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August 27

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003
He caught glimpses of everything, but saw nothing. ~Victor Hugo in Les Miserables
2004
Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair. ~ Elie Wiesel
2005
The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved. ~ Confucius
2006
Not curiosity, not vanity, not the consideration of expediency, not duty and conscientiousness, but an unquenchable, unhappy thirst that brooks no compromise leads us to truth. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (born 27 August 1770)
2007
The most futile thing in this world is any attempt, perhaps, at exact definition of character. All individuals are a bundle of contradictions — none more so than the most capable. ~ Theodore Dreiser (born 27 August 1871)
2008
In every science, after having analysed the ideas, expressing the more complicated by means of the more simple, one finds a certain number that cannot be reduced among them, and that one can define no further. These are the primitive ideas of the science; it is necessary to acquire them through experience, or through induction; it is impossible to explain them by deduction. ~ Giuseppe Peano (born 27 August 1858)
2009
For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. ~ Ted Kennedy (recent death)
2010
Ambiguity of language is philosophy's main source of problems. That is why it is of the utmost importance to examine attentively the very words we use. ~ Giuseppe Peano
2011
There are fixed points throughout time where things must stay exactly the way they are. This is not one of them. This is an opportunity! Whatever happens here will create its own timeline, its own reality, a temporal tipping point. The future revolves around you, here, now, so do good! ~ The Doctor in Doctor Who : Cold Blood
  • proposed by Kalki (lines from the Eleventh Doctor, for the date of the opening episode of the autumnal 2011 series: "Let's Kill Hitler!")
2012
It is easier to discover a deficiency in individuals, in states, and in providence, than to see their real import or value.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ~
2013
Poetry is the universal art of the spirit which has become free in itself and which is not tied down for its realization to external sensuous material; instead, it launches out exclusively in the inner space and the inner time of ideas and feelings.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ~
2014
Instead of insight, maybe all a man gets is strength to wander for a while. Maybe the only gift is a chance to inquire, to know nothing for certain. An inheritance of wonder and nothing more.
~ William Least Heat-Moon ~
2015
I believe in man's capacity for achieving great things and in the combined force resulting from encounters and exchanges. I plead for greater liberty and a more open world … because it provides a setting which liberates individuals and their creativity as no other system can. It spurs the dynamism which has led to human, economic, scientific, and technical advances, and which will continue to do so.
~ Johan Norberg ~
2016
Among the forces which sweep and play throughout the universe, untutored man is but a wisp in the wind. Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason.
~ Theodore Dreiser ~
2017
Development and diversity depend on independent initiatives and competition.  When everyone thinks alike not much gets thought.
~ Johan Norberg ~
2018
I’d like to see our politics begin to return to the purposes and practices that distinguish our history from the history of other nations. I would like to see us recover our sense that we are more alike than different. We are citizens of a republic made of shared ideals forged in a new world to replace the tribal enmities that tormented the old one. Even in times of political turmoil such as these, we share that awesome heritage and the responsibility to embrace it. Whether we think each other right or wrong in our views on the issues of the day, we owe each other our respect, as long as our character merits respect, and as long as we share, for all our differences, for all the rancorous debates that enliven and sometimes demean our politics, a mutual devotion to the ideals our nation was conceived to uphold, that all are created equal, and liberty and equal justice are the natural rights of all. Those rights inhabit the human heart, and from there, though they may be assailed, they can never be wrenched. I want to urge Americans, for as long as I can, to remember that this shared devotion to human rights is our truest heritage and our most important loyalty.
~ John McCain ~
  • proposed by Kalki in regard to his recent death.
2019
At any particular moment in a man's life, he can say that everything he has done and not done, that has been done and not been done to him, has brought him to that moment. If he's being installed as Chieftain or receiving a Nobel Prize, that's a fulfilling notion. But if he's in a sleeping bag at ten thousand feet in a snowstorm, parked in the middle of a highway and waiting to freeze to death, the idea can make him feel calamitously stupid.
~ William Least Heat-Moon ~
2020
You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying, "Now you are free to go where you want, and do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please."
You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "You are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.
Thus it is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates. And this is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights.
We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact, and equality as a result.
~ Lyndon B. Johnson ~
2021
Those who have served through the ages have drawn inspiration from the book of Isaiah, when the Lord says: "Who shall I send, who shall go for us?" American military has been answering for a long time: "Here I am, Lord send me. Here I am, send me." Each one of these women and men of our armed forces are the heirs of that tradition of sacrifice of volunteering to go in harm's way — to risk everything — not for glory, not for profit but to defend what we love and the people we love. And I ask that you join me now, in a moment of silence, for all those, in uniform and out; beautiful military and civilians who have given the last full measure of devotion.
~ Joe Biden ~
  • Recent remarks on current tragedies in Afghanistan; proposed by Kalki
2022
Open your polling places to all your people.
Allow men and women to register and vote whatever the color of their skin.
Extend the rights of citizenship to every citizen of this land.
There is no constitutional issue here. The command of the Constitution is plain.
There is no moral issue. It is wrong — deadly wrong — to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country.
There is no issue of States rights or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights. We cannot, we must not, refuse to protect the right of every American to vote in every election that he may desire to participate in. … We have already waited a hundred years and more, and the time for waiting is gone.
~ Lyndon B. Johnson ~
2023
Rulers, Statesmen, Nations, are wont to be emphatically commended to the teaching which experience offers in history. But what experience and history teach is this, that peoples and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it. Each period is involved in such peculiar circumstances, exhibits a condition of things so strictly idiosyncratic, that its conduct must be regulated by considerations connected with itself, and itself alone. Amid the pressure of great events, a general principle gives no help. It is useless to revert to similar circumstances in the Past. The pallid shades of memory struggle in vain with the life and freedom of the Present.
~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel ~
2024
What is it in man that for a long while lies unknown and unseen only one day to emerge and push him into a new land of the eye, a new region of the mind, a place he has never dreamed of? Maybe it's like the force in spores lying quietly under asphalt until the day they push a soft, bulbous mushroom head right through the pavement. There's nothing you can do to stop it.
~ William Least Heat-Moon ~
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!

