Wikiquote:Quote of the day/September

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Today is Tuesday, December 1, 2009; it is now 00:43 (UTC)


August << September 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 >> October

This page lists quote of the day proposals specifically for dates in the month of September, 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: September 2008 - September 2009

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
There is no sudden entrance into Heaven. Slow is the ascent by the path of Love. ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
2005
It takes a real storm in the average person's life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls. ~ Bruce Fairchild Barton
2006
I like a huge range of comedy — from broad and farcical, the most sensitive, the most understated — but I always wanted my comedy to be more embracing of the species rather than debasing of it. ~ Lily Tomlin
2007
I have always felt that humor was a wonderful vehicle to let us become connected with each other and ourselves… I try to portray the similarities and polarities in men and women, so that we can acknowledge and embrace our collective consciousness. ~ Lily Tomlin
2008
Deep in the minds of the apes was rooted the conviction that Tarzan was a mighty fighter and a strange creature. Strange because he had had it in his power to kill his enemy, but had allowed him to live — unharmed. ~ Edgar Rice Burroughs
2009
Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof. Lev. XXV X
~ Inscription on the Liberty Bell ~ (delivered to Philadelphia on this date in 1752)
2010

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

[edit] Suggestions

It is well that war is so terrible — lest we should grow too fond of it. ~ Robert E. Lee

  • Comment: WWII started on Sept. 1
  • 3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 13:18, 1 August 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 ~ Kalki I would prefer to use this on a day more associated with Lee, or the US Civil War rather than another specific war, there I might rank it 3 or 4.
  • 1 but a 3 if used on a more relevant date Zarbon 21:49, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:06, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Sometimes I feel like a figment of my own imagination. ~ Lily Tomlin

  • 3 Kalki 00:05, 1 September 2006 (UTC) leaning toward a two on this for this date, because though it is a line made famous by Tomlin, it is one that was apparently written by her companion Jane Wagner. Might be better for Wagner on her birthday of 2 February.
  • 2 Zarbon 21:49, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:06, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

If I go out of public life with one feeling, with one conviction, it is this : a deep regret for many bitter words I have used in my life, deep sincere repentance for my violence of language. But I hope they will be forgiven me by God and man, because not once in all my life have I attacked anybody unjustly from my point of view, and without believing it was my duty to do so. ~ Henri Bourassa

If you're up against a smart opponent, make him think himself to death. ~ C. J. Cherryh

DO NOT HARM THE THINGS WHICH ARE TARZAN'S. TARZAN WATCHES. TARZAN OF THE APES. ~ Edgar Rice Burroughs (born 1 September 1875)

  • 3 Kalki 23:13, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 and I like Clayton the hunter. Zarbon 15:26, 1 September 2008 (UTC)


2003
Ars longa, vita brevis. (Art is long, life is short.) ~ Horace
2004
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. ~ George Bernard Shaw
2005
Speak softly and carry a big stick. ~ Theodore Roosevelt
  • proposed by MosheZadka: First public use of the phrase by Roosevelt in a speech at the Minnesota State Fair (2 September 1901)
2006
Before you do anything, think. If you do something to try and impress someone, to be loved, accepted or even to get someone's attention, stop and think. So many people are busy trying to create an image, they die in the process. ~ Salma Hayek (born 2 September 1966)
2007
There is only one thing infamous in love, and that is a falsehood. ~ Paul Bourget (born 2 September 1852)
2008
The first casualty when war comes is truth. ~ Hiram Johnson (born 2 September 1866)
2009
If thinking men are few, they are for that reason all the more powerful. Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power. ~ Henry George (born 2 September 1839)
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Vietnam is a country, not a war ~ Le Van Bang, former Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States

  • 3 - for Vietnamese National Day. LordAmeth 18:48, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:58, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 21:51, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:54, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

We to a little ale-house on the Bankside, over against the Three Cranes, and there stayed till it was dark almost, and saw the fire grow; and, as it grew darker, appeared more and more, and in corners and upon steeples, and between churches and houses, as far as we could see up the hill of the City, in a most horrid malicious bloody flame, not like the fine flame of an ordinary fire... We stayed till, it being darkish, we saw the fire as only one entire arch of fire from this to the other side the bridge, and in a bow up the hill for an arch of above a mile long: it made me weep to see it. ~ Samuel Pepys (diary entry, September 2, 1666, the first day of the Great Fire of London)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:44, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:59, 1 September 2007 (UTC) 2 as it stands, but I would rank it a 3 if it were trimmed to the most essential line: "We stayed till, it being darkish, we saw the fire as only one entire arch of fire from this to the other side the bridge, and in a bow up the hill for an arch of above a mile long: it made me weep to see it."
  • 1 Zarbon 21:51, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

There are some surely whom you like and whom you dislike, for whom you entertain esteem and for whom you feel contempt? Have you not thought that you have some duties toward them, that you can aid them in leading better lives? ~ Paul Bourget

  • 3 Kalki 09:07, 2 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 21:51, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:54, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

The forests have taught man liberty. ~ Paul Bourget

  • 3 Kalki 09:07, 2 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 21:51, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:54, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

At certain moments, words are nothing; it is the tone in which they are uttered. ~ Paul Bourget

  • 4 Zarbon 04:57, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:22, 1 September 2009 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 00:24, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:54, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

There is no such thing as an age for love ... because the man capable of loving — in the complex and modern sense of love as a sort of ideal exaltation — never ceases to love. ~ Paul Bourget

  • 2 Zarbon 04:57, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:24, 1 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:54, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

More is given to us than to any people at any time before; and, therefore, more is required of us. We have made, and still are making, enormous advances on material lines. It is necessary that we commensurately advance on moral lines. Civilization, as it progresses, requires a higher conscience, a keener sense of justice, a warmer brotherhood, a wider, loftier, truer public spirit. Falling these, civilization must pass into destruction. It cannot be maintained on the ethics of savagery. ~ Henry George

  • 3 Kalki 14:17, 1 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:12, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

The great work of the present for every man, and every organization of men, who would improve social conditions, is the work of education — the propagation of ideas. It is only as it aids this that anything else can avail. ~ Henry George

  • 3 Kalki 14:17, 1 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 Zarbon 04:12, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Whoever becomes imbued with a noble idea kindles a flame from which other torches are lit, and influences those with whom he comes in contact, be they few or many. How far that influence, thus perpetuated, may extend, it is not given to him here to see. ~ Henry George

  • 3 Kalki 14:17, 1 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:12, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Social reform is not to be secured by noise and shouting; by complaints and denunciation; by the formation of parties, or the making of revolutions; but by the awakening of thought and the progress of ideas. Until there be correct thought, there cannot be right action; and when there is correct thought, right action will follow. Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness. ~ Henry George

  • 3 Kalki 14:17, 1 September 2009 (UTC) with a VERY strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:12, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

To prevent government from becoming corrupt and tyrannous, its organization and methods should be as simple as possible, its functions be restricted to those necessary to the common welfare, and in all its parts it should be kept as close to the people and as directly within their control as may be. ~ Henry George

  • 4 Kalki 14:29, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:12, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

its in rooms like this one with no windows... that we prepare our gestures so that we may best present them frightened in the face of death. -Clarice Starlin "Silence of the Lambs"

2003
There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and dead armadillos. ~ Jim Hightower
2004
I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy. ~ J. D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye
2005
I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence. ~ Frederick Douglass
2006
Your pretended fear lest error should step in, is like the man that would keep all the wine out of the country lest men should be drunk. It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy, to deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it. ~ Oliver Cromwell
2007
A harbor, even if it is a little harbor, is a good thing, since adventurers come into it as well as go out, and the life in it grows strong, because it takes something from the world, and has something to give in return. ~ Sarah Orne Jewett (born 3 September 1849)
2008
The old poets little knew what comfort they could be to a man. ~ Sarah Orne Jewett
2009
Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom, the toiling work-horse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law. Where function does not change form does not change. The granite rocks, the ever brooding hills, remain for ages; the lightning lives, comes into shape, and dies in a twinkling.
It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law. ~ Louis Sullivan (born 3 September 1856)
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Once you learn to read you will be forever free. ~ Frederick Douglass, who boarded a train that day on 1838 on his way to freedom.

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. ~ Frederick Douglass

The thing that teases the mind over and over for years, and at last gets itself put down rightly on paper — whether little or great, it belongs to Literature. ~ Sarah Orne Jewett

  • 3 InvisibleSun 02:43, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:51, 2 September 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 21:53, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2.5 Ningauble 15:51, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

It is not my design to drink or to sleep, but my design is to make what haste I can to be gone. ~ Oliver Cromwell (died 3 September 1658)

  • 3 Kalki 00:45, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 15:29, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:52, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 15:51, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

In the life of each of us ... there is a place remote and islanded, and given to endless regret or secret happiness. ~ Sarah Orne Jewett

  • 3 Kalki 23:58, 2 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:46, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 15:51, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

"Dear robin," said this sad young flower,
"Perhaps you'd not mind trying
To find a nice white frill for me,
 Some day when you are flying?"

"You silly thing!" the robin said;
"I think you must be crazy!
I'd rather be my honest self
Than any made-up daisy.

"You're nicer in your own bright gown,
The little children love you;
Be the best buttercup you can,
And think no flower above you.

"Though swallows leave me out of sight,
We'd better keep our places;
Perhaps the world would all go wrong
With one too many daisies.

"Look bravely up into the sky,
And be content with knowing
That God wished for a buttercup
Just here, where you are growing."
~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~

  • 3 Kalki 20:35, 2 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 04:14, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

The warm sun kissed the earth
To consecrate thy birth,
And from his close embrace
Thy radiant face
Sprang into sight,
A blossoming delight.
~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~

  • 3 Kalki 20:35, 2 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:14, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Your patience may have long to wait,
Whether in little things or great,
But all good luck, you soon will learn,
Must come to those who nobly earn.
Who hunts the hay-field over
Will find the four-leaved clover.
~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~

  • 3 Kalki 20:35, 2 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 Zarbon 04:14, 8 September 2009 (UTC)


2003
Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old. ~ Jonathan Swift
2004
The silence often of pure innocence persuades when speaking fails. ~ William Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale
2005
I think television has betrayed the meaning of democratic speech, adding visual chaos to the confusion of voices. What role does silence have in all this noise? ~ Federico Fellini
  • proposed by MosheZadka for the anniversary of the first transatlantic television broadcast (4 September 1951)
2006
A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand (born 4 September 1768)
2007
Perfect works are rare, because they must be produced at the happy moment when taste and genius unite; and this rare conjuncture, like that of certain planets, appears to occur only after the revolution of several cycles, and only lasts for an instant. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand
2008
An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand
2009
As soon as a true thought has entered our mind, it gives a light which makes us see a crowd of other objects which we have never perceived before. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Memory is often the attribute of stupidity; it generally belongs to heavy spirits whom it makes even heavier by the baggage it loads them down with. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand

  • 3 because memories truly are a heavy burden to carry. Zarbon 15:57, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

One does not learn how to die by killing others. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand

  • 3 because even after killing others, one will find death surprising when it comes for them. Zarbon 15:57, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:30, 1 September 2009 (UTC) 3 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Aristocracy has three successive ages, — the age of superiorities, the age of privileges, and the age of vanities; having passed out of the first, it degenerates in the second, and dies away in the third. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand

  • 2 because the process of degeneration is well described here, ending magnificently with vanities. Zarbon 15:57, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Political criticism is our enemies' best friend. ~ Bernard Kerik

  • 2 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Never tire yourself more than necessary, even if you have to found a culture on the fatigue of your bones. ~ Antonin Artaud

  • 2 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

I myself spent nine years in an insane asylum and I never had the obsession of suicide, but I know that each conversation with a psychiatrist, every morning at the time of his visit, made me want to hang myself, realizing that I would not be able to cut his throat. ~ Antonin Artaud

  • 2 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

With society and its public, there is no longer any other language than that of bombs, barricades, and all that follows. ~ Antonin Artaud

  • 3 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Tragedy on the stage is no longer enough for me, I shall bring it into my own life. ~ Antonin Artaud

  • 2 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

There is in every madman a misunderstood genius whose idea, shining in his head, frightened people, and for whom delirium was the only solution to the strangulation that life had prepared for him. ~ Antonin Artaud

  • 3 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Man, machine and nature should function in artistic harmony. ~ Fritz Todt

  • 3 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

And now you know — the rest of the story. ~ Paul Harvey (born 4 September 1918)

  • 2 Kalki 23:42, 1 March 2009 (UTC) but might rank this a 3 or even a 4 eventually.
  • 1 this lacks context for those who are unfamiliar. - Zarbon 17:49, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon. What we loathe, we graft into our very soul. ~ Mary Renault (DoB)

  • 2.5 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 and lean toward 4. Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

In times like these, it's helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. ~ Paul Harvey (DoB)

  • 3 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
  • This was already used, on 2 March 2009. ~ Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

It's difficult to be rigorous about whether a machine really 'knows', 'thinks', etc., because we're hard put to define these things. We understand human mental processes only slightly better than a fish understands swimming. ~ John McCarthy (DoB)

  • 2.5 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Whenever we write an axiom, a critic can say that the axiom is true only in a certain context. With a little ingenuity the critic can usually devise a more general context in which the precise form of the axiom doesn't hold.... There simply isn't a most general context. ~ John McCarthy (DoB)

  • 2 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Silence, according to western and eastern tradition alike, is necessary for the emergence of persons. It is taken from us by machines that ape people. We could easily be made increasingly dependent on machines for speaking and for thinking, as we are already dependent on machines for moving. ~ Ivan Illich (DoB)

  • 2.5 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)


2003
Most people today still believe, perhaps unconsciously, in the heliocentric universe ... every newspaper in the land has a section on astrology, yet few have anything at all on astronomy. ~ Hannes Alfven
2004
Be silent as to services you have rendered, but speak of favours you have received. ~ Seneca
2005
The role of the Supreme Court is to uphold those claims of individual liberty that it finds are well-founded in the Constitution, and to reject other claims against the government that it concludes are not well-founded. Its role is no more to exclusively uphold the claims of the individual than it is to exclusively uphold the claims of the government: It must hold the constitutional balance true between these claims. ~ William Rehnquist (recent death)
2006
I've probably saved thousands of peoples' lives with my educational message on snake bites — how to get in around venomous anything. Yeah, I'm a thrill seeker — but crikey, education's the most important thing. ~ Steve Irwin (recent death)
2007
The pure, frank sentiments we hold in our hearts are the only truthful sources of art. ... All authentic art is conceived at a sacred moment and nourished in a blessed hour; an inner impulse creates it, often without the artist being aware of it. ~ Caspar David Friedrich (born 4 September 1774)
2008
A planet is the cradle of mind, but one cannot live in a cradle forever. ~ Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky
2009
I must stay alone and know that I am alone to contemplate and feel nature in full; I have to surrender myself to what encircles me, I have to merge with my clouds and rocks in order to be what I am. ~ Caspar David Friedrich
2010

[edit] Suggestions

I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone. ~ Jack Valenti, born this day

There is only one possible route of action, Greenhouse gases have to be radically reduced and it has to happen worldwide. Until now, the US has kept its eyes shut to this emergency. (Americans) make up a mere 4 percent of the population, but are responsible for close to a quarter of emissions. ~ Jürgen Trittin, because of the recent political relevance

  • 3 Lehmann 14:38, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 20:31, 4 September 2007 (UTC) No clear relation to the date, and I feel that more interesting quotes on environmental concerns can be found than this for such dates where there are clear correlations.
  • 1 Zarbon 21:54, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:10, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Man will not always stay on Earth; the pursuit of light and space will lead him to penetrate the bounds of the atmosphere, timidly at first, but in the end to conquer the whole of solar space. ~ Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky

  • 2 Zarbon 05:40, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:10, 4 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 with a VERY strong lean toward 4.

