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December 28

From Wikiquote

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is. ~ Richard Feynman
  • selected by Kalki, — This statement has been discovered to very probably be a misattribution, and seems to have been created as part of a paraphrase of Feynman's note to the mother of Marcus Chown: "Tell your son to stop trying to fill your head with science — for to fill your heart with love is enough." ~ Kalki 01:29, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
2005
No nation is fit to sit in judgement upon any other nation. ~ Woodrow Wilson, (born 28 December 1856)
2006
The length of one's days matters less than the love of one's family and friends. ~ Gerald Ford (recent death)
2007
The forces of moderation and democracy must, and will, prevail against extremism and dictatorship. I will not be intimidated. … Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead the fight against it. ~ Benazir Bhutto (recent death)
2008
Nothing is so galling to a people not broken in from the birth as a paternal, or, in other words, a meddling government, a government which tells them what to read, and say, and eat, and drink and wear. ~ Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (Date of death)
2009
At terrestrial temperatures matter has complex properties which are likely to prove most difficult to unravel; but it is reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star. ~ Arthur Stanley Eddington
2010
The external world of physics has … become a world of shadows. In removing our illusions we have removed the substance, for indeed we have seen that substance is one of the greatest of our illusions. … The sparsely spread nuclei of electric force become a tangible solid; their restless agitation becomes the warmth of summer; the octave of aethereal vibrations becomes a gorgeous rainbow. Nor does the alchemy stop here. In the transmuted world new significances arise which are scarcely to be traced in the world of symbols; so that it becomes a world of beauty and purpose — and, alas, suffering and evil.
The frank realisation that physical science is concerned with a world of shadows is one of the most significant of recent advances. ~ Arthur Stanley Eddington
2011
We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about "and." ~ Arthur Stanley Eddington
2012
It is difficult for the matter-of-fact physicist to accept the view that the substratum of everything is of mental character. But no one can deny that mind is the first and most direct thing in our experience, and all else is remote inference — inference either intuitive or deliberate.
~ Arthur Stanley Eddington ~
2013
A good poem is a tautology. It expands one word by adding a number which clarify it, thus making a new word which has never before been spoken. The seed-word is always so ordinary that hardly anyone perceives it. Classical odes grow from and or because, romantic lyrics from but or if. Immature verses expand a personal pronoun ad nauseam, the greatest works bring glory to a common verb.
~ Alasdair Gray ~
2014
There probably is a God. Many things are easier to explain if there is than if there isn't.
~ John von Neumann ~
2015
If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is.
~ John von Neumann ~
2016
I don’t want life to imitate art. I want life to be art.
~ Carrie Fisher ~
  • proposed by Kalki in regard to her recent death.
2017
Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
~ John von Neumann ~
2018
Work as if you live in the early days of a better world.
~ Alasdair Gray ~
2019
The universe is of the nature of a thought or sensation in a universal Mind … To put the conclusion crudely — the stuff of the world is mind-stuff. As is often the way with crude statements, I shall have to explain that by "mind" I do not exactly mean mind and by "stuff" I do not at all mean stuff. Still that is about as near as we can get to the idea in a simple phrase. The mind-stuff of the world is something more general than our individual conscious minds; but we may think of its nature as not altogether foreign to feelings in our consciousness … Having granted this, the mental activity of the part of world constituting ourselves occasions no great surprise; it is known to us by direct self-knowledge, and we do not explain it away as something other than we know it to be — or rather, it knows itself to be.
~ Arthur Eddington ~
2020
Attention, please note! Attention, please note! The expansion committee announces that after the hundred and eightieth all twittering is to be treated as a sign of hopelessness!
~ Alasdair Gray ~
in
~ Lanark: A Life in Four Books ~
2021
Forgiveness is one of the key ideas in this world. Forgiveness is not just some nebulous, vague idea that one can easily dismiss. It has to do with uniting people through practical politics. Without forgiveness there is no future.
~ Desmond Tutu ~
2022
Our faiths are similar — it's merely our religions that may differ. I have faith in the inherent goodness of man and I'm sure you feel the same. ... I have the greatest respect for any discipline that preaches kindness and charity and love for one's fellow man. Most important of all, to me — "Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you" is the greatest phrase ever written. If everyone followed that creed, this world would be a paradise.
~ Stan Lee ~
2023
The emperor needs all the headmasters he can get. If a quarter of his people were headmasters he would be perfectly happy. But more than two poets would tear his kingdom apart.
~ Alasdair Gray ~
2024
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.
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Suggestions

[edit]

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to The Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. ~ Pledge of Allegiance, officially recognized by the U.S. Congress on this date in 1945

  • 3 ~ UDScott 15:03, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 0 (not everyone is American) - --Mister Six 11:10, 16 December 2005 (UTC)
  • 4 Significant historical event worth commemoration. Ezratrumpet 06:38, 23 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 15:39, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 07:13, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 0 because I completely agree with Mister Six. Zarbon 20:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 The Pledge was adopted on June 22, 1942, and version adopted then did not have the words under God in it. That phase was not added until June 14, 1954. bystander (talk) 00:34, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

There is such thing as a man being too proud to fight. ~ Woodrow Wilson (born December 28, 1856)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 07:13, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:31, 27 December 2006 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 Zarbon 20:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Only a peace between equals can last. ~ Woodrow Wilson

  • 4 InvisibleSun 07:13, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:31, 27 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 20:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Our neighbors use searchlights, for they want more light. I tell you... we need more darkness. ~ Ivan Konev (born December 28)

  • 4 because this has deep meaning...sometimes it is better to have a century of peace (darkness) and serenity rather than one that sparks (light) problems. Very beautiful dynamic here. Zarbon 06:43, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Last Battle - Page 354 by Cornelius Ryan - History - 1995
  • 2 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

...the best teacher is one who learns in the process of teaching. ~ Mortimer Adler

  • 3 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

The great books of ancient and medieval as well as modern times are a repository of knowledge and wisdom, a tradition of culture which must initiate each generation. ~ Mortimer Adler

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Any kid who has two parents who are interested in him and has a houseful of books isn't poor. ~ Sam Levenson

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. ~ Sam Levenson

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

When I was a boy I used to do what my father wanted. Now I have to do what my boy wants. My problem is: When am I going to do what I want? ~ Sam Levenson

  • 2 for comic value. Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

A film is just like a muffin. You make it. You put it on the table. One person might say, "Oh, I don't like it". One might say it's the best muffin ever made. One might say it's an awful muffin. It's hard for me to say. It's for me to make the muffin. ~ Denzel Washington

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Face front, true believer! ~ Stan Lee

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

You wake me up early in the morning to tell me that I'm right? Please wait until I'm wrong. ~ John von Neumann

  • 2 Zarbon 06:11, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 01:21, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:47, 27 December 2008 (UTC)
Art is the only work open to people who can't get along with others and still want to be special.
~ Alasdair Gray ~


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