Wikiquote:Quote of the day/November

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Today is Friday, December 5, 2008; it is now 13:18 (UTC)


October << November 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 >> December

This page lists quote of the day proposals specifically for dates in the month of November, 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: November 2007 - November 2008

Ranking system:

4 : Excellent - should definitely be used.
3 : Very Good - strong desire to see it used.
2 : Good - some desire to see it used.
1 : Acceptable - but with no particular desire to see it used.
0 : Not acceptable - not appropriate for use as a quote of the day.
2003
God is an Iron ~ Spider Robinson
2004
The progress of the intellect is to the clearer vision of causes, which neglects surface differences. To the poet, to the philosopher, to the saint, all things are friendly and sacred, all events profitable, all days holy, all men divine. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
2005
I am everything —
Tonight I'll be your mother — I will
Do such things to ease your pain —
Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed.
~ "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" by Sophie B. Hawkins (born 1 November 1967)
2006
The wayfarer,
Perceiving the pathway to truth,
Was struck with astonishment.
It was thickly grown with weeds.
"Ha," he said,
"I see that none has passed here
In a long time."
Later he saw that each weed
Was a singular knife.
"Well," he mumbled at last,
"Doubtless there are other roads."
~ Stephen Crane ~ (born 1 November 1871)
2007
You cannot choose your battlefield,
God does that for you;
But you can plant a standard
Where a standard never flew.
~ Nathalia Crane ~
  • proposed by Kalki (Originally proposed here because this had become attributed to Stephen Crane, retained and eventually chosen because of the touch of irony of it having originally placed here by mistake, where the first quote of the day had been "God is an Iron".)
2008
The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all. ~ Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
2009

[edit] Suggestions

There's nothing that will change someone's moral outlook quicker than cash in large sums. ~ Larry Flynt, born that day.

  • 3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 10:13, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 --Angel 13:39, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 17:14, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 16:58, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 03:44, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Ningauble 22:02, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 22:19, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."
~ Stephen Crane (date of birth)

If there is a witness to my little life,
To my tiny throes and struggles,
He sees a fool;
And it is not fine for gods to menace fools.
~ Stephen Crane (date of birth)

Damn I wish I was your lover
I'll rock you till the daylight comes
Make sure you are smiling and warm.
~ Sophie B. Hawkins ~ (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:35, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 ShanghaiTim 11:16, 14 November 2006
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:22, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 because this one is rather sexual, something I'd try to avoid as QOTD. Zarbon 17:14, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 03:44, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 22:02, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

As I lay me down to sleep
This I pray
That you will hold me dear
~ Sophie B. Hawkins ~ (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:35, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 --Angel 13:39, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:22, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 although this is actually one of my alltime favorite songs (and I truly love it), it doesn't hold powerful moral as QOTD. Zarbon 17:14, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 03:44, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 22:02, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Like a flower I need the rain
Though it's not clear to me
Every season has it's change
And I will see you
When the sun comes out again.
~ Sophie B. Hawkins ~ (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:35, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 --Angel 13:39, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:22, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 because of the same reasoning given above. Zarbon 17:14, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 03:44, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 22:02, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Now two punctilious envoys, Thine and Mine,
Embroil the earth about a fancied line;
And, dwelling much on right and much on wrong,
Prove how the right is chiefly with the strong. ~ Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach;
Once we have left it, we can never return. ~ Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

If your descent is from heroic sires,
Show in your life a remnant of their fires. ~ Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

Hasten slowly, and without losing heart,
Put your work twenty times upon the anvil. ~ Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

Happy the poet who with ease can steer
From grave to gay, from lively to severe. ~ Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

Often the fear of one evil leads us into a worse. ~ Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

We can regret what might have been... but we have no reason to be ungrateful for what there is. ~ Edward Said

  • 3 Zarbon 17:12, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:58, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 03:44, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 22:02, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 22:19, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Tired with dull grief, grown old before my day,
I sit in solitude and only hear
Long silent laughters, murmurings of dismay,
The lost intensities of hope and fear;
In those old marshes yet the rifles lie,
On the thin breastwork flutter the grey rags,
The very books I read are there—and I
Dead as the men I loved, wait while life drags ~ Edmund Charles Blunden