I am going away, but the State will always remain... ~ Louis XIV of France

  • 2 Zarbon 05:40, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:10, 4 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

In a political struggle, never get personal — else the dagger digs too deep. ~ Jack Valenti

  • 3 Zarbon 05:40, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:10, 4 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

I believe the common denominator of the Universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility and murder. ~ Werner Herzog

  • 3 Zarbon 05:40, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:10, 4 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

I think a lot of us share a fear that we and people we love will lose control of our own destinies at the end of life. ~ John Danforth

  • 3 Zarbon 04:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

But the public display of religion is not God. We do not put God in our nation's life by placing the Ten Commandments in courthouses, nor do we evict God by removing the Ten Commandments from public property. God is not portable. Bland prayers, offered as noncontroversial formalities after the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance do little to honor God. ~ John Danforth

  • 4 Zarbon 04:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:54, 4 September 2009 (UTC) 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC) but with a lean toward 2, or perhaps even 3, but only if trimmed to the "The public display of religion is not God. We do not put God in our nation's life by placing the Ten Commandments in courthouses, nor do we evict God by removing the Ten Commandments from public property." (I might agree with the rest of the sentiments he expresses here, but I don't feel they make great material for a QOTD.)

Most of all, faith brings recognition that our quest never leads us to certainty. We are always uncertain, always in doubt that our way is God's way. That self-doubt makes it possible to be reconciled to one another. It is faith that makes the reconciling work of politics possible. ~ John Danforth

  • 3 Zarbon 04:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC) but trimmed to begin at "Faith brings recognition..."

We are seekers of the truth, but we do not embody the truth. And in humility, we should recognize that the same can be said about our most ardent foes. ~ John Danforth

  • 3 Zarbon 04:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

If politics is the art of compromise, certainty is not really politics, for how can one compromise with God's own truth? Reconciliation depends on acknowledging that God's truth is greater than our own, that we cannot reduce it to any political platform we create, no matter how committed we are to that platform, and that God's truth is large enough to accommodate the opinions of all kinds of people, even those with whom we strongly disagree. ~ John Danforth

  • 2 Zarbon 04:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4, but only if trimmed to begin with "Reconciliation depends..."

The old adage that polite conversation should not include talk of politics or religion is understandable because both subjects are so heavily laden with emotion that discussion can quickly turn to shouting. Blood is shed over politics, religion and the two in combination. ~ John Danforth

  • 3 Zarbon 18:11, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

It is concern that precedes and inspires agendas, and survives when agendas fail, and it causes us to try again, always trying our best, never certain about our own judgment. It is knowing that God's purpose exceeds whatever we can put in an agenda. ~ John Danforth

  • 2 Zarbon 18:11, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Plenty of kind, decent, caring people have no religious beliefs, and they act out of the goodness of their hearts. Conversely, plenty of people who profess to be religious, even those who worship regularly, show no particular interest in the world beyond themselves. ~ John Danforth

  • 3 Zarbon 18:11, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

The starting point is the recognition that throughout history, religion has been a cause of bloodshed, and it remains so today. Because religion has contributed to the world's problems, it must develop specific and practical ways to help solve those problems. ~ John Danforth

  • 3 Zarbon 18:11, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC) but either trimmed or extended to eliminate ambiguity as to the context of "the starting point".

We have a God-given commission, but it is not a commission to be self-righteous know-it-alls- quite the contrary. Our work in God's world begins with the acknowledgment that we are not God, and that our most bitter rivals are made in God's image. ~ John Danforth

  • 3 Zarbon 18:11, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.

The Senate is indeed a deliberative body, and that quality serves the nation well. A slow-moving government helps us maintain a stable government. But slow moving is not the same as immobile. ~ John Danforth

  • 2 Zarbon 18:11, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that one. ~ Black Elk (Crazy Horse died on this date in 1877; his birth date is unknown)

  • suggested by IP 200.203.55.240
  • 3 Kalki 16:09, 4 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:21, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

The artist should not only paint what he sees before him, but also what he sees in himself. If, however, he sees nothing within him, then he should also refrain from painting what he sees before him. Otherwise his pictures will be like those folding screens behind which one expects to find only the sick or the dead. ~ Caspar David Friedrich

  • 3 Kalki 16:57, 4 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 04:21, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

The divine is everywhere, even in a grain of sand... ~ Caspar David Friedrich

  • 3 Kalki 16:57, 4 September 2009 (UTC) with a VERY strong lean toward 4.
  • 1 with lean toward 2. Zarbon 04:21, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Close your bodily eye, so that you may see your picture first with the spiritual eye. Then bring to the light of day that which you have seen in the darkness so that it may react upon others from the outside inwards. A picture must not be invented but felt. Observe the form exactly, both the smallest and the large and do not separate the small from the large, but rather the trivial from the important. ~ Caspar David Friedrich

  • 3 Kalki 18:23, 4 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:21, 8 September 2009 (UTC)


2004
In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood. ~ Henry David Thoreau
2005
No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt. ~ Robert M. Pirsig
2006
My personal feeling is that this is how any further improvement of the world will be done: by individuals making Quality decisions and that's all. ~ Robert M. Pirsig
2007
Opinions are not to be learned by rote, like the letters of an alphabet, or the words of a dictionary. They are conclusions to be formed, and formed by each individual in the sacred and free citadel of the mind, and there enshrined beyond the arm of law to reach, or force to shake. ~ Frances Wright (born September 6, 1795)
2008
When a shepherd goes to kill a wolf, and takes his dog to see the sport, he should take care to avoid mistakes. The dog has certain relationships to the wolf the shepherd may have forgotten. ~ Robert M. Pirsig
2009
I saw a rainbow earlier today
Lately those rainbows be comin' round like everyday
Deep in the struggle I have found the beauty of me
God is watchin' and the Devil finally let me be.
Here in this moment to myself.
~ Macy Gray ~
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Why, for example, should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to organize themselves into a professor of chemistry? What's the motive? ~ Robert M. Pirsig, born this day.

Trials never end, of course. Unhappiness and misfortune are bound to occur as long as people live, but there is a feeling now, that was not here before, and is not just on the surface of things, but penetrates all the way through: We've won it. It's going to get better now. You can sort of tell these things. ~ Robert M. Pirsig

  • 3 Kalki 21:52, 5 September 2005 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:46, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 21:57, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Women, wherever placed, however high or low in the scale of cultivation, hold the destinies of human kind. Men will ever rise or fall to the level of the other sex. ~ Frances Wright

  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:46, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:00, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 21:57, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Your spiritual teachers caution you against enquiry — tell you not to read certain books; not to listen to certain people; to beware of profane learning; to submit your reason, and to receive their doctrines for truths. Such advice renders them suspicious counsellors. By their own creed you hold your reason from their God. Go! ask them why he gave it. ~ Frances Wright

  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:46, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:00, 6 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 21:57, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I try to say goodbye and I choke
Try to walk away and I stumble
Though I try to hide it, it's clear
My world crumbles when you are not here
~ Macy Gray ~

  • 3 Kalki 23:11, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:21, 8 September 2009 (UTC)


2004
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
2005
I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it. ~ Edith Sitwell (born 7 September 1887)
2006
Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd. ~ Edith Sitwell (born 7 September 1887)
2007
Why not be oneself? That is the whole secret of a successful appearance. If one is a greyhound, why try to look like a Pekingese?. ~ Edith Sitwell (date of birth)
2008
The more bombers, the less room for doves of peace. ~ Nikita Khrushchev
2009
I have written my life in small sketches, a little today, a little yesterday, as I have thought of it, as I remember all the things from childhood on through the years, good ones, and unpleasant ones, that is how they come out and that is how we have to take them.
I look back on my life like a good day's work, it was done and I am satisfied with it. I was happy and contented, I knew nothing better and made the best out of what life offered. And life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. ~ Grandma Moses
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Brass shines as fair to the ignorant as gold to the goldsmiths. ~ Elizabeth I of England (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:50, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 21:59, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

God may forgive you, but I never can. ~ Elizabeth I of England (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:50, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 21:59, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty... But I am too busy thinking about myself. ~ Edith Sitwell (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:50, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 21:59, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

A wise man distrusts his neighbor. A wiser man distrusts both his neighbor and himself. The wisest man of all distrusts his government. ~ Taylor Caldwell

  • 3 Zarbon 06:50, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:56, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

I'll get an inspiration and start painting; then I'll forget everything, everything except how things used to be and how to paint it so people will know how we used to live. ~ Grandma Moses

  • 3 Kalki 23:29, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:23, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

My poems are hymns of praise to the glory of life. ~ Edith Sitwell

  • 3 Kalki 15:58, 6 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 and lean toward 2. - Zarbon 04:23, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Within your magic web of hair, lies furled
The fire and splendour of the ancient world;
The dire gold of the comet's wind-blown hair;
The songs that turned to gold the evening air
When all the stars of heaven sang for joy.
~ Edith Sitwell

  • 3 Kalki 15:58, 6 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 04:23, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

As for the usefulness of poetry, its uses are many. It is the deification of reality. It should make our days holy to us. The poet should speak to all men, for a moment, of that other life of theirs that they have smothered and forgotten. ~ Edith Sitwell

  • 3 Kalki 15:58, 6 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:23, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

It is a part of the poet's work to show each man what he sees but does not know he sees. ~ Edith Sitwell

  • 3 Kalki 15:58, 6 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 Zarbon 04:23, 8 September 2009 (UTC)


2003
Dare to be naïve. ~ Buckminster Fuller
2004
I like not only to be loved, but also to be told that I am loved. I am not sure that you are of the same mind. But the realm of silence is large enough beyond the grave. This is the world of light and speech, and I shall take leave to tell you that you are very dear. ~ George Eliot
2005
Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth can give. ~ David O. McKay, (born 8 September 1873)
2006
Some forms of reality are so horrible we refuse to face them, unless we are trapped into it by comedy. To label any subject unsuitable for comedy is to admit defeat. ~ Peter Sellers
2007
I'm not a politician, I'm a musician. I care about giving people a place where they can go to enjoy themselves and to begin to live again. To the man you have to give the spirit, and when you give him the spirit, you have done everything. ~ Luciano Pavarotti (recent death)
2008
Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land,
Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
In the great hour of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.
~ Siegfried Sassoon (born September 8, 1886)
2009
What voice revisits me this night? What face
To my heart’s room returns?
From the perpetual silence where the grace
Of human sainthood burns
Hastes he once more to harmonise and heal?
I know not. Only I feel
His influence undiminished
And his life’s work, in me and many, unfinished.
~ Siegfried Sassoon ~
2010

[edit] Suggestions

There is no me. I do not exist. There used to be a me but I had it surgically removed. ~ Peter Sellers (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:23, 6 September 2009 (UTC) 2 Kalki 16:28, 7 September 2005 (UTC) I would rank this at least a 3 normally, but it is not sourced and there are several variants, thus the accuracy of any of them is in doubt. with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 15:39, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:02, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

You have to live before you die, or you'll die before you live. ~ Peter Sellers (date of birth)

  • 0 Kalki 20:49, 7 September 2009 (UTC) * 2 Kalki 16:28, 7 September 2005 (UTC) I would rank this higher, with a 3, or even a 4, but it is not sourced, and I have not yet found much to go on definitely tying it or anything like it to Sellers.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 15:39, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 22:02, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I like to watch. ~ Peter Sellers as "Chance" in Being There (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 16:28, 7 September 2005 (UTC) with a lean toward 4
  • 2 InvisibleSun 15:39, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:02, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh, he tells me tears are something to hide
And something to fear
And I try so hard to keep it inside
So no one can hear.

"Hush, hush, keep it down now.
Voices carry."

~ Aimee Mann ~

  • 3 Kalki 14:47, 7 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 22:02, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle! ~ Peter Sellers

  • 2 Kalki 23:23, 6 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3, and perhaps an eventual 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 04:24, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

I look in your eyes
I realize what you've sold me
is love in a vacuum.
Love in a vacuum.
~ Aimee Mann ~

  • 3 Kalki 20:59, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:24, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Little tornado
You and the hurricane
Close your eyes and go campaign
Make it go faster
Baby go faster
Make it go twice the speed of you and me
~ Aimee Mann ~

  • 3 Kalki 20:59, 7 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:24, 8 September 2009 (UTC)


2003
What's another word for Thesaurus? ~ Steven Wright
2004
The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first; Be not discouraged — keep on — there are divine things, well envelop'd; I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell. ~ Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass
2005
Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. ~ Leo Tolstoy (born 9 September 1828)
2006
Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen. ~ Leo Tolstoy (born 9 September 1828)
2007
You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself. What you say is completely up to you. ~ Madeleine L'Engle (recent death)
2008
Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here. ~ Leo Tolstoy
2009
All men live not by the thought they spend on their own welfare, but because love exists in man.
I knew before that God gave life to men and desires that they should live; now I understood more than that.
I understood that God does not wish men to live apart, and therefore he does not reveal to them what each one needs for himself; but he wishes them to live united, and therefore reveals to each of them what is necessary for all.
I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love, is in God, and God is in him, for God is love. ~ Leo Tolstoy
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. ~ Mao Zedong, died this day

  • 3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 13:59, 1 August 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 17:46, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 4 because protection by police force and military force is not uncommon and it is truly beautiful in its stature, an enigmatic symbol of political power, something I highly respect with all my being. Zarbon 22:04, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Lyle Enigmatic? This quote should be moved to Mao's birth date. 17:04, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:37, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Error is the force that welds men together; truth is communicated to men only by deeds of truth. ~ Leo Tolstoy

  • 3 InvisibleSun 02:43, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:46, 9 September 2007 (UTC) I believe that i understand the statement, and like it, but the first portion of it can be confusing; I am not sure this would be the best translation that is available.
  • 2 Zarbon 22:04, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience. ~ Leo Tolstoy

  • 3 Kalki 23:35, 8 September 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 8 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 13:54, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him. ~ Leo Tolstoy

  • 3 Kalki 04:29, 24 October 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

The law of love is in accord with the nature of man. But men can only recognize this truth to its full extent when they have completely freed themselves from all religious and scientific superstitions and from all the consequent misrepresentations and sophistical distortions by which its recognition has been hindered for centuries. ~ Leo Tolstoy

  • 3 Kalki 04:29, 24 October 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.

