, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

We only have to look around us to see how complexity and psychic temperature are still rising: and rising no longer on the scale of the individual but now on that of the planet. This indication is so familiar to us that we cannot but recognize the objective, experiential, reality of a transformation of the planet as a whole. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

  • 3 Fossil 22:03, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

  • 3 Fossil 22:03, 7 November 2008 (UTC)


2004
I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it. ~ Harry Emerson Fosdick
2005
You know more than you think you do. ~ Benjamin Spock (born 2 May 1903)
2006
We are near waking when we dream that we dream. ~ Novalis (born 2 May 1772)
2007
Love works magic.
It is the final purpose
Of the world story,
The Amen of the universe.
~ Novalis ~
2008
Philosophy can bake no bread; but she can procure for us God, Freedom, Immortality. ~ Novalis
2009

[edit] Suggestions

In automobile terms, the child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering. ~ Benjamin Spock (born 2 May 1903)

  • 3 because all children need some form of guidance. Tarzan and Mowgli have nice stories but they aren't the best characteristic transformations to be had. Zarbon 15:22, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:07, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Friends, the soil is poor, we must sow seeds in plenty for us to garner even modest harvests. ~ Novalis (born 2 May 1772)

  • 2 because it is best to be prepared so that when a disappointment comes along, it will not overwhelm one to an unparalleled extent. Zarbon 15:22, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:07, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:07, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

Out of a mob a society has developed, chaos has been transformed into a manifold world. ~ Novalis (born 2 May 1772)

  • 2 because a transformation can be made, even from the state of chaos. Zarbon 15:22, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 07:07, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:07, 2 May 2008 (UTC) but extended to start with "Before abstraction everything is one, but one like chaos; after abstraction everything is united again, but this union is a free binding of autonomous, self-determined beings."

Realists are, as a rule, only men in the rut of routine who are incapable of transcending a narrow circle of antiquated notions. ~ Theodor Herzl (born May 2, 1860)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:07, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 because being a realist is fine, but exceeding to an extent of not seeing anything else, to a degree of narrowness isn't warranted. Zarbon 04:37, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:07, 2 May 2008 (UTC) though I believe his comments refer to those who are normally called "realists" because they focus upon the physical processes or what are normally called practical affairs, but he also gives some hints of the "idealism" which must be included within the scope of a higher "realism."

It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen. ~ Jerome K. Jerome (born May 2, 1859)

True anarchy is the generative element of religion. Out of the annihilation of every positive element she lifts her gloriously radiant countenance as the founder of a new world... ~ Novalis

  • 3 Kalki 16:07, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 06:56, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Moral Action is that great and only Experiment, in which all riddles of the most manifold appearances explain themselves. Whoso understands it, and in rigid sequence of Thought can lay it open, is forever master of Nature. ~ Novalis

  • 3 Kalki 16:07, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 06:56, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Language is the dynamics of the spiritual realm. One word of command moves armies; the word Liberty entire nations. ~ Novalis

  • 3 Kalki 16:07, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 06:56, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

We are so bound together that no man can labor for himself alone. Each blow he strikes in his own behalf helps to mold the Universe. ~ Jerome K. Jerome (born 2 May 1859)

  • 3 Kalki 17:12, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 06:56, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
2004
In nature's infinite book of secrecy a little I can read. ~ William Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra
2005
It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli (born 3 May 1469)
2006
Education is what you get when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't. ~ Pete Seeger (born 3 May 1919)
2007
The easiest way to avoid wrong notes is to never open your mouth and sing. What a mistake that would be. ~ Pete Seeger
2008
The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Whenever men are not obliged to fight from necessity, they fight from ambition; which is so powerful in human breasts, that it never leaves them no matter to what rank they rise. The reason is that nature has so created men that they are able to desire everything but are not able to attain everything: so that the desire being always greater than the acquisition, there results discontent with the possession and little satisfaction to themselves from it. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli

No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli

Few men are brave by nature, but good discipline and experience make many so.
Good order and discipline in an army are more to be depended upon than ferocity. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli

  • 3 Kalki 16:02, 23 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 05:21, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 16:02, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is so true. I love this concept with all my heart. Zarbon 04:52, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

It’s no accident many accuse me of conducting public affairs with my heart instead of my head. Well, what if I do? . . . Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either. ~ Golda Meir (born 3 May 1898)

2004
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. ~ eden ahbez
2005
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. ~ Horace Mann (born 4 May 1796)
2006
Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abysses nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. I have only begun to learn content and peace of mind since I have resolved at all risks to do this. ~ T. H. Huxley (born 4 May 1825)
2007
The life, the fortune, and the happiness of every one of us, and, more or less, of those who are connected with us, do depend upon our knowing something of the rules of a game infinitely more difficult and complicated than chess. It is a game which has been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us being one of the two players in a game of his or her own. The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. ~ T. H. Huxley
2008
A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering cold iron. ~ Horace Mann (born May 4)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike. ~ Horace Mann (born May 4)

