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April 1

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Years ago my mother used to say to me... "In this world, Elwood, you must be oh-so-smart, or oh-so-pleasant." Well, for years I was smart — I recommend pleasant. You may quote me. ~ Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in the film Harvey
2005
When you want to fool the world, tell the truth. ~ Otto von Bismarck (born 1 April 1815, and All Fools Day)
2006
The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year. ~ Mark Twain (All Fool's Day/April Fools' Day)
2007
Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. ~ Alexander Pope
2008
What is unique about the "I" hides itself exactly in what is unimaginable about a person. All we are able to imagine is what makes everyone like everyone else, what people have in common. The individual "I" is what differs from the common stock, that is, what cannot be guessed at or calculated, what must be unveiled, uncovered, conquered. ~ Milan Kundera (born 1 April 1929)
2009
Very many maintain that all we know is still infinitely less than all that still remains unknown; nor do philosophers pin their faith to others' precepts in such wise that they lose their liberty, and cease to give credence to the conclusions of their proper senses. Neither do they swear such fealty to their mistress Antiquity that they openly, and in sight of all, deny and desert their friend Truth. ~ William Harvey (born 1 April 1578)
2010
To joke in the face of danger is the supreme politeness, a delicate refusal to cast oneself as a tragic hero. ~ Edmond Rostand
2011
I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. ~ Abraham Maslow
2012
They treat me like a fox, a cunning fellow of the first rank. But the truth is that with a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and when I have to deal with a pirate, I try to be a pirate and a half. ~ Otto von Bismarck
2013
The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh. I sure hope he makes the finals.
~ The Coen Brothers ~
in
~ The Big Lebowski ~
2014
That so much time was wasted in this pain.
Ten thousand years ago he might have let off down
To not return again!
A dreadful laugh at last escapes his lips;
The laughter sets him free.
A Fool lives in the Universe! he cries.
The Fool is me!
And with one final shake of laughter
Breaks his bonds.
The nails fall skittering to marble floors.
And Christ, knelt at the rail, sees miracle
As Man steps down in amiable wisdom
To give himself what no one else can give:
His liberty.
~ Ray Bradbury ~
2015
Now and then there's a fool such as I am over you.
You taught me how to love
And now you say that we are through.
I'm a fool, but I'll love you dear
Until the day I die
Now and then there's a fool such as I.
~ Bill Trader ~
2016
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
~ Douglas Adams ~
in
~ Mostly Harmless ~
2017
All of us, if we are of reflective habit, like and admire men whose fundamental beliefs differ radically from our own. But when a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or count himself lost. … All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.
The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. 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 ~
2018
The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
~ Paul of Tarsus ~
in
~ First Epistle to the Corinthians ~
2019
There's not a thing on Earth, that I can name,
So foolish, and so false, as common fame.
It calls the courtier knave, the plain man rude,
Haughty the grave, and the delightful lewd,
Impertinent the brisk, morose the sad,
Mean the familiar, the reserv'd-one mad.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester ~
2020
When bad fortune occurs, the unresourceful, unimaginative man looks about him to attach the blame to someone else; the resolute accepts misfortune and endeavors to survive, mature, and improve because of it.
~ Anne McCaffrey ~
2021
Man comes into the world naked and unarmed, as if nature had destined him for a social creature, and ordained him to live under equitable laws and in peace; as if she had desired that he should be guided by reason rather than be driven by force; therefore did she endow him with understanding, and furnish him with hands, that he might himself contrive what was necessary to his clothing and protection. To those animals to which nature has given vast strength, she has also presented weapons in harmony with their powers; to those that are not thus vigorous, she has given ingenuity, cunning, and singular dexterity in avoiding injury.
~ William Harvey ~
2022
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
~ Otto von Bismarck ~
2023
Pardon me, if I'm sentimental
When we say goodbye,
Don't be angry with me should I cry.
When you're gone, yet I'll dream
A little dream as years go by…
Now and then there's a fool such as I.
~ Bill Trader ~
2024
It is at night that faith in light is admirable.
~ Edmond Rostand ~
2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

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

  • I don't really know why I care so much. I just have something inside me that tells me that there is a problem, and I have got to do something about it. I think that is what I would call the God in me. All of us have a God in us, and that God is the spirit that unites all life, everything that is on this planet. ~ Wangari Maathai

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

[edit]