Its wounded length from those sad streets of war
Into green places here, that were my own;
But now what once was mine is mine no more,
I seek such neighbours here and I find none.
With such strong gentleness and tireless will
Those ruined houses seared themselves in me,
Passionate I look for their dumb story still,
And the charred stub outspeaks the living tree. ~ Edmund Charles Blunden

  • 3 Zarbon 17:12, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 16:58, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 03:44, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Ningauble 22:02, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 for starting the quote at "With such strong..."

I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said,
"You can never — "

"You lie," he cried,
And ran on.

~ Stephen Crane ~

The hard waves see an arm flung high;
Scorn hits strong because of a lie;
Yet there exists a mystic tie.
Unwind my riddle.
~ Stephen Crane ~

Some say this world of trouble
Is the only one we need
But I’m waiting for that morning
When the new world is revealed.

Oh when the saints go marching in,
When the saints go marching in,
Oh lord I want to be in that number,
When the saints go marching in!

~ When the Saints Go Marching In ~(One of Louis Armstrong's versions of the traditional song, and an excellent choice for All Saints Day)

You know, "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"? It's the same with powerlessness. Absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely. Einstein said everything had changed since the atom was split, except the way we think. We have to think anew. ~ Studs Terkel (recent death)

  • 4 InvisibleSun 22:19, 31 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:20, 1 November 2008 (UTC) too late to rank well enough to use on this day for this year, but I would give this a 4 for tomorrow.


2004
We’d all like t’vote fer th’best man, but he’s never a candidate. ~ Kin Hubbard
2005
Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to end? ~ Marie Antoinette (born 2 November 1755)
2006
It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. ~ Marie Antoinette
2007
By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression. ~ James K. Polk (born 2 November 1795)
2008
You know, "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"? It's the same with powerlessness. Absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely. Einstein said everything had changed since the atom was split, except the way we think. We have to think anew. ~ Studs Terkel (recent death)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. ~ Arthur Balfour, in a letter sent that day.

I put on my rouge and wash my hands in front of the whole world! ~ Marie Antoinette (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 16:11, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 18:28, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 17:15, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 03:49, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 21:38, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. InvisibleSun 22:42, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

I prefer to supervise the whole operations of the government myself rather than entrust the public business to subordinates, and this makes my duties very great. ~ James K. Polk

  • 3 because if you want something done, it's best to do it yourself. Zarbon 04:04, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:52, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 03:49, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 21:38, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:42, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long. ~ Marie Antoinette (born November 2)

  • 3 because this is a brilliant quote. To die quickly and save oneself the trouble of suffering. Damn brilliant. Zarbon 01:21, 4 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:52, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 Waheedone 03:49, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Antiquary 21:38, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. InvisibleSun 22:42, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again. ~ Stephen Grellet

I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies in a fight. But my friends, my goddamned friends, they're the ones who keep me walking the floor at nights! ~ Warren G. Harding

The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Hunting hawks do not belong in cages, no matter how much a man covets their grace, no matter how golden the bars. They are far more beautiful soaring free. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Those who do not know their history are doomed to keep stepping in it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

A weapon is a device for making your enemy change his mind. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Seems to me the only difference between your friends and your enemies is how long they stand around chatting before they shoot you. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

If it ever came down to exerting power by force, it would mean I'd already lost it. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Leadership is mostly a power over imagination, and never more so than in combat. The bravest man alone can only be an armed lunatic. The real strength lies in the ability to get others to do your work. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold


2004
I remain just one thing, and one thing only — and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician. ~ Charlie Chaplin
2005
Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high,
There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.
Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
~ Judy Garland as "Dorothy Gale" in The Wizard of Oz
2006
Art is a revolt against fate. ~ André Malraux (born 3 November 1901)
2007
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 (died 3 November 1957)
  • proposed by Kalki (Reich died in prison on 3 November 1957)
2008
Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destructiveness.. ~ Wilhelm Reich
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school supported entirely by private contribution. Keep church and state forever separate. ~ Ulysses S. Grant, became president that day.