  • 3 because everyone can feel sympathy or pity towards something. But to try and relieve it is truly remarkable. Zarbon 15:30, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:25, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 13:51, 3 May 2008 (UTC)


2004
Everything in the universe relates to the number 5, one way or another, given enough ingenuity on the part of the interpreter. ~ Principia Discordia, "The Law of Fives"
2005
Democracy is the destiny of humanity; freedom its indestructible arm. ~ Benito Juárez (Cinco de Mayo, and 05-05-05)
2006
Once you label me you negate me. ~ Søren Kierkegaard (born 5 May 1813)
2007
I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both. ~ Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or
2008
If I have ventured wrongly, very well, life then helps me with its penalty. But if I haven't ventured at all, who helps me then? ~ Søren Kierkegaard (born 5 May 1813)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Out of love, God becomes man. He says: "See, here is what it is to be a human being. -- Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness unto Death

When one has once fully entered the realm of love, the world — no matter how imperfect — becomes rich and beautiful, it consists solely of opportunities for love. -- Søren Kierkegaard, The Works of Love

  • 3 Aphaia 09:12, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 11:27, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 4 Kalki 13:15, 4 May 2008 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 15:26, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. -- Søren Kierkegaard

  • 3 Aphaia 09:12, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
  • Comment: I'm in the middle of finding sources for the unsourced quotes on the Kierkegaard page. This unsourced quote is one of a number of variants, including "Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived," "Life is not mystery to be solved, but a reality to be experienced", and all the other permutations of the same. Although the quote is most frequently attributed to Kierkegaard, I haven't yet found a source for it and would hesitate to recommend it unless it was sourced. Other people are also attributed with the quote: one of them, J.J. van der Leeuw, is the only person so far to whom I can trace it, as seen here in a book dated 1928. - InvisibleSun 11:27, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
  • I HOPE it originated with Kierkegaard, because it is so widely attributed I used a variant of it already: "Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved" on 17 August 2004. ~ Kalki 15:26, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Do not interrupt the flight of your soul; do not distress what is best in you; do not enfeeble your spirit with half wishes and half thoughts. Ask yourself and keep on asking until you find the answer, for one may have known something many times, acknowledged it; one may have willed something many times, attempted it — and yet, only the deep inner motion, only the heart's indescribable emotion, only that will convince you that what you have acknowledged belongs to you, that no power can take it from you — for only the truth that builds up is truth for you. -- Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or

  • 2 Aphaia 09:12, 4 May 2007 (UTC) (afraid a bit long...)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 11:27, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 15:26, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Do not interrupt the flight of your soul; do not distress what is best in you; do not enfeeble your spirit with half wishes and half thoughts. Ask yourself and keep on asking until you find the answer, for one may have known something many times, acknowledged it. -- Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or

  • 3 Aphaia 09:12, 4 May 2007 (UTC) (shortened version of the above)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 11:27, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 15:26, 4 May 2007 (UTC) But with a strong preference for the longer version.
  • 1 Zarbon 04:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. --Karl Marx, "Theses on Feuerbach". (also born on May 5)

Sin is in itself separation from the good, but despair over sin is separation a second time. ~ Søren Kierkegaard

History is not like some individual person, which uses men to achieve its ends. History is nothing but the actions of men in pursuit of their ends. ~ Karl Marx (born May 5, 1818)

Think of the 40 years of confrontation. What is it we gained?...The old style has exposed itself: it is fruitless. ~ Sergei Akhromeyev (born May 5)

  • 3 Zarbon 06:37, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • Source: The New York Times, "Mr. Darman's Sermon" July 29, 1989
  • 1 This is an unsourced quote. It is also not clear what it refers to: the Cold War, presumably, but a reader shouldn't have to guess at this meaning out of context. - InvisibleSun 08:10, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. ~ Karl Marx (born May 5)

  • 3 because although to some degree, people do decide what steps they take, they can't decide and create the circumstances themselves...and the environmental horizons truly decipher the possibilities. Zarbon 04:02, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:10, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

It is the duty of the human understanding to understand that there are things which it cannot understand, and what those things are. Human understanding has vulgarly occupied itself with nothing but understanding, but if it would only take the trouble to understand itself at the same time it would simply have to posit the paradox. ~ Søren Kierkegaard

  • 3 Kalki 13:15, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 because the word "understand" is abused here. Zarbon 16:55, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