As soon as men live entirely in accord with the law of love natural to their hearts and now revealed to them, which excludes all resistance by violence, and therefore hold aloof from all participation in violence — as soon as this happens, not only will hundreds be unable to enslave millions, but not even millions will be able to enslave a single individual. ~ Leo Tolstoy

  • 3 Kalki 04:29, 24 October 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.

One thing only is needful: the knowledge of the simple and clear truth which finds place in every soul that is not stupefied by religious and scientific superstitions — the truth that for our life one law is valid — the law of love, which brings the highest happiness to every individual as well as to all mankind. Free your minds from those overgrown, mountainous imbecilities which hinder your recognition of it, and at once the truth will emerge from amid the pseudo-religious nonsense that has been smothering it: the indubitable, eternal truth inherent in man, which is one and the same in all the great religions of the world. It will in due time emerge and make its way to general recognition, and the nonsense that has obscured it will disappear of itself, and with it will go the evil from which humanity now suffers. ~ Leo Tolstoy

  • 4 Kalki 04:29, 24 October 2009 (UTC)


2003
It is now possible for a flight attendant to get a pilot pregnant. ~ Richard Ferris
2004
He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows, nor judge all he sees. ~ Benjamin Franklin
2005
I strongly reject any conceptual scheme that places our options on a line, and holds that the only alternative to a pair of extreme positions lies somewhere between them. More fruitful perspectives often require that we step off the line to a site outside the dichotomy. ~ Stephen Jay Gould (born 10 September 1941)
2006
Organisms are not billiard balls, propelled by simple and measurable external forces to predictable new positions on life's pool table. Sufficiently complex systems have greater richness. Organisms have a history that constrains their future in myriad, subtle ways. ~ Stephen Jay Gould (born 10 September 1941)
2007
The river of truth is always splitting up into arms that reunite. Islanded between them, the inhabitants argue for a lifetime as to which is the mainstream. ~ Cyril Connolly (born 10 September 1903)
  • Loosely sourced variant originally proposed by Kalki, correctly sourced version from a published edition of The Unquiet Grave (1944) proposed by InvisibleSun
2008
Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. ~ Cyril Connolly
2009
It is the man of science, eager to have his every opinion regenerated, his every idea rationalized, by drinking at the fountain of fact, and devoting all the energies of his life to the cult of truth, not as he understands it, but as he does not yet understand it, that ought properly to be called a philosopher. ~ Charles Sanders Peirce
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Evolutionists make no claim for perpetual truth, though creationists often do (and then attack us for a style of argument that they themselves favor). In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms. ~ Stephen Jay Gould (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 16:34, 30 August 2005 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 02:30, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Each of the major sciences has contributed an essential ingredient in our long retreat from an initial belief in our own cosmic importance. Astronomy defined our home as a small planet tucked away in one corner of an average galaxy among millions; biology took away our status as paragons created in the image of God; geology gave us the immensity of time and taught us how little of it our own species has occupied. ~ Stephen Jay Gould (born 10 September 1941)

  • 3 Kalki 16:34, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 02:30, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

We inhabit a complex world. Some boundaries are sharp and permit clean and definite distinctions. But nature also includes continua that cannot be neatly parceled into two piles of unambiguous yeses and noes. Biologists have rejected, as fatally flawed in principle, all attempts by anti-abortionists to define an unambiguous 'beginning of life,' because we know so well that the sequence from ovulation or spermatogenesis to birth is an unbreakable continuum—and surely no one will define masturbation as murder. ~ Stephen Jay Gould (born 10 September 1941)

  • 3 Kalki 16:34, 30 August 2005 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 02:30, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 because I'm not too fond of seeing a quote dealing with masturbation as QOTD. But the message is rather understandable. Zarbon 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

We fear something before we hate; a child who fears noises becomes the man who hates them. ~ Cyril Connolly (born September 10, 1903)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 02:30, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:54, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is very true. And as Yoda of Star Wars described it so well, fear leads to the dark side, something I find exquisitely full of moral worth. Zarbon 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

'Dry again?' said the Crab to the Rock-Pool. 'So would you be,' replied the Rock-Pool, 'if you had to satisfy, twice a day, the insatiable sea.' ~ Cyril Connolly

  • 3 InvisibleSun 02:30, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:54, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

A stone lies in a river; a piece of wood is jammed against it; dead leaves, drifting logs, and branches caked with mud collect; weeds settle there, and soon birds have made a nest and are feeding their young among the blossoming water plants. Then the river rises and the earth is washed away. The birds depart, the flowers wither, the branches are dislodged and drift downward; no trace is left of the floating island but a stone submerged by the water; — such is our personality. ~ Cyril Connolly

  • 4 InvisibleSun 02:30, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:54, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

We live in an essential and unresolvable tension between our unity with nature and our dangerous uniqueness. Systems that attempt to place and make sense of us by focusing exclusively either on the uniqueness or the unity are doomed to failure. But we must not stop asking and questing because the answers are complex and ambiguous. ~ Stephen Jay Gould (born 10 September 1941)

  • 3 Kalki 12:14, 10 September 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:41, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

It is after creation, in the elation of success, or the gloom of failure, that love becomes essential. ~ Cyril Connolly (born 10 September 1903)

  • 3 Kalki 12:14, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:41, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

No city should be too large for a man to walk out of in a morning. ~ Cyril Connolly (born 10 September 1903)

  • 3 Kalki 12:14, 10 September 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:41, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it's hard to write. But it's harder not to. ~ Carl Van Doren

  • 2 Zarbon 19:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:21, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

The tree of liberty only grows when watered by the blood of tyrants. ~ Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac

  • 2 Zarbon 19:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:21, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

It is only the dead who do not return. ~ Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac

  • 2 Zarbon 19:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:21, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

I carry on in my own narrow little tunnel and we have very different experiences of life even though we live together. ~ Siobhan Fahey

  • 2 Zarbon 19:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:21, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

The idea does not belong to the soul; it is the soul that belongs to the idea. ~ Charles Peirce

  • 2 Zarbon 19:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:21, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

Let us not pretend to doubt in philosophy what we do not doubt in our hearts. ~ Charles Peirce

  • 2 Zarbon 19:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:21, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

History, as well as life itself, is complicated; neither life nor history is an enterprise for those who seek simplicity and consistency. ~ Jared Diamond

  • 2 Zarbon 19:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:21, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Between too early and too late, there is never more than a moment. ~ Franz Werfel

  • 4 because every moment makes a difference. Zarbon 19:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:21, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3, or perhaps an eventual 4.

For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe, no explanation is possible. ~ Franz Werfel

  • 3 Zarbon 19:15, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:21, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

The entire universe is perfused with signs, if it is not composed exclusively of signs. ~ Charles Peirce

  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

You'd better hope and pray
That you make it safe back to your own world
You'd better hope and pray
That you'll wake one day in your own world
Because when you sleep at night
They don't hear your cries in your own world
Only time will tell
If you can break the spell back in your own world
~ Siobhan Fahey ~

  • 3 Kalki 23:11, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

If this world is wearing thin
And you're thinking of escape
I'll go anywhere with you
Just wrap me up in chains
But if you try to go alone
Don't think I'll understand

(Stay) Stay with me
~ Siobhan Fahey ~

  • 3 Kalki 23:11, 9 September 2009 (UTC)


2003
Never burn a penny candle looking for a halfpenny. ~ Irish proverb
2004
Only tragedy allows the release of love and grief never normally seen. ~ Kate Bush
2005
September 11 was, and remains, above all an immense human tragedy. But September 11 also posed a momentous and deliberate challenge not just to America but to the world at large. The target of the terrorists was not only New York and Washington but the very values of freedom, tolerance and decency which underpin our way of life. ~ Tony Blair
2006
On September 11 — what happened? Picture this: two upended matchboxes, knocked over by the sheer force of paper-darts.
Only it was much, much worse than that. In fact, words alone cannot adduce how much worse it was than that. September 11 was an attack on words: we felt a general deficit. ~ Martin Amis
2007
Our best destiny, as planetary cohabitants, is the development of what has been called "species consciousness" — something over and above nationalisms, blocs, religions, ethnicities ... I have been trying to apply such a consciousness, and such a sensibility. Thinking of the victims, the perpetrators, and the near future, I felt species grief, then species shame, then species fear. ~ Martin Amis on the terrorist attacks of 11th September 2001
2008
Although September 11 was horrible, it didn't threaten the survival of the human race, like nuclear weapons do. ... I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars. ~ Stephen Hawking
2009
On September 11, 2001, the world fractured. It's beyond my skill as a writer to capture that day, and the days that would follow — the planes, like specters, vanishing into steel and glass; the slow-motion cascade of the towers crumbling into themselves; the ash-covered figures wandering the streets; the anguish and the fear. Nor do I pretend to understand the stark nihilism that drove the terrorists that day and that drives their brethren still. My powers of empathy, my ability to reach into another's heart, cannot penetrate the blank stares of those who would murder innocents with abstract, serene satisfaction. ~ Barack Obama
2010

[edit] Suggestions

This enemy attacked not just our people, but all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world. The United States of America will use all our resources to conquer this enemy. We will rally the world. We will be patient, we will be focused, and we will be steadfast in our determination.... we will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms. ~ George W. Bush

  • 2 3~ Kalki 21:08, 9 September 2005 (UTC) there remains a mixture of validity and irony in this statement, but I am less inclined than previously to use it, because the ironies clearly have become stronger. ~ Kalki 15:16, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 User:Warrior-Poet 10 September, 2005 10:25(CST)
  • 1 hydnjo talk 13:20, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 ~ Jeff Q (talk) 14:27, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 17:00, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 22:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly. Stupid maybe, but not cowardly. - Bill Maher on calling the terrorists cowards.

  • This unsigned proposal was made by Bagman369 (talk · contributions)
  • 1 Kalki 23:11, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 Putting things into context, if the Americans in the Revolution had done the same in order to win, we would be celebrating their Bravery --JayStander 02:34, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Men! The only animal in the world to fear! ~ D. H. Lawrence (born 11 September 1885, and a somewhat relevant statement in regard to 11 September 2001)

  • 2 Kalki 00:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. ~ D. H. Lawrence (born 11 September 1885, and a somewhat relevant statement in regard to 11 September 2001)

  • 3 Kalki 00:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The magnificent here and now of life in the flesh is ours, and ours alone, and ours only for a time. We ought to dance with rapture that we should be alive and in the flesh, and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. My soul knows that I am part of the human race, my soul is an organic part of the great human soul, as my spirit is part of my nation. In my own very self, I am part of my family. There is nothing of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surface of the waters. ~ D. H. Lawrence (born 11 September 1885, and a somewhat relevant statement in regard to 11 September 2001)

  • 3 Kalki 00:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 22:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Not very long ago some one invented the assertion that there were only "Four Hundred" people in New York City who were really worth noticing. But a wiser man has arisen — the census taker — and his larger estimate of human interest has been preferred in marking out the field of these little stories of the "Four Million. ~ O. Henry (born 11 September 1862, and a somewhat relevant statement in regard to 11 September 2001)

  • 3 Kalki 00:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 22:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I was reminded as I was reviewing my life, that I have been in too many conflicts, too many wars, political battles, military battles, civil strifes in government. And always one lesson stands out and that is, those whom you fight most passionately often turn out to be your best friends. ~ Ferdinand Marcos (born September 11)

  • 3 because fighting for the sake of fighting alone is a waste. Zarbon 04:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 22:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Leadership is the other side of the coin of loneliness, and he who is a leader must always act alone. And in acting alone, accept everything alone. ~ Ferdinand Marcos (born September 11)

  • 3 because it takes courage to assume responsibility. Zarbon 04:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Palace of Crystal - Page 113 by Harry Davis - Political Science - 2007
  • 1 Kalki 22:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 2.

There are many things we do not want in this world. Let us not just mourn them; let us change them. ~ Ferdinand Marcos (born September 11)

  • 3 because talking alone will not solve problems, actions sometimes speak louder than words. Zarbon 04:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 22:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 2.