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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.
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Suggestions

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A young man should serve his parents at home and be respectful to elders outside his home. He should be earnest and truthful, loving all, but become intimate with humaneness. After doing this, if he has energy to spare, he can study literature and the arts. ~ Confucius (b. August 27, 551 BC)

The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (born 27 August 1770)

  • 3 Kalki 00:55, 26 August 2006 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4. (this seems to be currently missing from the pages 2023·08·26)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 19:37, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:16, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 (leaning toward 2) allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

Opportunities multiply as they are seized. ~ Sun Tzu

—This unsigned comment is by 71.252.139.117 (talk • contribs) .
  • 2 Kalki 07:23, 26 August 2007 (UTC) no clear relation to the date, but might lean toward 3 if there weren't an abundance of other good quotes to use.
  • 2 Zarbon 16:16, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 21:35, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

To comprehend what is, is the task of philosophy: and what is is Reason. ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

And I just want to tell you this — we're in favor of a lot of things and we're against mighty few. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

If two men agree on everything, you can be sure one of them is doing the thinking. ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

If you have had your foot on the neck of a man for three hundred years, and then take it off, do you expect him to get up and thank you? ~ Lyndon B. Johnson

Not every painter has a gift for painting, in fact, many painters are disappointed when they meet with difficulties in art. Painting done under pressure by artists without the necessary talent can only give rise to formlessness, as painting is a profession that requires peace of mind. The painter must always seek the essence of things, always represent the essential characteristics and emotions of the person he is painting... ~ Titian (died 27 August 1576; date of birth unknown)

This is to show the world that I can paint like Titian. … Only technical details are missing. ~ Wolfgang Pauli (Would probably accompany this with an image of a blank rectangle as well as some self portrait of Titian, who died 27 August 1576; date of birth unknown)

The sensualist will find sensuality in Titian; the thinker will find thought; the saint, sanctity; the colourist, colour; the anatomist, form; and yet the picture will never be a popular one in the full sense, for none of these narrower people will find their special taste so alone consulted, as that the qualities which would ensure their gratification shall be sifted or separated from others; they are checked by the presence of the other qualities which ensure the gratification of other men. ~ John Ruskin

Although Titian's works seem to many to have been created without much effort, this is far from the truth and those who think so are deceiving themselves. In fact, it is clear that Titian retouched his pictures, going over them with his colours several times, so that he must obviously have taken great pains. The method he used is judicious, beautiful, and astonishing, for it makes pictures appear alive and painted with great art, but it conceals the labour that has gone into them. ~ Giorgio Vasari

The thing most feared in secret always happens.
I write: oh Thou, have mercy. And then?
All it takes is a little courage.
The more the pain grows clear and definite, the more the instinct for life asserts itself and the thought of suicide recedes.
It seemed easy when I thought of it. Weak women have done it. It takes humility, not pride.
All this is sickening.
Not words. An act. I won't write any more. ~ Cesare Pavese
  • proposed by Nemo 13:49, 18 January 2012 (UTC)
  • 3, it's the day of his suicide. Nemo 13:49, 18 January 2012 (UTC)
  • 1 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:03, 23 August 2012 (UTC) I am generally opposed to promoting any statements which can be perceived to glorify suicide or any other form of homicide or destruction of life potentials, save as an apparently necessary means to prevent worse forms of homicide or destruction of life potentials.
My aim is freedom and voluntary relations in all fields.  The market economy is the result of this in the economic realm; in the cultural realm it means freedom of expression; in politics, democracy and the rule of law; in social life, the right to live according to one's own values and to choose one's company.
~ Johan Norberg ~


Note: Johan Norberg was born 27 August 1973.

Hey, hey, L. B. J.,
How many kids did you kill today?
~ antiwar protesters of the 1960s ~


Note: Lyndon Baines Johnson was born 27 August 1908.

I was interested in making a different kind of instrument.
~ Léon Theremin ~


Note: Léon Theremin, inventor the theremin, was born 27 August 1896.

  • 3 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
    Addendum: With or without images, my vote remains 3.  To be clear, I've no problem with images being added.  Allixpeeke (talk) 20:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 13:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC) but with reservations, as most people would not immediately know what a theremin is, or what he is referring to; use of images could help remedy that.
I wanted to invent some kind of an instrument that would not operate mechanically, as does the piano, or the cello and the violin, whose bow movements can be compared to those of a saw.  I conceived of an instrument that would create sound without using any mechanical energy, like the conductor of an orchestra.
~ Léon Theremin ~


Note: Léon Theremin, inventor the theremin, was born 27 August 1896.

  • 3 allixpeeke (talk) 06:56, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
    Addendum: With or without images, my vote remains 3.  To be clear, I've no problem with images being added.  Allixpeeke (talk) 20:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 13:54, 25 August 2014 (UTC) but with reservations, as most people would not immediately know what a theremin is, or what he is referring to; use of images could help remedy that.

"We have become a grandmother." -- Margaret Thatcher

Other than to amuse himself, why should a man pretend to know where he's going or understand what he sees?
~ William Least Heat-Moon ~


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