The presence of irony does not necessarily mean that the earnestness is excluded. Only assistant professors assume that. ~ Søren Kierkegaard

  • 3 Kalki 13:15, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:55, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

You cannot get the truth by capturing it, only by its capturing you. ~ Søren Kierkegaard

  • 3 Kalki 13:15, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 16:55, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Poor nations which loves more freedom than motherland. ~ Henryk Sienkiewicz

  • 3 Zarbon 06:01, 12 October 2008 (UTC)
2004
That best portion of a good man's life, — His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. ~ William Wordsworth
2005
If you shut your door to all errors truth will be shut out. ~ Rabindranath Tagore
2006
Thinking is an experimental dealing with small quantities of energy, just as a general moves miniature figures over a map before setting his troops in action. ~ Sigmund Freud (born 6 May 1856)
2007
Who knows what beautiful and winged life, whose egg has been buried for ages under many concentric layers of woodenness in the dead dry life of society ... may unexpectedly come forth ... to enjoy its perfect summer life at last! ... such is the character of that morrow which mere lapse of time can never make to dawn. ... Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. ~ Henry David Thoreau in Walden (died 6 May 1862)
2008
Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise. ~ Sigmund Freud
2009

[edit] Suggestions

The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing. Ultimately, after endlessly repeated rebuffs, it succeeds. This is one of the few points in which it may be optimistic about the future of mankind, but in itself it signifies not a little. ~ Sigmund Freud (born 6 May 1856), The Future of an Illusion (1928)

Simplify, simplify. ~ Henry David Thoreau (died 6 May 1862), Walden (1854)

The unconscious is the larger circle which includes within itself the smaller circle of the conscious; everything conscious has its preliminary step in the unconscious. ~ Sigmund Freud

Man found that he was faced with the acceptance of "spiritual" forces, that is to say such forces as cannot be comprehended by the senses, particularly not by sight, and yet having undoubted, even extremely strong, effects... The idea of the soul was thus born as the spiritual principle in the individual...Now the realm of spirits had opened for man, and he was ready to endow everything in nature with the soul he had discovered in himself. ~ Sigmund Freud

Analogies prove nothing, that is quite true, but they can make one feel more at home. ~ Sigmund Freud

One might compare the relation of the ego to the id with that between a rider and his horse. The horse provides the locomotor energy, and the rider has the perogative of determining the goal and of guiding the movements of his powerful mount towards it. But all too often in the relations between the ego and the id we find a picture of the less ideal situation in which the rider is obliged to guide his horse in the direction in which it itself wants to go. ~ Sigmund Freud

  • 3 Kalki 18:58, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:18, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because this deals somewhat with Freud's distinctions of the Id, Ego, and the missing Superego, nice one. Zarbon 05:00, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore. ~ Sigmund Freud

  • 3 because man finds a way, even if lips are sealed. Zarbon 04:14, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:13, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. ~ Sigmund Freud

  • 3 because religion does derive its strength from the people's own instinctual desires. Whether or not it is an illusion is the question, but Freud's perspective is well said in this quote. Zarbon 04:14, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 07:13, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

One of the most obvious facts about grown-ups to a child is that they have forgotten what it is like to be a child. ~ Randall Jarrell (born May 6, 1914)

I identify myself, as always,
With something that there's something wrong with,
With something human.
~ Randall Jarrell

Soon we shall know everything the eighteenth century didn't know, and nothing it did, and it will be hard to live with us. ~ Randall Jarrell

The people who live in a Golden Age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks. ~ Randall Jarrell

If we judge by wealth and power, our times are the best of times; if the times have made us willing to judge by wealth and power, they are the worst of times. ~ Randall Jarrell

A poem is, so to speak, a way of making you forget how you wrote it. ~ Randall Jarrell

You often feel about something in Shakespeare or Dostoevsky that nobody ever said such a thing, but it's just the sort of thing people would say if they could — is more real, in some sense, than what people do say. If you have given your imagination free rein, let things go as far as they want to go, the world they made for themselves while you watched can have, for you and later watchers, a spontaneous finality. ~ Randall Jarrell

Citizens, did you want a revolution without revolution? ~ Maximilien Robespierre (born May 6)

  • 2 because in order to have change, one must endure the many steps of revolution, so to speak. Zarbon 04:26, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 04:51, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Our revolution has made me feel the full force of the axiom that history is fiction and I am convinced that chance and intrigue have produced more heroes than genius and virtue. ~ Maximilien Robespierre (born May 6)

  • 4 because this is rather true. The heroes of time and history have been guided much by the time in which they fell or were born into...chance is truly a major factor. Zarbon 04:26, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:58, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:51, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Death is the beginning of immortality. ~ Maximilien Robespierre (born May 6)