We cannot and we will not negotiate with terrorists. We have nothing but contempt for them. To conciliate differences with these people without them changing their objectives is to condemn our Republic to ultimate strangulation and death. ~ Ferdinand Marcos (born September 11)

  • 3 because a battle against terrorism is one that the entire planet is fighting. Zarbon 04:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Terrorism has no motherland and terrorists have no nationality. ~ Karen Demirchyan

  • 4 because a terrorist has no loyalty to any land and absolutely no loyalty to any people. Zarbon 04:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: BBC Archive - NewsBank - Oct 20, 1999
  • 1 because when I read the quote I get the sense that it can too easily be taken multiple ways. It can be saying that terrorists are people who fight only for themselves and their own greed, which I think is the speaker being a bit presumptuous or it can mean that terrorists are not all fighting for one country or one cause insinuating that fighting one country or cause won't get rid of them. --JayStander 07:54, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
    • Well, that's not what he's saying at all. Just to clear it up, the quotation is referring to how the act of terrorism belongs to no race and it automatically expels one from any living norms. Basically, it goes against terrorism in that it degrades the very being of a terrorist, to specify them by their actions and not their nationality, and insofar, degrade them heavily. It is definitely anti-terrorism. Zarbon 04:17, 8 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

We don't know when this madness will end but I do know that god is speaking. I have to believe that in my heart, and I have to know that god will use even this tragedy, to shake up the world. ~ Unknown, (quoted from a video on 9/11)

—This unsigned comment is by 203.219.12.141 (talk • contribs) .
  • 1 Kalki 22:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC) Needs better sourcing
  • 2 Zarbon 22:04, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

The attacks of September 11 were intended to break our spirit, instead we have emerged stronger and more unified. We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than every to live our lives in freedom. ~ Rudy Giuliani

  • 3 Kalki 13:42, 5 April 2009 (UTC) * 4 Kalki 22:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 22:04, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

We have entered the third millennium through a gate of fire. If today, after the horror of 11 September, we see better, and we see further — we will realize that humanity is indivisible. New threats make no distinction between races, nations or regions. A new insecurity has entered every mind, regardless of wealth or status. A deeper awareness of the bonds that bind us all — in pain as in prosperity — has gripped young and old.
In the early beginnings of the 21st century — a century already violently disabused of any hopes that progress towards global peace and prosperity is inevitable — this new reality can no longer be ignored. It must be confronted. ~ Kofi Annan

  • 4 Kalki 13:42, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 17:52, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

A story with a moral appended is like the bill of a mosquito. It bores you, and then injects a stinging drop to irritate your conscience. ~ O. Henry

  • 2.5 Ningauble 00:26, 20 July 2009 (UTC) (with apologies for nominating a pun)
  • 2 Zarbon 17:52, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:49, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm not afraid of loving my enemies
Turning the other cheek
Blessing those that would curse me
I honestly want peace with you
But when you come against my country
When you come against my family
You try to destroy my people
I can't just stand by
There's no way that I can stand by
This time, I will not stand by
I am coming, and if I come, then pain is coming with me
I'm coming, and pain will be with me
~ Kevin Young, frontman of the band Disciple


2003
Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true. ~ Niels Bohr
2004
The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition. ~ Carl Sagan
2005
The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of the truth — that error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it has been cured of one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one. ~ H. L. Mencken (born 12 September 1880)
2006
When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either. ~ Jesse Owens (born 12 September 1913)
2007
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed, and are right... The United States has never developed an aristocracy really disinterested or an intelligentsia really intelligent. Its history is simply a record of vacillations between two gangs of frauds. ~ H. L. Mencken (born 12 September 1880)
2008
If man had more of a sense of humor, things might have turned out differently. ~ Stanisław Lem (born 12 September 1921)
2009
You climb to reach the summit, but once there, discover that all roads lead down. ~ Stanisław Lem
2010

Quotations of people born on this date already used elsewhere:

  • Explanations exist; they have existed for all times, for there is always an easy solution to every human problems — neat, plausible, and wrong. ~ H. L. Mencken (used on 17 May 2004)
  • One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly more intelligent. ~ H. L. Mencken (used 20 August 2004)
  • Good books tell the truth, even when they're about things that never have been and never will be. They're truthful in a different way. ~ Stanisław Lem (used 29 March 2006)

[edit] Suggestions

Dalton McGuinty. He's an evil reptilian kitten eater from another planet. (sorry) ~ Ontario Progressive Conservative Party (from a press release, released this day)

  • 3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 19:11, 1 August 2005 (UTC)
  • 1. Quite funny but not really very thought-provoking. David | Talk 23:43, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 00:33, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:23, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Why assume so glibly that the God who presumably created the universe is still running it? It is certainly perfectly conceivable that He may have finished it and then turned it over to lesser gods to operate. In the same way many human institutions are turned over to grossly inferior men. This is true, for example, of most universities, and of all great newspapers.. ~ H. L. Mencken (born 12 September 1880)

  • 3 Kalki 21:02, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:33, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:23, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. ~ H. L. Mencken (born 12 September 1880)

  • 3 Kalki 21:02, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:33, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:23, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

People say that it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse, but what was I supposed to do? I had four gold medals, but you can't eat four gold medals. There was no television, no big advertising, no endorsements then. Not for a black man, anyway. ~ Jesse Owens (born 12 September 1913)

  • 3 Kalki 09:42, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 00:33, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:23, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

It all goes so fast, and character makes the difference when it's close. ~ Jesse Owens (born 12 September 1913)

  • 3 Kalki 08:51, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:32, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:23, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself — the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us — that's where it's at. ~ Jesse Owens (born 12 September 1913)

  • 3 Kalki 08:51, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:32, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:23, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

It is fortunate that each generation does not comprehend its own ignorance. We are thus enabled to call our ancestors barbarous. ~ Charles Dudley Warner

  • 3 Zarbon 19:27, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:44, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:58, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Let us celebrate the soil. Most men toil that they may own a piece of it; they measure their success in life by their ability to buy it. ~ Charles Dudley Warner

  • 3 Zarbon 19:27, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:44, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:58, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
2004
He, who will not reason, is a bigot; he, who cannot, is a fool; and he, who dares not, is a slave. ~ William Drummond
2005
Miss Manners does not mind explaining the finer points of gracious living, but she feels that anyone without the sense to pick up a potato chip and stuff it in their face should probably not be running around loose on the streets. ~ Judith Martin, widely known as "Miss Manners" (born 13 September 1938)
2006
What I need is a good defense
'Cause I'm feeling like a criminal
And I need to be redeemed
To the one I've sinned against
Because he's all I ever knew of love.
~ Fiona Apple ~ (born 13 September 1977)
2007
Worldly renown is naught but a breath of wind, which now comes this way and now comes that, and changes name because it changes quarter. ~ Dante Alighieri (died 13 or 14 September 1321)
2008
Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it. ~ Roald Dahl
2009
By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent,
And what to those we give, to Jove is lent.
~ Alexander Pope,
in his interpretation of
The Odyssey by Homer
  • proposed by Kalki (in relation to the legendary date of the dedication of the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill on the ides of September, 13 September 509 BC)
2010

[edit] Suggestions

It is very difficult to phone people in China, Mr. President, the country is so full of Wings and Wongs, every time you wing you get the wong number. ~ Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, RD was born this day.

Jupiter, not wanting man's life to be wholly gloomy and grim, has bestowed far more passion than reason — you could reckon the ration as twenty-four to one. Moreover, he confined reason to a cramped corner of the head and left all the rest of the body to the passions. ~ Desiderius Erasmus (The temple of Jupiter on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September, 13 September 509 BC)

  • 3 Kalki 10:48, 10 September 2006 (UTC) briefly ranked this a 4 in 2009, but kept options open for any better quotes on Jupiter or the temple, which I eventually found.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 00:38, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:27, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Love, which absolves no beloved one from loving, seized me so strongly with his charm that, as thous seest, it does not leave me yet. ~ Dante Alighieri (died 13 or 14 September 1321)

  • 3 Kalki 10:48, 10 September 2006 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:38, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:27, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

A speech is entertaining only when serenely detached from all information. ~ Henry Fountain Ashurst (born September 13, 1874)

—This unsigned comment is by Allen3 (talk • contribs) .
  • 2 Kalki 00:06, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:27, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

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. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent? ~ Richard Feynman

  • 3 Kalki 20:29, 12 September 2009 (UTC) in relation to the Temple of Jupiter. I might eventually rank this higher, but most of it has previously been used as a quote of the day.

To the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-bas'd promontory
Have I made shake, and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar. Graves at my command,
Have wak'd their sleepers, op'd, and let 'em forth,
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure; and, when I have requir'd
Some heavenly music — which even now I do, —
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And, deeper than did ever plummet sound,
I'll drown my book.
~ William Shakespeare in The Tempest ~

  • 3 Kalki 20:29, 12 September 2009 (UTC) in relation to the Temple of Jupiter.

Your entire universe will not be enough to make me guilty. You are the king of the Gods, Jupiter, the king of the stones and of the stars, the king of the waves of the sea. But you are not the king of men. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre

  • 3 Kalki 20:29, 12 September 2009 (UTC) in relation to the Temple of Jupiter.

Ask me no more where Jove bestows,
When June is past, the fading rose;
For in your beauties, orient deep
These flow'rs, as in their causes, steep.
~ Thomas Carew ~

  • 3 Kalki 20:29, 12 September 2009 (UTC) in relation to the Temple of Jupiter.

ZEUS, n. The chief of Grecian gods, adored by the Romans as Jupiter and by the modern Americans as God, Gold, Mob and Dog. Some explorers who have touched upon the shores of America, and one who professes to have penetrated a considerable distance to the interior, have thought that these four names stand for as many distinct deities, but in his monumental work on Surviving Faiths, Frumpp insists that the natives are monotheists, each having no other god than himself, whom he worships under many sacred names. ~ Ambrose Bierce

  • 3 Kalki 20:29, 12 September 2009 (UTC) in relation to the Temple of Jupiter.

Where is the key that locked these gates of speech,
Once beautiful, where thought stood sentinel,
Where sweetness sat, where wisdom passed, to teach
Our weakness strength, our homage to compel?

Despoiled at last, and waste and barren lies
This once so rich domain. Where lives and moves,
In what new world, the splendor of these eyes
That dauntless lightened like imperial Jove's?
~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~

  • 3 Kalki 00:20, 13 September 2009 (UTC) in relation to the Temple of Jupiter.

Something there is more immortal even than the stars,
(Many the burials, many the days and nights, passing away,)
Something that shall endure longer even than lustrous Jupiter
Longer than sun or any revolving satellite,
Or the radiant sisters the Pleiades.
~ Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass ~

  • 3 Kalki 17:29, 13 September 2009 (UTC) in relation to the Temple of Jupiter, with a very strong lean toward 4.


2004
We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are. ~ Anaïs Nin
2005
I've had enough of breakdowns and diagrams — judging from picture books, apparently Heaven is a partly cloudy place. ~ Jenny Lewis, "Don't Deconstruct"
  • proposed by IP 69.3.198.42 ("Pacian")
2006
The acceptance of the principle of international cooperation is of immense importance for all states. Even the states which are most tempted to believe that they can stand by themselves have very much to gain by such cooperation. And for the smaller states — the weaker states — it is vital to all their hopes of liberty and justice. ~ Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (born 14 September 1864)
2007
The vast majority of the peoples of the world are against war and against aggression. If they make their wishes known and effective, war can be stopped. It all depends on whether they are willing to make the effort necessary for the purpose. For, that it will require an effort, no one who considers the history of the world on these subjects can doubt. ~ Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood
2008
Patriotism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country’s virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest," but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is. ~ Sydney J. Harris
2009
The difference between faith and superstition is that the first uses reason to go as far as it can, and then makes the jump; the second shuns reason entirely — which is why superstition is not the ally, but the enemy, of true religion. ~ Sydney J. Harris
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Mankind will possess incalculable advantages and extraordinary control over human behavior when the scientific investigator will be able to subject his fellow men to the same external analysis he would employ for any natural object, and when the human mind will contemplate itself not from within but from without. – Ivan Pavlov (born September 14, 1849)

  • 3. David | Talk 20:23, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 00:43, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:28, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:52, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The old phrase, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people", represents a true ideal. It is best for the people as a whole. It is even more clearly the best for the development of the individual man and woman. And since in the end, the character and the prosperity of the nation depend on the character of the individuals that compose it, the form of government which best promotes individual development is the best for the people as a whole. ~ Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood

  • 3 Kalki 04:15, 14 September 2007 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 22:52, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Our imagination is struck only by what is great; but the lover of natural philosophy should reflect equally on little things. ~ Alexander von Humboldt

  • 2 Zarbon 19:55, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take away with us. ~ Alexander von Humboldt

  • 2 Zarbon 19:55, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run. ~ Sydney J. Harris

  • 2 Zarbon 19:55, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.

The principal difference between love and hate is that love is an irradiation, and hate is a concentration. Love makes everything lovely; hate concentrates itself on the object of its hatred. ~ Sydney J. Harris

  • 2 Zarbon 19:55, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:53, 13 September 2009 (UTC) * 4 Kalki 23:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war. ~ Sydney J. Harris

  • 3 Zarbon 19:55, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

The beauty of "spacing" children many years apart lies in the fact that parents have time to learn the mistakes that were made with the older ones—which permits them to make exactly the opposite mistakes with the younger ones. ~ Sydney J. Harris

  • 2 for comedic value. Zarbon 19:55, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason. ~ Sydney J. Harris

  • 3 Kalki 00:40, 14 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.


2003
Our chiefs said 'Done,' and I did not deem it;
Our seers said 'Peace,' and it was not peace;
Earth will grow worse till men redeem it,
And wars more evil, ere all wars cease.
~ "A Song of Defeat" by Gilbert Keith Chesterton ~
2004
The humbleness of a warrior is not the humbleness of the beggar. The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he doesn’t permit anyone to lower his head to him. The beggar, on the other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the floor to anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he demands that someone lower than him scrape the floor for him. ~ Carlos Castaneda
2005
Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions. ~ Agatha Christie (born 15 September 1890)
2006
We hardly find any persons of good sense, save those who agree with us. ~ François de La Rochefoucauld (born 15 September 1613)
2007
Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side. ~ François de La Rochefoucauld (born 15 September 1613)
2008
If we had no faults we should not take so much pleasure in noting those of others. ~ François de La Rochefoucauld
2009
Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it. ~ Agatha Christie
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Every murderer is probably somebody's old friend. ~ Agatha Christie's "Hercule Poirot"

It is absurd — improbable — it cannot be. So I myself have said. And yet, my friend, there it is! One cannot escape from the facts. ~ Agatha Christie (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:49, 14 September 2005 (UTC) with a slight lean toward 4.
  • 2. David | Talk 09:41, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 14:43, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:56, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The impossible cannot have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances. ~ Agatha Christie (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:49, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 2. David | Talk 09:41, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 14:43, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:56, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Nothing is given so profusely as advice. ~ François de La Rochefoucauld (born 15 September 1613)

  • 3 Kalki 06:17, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3. (He's wrong, though.) David | Talk 09:41, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 14:43, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 22:56, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

What often prevents us from abandoning ourselves to one vice is that we have several. ~ François de La Rochefoucauld

  • 4 InvisibleSun 14:43, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 03:58, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:56, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Some people's faults are becoming to them; others are disgraced by their own good traits. ~ François de La Rochefoucauld

  • 3 InvisibleSun 14:43, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 03:58, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:56, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

It is not a great misfortune to be of service to ingrates, but it is an intolerable one to be obliged to a dishonest man. ~ François de La Rochefoucauld

  • 3 InvisibleSun 14:43, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 03:58, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:56, 24 April 2008 (UTC)


2003
One can promise actions, but not feelings, for the latter are involuntary. He who promises to love forever or hate forever or be forever faithful to someone is promising something that is not in his power. ~ Human, All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche
2004
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. ~ Wilhelm Stekel
2005
A planned life is a dead life. ~ Lauren Bacall (born 16 September 1924)
2006
The public does not like you to mislead or represent yourself to be something you're not. And the other thing that the public really does like is the self-examination to say, you know, I'm not perfect. I'm just like you. They don't ask their public officials to be perfect. They just ask them to be smart, truthful, honest, and show a modicum of good sense. ~ Ann Richards (recent death)
2007
Truth lies within a little and certain compass, but error is immense. ~ Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (born 16 September 1678)
2008
It is the modest, not the presumptuous, inquirer who makes a real and safe progress in the discovery of divine truths. One follows Nature and Nature's God; that is, he follows God in his works and in his word. ~ Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (born 16 September 1678)
2009
Descend, descend, Urania, speak
To men in their own tongue!
Leave not the breaking heart to break
Because thine own is strong.
This is the law, in dream and deed,
That heaven must walk on earth!
O, shine upon the humble creed
That holds the heavenly birth.
~ Alfred Noyes ~
2010

[edit] Suggestions

We have believed and we do believe now that freedom is indivisible, that peace is indivisible, that economic prosperity is indivisible. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

  • 2 Kalki 22:40, 15 September 2005 (UTC) A good quote, which I would rank higher on other days, but it has no clear correlation with the date and thus is not likely to become preferred over any good ones which do.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 08:22, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:02, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Imagination is the highest kite that one can fly. ~ Lauren Bacall (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:40, 15 September 2005 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 08:22, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:02, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Nations, like men, have their infancy. ~ Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (born 16 September 1678)

  • 4. David | Talk 21:10, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 08:22, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:42, 15 September 2009 (UTC) * 2 Kalki 00:26, 15 September 2007 (UTC) Very true, but not profoundly striking of itself.
  • 2 Zarbon 23:02, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than a research, however patient and scrupulous, into special facts. Such facts may be detailed with the most minute exactness, and yet the narrative, taken as a whole, may be unmeaning or untrue. The narrator must seek to imbue himself with the life and spirit of the time. He must study events in their bearings near and remote; in the character, habits, and manners of those who took part in them, he must himself be, as it were, a sharer or a spectator of the action he describes. ~ Francis Parkman (born September 16, 1823)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 04:23, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:02, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:38, 15 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.