  • ~
  • 3 Kalki 16:11, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:49, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 17:22, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 02:13, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Follow the voice of your heart, even if it leads you off the path of timid souls. Do not become hard and embittered, even if life tortures you at times. There is only one thing that counts: to live one's life well and happily... ~ Wilhelm Reich (date of death)

  • 3 Kalki 18:51, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:49, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 because this dictates elegantly with enigmatic perception what truly matters, to live well and happily. Zarbon 17:22, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:13, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Rooting in work is crucial to any accomplishment. Rooting in mere enthusiasm will in the long run force illusory measures to keep the fires of empty enthusiasm going. And this makes politics and politicians. ~ Wilhelm Reich (date of death)

The great mystery is not that we should have been thrown down here at random between the profusion of matter and that of the stars; it is that from our very prison we should draw, from our own selves, images powerful enough to deny our own nothingness. ~ André Malraux (born November 3, 1901)

Athirst for personal salvation, the West forgets that many religions had but a vague notion of the life beyond the grave; true, all great religions stake a claim on eternity, but not necessarily on man's eternal life. ~ André Malraux

  • 4 InvisibleSun 19:49, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:25, 2 November 2006 (UTC) I do like this one much, and might possibly rank it a 4 next year, but I have long had a "soft spot" for Reich, despite some of the glaring errors and false assumptions of a few of his investigations, and much preferred the equally ranked quote by him on the 50th anniversary of his death. ~ Kalki 00:12, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 17:22, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 02:13, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Our characteristic response to the mutilated statue, the bronze dug up from the earth, is revealing. It is not that we prefer time-worn bas-reliefs, or rusted statuettes as such, nor is it the vestiges of death that grip us in them, but those of life. Mutilation is the scar left by the struggle with Time, and a reminder of it — Time which is as much a part of ancient works of art as the material they are made of, and thrusts up through the fissures, from a dark underworld, where all is at once chaos and determinism. ~ André Malraux

  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:49, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 but I would give it a 3 if it was trimmed to start from "Mutilation is the scar left by the struggle with Time, and a reminder of it — Time which is as much a part of ancient works of art as the material they are made of, and thrusts up through the fissures, from a dark underworld, where all is at once chaos and determinism." Zarbon 17:22, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:04, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:13, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Great things come crashing down upon themselves – such is the limit of growth ordained by heaven for success. ~ Marcus Annaeus Lucanus

The sin of thousands always goes unpunished. ~ Marcus Annaeus Lucanus


2004
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US. ~ CATS of Zero Wing
2005
After looking at mothers-in-law and seeing sons-in-law — I always felt that the jokes were on the wrong ones. No sir, you can look through everything I ever did write or say, and you never did hear me tell a joke about any mother-in-law — or any creed, color or religion, either. ~ Will Rogers (born 4 November 1879)
2006
A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it. ~ William Styron (recent death)
2007
There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you. ~ Will Rogers
2008
On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does. ~ Will Rogers (date of birth + US election day 2008)
2009

[edit] Suggestions

Yes we can! ~ Barack Obama (date of birth)

I am a peace man. I haven't got any use for wars and there is no more humor in 'em than there is reason for 'em. ~ Will Rogers (date of birth)

People often ask me, "Will, where do you get your jokes?" I just tell 'em, 'Well, I watch the government and report the facts, that is all I do, and I don't even find it necessary to exaggerate. ~ Will Rogers (date of birth)

With curious art the brain, too finely wrought,
Preys on herself, and is destroyed by thought. ~ Charles Churchill (date of death)

Men the most infamous are fond of fame,
And those who fear not guilt yet start at shame. ~ Charles Churchill (date of death)

Be England what she will,
With all her faults she is my country still. ~ Charles Churchill (date of death)

AIDS respects no national boundaries; spares no race or religion; devastates men and women, rich and poor. No country can ignore this crisis. Fighting AIDS is an urgent calling — because every life, in every land, has value and dignity. ~ Laura Welch Bush