  • 3 because through death, one achieves the one thing one cannot achieve through living; the essence of immortality. Zarbon 04:26, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 04:51, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant. ~ Maximilien Robespierre (born May 6)

  • 3 because education is the key factor of freedom, and ignorance is bound to tyranny. Zarbon 04:26, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:58, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:51, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
2004
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
2005
Where men are the most sure and arrogant, they are commonly the most mistaken, and have there given reins to passion, without that proper deliberation and suspense, which can alone secure them from the grossest absurdities. ~ David Hume (born 7 May 1711 (26 April O.S.)
2006
The meaning of the living words that come out of the experiences of great hearts can never be exhausted by any one system of logical interpretation. They have to be endlessly explained by the commentaries of individual lives, and they gain an added mystery in each new revelation. ~ Rabindranath Tagore (born 7 May 1861)
2007
Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers. When we enquire by what means this wonder is effected, we shall find, that, as Force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular. ~ David Hume
2008
If nature has been frugal in her gifts and endowments, there is the more need of art to supply her defects. If she has been generous and liberal, know that she still expects industry and application on our part, and revenges herself in proportion to our negligent ingratitude. The richest genius, like the most fertile soil, when uncultivated, shoots up into the rankest weeds; and instead of vines and olives for the pleasure and use of man, produces, to its slothful owner, the most abundant crop of poisons. ~ David Hume
2009

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

[edit] Suggestions

The more exquisite any good is, of which a small specimen is afforded us, the sharper is the evil, allied to it; and few exceptions are found to this uniform law of nature. The most sprightly wit borders on madness; the highest effusions of joy produce the deepest melancholy; the most ravishing pleasures are attended with the most cruel lassitude and disgust; the most flattering hopes make way for the severest disappointments. ~ David Hume (born April 26, 1711)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:43, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:10, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 19:15, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 but this can be trimmed down to the last sentence starting from "the most flattering hopes make way for the severest disappointments." Zarbon 05:05, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Hear the verbal protestations of all men: Nothing so certain as their religious tenets. Examine their lives: You will scarcely think that they repose the smallest confidence in them. ~ David Hume

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:43, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:10, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 19:15, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:05, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Honour is a great check upon mankind: But where a considerable body of men act together, this check is, in a great measure, removed; since a man is sure to be approved of by his own party, for what promotes the common interest; and he soon learns to despise the clamours of adversaries. ~ David Hume

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:43, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:10, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 19:15, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:05, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Bigotry tries to keep truth safe in its hand
With a grip that kills it. ~ Rabindranath Tagore (born May 7)

  • 4 because when trying to help something by enforcing one's own power, the end result may be moreso harmful than helpful. Zarbon 04:28, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:21, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:21, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Your idol is shattered in the dust to prove that God's dust is greater than your idol. ~ Rabindranath Tagore (born May 7)

  • 3 because people who believe that some people are immortal in their physical essence are proven wrong when the end of their life comes just as any other person. And truly, ashes to ashes, dust to dust becomes a descriptive outlook. Zarbon 04:28, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:21, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:21, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

In this playhouse of infinite forms I have had my play, and here have I caught sight of him that is formless. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

All the great utterances of man have to be judged not by the letter but by the spirit — the spirit which unfolds itself with the growth of life in history. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

2004
There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic. ~ Anaïs Nin
2005
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers. ~ Thomas Pynchon (born 8 May 1937)
2006
While in the physical sciences the investigator will be able to measure what, on the basis of a prima facie theory, he thinks important, in the social sciences often that is treated as important which happens to be accessible to measurement. This is sometimes carried to the point where it is demanded that our theories must be formulated in such terms that they refer only to measurable magnitudes. ~ Friedrich Hayek (born 8 May 1899)
2007
And, oh! what beautiful years were these
When our hearts clung each to each;
When life was filled and our senses thrilled
In the first faint dawn of speech.

Thus life by life and love by love
We passed through the cycles strange,
And breath by breath and death by death
We followed the chain of change.
~ Langdon Smith ~
(In honor of our reaching a myriad of articles at Wikiquote, a selection from the official "10,000th article".)

2008
Freedom granted only when it is known beforehand that its effects will be beneficial is not freedom. ~ Friedrich Hayek (born 8 May 1899)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Personally I prefer a liberal dictator to democratic government lacking liberalism. ~ Friedrich Hayek (born May 8)

  • 3 because, according to Hayek, an outward dictator is better than a clever camouflage, a government of dubious and questionable liberalism. Zarbon 04:50, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC) It is a clear expression of the importance of respect for liberty above respect for any particular form of rulership, whether of minorities or majorities.