A shadow leaned over me, whispering, in the darkness,
Thoughts without sound ~ Alfred Noyes

  • 3 Zarbon 04:03, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:38, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. ~ Laurence J. Peter

  • 2.5 Ningauble 00:28, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 17:53, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Yes; as the music changes,
Like a prismatic glass,
It takes the light and ranges
Through all the moods that pass;
Dissects the common carnival
Of passions and regrets,
And gives the world a glimpse of all
The colours it forgets.
~ Alfred Noyes ~

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 15 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.

This is the sign we bring you, before the darkness fall,
That Spring is risen, is risen again,
That Life is risen, is risen again,
That Love is risen, is risen again, and
Love is Lord of all.
~ Alfred Noyes ~

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Enough of dreams! No longer mock
The burdened hearts of men!
Not on the cloud, but on the rock
Build thou thy faith again;

O range no more the realms of air,
Stoop to the glen-bound streams;
Thy hope was all too like despair:
Enough, enough of dreams.
~ Alfred Noyes ~

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Heart of my heart, we cannot die!
Love triumphant in flower and tree,
Every life that laughs at the sky
Tells us nothing can cease to be:
One, we are one with the song to-day,
One with the clover that scents the world,
One with the Unknown, far away,
One with the stars, when earth grows old.
~ Alfred Noyes ~

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Heart of my heart, we are one with the wind,
One with the clouds that are whirled o'er the lea,
One in many, O broken and blind,
One as the waves are at one with the sea!
Ay! when life seems scattered apart,
Darkens, ends as a tale that is told,
One, we are one, O heart of my heart,
One, still one, while the world grows old.
~ Alfred Noyes ~

  • 3 Kalki 23:42, 15 September 2009 (UTC)


2003
It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens. ~ Woody Allen
2004
A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world. ~ Tony Benn
2005 
I've never seen anybody really find the answer — they think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer. ~ Ken Kesey (born 17 September 1935)
2006
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
~ William Carlos Williams ~ (born September 17, 1883)
2007
You don't lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case. ~ Ken Kesey
2008
The real crazies who are looking for a messiah... after an hour or so they realise I'm not it and go off and look somewhere else. ~ Ken Kesey
2009
Many questions haven't been answered as yet. Our poets may be wrong; but what can any of us do with his talent but try to develop his vision, so that through frequent failures we may learn better what we have missed in the past. ~ William Carlos Williams
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Me actor. Them fashion. No compute. (Actress Martha Plimpton)

  • 5 (short, concise, but extremely effective commentary on the state of Hollywood.) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.167.242.65 (talk • contribs) 05:04, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 17:55, 16 September 2009 (UTC) 2 Kalki 21:31, 16 September 2005 (UTC) No clear correlation with the date (and 4 is the highest ranking available, not 5)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 08:16, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:05, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismograph. ~ Ken Kesey (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 21:31, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 08:16, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:05, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I love being married, I do. It's so great to find that one special person that you want to annoy for the rest of your life. ~ Rita Rudner

  • 2 for comedic value Zarbon 04:14, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:15, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:58, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

Well, the old theory was "marry a older man because they're more mature". But the new theory is "men don't mature — marry a young one". ~ Rita Rudner

  • 2 for comedic value. Zarbon 04:14, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:15, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:58, 16 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.

Nobody is really happy with what's on their head. People with straight hair want curly, people with curly want straight, and bald people want everyone to be blind. ~ Rita Rudner

  • 2 for comedic value. Zarbon 04:14, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:15, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:58, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

You have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy. ~ Ken Kesey

  • 3 Kalki 17:55, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

What is the use of reading the common news of the day, the tragic deaths and abuses of daily living, when for over half a lifetime we have known that they must have occurred just as they have occurred given the conditions that cause them? There is no light in it. It is trivial fill-gap. We know the plane will crash, the train be derailed. And we know why. No one cares, no one can care. We get the news and discount it, we are quite right in doing so. It is trivial. But the haunted news I get from some obscure patient's eyes is not trivial. It is profound. ~ William Carlos Williams

  • 3 Kalki 17:55, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

It's a strange courage
you give me, ancient star:

Shine alone in the sunrise
toward which you lend no part!
~ William Carlos Williams ~

  • 3 Kalki 17:55, 16 September 2009 (UTC)


2003
Remember that time is money. ~ Benjamin Franklin
2004
The cardinal doctrine of a fanatic's creed is that his enemies are the enemies of God. ~ Andrew Dickson White
2005
Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. ~ Samuel Johnson (born 18 September 1709)
2006
I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark. ~ Samuel Johnson
2007
All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance; it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united with canals. If a man was to compare the single stroke of the pickaxe, or of one impression of the spade, with the general design and the last result, he would be overwhelmed by the sense of their disproportion; yet those petty operations, incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and mountains are leveled and oceans bounded by the slender force of human beings. ~ Samuel Johnson
2008
A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still. ~ Samuel Johnson (date of birth)
2009
As it is necessary not to invite robbery by supineness, so it is our duty not to suppress tenderness by suspicion; it is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust. ~ Samuel Johnson
2010

[edit] Suggestions

I have taken your horrible idea and turned it into a brilliant one!" ~ Peggy Hill, "King of the Hill"

  • 4 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.167.242.65 (talk • contribs) 05:05, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:35, 13 September 2007 (UTC) * 2 Kalki 23:33, 17 September 2005 (UTC) No clear correlation with the date.
  • 1 InvisibleSun 09:35, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:08, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some useful truth in few words. ~ Samuel Johnson (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:33, 17 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:35, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:08, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:35, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:35, 13 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 23:08, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:35, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:35, 13 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 23:08, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

It is always observable that silence propagates itself, and that the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find any thing to say. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 4 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:38, 13 September 2009 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

This world, where much is to be done and little to be known. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

He who praises everybody praises nobody. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4

In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 3 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 3 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works. ~ Samuel Johnson

  • 3 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

The vanquished know war. They see through the empty jingoism of those who use the abstract words of glory, honor, and patriotism to mask the cries of the wounded, the senseless killing, war profiteering, and chest-pounding grief. ~ Chris Hedges

  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

...man...is a frail, lost creature, too weak to walk unaided. ~ William March

  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

...To me it has always seemed that God is so sickened with men, and their unending cruelty to each other, that he covers the places where they have been as quickly as possible. ~ William March

  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

People are born in sorrow and move about the earth in patterns of sorrow without sense and without plan. Why should I take myself so seriously? I am no more important to the Creator than the trees or the vegetation which live with me on His earth. There is no eye to watch over me nor a hand to direct me, and there will be no preferred fate for me at the end, no matter what I am, or what I do with my life. ~ William March

  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

As an experimental psychologist, I have been trained not to believe anything unless it can be demonstrated in the laboratory on rats or sophomores. ~ Steven Pinker

  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:40, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

You are invited to come to see the Earth turn, tomorrow, from three to five, at Meridian Hall of the Paris Observatory. ~ Léon Foucault (born 18 September 1819)

  • 3 Kalki 23:38, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

To contribute usefully to the advance of science, one must sometimes not disdain from undertaking simple verifications. ~ Léon Foucault (born 18 September 1819)

  • 4 Kalki 23:38, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man ~ Samuel Johnson

A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself ~ Samuel Johnson


2004
A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love... Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and chance. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love. ~ Leonard Cohen
2005
There comes a point when a dream becomes reality and reality becomes a dream. ~ Frances Farmer (born 19 September 1913)
2006
His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy. ~ William Golding (born 19 September 1911)
2007
I think everybody who has a brain should get involved in politics. Working within. Not criticizing it from the outside. Become an active participant, no matter how feeble you think the effort is. ~ Cass Elliot (born 19 September 1941)
2008
Basically I'm an optimist. Intellectually I can see man's balance is about fifty-fifty, and his chances of blowing himself up are about one to one. I can't see this any way but intellectually. I'm just emotionally unable to believe that he will do this. This means that I am by nature an optimist and by intellectual conviction a pessimist, I suppose. ~ William Golding
2009
The soul of man is larger than the sky,
Deeper than ocean, or the abysmal dark
Of the unfathomed center. Like that ark,
Which in its sacred hold uplifted high,
O'er the drowned hills, the human family,
And stock reserved of every living kind,
So, in the compass of the single mind,
The seeds and pregnant forms in essence lie,
That make all worlds.
~ Hartley Coleridge ~
2010

[edit] Suggestions

When Gianne Verscae died it was a real chance for the modelling community to speak out about their pain. When Naomi Campbell was asked how she was effected by the murder she responded "It's been a very horrible thing...for ME. (Sandra Bernhard)

  • 5 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.167.242.65 (talk • contribs) 05:07, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 22:46, 18 September 2005 (UTC) No clear correlation with the date, and not a great quote: Bernhard might be deliberately taking a statement out of context and mis-emphasizing it for her comedy routine, as a great thing for HER.
  • 1 Zarbon 23:10, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I think the unique thing about music and graphic art is as opposed to, say, acting and directing, that if you are good you can always create a place for yourself. ~ Cass Elliot (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:46, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 05:55, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2. You might be the only one in that place! David | Talk 09:53, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:10, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

On this hapless earth
There's small sincerity of mirth,
And laughter oft is but an art
To drown the outcry of the heart. ~ Hartley Coleridge

  • 3 Zarbon 04:56, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:02, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:41, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Life is a hot day, perhaps death is a cool night. Life is a shallow bay, perhaps death is a clear, deep sea. ~ Mika Waltari

  • 3 Zarbon 04:56, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:02, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:41, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

Fifteen men on the dead man's chest —
 Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
~Robert Louis Stevenson, in honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19th)

  • Lyle 19:10, 18 September 2009 (UTC) Stevenson's page has this quote in bold, but I can't find that it has ever been used.
  • 2 Kalki 21:12, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

One soul was ours, one mind, one heart devoted,
That, wisely doating, ask'd not why it doated.
And ours the unknown joy, which knowing kills.
But now I find how dear thou wert to me;
That man is more than half of nature's treasure,
Of that fair beauty which no eye can see,
Of that sweet music which no ear can measure;
And now the streams may sing for other's pleasure,
The hills sleep on in their eternity.
~ Hartley Coleridge ~

  • 3 Kalki 21:12, 18 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

Hard I strove
To put away my immortality,
Till my collected spirits swell'd my heart
Almost to bursting; but the strife is past.
It is a fearful thing to be a god,
And, like a god, endure a mortal's pain;
To be a show for earth and wondering heaven
To gaze and shudder at! But I will live,
That Jove may know there is a deathless soul
Who ne'er will be his subject. Yes, 'tis past.
The stedfast Fates confess my absolute will, —
Their own co-equal.
~ Hartley Coleridge ~

  • 4 Kalki 21:12, 18 September 2009 (UTC) but only slightly preferred to the suggestion by Zarbon beginning "The soul of man is larger than the sky" or the one directly above this.


2004
What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche in Beyond Good and Evil
2005
There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will have truly defeated age. ~ Sophia Loren (born 20 September 1934)
2006
We control fifty percent of a relationship. We influence one hundred percent of it. ~ Joyce Brothers (born 20 September 1928)
2007
In each of us are places where we have never gone. Only by pressing the limits do you ever find them. ~ Joyce Brothers
2008
When you come right down to it, the secret of having it all is loving it all. ~ Joyce Brothers
2009
Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical. ~ Sophia Loren
2010

[edit] Suggestions

May I remind you that it does NOT say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty! ~ (Cher Horowitz, "Clueless")

  • 4 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.167.242.65 (talk • contribs) 05:13, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 22:46, 19 September 2005 (UTC) No clear correlation with the date.
  • 1 per Kalki. Besides that, I have no idea in what context this quote was said. --Aphaia 07:50, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Sex appeal is fifty percent what you've got and fifty percent what people think you've got. ~ Sophia Loren (born 20 September 1934)

  • 3 Kalki 22:46, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:26, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 because I don't particularly think quotes that mention sex appeal would make a good QOTD. Zarbon 23:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Strong families use the word "we" a lot, but "I" is never forgotten. ~ Joyce Brothers (born 20 September 1928)

  • 3 Kalki 08:36, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:26, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
  • Aphaia 07:50, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Anger repressed can poison a relationship as surely as the cruelest words. ~ Joyce Brothers

  • 3 Zarbon 05:08, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 08:11, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Music isn't enough. Performers aren't enough. There must be someone that loves music as much as life. For you...we give everything. ~ William Kapell

  • 2 Zarbon 05:08, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 08:11, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

...no bloody or unbloody change of society can eradicate the evil in man: as long as there will be men, there will be malice, envy and hatred, and hence there cannot be a society which does not have to employ coercive restraint. ~ Leo Strauss

  • 2 Zarbon 05:08, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 08:11, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

In real life, the hardest aspect of the battle between good and evil is determining which is which. ~ George R. R. Martin

  • 2 Zarbon 05:08, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 08:11, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies. ~ George R. R. Martin

  • 3 Zarbon 05:08, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 08:11, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Don’t fool yourself that you are going to have it all. You are not. Psychologically, having it all is not even a valid concept. The marvelous thing about human beings is that we are perpetually reaching for the stars. The more we have, the more we want. And for this reason, we never have it all. ~ Joyce Brothers

  • 3 Kalki 17:51, 19 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

Religious belief, trust, a sense of connection to the universe — no matter what you call it, there is a spiritual component to strong families. They see their lives as imbued with purpose, reflected in the things they do for one another and the community. Small problems provide a chance to grow; large ones are a lesson in courage. … It takes a certain type of spiritual grace to see beyond one’s own misery to the needs of others. Strong families try to live so they can look outward — and inward — every single day. ~ Joyce Brothers