The power of a book lies in its power to turn a solitary act into a shared vision. As long as we have books, we are not alone. ~ Laura Welch Bush

  • 2 Zarbon 03:12, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 04:26, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:17, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. InvisibleSun 23:04, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true Poets must be truthful. ~ Wilfred Owen (90th anniversary of death)

  • 3 Antiquary 11:07, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 12:36, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:50, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:04, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!
We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum.
No soldier's paid to kick against His powers.
We laughed, — knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars: when each proud fighter brags
He wars on Death, for lives; not men, for flags. ~ Wilfred Owen (90th anniversary of death)

  • 3 Antiquary 11:07, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 12:36, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:50, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:04, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


2004
America has spoken, and I'm humbled by the trust and the confidence of my fellow citizens. ~ George W. Bush
2005
I feel for all faiths the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments of darkness groping for the sun. ~ Will Durant (born 5 November 1885)
2006
Philosophy is harmonized knowledge making a harmonious life; it is the self-discipline which lifts us to serenity and freedom. Knowledge is power, but only wisdom is liberty. ~ Will Durant
2007
Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
~ Traditional rhyme for Guy Fawkes Night. ~
2008

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

  • Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
    Weep, and you weep alone.
    For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
    But has trouble enough of its own.
    ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox ~

[edit] Suggestions

The only chance women have for justice in this country is to violate the law, as I have done, and as I shall continue to do. ~ Susan B. Anthony, voted (against the law) that day

I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to the practical recognition of the old revolutionary maxim, that "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God."~ Susan B. Anthony, voted (against the law) that day

Never does nature say one thing and wisdom another.~ Will Durant (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:56, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 23:11, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 because nature and wisdom are truly at conflicting odds. Zarbon 05:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the improvement of character, the only real emancipation is individual, and the only real revolutionaries are philosophers and saints. ~ Will Durant (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:56, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 0. I don't see this quote on the Durant page. - InvisibleSun 23:11, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Four stages of acceptance: i) this is worthless nonsense; ii) this is an interesting, but perverse, point of view; iii) this is true, but quite unimportant; iv) I always said so. ~ J. B. S. Haldane (born November 5, 1892))

  • 4 InvisibleSun 18:56, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 4 Kalki 23:38, 4 November 2008 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 21:49, 3 November 2006 (UTC) whenever this is used, it should be formatted as it is presented on the author's page:
I suppose the process of acceptance will pass through the usual four stages:
(i) this is worthless nonsense;
(ii) this is an interesting, but perverse, point of view;
(iii) this is true, but quite unimportant;
(iv) I always said so.
  • 1 because I prefer the original stages to this comical perspective...denial, anger, acceptance...although I must say it is a detailed logical quote. Zarbon 05:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

And here let me emphasize the fact — and it cannot be repeated too often — that the working class who fight all the battles, the working class who make the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely shed their blood and furnish the corpses, have never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. ~ Eugene V. Debs (born November 5, 1855)

I may not be able to say all I think; but I am not going to say anything that I do not think. I would rather a thousand times be a free soul in jail than to be a sycophant and coward in the streets. ~ Eugene V. Debs

  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:56, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:49, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 4 because this is so true. I love this quote and hold its initial meaning close to my heart. It is always better to express oneself and be restrained instead of be free and not expressive. Bravo to Debs for saying this. Zarbon 05:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

If ever I become entirely respectable I shall be quite sure that I have outlived myself. ~ Eugene V. Debs

Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind then that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; and while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. ~ Eugene V. Debs

  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:56, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 21:49, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 because this one is damn sheer brilliance defined. He feels the suffering of everyone, the anguish of others, and is not alone in seeking a relationship with prisoners bound by law. I truly, truly, like this quote a lot. Way to go Debs. Zarbon 05:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