Is there a greater tragedy imaginable than that, in our endeavour consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals, we should in fact unwittingly produce the very opposite of what we have been striving. ~ Friedrich Hayek (born May 8)

  • 3 because sometimes in accordance with "good" intentions, mankind can commit the worst of acts. Zarbon 04:50, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

As is true with respect to other great evils, the measures by which war might be made altogether impossible for the future may well be worse than even war itself. ~ Friedrich Hayek (born May 8)

  • 3 because war prevention can end up being even deadlier than war itself. Zarbon 04:50, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC) An expression against the dangers of absolute tyranny, whatever it's motives might be.

The more the state 'plans' the more difficult planning becomes for the individual. ~ Friedrich Hayek (born May 8)

  • 3 because the more the state controls one's fate, the less one is able to control one's own fate. Zarbon 04:50, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

The mind cannot foresee its own advance. ~ Friedrich Hayek (born May 8)

  • 3 because the mind does not know what developments are to be had in its mainframe, the brain capacity, so to speak. Zarbon 04:50, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC) (but I would probably prefer to extend this somewhat, with some associated observations)

Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship. ~ Harry S. Truman (born May 8, 1884)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 because you can have a both separately as well. Zarbon 05:32, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know. ~ Harry S. Truman

  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 because that's not the only new thing. Sorry, don't agree with this. Zarbon 05:32, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

In a sense, one can never read the book that the author originally wrote, and one can never read the same book twice. ~ Edmund Wilson (born May 8, 1895)

  • 4 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 because I'm sure many people do examine the same reading material more than once. If the context of the quote is meant to go beyond...to something deeper, it's rather too hidden insofar as understanding it goes. I'm wondering why you rated this one so high Invisible...I'm curious as to what makes the quote special to you...of course the author of any work would understand their work better than those who read it...it seems very logical and not very quoteworthy to me. If you still think the quote is rather good, I might be compelled to give it a 2 in the long run...but a 4? Why do you like it... Zarbon 05:32, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC) I too consider it a good quote. It indicates the truth that one's experiences and ideas can never be fully indicated in any writing or expressions, no matter how extensive or precise they may be in many ways, and that one's own interpretation and understanding of anything which is read or otherwise observed or thought upon must always be different to some degree, at different times, based upon one's always changing body of awareness and experience.
    • I understood what the quote was saying...I just don't think it has a meaning deep enough...it's moreso too straightforward and logical. I feel that we should strive for deeper quotes rather than the logical ones that are way too simplistic and leave no room for moral thought. Zarbon 23:37, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

At a time when it's possible for thirty people to stand on the top of Everest in one day, Antarctica still remains a remote, lonely and desolate continent. A place where it's possible to see the splendours and immensities of the natural world at its most dramatic and, what's more, witness them almost exactly as they were, long, long before human beings ever arrived on the surface of this planet. Long may it remain so. ~ David Attenborough (born May 8, 1926)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 because this seems like a personal rant rather than a quote... Zarbon 05:32, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

The only consolation he drew from the present chaos was that his theory managed to explain it. ~ Thomas Pynchon (born May 8, 1937)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 because this leaves one rather clueless... Zarbon 05:32, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC) (but I would prefer to precede it with "He had decided long ago that no Situation had any objective reality: it only existed in the minds of those who happened to be in on it at any specific moment. ... "
    • Well, now that Kalki added the bit, it makes a little more sense as to what the quote is saying... Zarbon 23:37, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

There was no difference between the behavior of a god and the operations of pure chance. ~ Thomas Pynchon

  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 because sometimes the two are intertwined. Zarbon 05:32, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice; it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions. ... Liberty and responsibility are inseparable. ~ Friedrich Hayek

Conservatism, though a necessary element in any stable society, is not a social program; in its paternalistic, nationalistic and power adoring tendencies it is often closer to socialism than true liberalism; and with its traditionalistic, anti-intellectual, and often mystical propensities it will never, except in short periods of disillusionment, appeal to the young and all those others who believe that some changes are desirable if this world is to become a better place. ~ Friedrich Hayek

If man is not to do more harm than good in his efforts to improve the social order, he will have to learn that in this, as in all other fields where essential complexity of an organized kind prevails, he cannot acquire the full knowledge which would make mastery of the events possible. He will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve, not to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiwork, but rather to cultivate a growth by providing the appropriate environment, in the manner in which the gardener does this for his plants. ~ Friedrich Hayek

The recognition of the insuperable limits to his knowledge ought indeed to teach the student of society a lesson of humility which should guard him against becoming an accomplice in men's fatal striving to control society — a striving which makes him not only a tyrant over his fellows, but which may well make him the destroyer of a civilization which no brain has designed but which has grown from the free efforts of millions of individuals. ~ Friedrich Hayek

