March 14

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace. ~ Helen Keller

selected by Kalki

2005

Measured objectively, what a man can wrest from Truth by passionate striving is utterly infinitesimal. But the striving frees us from the bonds of the self and makes us comrades of those who are the best and the greatest. ~ Albert Einstein (born 14 March 1879)

selected by Kalki

2006

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. ~ Albert Einstein (born 14 March 1879)

selected by Kalki

2007

Let us not forget that human knowledge and skills alone cannot lead humanity to a happy and dignified life. Humanity has every reason to place the proclaimers of high moral standards and values above the discoverers of objective truth. What humanity owes to personalities like Buddha, Moses, and Jesus ranks for me higher than all the achievements of the enquiring and constructive mind.
What these blessed men have given us we must guard and try to keep alive with all our strength if humanity is not to lose its dignity, the security of its existence, and its joy in living. ~ Albert Einstein

proposed by Kalki

2008

Today we must abandon competition and secure cooperation. This must be the central fact in all our considerations of international affairs; otherwise we face certain disaster. Past thinking and methods did not prevent world wars. Future thinking must prevent wars... The stakes are immense, the task colossal, the time is short. But we may hope — we must hope — that man’s own creation, man’s own genius, will not destroy him. ~ Albert Einstein

proposed by Kalki

2009

Only the individual can think, and thereby create new values for society — nay, even set up new moral standards to which the life of the community conforms. Without creative, independently thinking and judging personalities the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personality without the nourishing soil of the community.
The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion. ~ Albert Einstein

proposed by InvisibleSun

2010

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams; —
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
~ Arthur O'Shaughnessy ~

proposed by Kalki

2011

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample a kingdom down.
~ Arthur O'Shaughnessy

proposed by Zarbon

2012

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
~ Arthur O'Shaughnessy ~

proposed by Zarbon

2013

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. ~

~ Albert Einstein ~

proposed by Kalki

2014

Sweet and gentle and sensitive man
With an obsessive nature and deep fascination
For numbers
And a complete infatuation with the calculation
Of π.

~ Kate Bush ~

proposed by Kalki

2015

He does love his numbers
And they run, they run, they run him
In a great big circle
In a circle of infinity
3.14159 26535897932 3846 264 338 3279...

~ Kate Bush ~

proposed by Kalki

2016

Let us accept the world is a mystery. Nature is neither solely material nor entirely spiritual. Man, too, is more than flesh and blood; otherwise, no religions would have been possible. Behind each cause is still another cause; the end or the beginning of all causes has yet to be found.

~ Albert Einstein ~

proposed by Kalki

2017

If we want to improve the world we cannot do it with scientific knowledge but with ideals. Confucius, Buddha, Jesus and Gandhi have done more for humanity than science has done. We must begin with the heart of man — with his conscience — and the values of conscience can only be manifested by selfless service to mankind.

~ Albert Einstein ~

proposed by Kalki

2018

The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.

~ Albert Einstein ~

proposed by Kalki

2019

The genuine scientist is not moved by praise or blame, nor does he preach. He unveils the universe and people come eagerly, without being pushed, to behold a new revelation: the order, the harmony, the magnificence of creation! And as man becomes conscious of the stupendous laws that govern the universe in perfect harmony, he begins to realize how small he is. He sees the pettiness of human existence, with its ambitions and intrigues, its "I am better than thou" creed. This is the beginning of cosmic religion within him; fellowship and human service become his moral code. And without such moral foundations, we are hopelessly doomed.

~ Albert Einstein ~

proposed by Kalki

2020

The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.

~ Albert Einstein ~

proposed by InvisibleSun

2021

The God Spinoza revered is my God, too: I meet Him everyday in the harmonious laws which govern the universe. My religion is cosmic, and my God is too universal to concern himself with the intentions of every human being. I do not accept a religion of fear; My God will not hold me responsible for the actions that necessity imposes. My God speaks to me through laws.

~ Albert Einstein ~

proposed by Kalki

2022

With an aching heart I add my voice to that of the common people, who implore the end of the war. In the name of God, listen to the cry of those who suffer, and put an end to the bombings and the attacks!
The city that bears the name of the Virgin Mary, Mariupol, has become a city martyred by the ruinous war that is devastating Ukraine.
Before the barbarism of killing children and innocent and defenceless citizens, no strategic reasons hold: the only thing to be done is to cease the unacceptable armed aggression before cities are reduced to cemeteries.

~ Pope Francis ~

proposed by Kalki; recent remarks on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

2023

The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavor in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness.
In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is.

~ Albert Einstein ~

proposed by InvisibleSun

2024

Great hail! we cry to the comers
From the dazzling unknown shore;
Bring us hither your sun and your summers;
And renew our world as of yore;
You shall teach us your song's new numbers,
And things that we dreamed not before:
Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers,
And a singer who sings no more.

~ Arthur O'Shaughnessy ~

proposed by Zarbon

2025: Rank or add further suggestions…

The Quote of the Day (QOTD) is a prominent feature of the Wikiquote Main Page. Thank you for submitting, reviewing, and ranking suggestions!

Ranking system

4 : Excellent – should definitely be used. (This is the utmost ranking and should be used by any editor for only one quote at a time for each date.)

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.

An averaging of the rankings provided to each suggestion produces it’s general ranking in considerations for selection of Quote of the Day. The selections made are usually chosen from the top ranked options existing on the page, but the provision of highly ranked late additions, especially in regard to special events (most commonly in regard to the deaths of famous people, or other major social or physical occurrences), always remain an option for final selections.

Thank you for participating!

Suggestions

This is the date of Pi Day, and a quote explicitly related to π was particularly apt in 2015: on that date of 3/14/15 the time at 9:26:53 corresponded to 3.141592653 — π to 9 decimal places. ~ ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡

Cupid has offered his arrows for Jesus to try;
He has offered his bow for the game.
But Jesus went weeping away, and left him there wondering why.
~ Harold Monro

4 Zarbon 20:36, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Kalki 08:50, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Ningauble 18:25, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

I am a mighty Garage,
On the corner of the Square,
And it is all my pleasure,
To provide a quick repair,
Or I can do your service,
In the blinking of an eye,
I wouldn't say it's thorough,
But it'll get you by.
~ Pam Ayres

2 Zarbon 20:36, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Kalki 08:50, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 23:40, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

The lesson is that dying men must groan;
And poets groan in rhymes that please the ear.
~ John Wain

2 Zarbon 20:36, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 08:50, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Poetry is to prose as dancing is to walking. ~ John Wain

3 Zarbon 20:36, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 08:50, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Ningauble 18:25, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

A breath of our inspiration
Is the life of each generation;
A wondrous thing of our dreaming
Unearthly, impossible seeming-
The soldier, the king, and the peasant
Are working together in one,
Till our dream shall become their present,
And their work in the world be done.
~ Arthur O'Shaughnessy

3 Zarbon 20:36, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 08:50, 13 March 2009 (UTC) with a VERY strong lean toward 4.
2.5 Ningauble 18:25, 13 March 2009 (UTC) Difficult without context for "our inspiration"
3 InvisibleSun 23:40, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

They had no vision amazing
Of the goodly house they are raising;
They had no divine foreshowing
Of the land to which they are going:
But on one man's soul it hath broken,
A light that doth not depart;
And his look, or a word he hath spoken,
Wrought flame in another man's heart.
~ Arthur O'Shaughnessy

3 Zarbon 20:36, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 08:50, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:40, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Something's going on. It has to do with that number. There's an answer in that number.

~ Darren Aronofsky ~
in
~ π ~