I shall not waste any time on such miserable twaddle as to say that I ought to have been elected. ... It is the undoubted right of the people to change their servants, and to remove one and displace him with another at any time they choose, for a good reason, for a bad reason, or for no reason at all. If we are to remain a free people, it is the duty of public servants not grumpily and sourly to accept the verdict of the majority, but joyously to accept that verdict. ~ Henry Fountain Ashurst (2008 U.S. Presidenial election on November 4 with polls in most states closing after 24:00 UTC meaning results will come on November 5)

Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos. ~ Will Durant

  • 2 Zarbon 03:26, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 05:29, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. InvisibleSun 23:11, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

It is a mistake to think that the past is dead. Nothing that has ever happened is quite without influence at this moment. The present is merely the past rolled up and concentrated in this second of time. You, too, are your past; often your face is your autobiography; you are what you are because of what you have been; because of your heredity stretching back into forgotten generations; because of every element of environment that has affected you, every man or woman that has met you, every book that you have read, every experience that you have had; all these are accumulated in your memory, your body, your character, your soul. So with a city, a country, and a race; it is its past, and cannot be understood without it. ~ Will Durant

  • 3 Zarbon 03:26, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 05:29, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. InvisibleSun 23:11, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

History is always repeating itself, but each time the price goes up. ~ Will Durant

  • 2 Zarbon 03:26, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 05:29, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. InvisibleSun 23:11, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success. ~ Bryan Adams

  • 3 Zarbon 03:50, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 05:29, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 23:11, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Now let us thank the Eternal Power: convinced
That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction,—
That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour
Serves but to brighten all our future days. ~ John Brown

When the great markets by the sea shut fast
All that calm Sunday that goes on and on:
When even lovers find their peace at last,
And Earth is but a star, that once had shone. ~ James Elroy Flecker

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.
For this brave old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air.
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  • 3 because this speaks for sorrow beatifully. Zarbon 04:05, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • This has been partially used already on 14 July 2004 ~ Kalki 05:29, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go.
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all.
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life's gall. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  • 3 because sorrow compels one to feel for eternity. Wilcox does such a nice job at being thorough. I love quotations such as this, derived from and towards sadness. Zarbon 04:05, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 05:29, 19 October 2008 (UTC) The full poem has far greater character and meaning than these stanzas alone can indicate well.
  • 3 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:11, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a long and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

  • 3 and brilliant for the same reason as I said prior. Zarbon 04:05, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 05:29, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:11, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

So many gods, so many creeds;
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I find a rapture linked with each despair,
Well worth the price of anguish. I detect
More good than evil in humanity.
Love lights more fires than hate extinguishes,
And men grow better as the world grows old.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox ~

  • 3 Kalki 05:47, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 02:25, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 12:46, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:11, 4 November 2008 (UTC)


2004
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made. ~ Jean Giraudoux
2005
An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind. ~ Mohandas Gandhi (arrested 6 November 1913 while leading an Indian miners' march)
2006
Me, I shall be an autocrat: that is my trade; and The Good God will forgive me: that is His. ~ Catherine the Great (died 6 November 1796)
  • proposed by Fys
2007
I don’t think that combat has ever been written about truthfully; it has always been described in terms of bravery and cowardice. I won’t even accept these words as terms of human reference any more. And anyway, hell, they don’t even apply to what, in actual fact, modern warfare has become. ~ James Jones
2008
This is our time — to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can! ~ Barack Obama (recent election to be 44th President of USA).
2009

[edit] Suggestions

I write to reach eternity. ~ James Jones

Why was it everything was always so goddam complicated? Even the simplest things was so goddam complicated when you come to doing them. ~ James Jones

You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. ~ Zig Ziglar

  • 2 Zarbon 04:18, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 02:31, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 19:49, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 22:45, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Remember that life is hard, but when you are tough on yourself, life is going to be infinitely easier on you. ~ Zig Ziglar

  • 3 Zarbon 04:18, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:31, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 19:49, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 22:45, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

The appearance of a single great genius is more than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities. ~ Cesare Lombroso

Genius is one of the many forms of insanity. ~ Cesare Lombroso

  • 3 Zarbon 04:24, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:31, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 19:49, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 22:45, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Good sense travels on the well-worn paths; genius, never. And that is why the crowd, not altogether without reason, is so ready to treat great men as lunatics. ~ Cesare Lombroso