Why should things be easy to understand? ~ Thomas Pynchon

I want to break out — to leave this cycle of infection and death. I want to be taken in love: so taken that you and I, and death, and life, will be gathered inseparable, into the radiance of what we would become... ~ Thomas Pynchon

  • 4 Kalki 17:21, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:23, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 because this is again very simplistic and has no hidden message other than the implication of holding strong to love. These love quotes are all bound to love and nothing more that exceeds into a moral arena. Plus, I don't agree with what Pynchon says either, if it's any consolation, although I don't judge based on whether I agree with the quote or not, just based on how moral and powerful it sounds, plus how deep the message is. Zarbon 23:37, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

The knife cuts through the apple like a knife cutting an apple. Everything is where it is, no clearer than usual, but certainly more present. So much has to be left behind now, so quickly. ~ Thomas Pynchon

2004
All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her. ~ George Washington (Mother's Day 2004)
2005
Life is a long lesson in humility. ~ J. M. Barrie (born 9 May 1860)
2006
The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. The time to build is upon us. ~ Nelson Mandela (inaugurated as President of the Republic of South Africa, 9 May 1994)
2007
Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don't dare express themselves as we did. ~ Sophie Scholl of the White Rose
2008
Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. ~ J. M. Barrie (born 9 May 1860)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Power is what spoils people. Yes, it seems to me that the seeking after power is the great danger and the great corruptor of mankind. ~ Baldur von Schirach (born May 9)

  • 4 because power can corrupt anyone. Zarbon 04:49, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Nuremberg Interviews by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004 - Page 245
  • 2 InvisibleSun 06:21, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Aphaia 08:57, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:16, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

What we do we do not merely with our hands and brains, but with our hearts and souls. This has often become a tragic fate for us. ~ Baldur von Schirach (born May 9)

  • 3 Zarbon 04:49, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership - by Joachim C. Fest - History - 1999 - Page 220
  • 1 InvisibleSun 06:21, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Aphaia 08:57, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:16, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it. ~ J. M. Barrie (born May 9)

  • 3 because when looking back at one's own life and comparing it to how one had originally planned it and how it actually turned out to be...it becomes an enigma in itself, Barrie describes it as humble, but in any case, it is a reminiscing of memories. Zarbon 05:08, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 InvisibleSun 06:21, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 08:57, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:16, 8 May 2008 (UTC)

Standards always are out of date. That is what makes them standards. ~ Alan Bennett (born May 9, 1934)

The best moments in reading are when you come across something — a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things — that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours. ~ Alan Bennett (from The History Boys, for which Bennett wrote both the play and the screenplay)

I am fully persuaded that I am worth inconceivably more to hang than any other purpose. ~ John Brown (born May 9, 1800)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 06:21, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 08:57, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 12:38, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 17:16, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
2004
There are worlds beyond worlds and times beyond times, all of them true, all of them real, and all of them (as children know) penetrating each other. ~ P. L. Travers
2005
The world is more malleable than you think and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape. ~ Bono (born 10 May 1960)
2006
The Truth lies not in the Yes and not in the No, but in the knowledge and the beginning from which the Yes and the No arise. ~ Karl Barth (born 10 May 1886)
2007
Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. ~ Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères, (d. 10 May 1696)
2008
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other, carry each other... one.
~ Bono ~ (Born 10 May 1960)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

We must laugh before we are happy, for fear we die before we laugh at all. ~ Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères, (d. 10 May 1696)

  • 3 --Aphaia 05:27, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:07, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:10, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
  • Since La Bruyère was born on August 16, I would propose that this quote be transferred to that date. - InvisibleSun 15:40, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

The Truth lies not in the Yes and not in the No, but in the knowledge and the beginning from which the Yes and the No arise. ~ Karl Barth (born May 10)

  • 3 because understanding that there is no definite yes and no, but rather a knowledge of all that is in between is key to comprehension of what truth is all about. Zarbon 05:21, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 09:07, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
  • This was already used on this date in 2006.

I do not preach universal salvation, what I say is that I cannot exclude the possibility that God would save all men at the Judgment. ~ Karl Barth (born May 10)

  • 3 because there has been no positive nor negative assurance that men, even those who have heavily committed to sin would or would not enter salvation. The final judgment is but a perspective, the ideology of universal salvation, however, holds some truth. Zarbon 05:21, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Aphaia For people who have no Christianity background, it may not make a sense at all.
  • 3 Kalki 02:10, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 15:40, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Man as man can never know God: His wishing, seeking, and striving are all in vain. ~ Karl Barth (born May 10)

  • 3 because the image of God is not visible to the physical man...for the man of the material world is blinded by illusion. Zarbon 05:21, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:10, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 15:40, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

What you don't have you don't need it
What you don't know you can feel it somehow

~ Bono (Born in this day)

Seeing a woman's child is like seeing a woman naked, in the way it changes how her face looks to you, how her face becomes less the whole story. ~ John Crowley

  • 3 Ningauble 20:55, 9 November 2008 (UTC) Suggested for Mother's Day, if it is not too starkly unconventional in perspective.