  • 3 Kalki 17:51, 19 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

An individual's self-concept is the core of his personality. It affects every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change. A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life. ~ Joyce Brothers

  • 3 Kalki 17:51, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable. ~ Joyce Brothers

  • 3 Kalki 17:51, 19 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real... for a moment at least... that long magic moment before we wake. ~ George R. R. Martin

  • 3 Kalki 17:51, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Men are constantly attracted and deluded by two opposite charms: the charm of competence which is engendered by mathematics and everything akin to mathematics, and the charm of humble awe, which is engendered by meditation on the human soul and its experiences. Philosophy is characterized by the gentle, if firm, refusal to succumb to either charm. It is the highest form of the mating of courage and moderation. ~ Leo Strauss

  • 3 Kalki 17:51, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

It is safer to try to understand the low in the light of the high than the high in the light of the low. In doing the latter one necessarily distorts the high, whereas in doing the former one does not deprive the low of the freedom to reveal itself as fully as what it is. ~ Leo Strauss

  • 3 Kalki 17:51, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

The silence of a wise man is always meaningful. ~ Leo Strauss

  • 3 Kalki 17:51, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
2004
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. ~ H. G. Wells (born 21 September 1866)
2005
Hope is a good thing — maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies. ~ "Andy Dufresne" in The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King (born 21 September 1947)
2006
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
~ Leonard Cohen ~ (born 21 September 1934)
2007
Life begins perpetually. Gathered together at last under the leadership of man, the student-teacher of the universe... unified, disciplined, armed with the scret powers of the atom, and with knowledge as yet beyond dreaming, Life, forever dying to be born afresh, forever young and eager, will presently stand upon this earth as upon a footstool, and stretch out its realm amidst the stars. ~ H. G. Wells
2008
I'm guided by a signal in the heavens,
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.
~ Leonard Cohen ~
2009
Ah, you loved me as a loser,
But now you're worried that I just might win.
You know the way to stop me,
But you don't have the discipline.
How many nights I prayed for this,
To let my work begin.
First we take Manhattan,
Then we take Berlin.

~ Leonard Cohen ~

2010

[edit] Suggestions

Husbands should be like Kleenex: soft, strong, and desposable. ~ (Miss White, Clue)

  • 5 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.167.242.65 (talk • contribs) 05:14, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:29, 20 September 2009 (UTC) 2 Kalki 22:13, 20 September 2005 (UTC) No clear correlation with the date.
  • 1 Unpithy, no humor even harmful. And who is it? --Aphaia 08:08, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:21, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

No one would have believed... that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. ~ H. G. Wells (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:13, 20 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:06, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:21, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

What it is to bathe every day, always to be clad beautifully, to climb mountains for pleasure, to fly, to meet none but agreeable, well mannered people, to conduct researches or make delightful things... a time when all such good things will be for all men may be coming more nearly than we think. Each one who believes that brings the good time nearer; each heart that fails delays it. ~ H. G. Wells (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:13, 20 September 2005 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:06, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:21, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

While there is a chance of the world getting through its troubles, I hold that a reasonable man has to behave as though he were sure of it. If at the end your cheerfulness is not justified, at any rate you will have been cheerful. ~ H. G. Wells (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:13, 20 September 2005 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:06, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:21, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. ~ Stephen King (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:13, 20 September 2005 (UTC) with a strong lean toward a 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:06, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 08:08, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:21, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller, but for want of an understanding ear. ~ Stephen King (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:13, 20 September 2005 (UTC) with a strong lean toward a 4.
  • 4 InvisibleSun 19:06, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:21, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm tired of people bein' ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I'm tired of all the times I've wanted to help and couldn't. I'm tired of bein' in the dark. Mostly it's the pain. There's too much. If I could end it, I would. But I cain't. ~ "John Coffey" in The Green Mile by Stephen King (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:13, 20 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:06, 19 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 because there are better quotes from the Green Mile, and I seriously love that movie very strongly. Zarbon 23:21, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The only deadly sin I know is cynicism. ~ Henry L. Stimson

  • 2 Zarbon 15:08, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:13, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

If you're squeezed for information,
that's when you've got to play it dumb:
You just say you're out there waiting
for the miracle to come.
~ Leonard Cohen ~

  • 3 Kalki 00:29, 20 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.
And even though it all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.
~ Leonard Cohen ~

  • 3 Kalki 00:29, 20 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward an eventual 4, but not this year, and there are several others by Cohen and Stephen King I might continue to prefer to use first.

I lift my glass to the awful truth which you can't reveal to the ears of youth except to say it isn't worth a dime~ Leonard Cohen


2003
I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read. ~ Samuel Johnson
2004
At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols. ~ Aldous Huxley
2005
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~ George Eliot
  • proposed by Kalki for the first day of Autumn 2005 in Northern Hemisphere
2006
The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it. ~ Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th earl of Chesterfield (born 22 September 1694)
2007
Just practice good, do good for others, without thinking of making yourself known so that you may gain reward. Really bring benefit to others, gaining nothing for yourself. This is the primary requisite for breaking free of attachments to the Self. ~ Dōgen (died today in 1253)
2008
Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not pull it out and strike it, merely to show that you have one. ~ Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th earl of Chesterfield
2009
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the ground, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

~ John Keats ~ (first lines of "To Autumn" — for first day of Autumn 2009)

2010

[edit] Suggestions

Why sir, there is the probability that you will soon be able to tax it. – Michael Faraday (born September 22, 1791), answering the Chancellor of the Exchequer who had asked what was the use of electricity.

  • 4. David | Talk 21:02, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 - A good quote; but it would need a line of explanation for context, which would make it less suitable for Quote of the Day - InvisibleSun 19:19, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 16:40, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 0 Zarbon 17:44, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 ~ UDScott 19:45, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 00:29, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 ---Aphaia per InvisibleSun.
  • 1 Ningauble 16:50, 21 September 2009 (UTC) doesn't work without context

Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least. ~ Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th earl of Chesterfield (born 22 September 1694)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:19, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:40, 21 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 0 Zarbon 17:44, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 ~ UDScott 19:45, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 00:29, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 --Aphaia 02:57, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 16:50, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

The strong man is strongest when alone. ~ Friedrich Schiller, Wilhelm Tell. (22 September 1499) - Switzerland became an independent state.

  • 3 Aphaia 08:22, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:40, 21 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:11, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 0 Zarbon 17:44, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 ~ UDScott 19:45, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 00:29, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 16:50, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Work. Finish. Publish. ~ Michael Faraday (born today in 1791

  • 3 Aphaia 08:22, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 16:40, 21 September 2007 (UTC) but only marginally a 3, with a lean toward 2.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:11, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 0 Zarbon 17:44, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 ~ UDScott 19:45, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Waheedone 00:29, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 16:50, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

It isn't right to be obedient only when things go well; it is much harder to be a good, obedient soldier when things go badly and times are hard. Obedience and faith at such time is a virtue. ~ Wilhelm Keitel (born September 22)

  • 4 because this to me, is one of my three all-time favorite quotes. I have been waiting all year for this quotation and if a rating of 5 were possible, I would give it to this, since the wait has been rather long. The same goes for only two other selections of mine for this entire year. I have limited my rating of 4 to such an extent (only three quotes as I discussed many months earlier), in the hopes that they will make it this year. This particular quote defines loyalty and discipline and it describes the most important quality of a soldier in times of difficulty. Oh, how I am slave to the beautiful moral image of this quote. Please judge fairly, based upon the actual message of the quote and not who is saying it. I have been waiting a rather long time for this quote. Zarbon 04:03, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Nuremberg Interviews by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004 - Page 166
  • 2 ~ UDScott 19:45, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Denji The general defense of all defendents at the Neurenberg trials was "Befehl ist Befehl", which comes down to same: shoving away one's responsibility for one's deeds. In the end the judges didn't agree with FM Keitel's view and was executed for the actions which he defends with this quote. The hard times he refers to is WWII, being obedient meant crimes against humanity. Though I respect your feelings towards the moral behind the quote, I disagree to the utmost degree with the meaning Keitel gave to it.
    • I don't think a rating of "0" is plausible unless the quotation is on the wrong date. The lowest rating I have given to a quote is 1, unless it was already used. This shouldn't even be taken into account since this person has absolutely no history on wikiquote whatsoever other than right here. Also, the fact that this person ignores the very guideline that we are judging quotations and not people is also dubious. This quote means a lot to me, and I have limited my 4 rating to a mere 3 quotes for the entire year, a rather large difference from prior. - Zarbon 04:11, 21 September 2008 (UTC)
      • I do not think any of our personal merit should be in the consideration of the quote and I did not attack this quote because of Keitel. I think the man has probably said a lot of very useful things. However, as I stated before this quote represents a view that upper echelon nazi's were not responsible for the Holocaust, because Hitler said they should kill those people. So my problem is not with Keitel, but with the thought behind the quote. Denji 12:02, 21 September 2008 (UTC)
        • You are being negligent. You can't rate something a 0 unless it is on the wrong date. Frankly, you are misinterpreting the quote. It wasn't even from the trial. It was from an interview with Leon Goldensohn. It was about Keitel's view of what was the most important quality of a soldier, according to him. This was his response. Initially, it strengthens his resolve and gives potential meaning to the already powerful message. A soldier is a great icon, revered by all countries. The quote was about loyalty and nothing else. Bare in mind that Keitel was responsible for the Oberkommando, which is the highest General unit of army commanders. As he was chief and a very smart war tactician, he truly was honorable as a man and again, the loyalty image here is superb. To remain loyal at times of difficulty is such a powerful act. It's what history has shown difficult (in the cases of Judas against Jesus and Brutus against Caesar. Those are but a few examples of treachery and betrayal in times of difficulty. And the actual unique morality and deep meaning showcased by loyalty is more higher, more magnificent...than any other emotion belonging and pertaining to the image of the soldier elite. That should explain why this quote is so powerful and why I choose it as one of my three favorite quotes of all time as my QOTD suggestions. I mean, I have literally broken down my suggestions of a rating of 4 to a mere 3 quotes for this entire year. This quote means a lot to me. - Zarbon 23:49, 21 September 2008 (UTC)
          • This quote is clearly about obedience, which is not to be confused with loyalty. "Loyalty" implies love or affinity for an entity (ie. person or cause), while "obedience" is a duty or obligation that does not necessarily involve any emotion. Judas and Brutus loved Jesus and Caesar, respectively, which made their actions disloyal. The whole point of "Et tu, Brute?" is that Caesar was betrayed by a friend, not some nameless sneaky senator. You gravely misinterpret this quote if you compare disobedient soldiery to Judas and Brutus. I rate this quote 1 Lyle 23:00, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
            • It is still one of my 3 favorite quotes of all time. It holds exceptionally powerful meaning and morality behind it. And frankly, you don't seem to be judging all the rest of the quotes on any pages. The fact that my favorite quotes mean a lot to me seems to bother you, along with a few others. I think what you can't accept/agree with is the fact that the people I strongly like from history are either German Nazis, Italian Fascists, Japanese Imperials, Soviet Russians, Ottoman Turks, Roman Soldiers, French Revolutionaries, etc. Yes, I like dictators, despots, and brutal conquerors. They are the ones who leave the biggest impact on history. For many it may be negative, but it is an impact nonetheless. To neglect all the MEANINGFUL and MORAL things that they say is to ERASE history and create what you want to be heard only, a one-sided, one-dimensional bore. The dilemma here is that people don't want to incorporate quotations that are made by powerful people who actually had power. All the presidents of America and the people of American history are being used and abused on a constant basis here. It is a very one-sided dogmatic view being expressed here mostly. I am especially tired from the extreme American sympathizer notions that are being played all the time on almost every date of suggestions. The fact that every year, on each important date in American history, a quote is added which depicts a strong nationalism toward America. This automatically becomes redundant and annoying. I myself am living in the country but I am not interested in a constant nationalism. The fact that all these powerful quotations from extremely powerful historic organizations are being shafted is seriously annoying. As Darth Sidious of Star Wars would say, "in order to understand the force, one must study all its aspects, not just the good." It is time to allow all the historic military people into the spotlight, not just those representing America. Now, from a military historical standpoint, look at this quote. The power, the sheer brilliance behind it. It encompasses a magnitude of utter loyalty. In order to be loyal, one must be devoted and obedient. The very word obedience strikes a powerful chord in this musical composition, if you will, this entendre known as life. My comrade, one cannot expect to be a soldier when times are good only, one must be a soldier at times of difficulty. That is all here. This is one of my three favorite quotes of all time.
              • Citing George Lucas's writing in "Revenge of the Sith" doesn't help your argument. And it doesn't bother me, nor could I even care, that this quote is meaningful to you. Is it meaningful to me? Yes, but in a bad way. I rank the quote low because I dislike it and therefore don't want it to be QOTD. I typically vote only on quotes that I appreciate or disdain. Your "3 favorite quotes" share the same theme - you shouldn't be surprised that I vote low on all of them. Lyle 15:59, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
                • Well, the fact of the matter is that my favorite theme is a powerful theme. To say that you don't like it is one thing. But to say that the quotes themselves aren't ironic and mesmerizing is another, for they are. I strongly like enthralling military-fanatic quotes. I will try my best to give my best suggestions the highest rating I possibly can and all I can do is hope that others will help my cause in breaking the ice because this constant same-ness in taking sides for QOTD is repetitive and biased. There must be quotes from all these fundamental people in order to incorporate history to the fullest extent. All morality must be heard. It might take some time for everyone to accept, but these quotes will hopefully be used. I am a patient person. Zarbon 02:46, 30 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 14:26, 21 September 2009 (UTC) * 2 Kalki 00:22, 21 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:09, 21 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 Waheedone 00:27, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Aphaia 02:57, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0.5 Ningauble 16:50, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

The dews of the evening most carefully shun —
Those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun.
~ Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (DoB)

  • 2.5 Ningauble 17:27, 21 September 2009 (UTC) suitable for the first day of autumn
  • 2 Kalki 17:38, 21 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 0 Zarbon 23:38, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Among those points of self-education which take up the form of mental discipline, there is one of great importance, and, moreover, difficult to deal with, because it involves an internal conflict, and equally touches our vanity and our ease. It consists in the tendency to deceive ourselves regarding all we wish for, and the necessity of resistance to these desires. It is impossible for any one who has not been constrained, by the course of his occupation and thoughts, to a habit of continual self-correction, to be aware of the amount of error in relation to judgment arising from this tendency. The force of the temptation which urges us to seek for such evidence and appearances as are in favour of our desires, and to disregard those which oppose them, is wonderfully great. In this respect we are all, more or less, active promoters of error. In place of practising wholesome self-abnegation, we ever make the wish the father to the thought: we receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us; whereas the very reverse is required by every dictate of common sense. ~ Michael Faraday

  • 3 Kalki 20:31, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

I have far more confidence in the one man who works mentally and bodily at a matter than in the six who merely talk about it … Nature is our kindest friend and best critic in experimental science if we only allow her intimations to fall unbiased on our minds. Nothing is so good as an experiment which, whilst it sets an error right, gives us (as a reward for our humility in being reproved) an absolute advancement in knowledge. ~ Michael Faraday

  • 3 Kalki 20:31, 22 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.