  • 3 Zarbon 04:24, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:31, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 19:49, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 22:45, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

The ignorant man always adores what he cannot understand. ~ Cesare Lombroso

  • 3 Zarbon 04:24, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:31, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 19:49, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 22:45, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

I'm not a racist. I hate everybody. ~ Christian Lorenz

  • 2 for comedic value. Zarbon 04:31, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:31, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 19:49, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 22:45, 5 November 2008 (UTC)


2003
Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. ~ Anaïs Nin
2004
Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do. ~ Wendell Berry
2005
I found a book on how to be invisible —
On the edge of the labyrinth —
Under a veil you must never lift —
Pages you must never turn —
In the Labyrinth.
~ Kate Bush in "How to Be Invisible" on Aerial
  • proposed by Kalki (Aerial, Bush's first album in 12 years, was released internationally on 7 November 2005)
2006
The evil that is in the world always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding. On the whole men are more good than bad; that, however, isn't the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and it is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance which fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. There can be no true goodness, nor true love, without the utmost clear-sightedness. ~ Albert Camus
2007
Do not wait for the Last Judgment. It takes place every day. ~ Albert Camus
2008
Do not be deceived by the way men of bad faith misuse words and names ...Things are set up as contraries that are not even in the same category. Listen to me: the opposite of radical is superficial, the opposite of liberal is stingy; the opposite of conservative is destructive. Thus I will describe myself as a radical conservative liberal; but certain of the tainted red fish will swear that there can be no such fish as that. Beware of those who use words to mean their opposites. At the same time have pity on them, for usually this trick is their only stock in trade. ~ R. A. Lafferty (born 7 November 1914)

[edit] Suggestions

The slave begins by demanding justice and ends by wanting to wear a crown. He must dominate in his turn. ~ The Rebel by Albert Camus, born that day.

  • ~
  • 3 Kalki 00:13, 6 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 16:53, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:47, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 02:35, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

If I try to seize this self of which I feel sure, if I try to define and to summarize it, it is nothing but water slipping through my fingers. I can sketch one by one all the aspects it is able to assume, all those likewise that have been attributed to it, this upbringing, this origin, this ardor or these silences, this nobility or this vileness. But aspects cannot be added up. ~ Albert Camus

Life can be magnificent and overwhelming — that is its whole tragedy. Without beauty, love, or danger it would almost be easy to live. ~ Albert Camus

You stand in front of a million doors,
Each one holds a million more. ~ Kate Bush ~ (2005: international release date of her first album in 12 yrs)

  • 3 Kalki 00:10, 6 November 2005 (UTC) I am no longer strongly inclined to use this here, as the release was last year, but will keep it as a potential option in years to come.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 16:53, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 0. I can't find this quote on the Kate Bush page. - InvisibleSun 20:50, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:47, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:35, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Wrong Prong, Bong Gong. ~ R. A. Lafferty

  • 3 Kalki 03:28, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:47, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Waheedone 02:35, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:50, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws. ~ Leon Trotsky (born November 7)

  • 3 because insurrection when planned correctly can recreate history, much like art can recreate an image. Nice comparison by Trotsky, whom remains one of my personal favorites. Zarbon 16:53, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: War and Conflict Quotations by Michael C. Thomsett, Jean F. Thomsett - Reference - 1997 - Page 127
  • 3 Kalki 14:04, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:35, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 20:50, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one's enemies. ~ Leon Trotsky (born November 7)

  • 3 because to learn from one's enemies carries the danger of becoming like them. It's a great quote to say the least. Zarbon 16:53, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Quotable Graduate - Page 54 by Heidi Reinholdt, John Ross - Reference - 2003
  • 3 Kalki 14:04, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 Waheedone 02:35, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 20:50, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
    • InvisibleSun, the source is listed right here... Zarbon 06:46, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

You may not be interested in the dialectic, but the dialectic is interested in you. ~ Leon Trotsky (born November 7)