2004
The integral vision embodies an attempt to take the best of both worlds, ancient and modern. But that demands a critical stance willing to reject unflinchingly the worst of both as well. ~ Ken Wilber
2005
When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is trying to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind. ~ J. Krishnamurti (born 11 May 1895)
2006
Positive vibrations man. That's what makes it work. That's reggae music. You can't look away because it's real. You listen to what I sing because I mean what I sing, there's no secret, no big deal. Just honesty, that's all. ~ Bob Marley (died 11 May 1981)
2007
The poet in a golden clime was born,
With golden stars above;
Dower'd with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn,
The love of love.
~ Alfred Tennyson ~
2008
Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars — mere globs of gas atoms. Nothing is 'mere'. I too can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more? The vastness of the heavens stretches my imagination — stuck on this carousel my little eye can catch one-million-year-old light. A vast pattern — of which I am a part... What is the pattern or the meaning or the why? It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little more about it. ~ Richard Feynman (born 11 May 1918)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Say you just can't live that negative way
You know what I mean
Make way for the positive day
Cause it's a new day. ~ Bob Marley (died 11 May 1981), "Positive Vibration", Rastaman Vibration (1976)

  • 2 Jeff Q (talk) 05:51, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 ~ I did some quick research, and the writing credits for this are to Vincent Ford, but there are indications that Marley simply gave Ford credit for these and other lyrics. Taking up the suggestion for something by Marley I have found a couple that, while not fully sourced as yet, I find plausible and not likely to become disputed. ~ Kalki 22:04, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Aphaia 09:39, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:04, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

I don't have prejudice against myself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white. ~ Bob Marley (date of death)

  • 3 Kalki 22:04, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Jeff Q (talk) 23:56, 10 May 2006 (UTC). I'd prefer a less weighty quote.
  • 2 Aphaia 09:39, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:04, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

There are all kinds of interesting questions that come from a knowledge of science, which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower. It only adds. I don't understand how it subtracts. ~ Richard Feynman

For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. ~ Richard Feynman

Dance is the hidden language of the soul ~ Martha Graham (date of birth).

It is bias to think that the art of war is just for killing people. It is not to kill people, it is to kill evil. It is a strategem to give life to many people by killing the evil of one person. ~ Yagyū Munenori (date of death, date of birth unknown)

  • 3 because there is truly beauty in the art of war. Zarbon 04:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

It is easy to kill someone with a slash of a sword. It is hard to be impossible for others to cut down. ~ Yagyū Munenori

  • 3 because as easy as it is to defeat the opponent, the opponent may win with ease just as well. Zarbon 04:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

See first with your mind, then with your eyes, and finally with your body. ~ Yagyū Munenori

  • 3 because the physical strike comes last. It is more important to plan ahead before that attack. Zarbon 04:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Once a fight has started, if you get involved in thinking about what to do, you will be cut down by your opponent with the very next blow. ~ Yagyū Munenori

  • 3 because there is a time to contemplate and a time to attack and defend. Zarbon 04:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

There may be a hundred stances and sword positions, but you win with just one. ~ Yagyū Munenori

  • 3 because it is the thunderous winning blow that counts. Zarbon 04:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Conquering evil, not the opponent is the essence of swordsmanship. ~ Yagyū Munenori

  • 2 Zarbon 04:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

If you gaze at a single leaf on a single tree, you do not see the other leaves. If you face the tree with no intention and do not fix your eyes on a single leaf, then you will see all the many leaves. If your mind is preoccupied with one leaf, you do not see the others, if you do not set your attention on one; you will see hundreds and thousands of leaves. ~ Yagyū Munenori

  • 3 because one must concentrate on all aspects in order to avoid dogmatism. Zarbon 04:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

If you have attained mastery of swordlessness, you will never be without a sword. ~ Yagyū Munenori

  • 3 because it is imperative for one to train without a weapon just as much in order to survive all predicaments. Zarbon 04:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

There's a great and unutterable beauty in all this. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

  • 2 Zarbon 04:15, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

The observer is the observed. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