Were I, who to my Cost already am
One of those strange, prodigious Creatures Man,
A Spirit free, to choose for my own Share,
What sort of Flesh and Blood I pleas’d to wear,
I’d be a Dog, a Monkey, or a Bear,
Or any thing, but that vain Animal,
Who is so proud of being Rational.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (born April 1, 1647)

Whilst the misguided Follower climbs with Pain,
Mountains of Whimsies, heapt in his own Brain,
Stumbling from Thought to Thought, falls headlong down
Into Doubt’s boundless Sea, where like to drown,
Books bear him up a-while, and make him try
To swim with Bladders of Philosophy.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

For Wits are treated just like Common Whores;
First they're enjoy'd, and then kickt out of Doors.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

The light that radiates from the great novels time can never dim, for human existence is perpetually being forgotten by man and thus the novelists' discoveries, however old they may be, will never cease to astonish. ~ Milan Kundera

  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC) I have a strong tendency to prefer strong links to "All Fool's Day" on this date, but lean toward a 4 for this one despite this.
  • 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 bystander (talk) 20:56, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past. They are fighting for access to the laboratories where photographs are retouched and biographies and histories rewritten. ~ Milan Kundera

It is a good world to live in,
To lend, or to spend, or to give in;
But to beg or to borrow, or to get a man's own,
It is the very worst world that ever was known.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester ~

Great Negative, how vainly would the Wise
Enquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise,
Didst thou not stand to point their dull Philosophies?

Is, or is not, the Two great Ends of Fate,
And, true or false, the Subject of Debate,
That perfect, or destroy, the vast Designs of Fate.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester ~

Man differs more from Man, than Man from Beast. ~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

  • 3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is one of my alltime favorites. The man and beast comparison is an excellent one, one of sheer brilliance. Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 4 Waylon111 (talk) 16:55, 24 January 2024 (UTC)

No great movement designed to change the world can bear to be laughed at or belittled. Mockery is a rust that corrodes all it touches. ~ Milan Kundera

Is not an event in fact more significant and noteworthy the greater the number of fortuities necessary to bring it about? ~ Milan Kundera

Chance and chance alone has a message for us... Only chance can speak to us. ~ Milan Kundera

Love is our freedom. ~ Milan Kundera

I avow myself the partisan of truth alone. ~ William Harvey

  • 3 Kalki 20:33, 31 March 2007 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I've been to Sugartown/I shook the Sugar down/Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door. ~ Bob Dylan

—This unsigned comment is by 24.125.163.3 (talk • contribs) .
  • 0 Zarbon 23:10, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 0. What is the relevance to this date? - InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Not by speeches and votes of the majority, are the great questions of the time decided — but by iron and blood. ~ Otto von Bismarck

  • 3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3, but an ellipsis should be used rather than a dash.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

The wolf cannot help it that he was created by God the way he is, but one shoots him yet, if one can. ~ Otto von Bismarck

  • 3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence. ~ Otto von Bismarck

  • 3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches. ~ Otto von Bismarck

  • 3 and strong lean toward 4. Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

As art is a habit with reference to things to be done, so is science a habit in respect to things to be known. ~ William Harvey

  • 3 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 19:31, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Politics is not an exact science. ~ Otto von Bismarck

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. ~ Abraham Maslow

Education is learning to grow, learning what to grow toward, learning what is good and bad, learning what is desirable and undesirable, learning what to choose and what not to choose. ~ Abraham Maslow

I am fated to journey hand in hand with my strange heroes and to survey the surging immensity of life, to survey it through the laughter that all can see and through the tears unseen and unknown by anyone. ~ Nikolai Gogol

  • 3 Kalki 01:29, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 bystander (talk) 20:56, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever? ~ Daniel Daly

What I look for in a friend is someone who's different from me. The more different the person is, the more I'll learn from him. The more he'll come up with surprising takes on ideas and things and situations. ~ Samuel R. Delany

Words mean things. When you put them together they speak. Yes, sometimes they flatten out and nothing they say is real, and that is one kind of magic. But sometimes a vision will rip up from them and shriek and clank wings clear as the sweat smudge on the paper under your thumb. And that is another kind. ~ Samuel R. Delany

  • 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 bystander (talk) 20:56, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Business is globalizing so fast that it has led to the often quoted ‘clash of civilizations’. People simply have not had time to get to know and understand people of other cultures sufficiently to live and work in harmony. ~ Begum Aga Khan