2003
When smashing monuments, save the pedestals — they always come in handy. ~ Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
2004
Goodness alone is never enough. A hard cold wisdom is required, too, for goodness to accomplish good. Goodness without wisdom invariably accomplishes evil. ~ Robert A. Heinlein in Stranger in a Strange Land
2005
There's something happening somewhere — baby I just know that there is.
You can't start a fire — you can't start a fire without a spark.
This gun's for hire — even if we're just dancing in the dark.
~ Bruce Springsteen (born 23 September 1949)
2006
There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change. ~ Euripides (by traditional accounts born on 23 September 480 BC)
2007
Slight not what's near through aiming at what's far. ~ Euripides
2008
If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is the man who has so much as to be out of danger? ~ Thomas Huxley
2009
In an ideal University, as I conceive it, a man should be able to obtain instruction in all forms of knowledge, and discipline in the use of all the methods by which knowledge is obtained. In such a University, the force of living example should fire the student with a noble ambition to emulate the learning of learned men, and to follow in the footsteps of the explorers of new fields of knowledge. And the very air he breathes should be charged with that enthusiasm for truth, that fanaticism of veracity, which is a greater possession than much learning; a nobler gift than the power of increasing knowledge; by so much greater and nobler than these, as the moral nature of man is greater than the intellectual; for veracity is the heart of morality. ~ Thomas Henry Huxley
2010

[edit] Suggestions

I should say this, that Pat doesn't have a mink coat. But she does have a respectable Republican cloth coat, and I always tell her she'd look good in anything. ~ Richard Nixon, in the "Checkers speech", given on September 23, 1952.

  • 2. David | Talk 20:44, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 - InvisibleSun 18:27, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 17:08, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:24, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. ~ Caesar Augustus (born September 23, 63 BC).

  • 3. David | Talk 20:56, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 - I'd always seen this quote with "brick" rather than "bricks"; which one is the more accurate translation I don't know, but "brick" has the advantage of symmetry with "marble." InvisibleSun 18:27, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:10, 22 September 2009 (UTC) * 2 Kalki 17:08, 21 September 2007 (UTC) and would prefer "brick" to "bricks". I had originally ranked this higher, but it seems to be a common paraphrase of a statement by Suetonius, that "He could boast that he inherited it brick and left it marble" which suggests that though Augustus might have used such words, Seutonius is not necessarily quoting him.
  • 3 because this is a good example of bragging one's own accomplishments, and it is a good one at that. Zarbon 23:24, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. ~ John Adams. September 23, 2006 is Rosh Hashanah for the year 5767.

  • 3. David | Talk 21:07, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 18:27, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:08, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:24, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Slowly but surely withal moveth the might of the gods. ~ Euripides (by traditional accounts born on 23 September 480 BC)

  • 3 Kalki 18:07, 22 September 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 18:27, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:24, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I hold that mortal foolish who strives against the stress of necessity. ~ Euripides (by traditional accounts born on 23 September 480 BC)

  • 3 Kalki 18:07, 22 September 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 18:27, 22 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:24, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

If the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means of influence and yet who employs these faculties and that influence for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion, I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape. ~ Thomas Huxley

  • 2 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

Science...commits suicide when it adopts a creed. ~ Thomas Huxley

  • 2 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom. ~ Thomas Huxley

  • 2 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

God give me strength to face a fact though it slay me. ~ Thomas Huxley

  • 2 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 Lyle 17:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Not far from the invention of fire must rank the invention of doubt. ~ Thomas Huxley

  • 2 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

If I have played my part well, clap your hands, and dismiss me with applause from the stage. ~ Augustus

  • 4 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 21:31, 22 September 2009 (UTC) 2 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC) I might eventually rank this higher, but this does not seem to be sourced to anything earlier than a 2007 book, which ironically, emphasizes at one point the distinction to be made between primary and secondary sources.

As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up you are never going to make progress. ~ Cherie Blair

  • 2 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically. ~ Ray Charles

  • 2 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC) but would extend this to:
Music is nothing separate from me. It is me. I can't retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. You'd have to remove the music from me surgically — like you were taking out my appendix.

You better live every day like your last because one day you're going to be right. ~ Ray Charles

  • 2 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

If you haven't got eyes you shouldn't have wings. ~ Karl Pilkington

  • 2 Zarbon 15:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:34, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

Women anchor me. They're there when I need them. They're sensitive to me, and I'm sensitive to them. I'm not saying I've loved that many women. Love is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap. ~ Ray Charles

  • 3 Kalki 21:31, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Music is nothing separate from me. It is me. I can't retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. You'd have to remove the music from me surgically — like you were taking out my appendix. ~ Ray Charles

  • 3 Kalki 21:31, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Agnosticism is not properly described as a "negative" creed, nor indeed as a creed of any kind, except in so far as it expresses absolute faith in the validity of a principle which is as much ethical as intellectual. This principle may be stated in various ways, but they all amount to this: that it is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty. ~ Thomas Henry Huxley

  • 3 Kalki 21:31, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin. And it cannot be otherwise, for every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority, the cherishing of the keenest scepticism, the annihilation of the spirit of blind faith; and the most ardent votary of science holds his firmest convictions, not because the men he most venerates hold them; not because their verity is testified by portents and wonders; but because his experience teaches him that whenever he chooses to bring these convictions into contact with their primary source, Nature — whenever he thinks fit to test them by appealing to experiment and to observation — Nature will confirm them. The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification. ~ Thomas Henry Huxley

  • 3 Kalki 21:31, 22 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.

Life is too short to occupy oneself with the slaying of the slain more than once. ~ Thomas Henry Huxley

  • 3 Kalki 21:31, 22 September 2009 (UTC)


2003
Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli
2004
To do evil that good may come of it is for bunglers in politics as well as morals. ~ William Penn
2005
I wait . . . Wait for the mists and for the blacker rain — Heavier winds that stir the veil of fate, happier winds that pile her hair; Again they tear me, teach me, strew the heavy air upon me, winds that I know, and storm. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald (born 24 September 1896, and correlation to the current period of powerful storms)
2006
To act with common sense, according to the moment, is the best wisdom I know; and the best philosophy, to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, submit respectfully to one's lot, bless the goodness that has given us so much happiness with it, whatever it is, and despise affectation. ~ Horace Walpole
2007
My generation of radicals and breakers-down never found anything to take the place of the old virtues of work and courage and the old graces of courtesy and politeness. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
2008
At any rate, let us love for a while, for a year or so, you and me. That's a form of divine drunkenness that we can all try. There are only diamonds in the whole world, diamonds and perhaps the shabby gift of disillusion. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald
2009
Extremism. It is an almost infallible sign — a kind of death-rattle — when a human institution is forced by its members into stressing those and only those factors which are identificatory, at the expense of others which it necessarily shares with competing institutions because human beings belong to all of them. ~ John Brunner (born 24 September 1934)

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

[edit] Suggestions

The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their own will, and lives only by their will. ~ John Marshall

  • 2 Zarbon 04:03, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:24, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:57, 23 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well. ~ Horace Walpole (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 19:58, 23 October 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:36, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:34, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2.5 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

There are two kinds of fool. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better." ~ John Brunner (born September 24, 1934)

  • 3.5 ~ Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC) * 3 Ningauble 15:57, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is ... If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each...This is of the very essence of judicial duty. ~ John Marshall

  • 3 Kalki 17:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2.5 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC) An important quote, but maybe not for this context

If a passion for freedom is not in vogue, patriots may sound the alarm till they are weary. The Act of Habeas Corpus, by which prisoners may insist on being brought to trial within a limited time, is the corner stone of our liberty. ~ Horace Walpole

  • 3 Kalki 17:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent. ~ Horace Walpole

  • 3 Kalki 17:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Prognostics do not always prove prophecies, — at least the wisest prophets make sure of the event first. ~ Horace Walpole

  • 3 Kalki 17:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Great art is the contempt of a great man for small art. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

  • 3 Kalki 17:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Whenever you feel like criticizing any one... just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

  • 3 Kalki 17:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 2.5 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Either you think — or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

  • 3 Kalki 17:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

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

  • 3 Kalki 17:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3.5 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

If there is such a phenomenon as absolute evil, it consists in treating another human being as a thing. ~ John Brunner

  • 3 Kalki 19:31, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

First you use machines, then you wear machines, and then ...? Then you serve machines. ~ John Brunner

  • 3 Kalki 19:31, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC) rather downbeat for QotD

You have many years to live — do things you will be proud to remember when you're old. ~ John Brunner

  • 3 Kalki 19:31, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2.5 Ningauble 23:42, 23 September 2009 (UTC) Nice and pithy, but not very original (and little heeded by youth)


2003
As for the future, your task is not to forsee it, but to enable it. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
2004
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. ~ Blaise Pascal
2005
Between grief and nothing I will take grief. ~ William Faulkner (born 25 September 1897)
2006
No battle is ever won... They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. ~ William Faulkner
2007
We live in a time when the words impossible and unsolvable are no longer part of the scientific community's vocabulary. Each day we move closer to trials that will not just minimize the symptoms of disease and injury but eliminate them. ~ Christopher Reeve (born 25 September 1952)
2008
The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail. ~ William Faulkner (date of birth)
2009
The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. Since man is mortal, the only immortality possible for him is to leave something behind him that is immortal since it will always move. This is the artist's way of scribbling "Kilroy was here" on the wall of the final and irrevocable oblivion through which he must someday pass. ~ William Faulkner
2010

[edit] Suggestions

The artist doesn't have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don't have the time to read reviews. ~ William Faulkner

  • 3 Kalki 21:16, 24 September 2007 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:23, 24 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:26, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

A painting is not about an experience. It is an experience. ~ Mark Rothko

  • 2 Zarbon 04:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:20, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:43, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Kids are a great excuse for you to stop acting like one. ~ Michael Madsen

  • 2 Zarbon 04:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:20, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:43, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenalin but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity. ~ Glenn Gould

  • 2 Zarbon 04:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 21:00, 23 September 2009 (UTC) 2 Kalki 23:20, 24 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4, but would extend this to:
I believe that the justification of art is the internal combustion it ignites in the hearts of men and not its shallow, externalized, public manifestations. The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenalin but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity.

The prerequisite of contrapuntal art, more conspicuous in the work of Bach than in that of any other composer, is an ability to conceive a priori of melodic identities which when transposed, inverted, made retrograde, or transformed rhythmically will yet exhibit, in conjunction with the original subject matter, some entirely new but completely harmonious profile. ~ Glenn Gould

  • 3 Kalki 21:00, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

The trouble begins when we start to be so impressed by the strategies of our systematized thought that we forget that it does relate to an obverse, that it is hewn from negation, that it is but very small security against the void of negation which surrounds it. ~ Glenn Gould

  • 3 Kalki 21:00, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

No one is without Christianity, if we agree on what we mean by that word. It is every individual’s individual code of behavior by means of which he makes himself a better human being than his nature wants to be, if he followed his nature only. Whatever its symbol — cross or crescent or whatever — that symbol is man’s reminder of his duty inside the human race. ~ William Faulkner

  • 3 Kalki 21:00, 23 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.

When the first Superman movie came out, I gave dozens of interviews to promote it. The most frequent question was: What is a hero? My answer was that a hero is someone who commits a courageous action without considering the consequences. Now my definition is completely different. I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. They are the real heroes, and so are the families and friends who have stood by them. ~ Christopher Reeve

  • 3 Kalki 21:00, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

What I do is based on powers we all have inside us; the ability to endure; the ability to love, to carry on, to make the best of what we have — and you don’t have to be a "Superman" to do it. ~ Christopher Reeve

  • 3 Kalki 21:00, 23 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.


2003
We have a firm commitment to NATO; we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe; we are a part of Europe. ~ Dan Quayle
2004
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. ~ Jonathan Swift
2005
The awful daring of a moment's surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed.
~ T. S. Eliot (born 26 September 1888)
2006
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets
2007
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~
2008
All is always now. Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Will not stay still.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~
2009
Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us — a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
By the purification of the motive
In the ground of our beseeching.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~
2010

[edit] Suggestions

All that I can hope to make you understand is only events: not what has happened. And people to whom nothing has ever happened cannot understand the unimportance of events. ~ T. S. Eliot (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:46, 23 September 2005 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:04, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:27, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Yet if the only form of tradition, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, "tradition" should positively be discouraged. We have seen many such simple currents soon lost in the sand; and novelty is better than repetition. Tradition is a matter of much wider significance. It cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour. ~ T. S. Eliot

  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:04, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 06:11, 25 September 2007 (UTC) but might eventually give it a 3 if truncated to remove the initial "Yet".
  • 2 Zarbon 23:27, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

If you don't have a hammer, you don't want anything to look like a nail. ~ Robert Kagan

  • 4 Zarbon 04:39, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:45, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:19, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
2003
You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long. ~ Boris Yeltsin
2004
Those who think they know it all are very annoying to those of us who do. ~ Anonymous
  • The above variant was how this quotation was originally posted. It seems to be derived from this statement since attributed to a specific author: Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. ~ Isaac Asimov
  • selected by Kalki
2005
Could you see the storm rising?
Could you see the guy who was driving?
Could you climb higher and higher?
Could you climb right over the top?
~ Kate Bush
  • proposed by Kalki, from "King of the Mountain", the first single from Bush's first album in 12 years, made available for download on 27 September 2005.
2006
The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule. ~ Samuel Adams (born 27 September 1722)
2007
You can decide what you want to eat for dinner, you can decide to go away for the weekend, and you can decide what clothes you’re going to wear in the morning, but when it comes to artistic things, there’s never a rhyme or reason. It’s, like, they just happen. And they happen when they happen. ~ Meat Loaf
2008
If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave. ~ Samuel Adams
2009
The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have receiv'd them as a fair Inheritance from our worthy Ancestors: They purchas'd them for us with toil and danger and expence of treasure and blood; and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle; or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. Of the latter we are in most danger at present: Let us therefore be aware of it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to maintain the rights bequeath'd to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. — Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we have already made, which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude, and perseverance

