Wikiquote:Quote of the day/September

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Today is Monday, May 28, 2012; it is now 21:39 (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 - September 2010 - September 2011

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
We've traveled halfway 'round the world
To find ourselves again —
September morn —
We danced until the night became a brand new day,
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play —
September morning still can make me feel that way.
~ Neil Diamond ~
2011
If you're up against a smart opponent, make him think himself to death. ~ C. J. Cherryh
2012 
Rank or add further suggestions…
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
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
2011
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
2012 
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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
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 ~
2011
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 ~
2012 
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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. ~ L. P. Jacks (originally attributed to François-René de Chateaubriand, born 4 September 1768, because of a widespread misattribution.)
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
In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon. What we loathe, we graft into our very soul. ~ Mary Renault (born 4 September 1905)
2011
A degree of silence envelops Washington’s actions; he moved slowly; one might say that he felt charged with future liberty, and that he feared to compromise it. It was not his own destiny that inspired this new species of hero: it was that of his country; he did not allow himself to enjoy what did not belong to him; but from that profound humility what glory emerged! Search the woods where Washington’s sword gleamed: what do you find? Tombs? No; a world! Washington has left the United States behind for a monument on the field of battle. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand
2012 
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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
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)
2011
Whether religion is a divisive or reconciling force depends on our certainty or our humility as we practice our faith in our politics. If we believe that we know God's truth and that we can embody that truth in a political agenda, we divid the realm of politics into those who are God's side, which is our side, and those with whom we disagree, who oppose the side of God. This is neither good religion nor good politics. It is not consistent with following a Lord who reached out to a variety of people — prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers. 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
2012 
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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 6 September 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
An opinion, right or wrong, can never constitute a moral offense, nor be in itself a moral obligation. It may be mistaken; it may involve an absurdity, or a contradiction. It is a truth; or it is an error: it can never be a crime or a virtue. ~ Frances Wright
2011
The Immortal Principle was first called water by Thales. Anaximenes called it air. The Pythagoreans called it number and were thus the first to see the Immortal Principle as something nonmaterial. Heraclitus called the Immortal Principle fire and introduced change as part of the Principle. He said the world exists as a conflict and tension of opposites. He said there is a One and there is a Many and the One is the universal law which is immanent in all things. Anaxagoras was the first to identify the One as nous, meaning "mind."
Parmenides made it clear for the first time that the Immortal Principle, the One, Truth, God, is separate from appearance and from opinion, and the importance of this separation and its effect upon subsequent history cannot be overstated. ~ Robert M. Pirsig
2012 
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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
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
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
2011
It is a part of the poet's work to show each man what he sees but does not know he sees. ~ Edith Sitwell
2012 
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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
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 ~ (born 8 September 1960)

2011
Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle! ~ Peter Sellers
2012 
Rank or add further suggestions…
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
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
2011
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
2012 
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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
The entire universe is perfused with signs, if it is not composed exclusively of signs. ~ Charles Sanders Peirce
2011
The idea does not belong to the soul; it is the soul that belongs to the idea. ~ Charles Sanders Peirce
2012 
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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
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
2011
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 ~

On September 11, 2001, in our time of grief, the American people came together. We offered our neighbors a hand, and we offered the wounded our blood. We reaffirmed our ties to each other, and our love of community and country. On that day, no matter where we came from, what God we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family.
We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice. … The cause of securing our country is not complete. But tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.
Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ~ Barack Obama ~

  • proposed by Kalki, as two quotes for the 10th anniversary of the attacks in which the twin towers fell by the two men who have served as US President since that time, in the battles against terrorism.
2012 
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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
It is fortunate that each generation does not comprehend its own ignorance. We are thus enabled to call our ancestors barbarous. ~ Charles Dudley Warner
2011
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
2012 
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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
Everyone in the world is Christ and they are all crucified. ~ Sherwood Anderson
2011
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 ~
2012 
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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
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
2011
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
2012 
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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
The impossible cannot have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances. ~ Agatha Christie (date of birth)
2011
I do not argue with obstinate men. I act in spite of them. ~ Agatha Christie
2012 
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Waiting is still an occupation. It is having nothing to wait for that is terrible. ~ Cesare Pavese
  • 2 because it's a good aphorism; reasons to live are an important them in Pavese. Nemo 14:16, 18 January 2012 (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
Thou whose deep ways are in the sea,
Whose footsteps are not known,
To-night a world that turned from Thee
Is waiting — at Thy Throne.

The towering Babels that we raised
Where scoffing sophists brawl,
The little Antichrists we praised —
The night is on them all.
~ Alfred Noyes ~

2011
We have come by curious ways
To the Light that holds the days;
We have sought in haunts of fear
For that all-enfolding sphere:
And lo! it was not far, but near.

We have found, O foolish-fond,
The shore that has no shore beyond.

Deep in every heart it lies
With its untranscended skies;
For what heaven should bend above
Hearts that own the heaven of love?
~ Alfred Noyes ~

2012 
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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
What we hoped was that we could stop the coming end of the world. ~ Ken Kesey
2011
It's a strange courage
you give me, ancient star:

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

2012 
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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
To contribute usefully to the advance of science, one must sometimes not disdain from undertaking simple verifications. ~ Léon Foucault (born 18 September 1819)
2011
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
2012 
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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
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 ~
2011
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 ~
2012 
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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
The silence of a wise man is always meaningful. ~ Leo Strauss
2011 
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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
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. But it's more than that, isn't it? 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
2011
No one would have believed, in the last years of the nineteenth century, that human affairs were 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 affairs they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize 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. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most, terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet, across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. ~ H. G. Wells
2012 
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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
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
2011
Work. Finish. Publish. ~ Michael Faraday
2012 
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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
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
2011
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
2012 
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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)
2010
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
2011
The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well. ~ Horace Walpole
2012 
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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
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
2011
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
2012 
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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
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.
And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.

~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

2011
Quick now, here, now, always —
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~
2012 
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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
In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practised, and, both by precept and example, inculcated on mankind. ~ Samuel Adams
2011
We must not conclude merely upon a man's haranguing upon liberty, and using the charming sound, that he is fit to be trusted with the liberties of his country. It is not unfrequent to hear men declaim loudly upon liberty, who, if we may judge by the whole tenor of their actions, mean nothing else by it but their own liberty, — to oppress without control or the restraint of laws all who are poorer or weaker than themselves. It is not, I say, unfrequent to see such instances, though at the same time I esteem it a justice due to my country to say that it is not without shining examples of the contrary kind; — examples of men of a distinguished attachment to this same liberty I have been describing; whom no hopes could draw, no terrors could drive, from steadily pursuing, in their sphere, the true interests of their country; whose fidelity has been tried in the nicest and tenderest manner, and has been ever firm and unshaken.
The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people. ~ Samuel Adams
2012 
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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
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
2011
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
2012 
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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. ~ Henry Melvill (originally misattributed to 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
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
2011
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. ~ Book of Daniel (Ch. 12), the first mention of Michael, for Michaelmas, 29 September.
2012 
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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 ~
2010
Observe the wonders as they occur around you.
Don't claim them. Feel the artistry
moving through, and be silent.
~ Rumi ~
2011
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 ~

2012 
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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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