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December 16

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange. ~ G. K. Chesterton
2005
Fear... can make you do more wrong than hate or jealousy. If you're afraid you don't commit yourself to life completely; fear makes you always, always hold something back. ~ Philip K. Dick (born 16 December 1928)
2006
What renders man an imaginative and moral being is that in society he gives new aims to his life which could not have existed in solitude: the aims of friendship, religion, science, and art. ~ George Santayana (born 16 December 1863)
2007
Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
2008
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. ~ Philip K. Dick
2009
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. ~ Arthur C. Clarke (Date of birth)
2010
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~ George Santayana
2011
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
2012
The God to whom depth in philosophy bring back men’s minds is far from being the same from whom a little philosophy estranges them.
~ George Santayana ~
2013
Today we live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups … So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing.
~ Philip K. Dick ~
2014
We'll know homo superior when he comes — by definition. He'll be the one we won't be able to euth.
~ Philip K. Dick ~
2015
It seems to me very important to continue to distinguish between two evils. It may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good.
~ Margaret Mead ~
2016
The Information Age offers much to mankind, and I would like to think that we will rise to the challenges it presents. But it is vital to remember that information — in the sense of raw data — is not knowledge, that knowledge is not wisdom, and that wisdom is not foresight. But information is the first essential step to all of these.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~
2017
Space can be mapped and crossed and occupied without definable limit; but it can never be conquered. When our race has reached its ultimate achievements, and the stars themselves are scattered no more widely than the seed of Adam, even then we shall still be like ants crawling on the face of the Earth. The ants have covered the world, but have they conquered it — for what do their countless colonies know of it, or of each other?
So it will be with us as we spread out from Earth, loosening the bonds of kinship and understanding, hearing faint and belated rumors at second — or third — or thousandth hand of an ever dwindling fraction of the entire human race. Though the Earth will try to keep in touch with her children, in the end all the efforts of her archivists and historians will be defeated by time and distance, and the sheer bulk of material. For the numbers of distinct human societies or nations, when our race is twice its present age, may be far greater than the total number of all the men who have ever lived up to the present time.
We have left the realm of comprehension in our vain effort to grasp the scale of the universe; so it must ever be, sooner rather than later.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~
2018
If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run — and often in the short one — the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~
2019
You shall not, for the sake of one individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity, nor endeavour to persuade yourself or me, that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of danger security for happiness.
~ Jane Austen ~
in
~ Pride and Prejudice ~
2020
Do not merely practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; it deserves that, for only art and science can exalt man to divinity.
~ Ludwig van Beethoven ~
2021
As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~
2022
The way of water has no beginning and no end. The sea is around you and within you. The sea is your home — before your birth, and after your death. Our hearts beat in the womb of the world, our breath burns in the shadow of the deep. The sea gives, and the sea takes. Water connects all things, life to death, darkness to light.
~ Avatar: The Way of Water ~
  • proposed by Kalki; official release date of the film.
2023
Any given man sees only a tiny portion of the total truth, and very often, in fact almost … perpetually, he deliberately deceives himself about that precious little fragment as well.
~ Philip K. Dick ~


2024
Rank or add further suggestions…

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

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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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]

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. ~ Mao Zedong in the Little Red Book, published in Beijing that day.

  • 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 but 4 on correct date because the assurance of artillery is a very true factor to rely on. However, I'd prefer to see this on his date of birth (December 26). Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
    • I would also like to mention that MosheZadka gave this one a 3 on the date of September 9. Zarbon 16:35, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors. ~ Ludwig van Beethoven (Date of birth)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Liquidice5 18:02, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is very true. It is easy to search for error in others, but to find it in oneself is majestic and remains a difficult task, and for someone of nobility, that much harder. Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones. ~ William Somerset Maugham (Date of death)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The world is a king, and like a king, desires flattery in return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse — it will not submit to the mold of flattery. ~ Ludwig van Beethoven (born December 16, 1770)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 because this is rather true. Artists who want their work kept in its originality will not submit to any offers, because their art is who they are. Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:13, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

The present has its élan because it is always on the edge of the unknown and one misunderstands the past unless one remembers that this unknown was once part of its nature. ~ V. S. Pritchett (born December 16, 1900)

The dinosaurs disappeared because they could not adapt to their changing environment. We shall disappear if we cannot adapt to an environment that now contains spaceships, computers — and thermonuclear weapons. ~ Arthur C. Clarke (born 16 December 1917)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

If I had know it was harmless, I would have killed it myself. Philip K. Dick

  • 3 Zarbon 03:13, 5 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice; and yet everybody is content to hear. ~ John Selden

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC) A bit too cynical to be true.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain. ~ John Selden

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. ~ Amy Carmichael

  • 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things. ~ Margaret Mead

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment. ~ George Santayana

  • 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:46, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

That life is worth living is the most necessary of assumptions and, were it not assumed, the most impossible of conclusions. ~ George Santayana

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:46, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Injustice in this world is not something comparative; the wrong is deep, clear, and absolute in each private fate. ~ George Santayana

  • 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself. ~ George Santayana

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Only the dead have seen the end of war. ~ George Santayana

  • 3 with a strong lean towards a 4. Because the fighting continues for the living. Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the older man who will not laugh is a fool. ~ George Santayana

  • 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me. ~ Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, to be secure of judging properly at first. ~ Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Great artists are always far-seeing. They easily avoid the big stumbling blocks of fact. They rely on their own simplicity and vision. ~ V. S. Pritchett

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Life — how curious is that habit that makes us think it is not here, but elsewhere. ~ V. S. Pritchett

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

When two people dream the same dream, it ceases to be an illusion. ~ Philip K. Dick

  • 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Ramp hawkers were peddling “methods,” low priced sure-fire theories guaranteed to predict bottle twitches and beat the whole Minimax game. The hawkers were ignored by the hurrying throngs of people; anybody with a genuine system of prediction would be using it, not selling it. ~ Philip K. Dick

In a society of criminals … the innocent man goes to jail. ~ Philip K. Dick

Skill is a function of chance. It’s an intuitive best-use of chance situations. ~ Philip K. Dick

He has a broader present. But his present lies ahead, not back. Our present is related to the past. Only the past is certain, to us. To him, the future is certain.
~ Philip K. Dick ~
He was always moving, advancing into new regions he had never seen before. A constantly unfolding panorama of sights and scenes, frozen landscapes spread out ahead. All objects were fixed. Pieces on a vast chess board through which he moved, arms folded, face calm. A detached observer who saw objects that lay ahead of him as clearly as those under foot. … Much lay ahead. The half hour was divided into an incredibly complex pattern of separate configurations. He had reached a critical region; he was about to move through worlds of intricate complexity.
~ Philip K. Dick ~

(Date of birth)

I grew up in Baltimore and that's why I root for the Orioles. I'm very suspicious of people who move and take on a new team. You should stick with the team of your youth all the way to your grave. That shows a sense of loyalty and devotion.
~ Frank Deford ~
There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.
~ Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice ~
I can never look now at the Milky Way without wondering from which of those banked clouds of stars the emissaries are coming. If you will pardon so commonplace a simile, we have set off the fire alarm and have nothing to do but to wait.
I do not think we will have to wait for long.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~
It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~
We stand now at the turning point between two eras. Behind us is a past to which we can never return … The coming of the rocket brought to an end a million years of isolation … the childhood of our race was over and history as we know it began.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~
Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the non-existence of Zeus or Thor — but they have few followers now.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~
Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~
I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It's just been too intelligent to come here.
~ Arthur C. Clarke ~


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