~ Samuel Adams ~

2010

[edit] Suggestions

How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words! ~ Samuel Adams (born 27 September 1722)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 13:49, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 18:11, 26 September 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 23:29, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Did the protection we received annul our rights as men, and lay us under an obligation of being miserable? Who among you, my countrymen, that is a father, would claim authority to make your child a slave because you had nourished him in infancy? ~ Samuel Adams

  • 3 InvisibleSun 13:49, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 06:13, 25 September 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 1 Zarbon 23:29, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

It is a very great mistake to imagine that the object of loyalty is the authority and interest of one individual man, however dignified by the applause or enriched by the success of popular actions. ~ Samuel Adams (born 27 September 1722)

  • 3 Kalki 18:11, 26 September 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:03, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:29, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

All men have a right to remain in a state of nature as long as they please; and in case of intolerable oppression, civil or religious, to leave the society they belong to, and enter into another. ~ Samuel Adams (born 27 September 1722)

  • 3 Kalki 18:11, 26 September 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:03, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:29, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The greatest weakness of all weaknesses is to fear too much to appear weak. ~ Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

  • 2 Zarbon 04:50, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:08, 26 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Honor is like the eye, which cannot suffer the least impurity without damage. It is a precious stone, the price of which is lessened by a single flaw. ~ Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

  • 3 Zarbon 04:50, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:08, 26 September 2008 (UTC)


2003
If homosexuality is a disease, let's all call in queer to work. "Hello, can't work today. Still queer." ~ Robin Tyler
2004
Love is the most important thing in the world. It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world, to explain and despise it. But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it, not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration and respect. ~ Hermann Hesse
2005
In the season of white wild roses
We two went hand in hand:
But now in the ruddy autumn
Together already we stand. ~ Francis Turner Palgrave (born 28 September 1824)
2006
When once the mind has raised itself to grasp and to delight in excellence, those who love most will be found to love most wisely. ~ Francis Turner Palgrave (born 28 September 1824)
2007
A man's life is interesting primarily when he has failed — I well know. For it's a sign that he tried to surpass himself. ~ Georges Clemenceau (born 28 September 1841)
2008
I don't think there's anything exceptional or noble in being philanthropic. It's the other attitude that confuses me. ~ Paul Newman (recent death)
2009
The way which the superior man pursues, reaches wide and far, and yet is secret. Common men and women, however ignorant, may intermeddle with the knowledge of it; yet in its utmost reaches, there is that which even the sage does not know. Common men and women, however much below the ordinary standard of character, can carry it into practice; yet in its utmost reaches, there is that which even the sage is not able to carry into practice. Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it. ~ Confucius
2010

[edit] Suggestions

War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory. ~ Georges Clemenceau

  • 2 because this is somewhat true. Victory is had, but not everyone experiences it. The fact that war can be depicted as a series of catastrophes however, is somewhat stabilized a perspective. Zarbon 03:37, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:21, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:29, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

It is easier to make war than make peace. ~ Georges Clemenceau

  • 3 because history has shown this to be rather true. There is more difficulty in maintaining peace than creating war. Zarbon 03:37, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:21, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 17:29, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

The idea of choice is easily debased if one forgets that the aim is to have chosen successfully, not to be endlessly choosing. ~ George W. S. Trow

  • 2 Zarbon 05:00, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:21, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 17:29, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

By this act, all ties with the dreadful past are broken, and my government will be proud to be able to march with you on to the inevitable victory. ~ Pietro Badoglio

  • 3 Zarbon 04:36, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:21, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 17:29, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn't a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking. ~ Georges Clemenceau

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he’s not a man of action. It is as if a tennis player before returning a ball stopped to think about his views of the physical and mental advantages of tennis. You must act as you breathe. ~ Georges Clemenceau

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

A man's life is interesting primarily when he has failed — I well know. For it's a sign that he tried to surpass himself. ~ Georges Clemenceau

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

I am not bothered by the fact that I am unknown. I am bothered when I do not know others. ~ Confucius (traditional date for birth celebration)

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

To see what is right, and not to do it, is want of courage or of principle. ~ Confucius

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning. ~ Confucius

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

It is said in the Book of Poetry, "In silence is the offering presented, and the spirit approached to; there is not the slightest contention." Therefore the superior man does not use rewards, and the people are stimulated to virtue. He does not show anger, and the people are awed more than by hatchets and battle-axes. ~ Confucius

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

The superior man examines his heart, that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause for dissatisfaction with himself. That wherein the superior man cannot be equaled is simply this — his work which other men cannot see. ~ Confucius

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

It is the way of the superior man to prefer the concealment of his virtue, while it daily becomes more illustrious, and it is the way of the mean man to seek notoriety, while he daily goes more and more to ruin. It is characteristic of the superior man, appearing insipid, yet never to produce satiety; while showing a simple negligence, yet to have his accomplishments recognized; while seemingly plain, yet to be discriminating. He knows how what is distant lies in what is near. He knows where the wind proceeds from. He knows how what is minute becomes manifested. Such a one, we may be sure, will enter into virtue. ~ Confucius

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

He who attains to sincerity is he who chooses what is good, and firmly holds it fast. To this attainment there are requisite the extensive study of what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful reflection on it, the clear discrimination of it, and the earnest practice of it. ~ Confucius

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

The superior man can find himself in no situation in which he is not himself. In a high situation, he does not treat with contempt his inferiors. In a low situation, he does not court the favor of his superiors. He rectifies himself, and seeks for nothing from others, so that he has no dissatisfactions. He does not murmur against Heaven, nor grumble against men. Thus it is that the superior man is quiet and calm, waiting for the appointments of Heaven, while the mean man walks in dangerous paths, looking for lucky occurrences. ~ Confucius

  • 3 Kalki 13:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)


2003
Outside of the killings, DC has one of the lowest crime rates in the country. ~ Marion Barry
2004
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects. ~ Herman Melville
2005
There are two possible outcomes: If the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. ~ attributed to Enrico Fermi (born 29 September 1901)
  • proposed by IP 65.110.28.95
2006
Faith which does not doubt is dead faith. ~ Miguel de Unamuno (born 29 September 1864)
2007
Honesty is the best policy, I will stick to that. The good shall have my hand and heart, but the bad neither foot nor fellowship. And in my mind, the main point of governing, is to make a good beginning. ~ Miguel de Cervantes (born 29 September 1547)
2008
It is sad not to be loved, but it is much sadder not to be able to love. ~ Miguel de Unamuno
2009
I must speak the truth, and nothing but the truth. ~ Miguel de Cervantes
2010

[edit] Suggestions

Stop quoting laws, we carry weapons! ~ Pompey (born September 29)

  • 3 because words can only go so far. Pompey says it brilliantly. Zarbon 06:02, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Let none presume to tell me that the pen is preferable to the sword. ~ Miguel de Cervantes (born September 29)

  • 3 because the pen can write and yes, it has become powerful, but the sword remains powerful and will always remain powerful. Zarbon 17:23, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Consciousness is a disease. ~ Miguel de Unamuno

  • 3 because not seeing is sometimes better than seeing and to always be conscious destroys a person's moral standards, especially after witnessing what a person witnesses nowadays. Zarbon 16:05, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Everything vital is, not only irrational, but anti-rational, and everything rational is anti-vital. ~ Miguel de Unamuno

  • 3 because what is good for others, may not be good for you, and what is good for you, may most certainly not be good for others. Zarbon 16:05, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

And killing time is perhaps the essence of comedy, just as the essence of tragedy is killing eternity. ~ Miguel de Unamuno

  • 3 although I'd prefer tragedy a thousand fold over comedy, the quotation does hold some strength. Zarbon 16:05, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC), with a very strong lean toward 4, but would trim out the initial "And".
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

The measure may be thought bold, but I am of the opinion the boldest are the safest. ~ Horatio Nelson

  • 3 because sometimes, the bold action is required. Zarbon 05:11, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Firstly you must always implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form any opinion of your own regarding their propriety. ~ Horatio Nelson

  • 3 and leaning towards a 4. This is what I live for. This is another quote that defines me. Well said Mr. Nelson. Zarbon 05:05, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC) The false ideals of absolute obligation to obedience of any mortal's commands or demands, are always a part of the ideologies of slaves of true evil, even when those who would be obeyed are thought of as wise or well intentioned, whether simply by themselves or even by many others.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

My character and good name are in my own keeping. Life with disgrace is dreadful. A glorious death is to be envied. ~ Horatio Nelson

  • 4 because a wasted and useless life is worse than death. Zarbon 05:05, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Time ripens all things. No man is born wise. ~ Miguel de Cervantes

  • 3 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 03:04, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

There's not the least thing can be said or done, but people will talk and find fault. ~ Miguel de Cervantes

  • 3 Kalki 21:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 03:04, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. ~ Daniel (10:21), for Michaelmas, — 29 September.

  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 28 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. ~ Daniel (Ch. 12), for Michaelmas, — 29 September.

  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 28 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. ~ John of Patmos in the Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, (12:7), for Michaelmas, — 29 September.

  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 28 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

Something must be left to chance; nothing is sure in a sea fight above all. ~ Horatio Nelson

  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

First gain the victory and then make the best use of it you can. ~ Horatio Nelson

  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 28 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

Man sees, hears, touches, tastes and smells that which it is necessary for him to see, hear, touch, taste and smell in order to preserve his life. The decay or loss of any of these senses increases the risks with which his life is environed, and if it increases them less in the state of society in which we are actually living, the reason is that some see, hear, touch, taste and smell for others. A blind man, by himself and without a guide, could not live long. Society is an additional sense; it is the true common sense. ~ Miguel de Unamuno

  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 28 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

The truth is that my work — I was going to say my mission — is to shatter the faith of men here, there, and everywhere, faith in affirmation, faith in negation, and faith in abstention in faith, and this for the sake of faith in faith itself; it is to war against all those who submit, whether it be to Catholicism, or to rationalism, or to agnosticism; it is to make all men live the life of inquietude and passionate desire. ~ Miguel de Unamuno

  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 28 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.


2004
Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed. ~ William Blake
2005
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. ~ Helen Schucman
  • proposed by Kalki, and used on this date, because this had become attributed to Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (born 30 September 1207); the attribution was later corrected on 2007·09·30.
2006
Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures, it is our gift to each other. ~ Elie Wiesel (born 30 September 1928)
2007
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there. ~ Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi
2008
If in thirst you drink water from a cup, you see God in it. Those who are not in love with God will see only their own faces in it. ~ Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi
2009
Reason is like an officer when the King appears;
The officer then loses his power and hides himself.
Reason is the shadow cast by God; God is the sun.
~ Rumi ~

Quotes by people born on this date used as QOTD on other dates:

27 August 2004 : Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair. ~ Elie Wiesel
26 November 2004 : When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude. ~ Elie Wiesel
10 December 2006 : The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. ~ Elie Wiesel

[edit] Suggestions

Terrorism must be outlawed by all civilized nations — not explained or rationalized, but fought and eradicated. Nothing can, nothing will justify the murder of innocent people and helpless children. ~ Elie Wiesel (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 00:33, 1 October 2005 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:58, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:31, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, idolator, worshipper of fire, come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come, and come yet again. Ours is not a caravan of despair. ~ Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 00:33, 1 October 2005 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:58, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:31, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The fault is in the one who blames. Spirit sees nothing to criticize. ~ Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 23:58, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:58, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:31, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

A party is a political tool. If it's no longer useful, it should be crumpled up and thrown away. ~ Shintaro Ishihara (date of birth)

  • 3 LordAmeth 18:41, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 07:58, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 23:31, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC) most are, anyway, when that is clearly the case; others survive only in name and mutate in aim because people find their familiar names useful.

The great victories are never won in the first blow. ~ Johan Falkberget

  • 4 Zarbon 05:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:39, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 23:46, 29 September 2008 (UTC) I cannot find an actual published source for this, in either the provided English or Norwegian forms, and until one is found I don't think it should be acceptable as a QOTD.

One does not create human society on mounds of corpses. ~ Louis Lecoin

  • 2 Zarbon 05:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:39, 29 September 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4, but only if extended to:
If it were proved to me that in making war, my ideal had a chance of being realized, I would still say "No" to war. For one does not create human society on mounds of corpses.
  • 3 Kalki 23:46, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

I did not decide to become an officer to start a military career... I could not suppose that my country would change, and I would. ~ Aleksandr Vasilevsky

  • 3 Zarbon 05:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:39, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:46, 29 September 2008 (UTC) but would extend this to:
I did not decide to become an officer to start a military career. I still wanted to be an agronomist and work in some remote corner of Russia after the war. I could not suppose that my country would change, and I would.

God had sifted three kingdoms to find the wheat for this planting. ~ William Stoughton

  • 2 Zarbon 05:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:39, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:46, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life? ~ Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi

  • 3 Zarbon 05:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:39, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:46, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. ~ Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi

  • 2 Zarbon 05:25, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:39, 29 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:46, 29 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4, but would extend this to:
Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.

When the ocean is searching for you, don't walk
into the language-river. Listen to the ocean,
and bring your talky business to an end

Traditional words are just babbling
in that presence, and babbling is a substitute
for sight.

Love rests on no foundation.
It is an endless ocean,
with no beginning or end.
~ Rumi ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Gamble everything for love,
if you are a true human being.
~ Rumi ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

When you see anyone complaining
of such and such a person's ill-nature and bad temper,
know that the complainant is bad-tempered,
forasmuch as he speaks ill of that bad-tempered person,
because he alone is good-tempered who is quietly forbearing
towards the bad-tempered and ill-natured.
~ Rumi ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Observe the wonders as they occur around you.
Don't claim them. Feel the artistry
moving through, and be silent.
~ Rumi ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Lovers think they are looking for each other,
but there is only one search: wandering
This world is wandering that, both inside one
transparent sky. In here
there is no dogma and no heresy.
~ Rumi ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

There is a certain cloud,
impregnated with a
thousand lightnings.
There is my body,
in it an ocean formed of his glory,
all the creation,
all the universes,
all the galaxies,
are lost in it.
~ Rumi ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Christ is the population of the world,
and every object as well. There is no room
for hypocrisy. Why use bitter soup for healing
when sweet water is everywhere?
~ Rumi ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Love said to me,
there is nothing that is not me.
Be silent.
~ Rumi ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:29, 29 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.

Love is the ark appointed for the righteous,
Which annuls the danger and provides a way of escape.
Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.
Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment intuition.
~ Rumi ~

  • 3 Kalki 19:58, 29 September 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.


Ranking system:

4 : Excellent - should definitely be used. (Perhaps, at most, only one quote per day should be ranked thus by any user, as to avoid confusions.)
3 : Very Good - strong desire to see it used.
2 : Good - some desire to see it used.
1 : Acceptable - but with no particular desire to see it used.
0 : Not acceptable - not appropriate for use as a quote of the day.
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