What say you? It is useless? Ay, I know
But who fights ever hoping for success?
I fought for lost cause, and for fruitless quest!
You there, who are you! — You are thousands! Ah!
I know you now, old enemies of mine!
Falsehood!
Have at you! Ha! and Compromise!
Prejudice, Treachery! …
Surrender, I?
Parley? No, never! You too, Folly, — you?
I know that you will lay me low at last;
Let be! Yet I fall fighting, fighting still!
~ Edmond Rostand

You strip from me the laurel and the rose!
Take all! Despite you there is yet one thing
I hold against you all, and when, tonight,
I enter Christ's fair courts, and, lowly bowed,
Sweep with doffed casque the heavens' threshold blue,
One thing is left, that, void of stain or smutch,
I bear away despite you ... My panache.
~ Edmond Rostand

Instinct is the direct connection with truth. ~ Laurette Taylor

Personality is more important than beauty, but imagination is more important than both of them. ~ Laurette Taylor

Twas Beauty that killed the beast! ~ Edgar Wallace

I present you with a Key. ~ Roger Williams

The God of Peace, the God of Truth will shortly seal this truth, and confirm this witness, and make it evident to the whole world, that the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience, is most evidently and lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Christ Jesus the Prince of Peace. ~ Roger Williams

I have read … the last will and testament of the Lord Jesus over many times, and yet I cannot find by one tittle of that testament that if He had been pleased to have accepted of a temporal crown and government that ever He would have put forth the least finger of temporal or civil power in the matters of His spiritual affairs and Kingdom. ~ Roger Williams

  • 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No man shall be required to worship or maintain a worship against his will. ~ Roger Williams

  • 3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 bystander (talk) 20:56, 31 March 2013 (UTC)

Only the foolish learn from experience - the wise learn from the experience of others. ~ Rolf Hochhuth

It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry. ~ Nikolai Gogol

We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet. In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring the survival of our own. ~ Wangari Maathai

All of us have a God in us, and that God is the spirit that unites all life, everything that is on this planet. It must be this voice that is telling me to do something, and I am sure it's the same voice that is speaking to everybody on this planet — at least everybody who seems to be concerned about the fate of the world, the fate of this planet. ~ Wangari Maathai

  • 2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC) Though part of this was already used.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

The people are starving. They need food; they need medicine; they need education. They do not need a skyscraper to house the ruling party and a 24-hour TV station. ~ Wangari Maathai

Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking. ~ Wangari Maathai

I'm trying to be a professional singer. … I've never been given the chance before. But here's hoping it'll change. ~ Susan Boyle (born 1 April 1961)

  • 3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 10:32, 29 November 2011 (UTC) with a lean toward 4 (alternatively, this could be used on 11 April — as the anniversary of her famous appearance on Britain's Got Talent)

Exchange information, learn to speak sensibly about any subject, learn to express your thoughts, accept new ones, examine them, analyze. Think objectively. Think toward the future. ~ Anne McCaffrey, The White Dragon (dob)

There's something wrong in not appreciating one's own special abilities, my girl. Find your own limitations, yes, but don't limit yourself with false modesty. ~ Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsinger

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.
~ Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin ~
What kind of fool am I
Who never fell in love?
It seems that I'm the only one
That I have been thinking of.
…
Why can't I fall in love
Like any other man?
And maybe then I'll know
What kind of fool I am.
~ Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley ~
I lost my gun today when I left you and I'm the laughingstock of a lot of people. I wanted to tell you. I wanted you to know and it's on my mind. And it makes me look like a fool. And I feel like a fool. And you asked that we should say things, that we should say what we're thinking and not lie about things. Well, I can tell you that, this, that I lost my gun today, and I am not a good cop. And I'm looked down at. And I know that. And I'm scared that once you find that out you may not like me.
~ Paul Thomas Anderson ~
in
~ Magnolia ~
Democracy does not reside in speeches but in actual practices of its votaries.
~ K. B. Hedgewar ~
One who is not perturbed by misfortune, who is beyond comfort, attachment and fear, who considers gold as dust. He neither speaks ill of others nor feels elated by praise and shuns greed, attachments and arrogance. He is indifferent to ecstasy and tragedy, is not affected by honors or humiliations. He renounces expectations, greed. He is neither attached to the worldliness, nor lets senses and anger affect him. In such a person resides God.
~ Guru Tegh Bahadur ~
Make no judgments where you have no compassion
~ Anne McCaffrey (dob) ~
  • 3 Lisa (talk) 20:26, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~


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