Wikiquote:Quote of the day/September

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Today is Friday, December 5, 2008; it is now 13:08 (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

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

[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

We'd all like t'vote fer th'best man, but he's never a candidate. ~ Kin Hubbard

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
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
2009

[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)
  • 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)
  • 2 Zarbon 21:51, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:54, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

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

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

[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)
  • 1 Zarbon 21:53, 24 April 2008 (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)

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)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:46, 3 September 2008 (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

[edit] Suggestions

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

  • 3 Kalki 22:15, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:32, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 21:53, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

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)
  • 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)


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

[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

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

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

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

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

[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)
  • 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)

Deep in the struggle I have found the beauty of me
God is watchin' and the Devil finally let me be. ~ Macy Gray

  • 3 Zarbon 06:38, 1 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:15, 5 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:59, 5 September 2008 (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

[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)
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

[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)

  • 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.
  • 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)

  • 2 Kalki 16:28, 7 September 2005 (UTC) Similarly, I would rank this higher, but it is not sourced.
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:02, 24 April 2008 (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

[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)

Though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. ~ Leo Tolstoy (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 22:34, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 02:43, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:04, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 17:04, 6 November 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)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 8 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 13:54, 9 September 2008 (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

[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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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

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

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

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

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 Peirce

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

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

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

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)

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

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

[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)
  • 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)
  • 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)

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)

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

  • 4 Kalki 22:01, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:04, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

And then, 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

  • 3 Zarbon 20:48, 12 November 2008 (UTC)


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

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)

You climb to reach the summit, but once there, discover that all roads lead down. ~ Stanisław Lem (born 12 September 1921)

  • 3 Kalki 21:02, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
  • 3. David | Talk 23:43, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:33, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 because the discovery may hurt although this is such a powerful quote. 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

[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), but would probably rank this 4 in 2009, the 2500 anniversary of the temple dedication
  • 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)
  • 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)


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

[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)

Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won. ~ Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (died 14 September 1852)

  • 2. David | Talk 20:31, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 00:43, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:28, 13 September 2007 (UTC) but might rank it a 3 or 4 on Wellington's birthday
  • 2 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)
  • 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)

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

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

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)
  • 4 Kalki 23:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

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

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

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)
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

[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)
  • 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)

Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seeke