  • 2 Zarbon 04:15, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Silence is difficult and arduous, it is not to be played with. It isn't something that you can experience by reading a book, or by listening to a talk, or by sitting together, or by retiring into a wood or a monastery. I am afraid none of these things will bring about this silence. This silence demands intense psychological work. You have to be burningly aware of your snobbishness, aware of your fears, your anxieties, your sense of guilt. And when you die to all that, then out of that dying comes the beauty of silence. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

  • 3 Zarbon 04:15, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

So, the questioner wants to know why it is that he cannot go beyond all these superficial wrangles of the mind. For the simple reason that, consciously or unconsciously, the mind is always seeking something, and that very search brings violence, competition, the sense of utter dissatisfaction. It is only when the mind is completely still that there is a possibility of touching the deep waters. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

  • 3 Zarbon 04:15, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

We human beings are what we have been for millions of years—colossally greedy, envious, aggressive, jealous, anxious and despairing, with occasional flashes of joy and affection. We are a strange mixture of hate, fear and gentleness; we are both violence and peace. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

  • 2 Zarbon 04:15, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form of theological concept, is merely an escape from the actual reality of what is. All outward forms of change brought about by wars, revolutions, reformations, laws and ideologies have failed completely to change the basic nature of man and therefore of society. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

  • 2 Zarbon 04:15, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

  • 2 Zarbon 04:15, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

  • 3 Zarbon 04:15, 1 July 2008 (UTC)
2004
It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people. ~ Good Omens (by Gaiman & Pratchett)
2005
Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better. ~ Florence Nightingale (born 12 May 1820)
2006
Duty, Honor, Country — those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. ~ Douglas MacArthur, "Duty, Honor, Country" valedictory address to West Point on 12 May 1962.
2007
Unto the furthest flood-brim look with me;
Then reach on with thy thought till it be drown'd.
Miles and miles distant though the last line be,
And though thy soul sail leagues and leagues beyond,—
Still, leagues beyond those leagues, there is more sea.
~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti ~ (born 12 May 1828)
2008
I never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself. ~ Florence Nightingale
2009

[edit] Suggestions

And Love, our light at night and shade at noon,
Lulls us to rest with songs, and turns away
All shafts of shelterless tumultuous day.

~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti ~ (date of birth)

None would live past years again,
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;
And from the dregs of life think to receive
What the first sprightly running could not give.

~ John Dryden ~ died on May 12 {May 1 O.S.}, 1700)

To God alone may women complain without insulting Him! ~ Florence Nightingale

  • 2 because to complain to anyone else would in turn backfire and be viewed as an insult. Zarbon 23:48, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:05, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 18:09, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned. ~ Florence Nightingale

I think one's feelings waste themselves in words, they ought all to be distilled into actions and into actions which bring results. ~ Florence Nightingale

I thought of myself an atheist until I realized it was a belief, too ... It's a shame everything has to have a label. ~ George Carlin

  • 3 Kalki 00:42, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 00:48, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
2004
I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. ~ William Faulkner
2005
It behoved that there should be sin — but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. ~ Julian of Norwich (her famous visions occurred on 13 May 1373)
2006
"Fire" does not matter, "earth" and "air" and "water'" do not matter. "I" do not matter. No word matters. But man forgets reality and remembers words. ~ Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light (born 13 May 1937)
2007
A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~ Washington Irving (Mother's Day U.S., Canada)
2008
Death and Light are everywhere, always, and they begin, end, strive, attend, into and upon the Dream of the Nameless that is the world, burning words within Samsaara, perhaps to create a thing of beauty. ~ Roger Zelazny in Lord of Light
2009

[edit] Suggestions

I made a great discovery. I don't believe in anything anymore. Objects do not exist for me, except that there is a harmonious relationship among them, and also between them and myself. When one reaches this harmony, one reaches a sort of intellectual void. This was everything becomes possible, everything becomes legitimate, and life is a perpetual revelation. This is true song. ~ Georges Braque (born 1882-05-13)

  • 3 Aphaia
  • 3 Kalki 00:01, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3. This quote was unsourced. I sourced it and replaced the unsourced version in the article. The quote now reads: "I have made a great discovery. I no longer believe in anything. Objects don't exist for me except in so far as a rapport exists between them or between them and myself. When one attains this harmony, one reaches a sort of intellectual non-existence — what I can only describe as a sense of peace, which makes everything possible and right. Life then becomes a perpetual revelation. That is true poetry." My vote is then for the sourced quote. - InvisibleSun 07:20, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

Either it possesses a certain element of irrationality itself, like living things, or it is an intelligence of such an order that some of its processes only seem irrational to lesser beings. Either explanation amounts to the same from a practical standpoint. ~ Roger Zelazny Prince of Chaos

  • 3 Aphaia
  • 3 Kalki 00:01, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2. What is the "it" in the first sentence? - In