  • 3 because even for someone uninterested in politics, government, etc. will find those things interested in that person's life. This is extremely true. Zarbon 16:53, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE:Discursive Democracy: Politics, Policy, and Political Science - Page 48 by John S. Dryzek - Political Science - 1990
  • 3 Kalki 14:04, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:35, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 20:50, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Political progress will only take place if sufficient security exists. ~ David Petraeus

The cardinal doctrine of a fanatic's creed is that his enemies are the enemies of God. ~ Andrew Dickson White

I write as clearly as I am able to. I sometimes tackle ideas and notions that are relatively complex, and it is very difficult to be sure that I am conveying them in the best way. Anyone who goes beyond cliche phrases and cliche ideas will have this trouble. ~ R. A. Lafferty (born 7 November 1914)


2004
It took a couple of hundred million years to develop a thinking ape and you want a smart one in a lousy few hundred thousand? ~ Spider Robinson
2005
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind. ~ John F. Kennedy (elected U.S. President 8 November 1960)
2006
No man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. ~ Bram Stoker (born 8 November 1847)
2007
The important thing
is to pull yourself up by your own hair
to turn yourself inside out
and see the whole world with fresh eyes.
~ Peter Weiss ~
2008
Once and for all
the idea of glorious victories
won by the glorious army
must be wiped out
Neither side is glorious
On either side they're just frightened men messing their pants
and they all want the same thing
Not to lie under the earth
but to walk upon it
without crutches

~ Peter Weiss ~ (born November 8, 1916)

2009

[edit] Suggestions

We can say what we like without favour or fear
and what we can't say we can breathe in your ear
~ Peter Weiss

Nothing is too small. I counsel you, put down in record even your doubts and surmises. Hereafter it may be of interest to you to see how true you guess. We learn from failure, not from success! ~ Bram Stoker

The world is filled with folly and sin,
And Love must cling, where it can, I say:
For Beauty is easy enough to win;
But one isn't loved every day.
~ Robert Bulwer-Lytton

The things which must be must be for the best. ~ Robert Bulwer-Lytton

The ages roll
Forward; and forward with them draw my soul
Into Time’s infinite sea.
And to be glad or sad I care no more;
But to have done and to have been before
I cease to do and be!
~ Robert Bulwer-Lytton

Genius does what it must, talent does what it can. ~ Robert Bulwer-Lytton

It is magnificent, but it is not war; it is madness. ~ Pierre Bosquet

  • 3 Zarbon 05:05, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 Waheedone 02:46, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 02:28, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
    • It is no longer unsourced. You may recast your vote for this one. Zarbon 06:51, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:30, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:23, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

Religion does not mean to surrender to dogmas and religious scriptures or conformity to rituals. But my religion constitutes an abiding faith in the perfect values of truth and the ceaseless attempt to realise them in the inner most part of our nature. ~ Hans Ji Maharaj

In this world, who you are is more important than what you are saying. ~ P. L. Deshpande

My whole life I have been waving the names of writers, as if we needed rescue. From these writers, for almost 50 years, I have received narrative, witness, companionship, sanctuary, shock, and steely strangeness; good advice, bad news, deep chords, hurtful discrepancy, and amazing grace. At an average of five books a week, not counting all those sighed at and nibbled on before they go to the Strand, I will read 13,000. Then I'm dead. Thirteen thousand in a lifetime, about as many as there are new ones published every month in this country.

It's not enough, and yet rich to excess. The books we love, love us back. ~ John Leonard (recent death)

  • 4 InvisibleSun 02:28, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 06:51, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:23, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

God willeth that we endlessly hate the sin and endlessly love the soul, as God loveth it. ~ Julian of Norwich

If any such lover be in earth which is continually kept from falling, I know it not: for it was not shewed me. But this was shewed: that in falling and in rising we are ever preciously kept in one Love. ~ Julian of Norwich

He that made all things for love, by the same love keepeth them, and shall keep them without end. ~ Julian of Norwich

Charity keepeth us in Faith and Hope, and Hope leadeth us in Charity. And in the end all shall be Charity. ~ Julian of Norwich

  • 3 Kalki 15:23, 7 November 2008 (UTC) (with a strong lean toward 4)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:30, 7 November 2008 (UTC)


2004
"The time has come", the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing wax —
Of cabbages — and Kings —
And why the Sea is boiling hot —
And whether pigs have wings."
~ Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass ~
2005
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. ~ Carl Sagan (born 9 November 1934)
2006
Widespread intellectual and moral docility may be convenient for leaders in the short term, but it is suicidal for nations in the long term. One of the criteria for national leadership should therefore be a talent for understanding, encouraging, and making constructive use of vigorous criticism. ~ Carl Sagan
2007
To love another is something
like prayer and it can't be planned, you just fall
into its arms because your belief undoes your disbelief. ~
~ Anne Sexton ~
2008
Every one of us is precious in the cosmic perspective. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another. ~ Carl Sagan
2009

[edit] Suggestions

A woman who writes feels too much,
those trances and portents!
As if cycles and children and islands
weren't enough; as if mourners and gossips
and vegetables were never enough.
She thinks she can warm the stars.
A writer is essentially a spy.
Dear love, I am that girl.
~ Anne Sexton (born November 9, 1928)

I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.
~ Anne Sexton

But suicides have a special language.
Like carpenters they want to know which tools.
They never ask why build.
~ Anne Sexton

I love you the way the oboe plays.
I love you the way skinny dipping makes my body feel.
I love you the way a ripe artichoke tastes.
Yet I fear you,
as one in the desert fears the sun.
~ Anne Sexton

We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands. The loom of time and space works the most astonishing transformations of matter. ~ Carl Sagan

History is full of people who out of fear, or ignorance, or lust for power have destroyed knowledge of immeasurable value which truly belongs to us all. We must not let it happen again. ~ Carl Sagan

  • 3 Kalki 12:39, 8 November 2007 (UTC) With a strong lean toward a 4
  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:45, 8 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 because knowledge is power. Zarbon 05:55, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 02:51, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.
Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge. ~ Carl Sagan

I believe it is an act of delusion to look for (or more so), discover a so-called "educated" preacher/evangelist. Thus, no evangelist/preacher can be better than the other. But I agree, they can be worse. ~ Nadeem F. Paracha

  • 3 Zarbon 17:33, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:51, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 18:21, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Either I'm just too paranoid or this is just my way of now playing the sardonic court jester instead of the "angry young man" who once actually believed in the logic and persuasive power of cohesive literary narratives as a means to bring about change. ~ Nadeem F. Paracha

  • 3 Zarbon 17:33, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Waheedone 02:51, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 18:21, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

I'd rather fight for a tree than die for a God. ~ Nadeem F. Paracha

  • 3 Zarbon 17:33, 8 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Waheedone 02:51, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 18:21, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

I'm suspicious of any mode of transportation that requires a running start. ~ Alan Kotok

I'm opposed to any sport that reduces the coefficient of friction between me and the ground. ~ Alan Kotok

There's the moon trying to look romantic
Moon's too old that's her trouble
Aren't we all? ~ Roger McGough

The general at the radar screen
he should have got the sack
But that wouldn't bring
Three thousand million, seven hundred, and sixty-eight people back,
Would it? ~ Roger McGough

The general at the radar screen
Rubbed his hands with glee,
And grinning pressed the button
And started world war three. ~ Roger McGough

Democracy may be alright for certain people in the world, but I don't think the type of democracy Fiji needs is the type Australia and New Zealand enjoy. ~ Jona Senilagakali


2004
When war is declared, truth is the first casualty. ~ Arthur Ponsonby
2005
We are always living in the final days. What have you got? A hundred years or much, much less until the end of your world. ~ Neil Gaiman (born 10 November 1960)
2006
Rarely do we arrive at the summit of truth without running into extremes; we have frequently to exhaust the part of error, and even of folly, before we work our way up to the noble goal of tranquil wisdom. ~ Friedrich Schiller (born 10 November 1759)