November 13

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Anyone who believes in God and the Last Day should not harm his neighbor. Anyone who believes in God and the Last Day should entertain his guest generously. And anyone who believes in God and the Last Day should say what is good or keep quiet. ~ Muhammad
2005
Once for all, then, a short precept is given thee: Love, and do what thou wilt: whether thou hold thy peace, through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out, through love cry out; whether thou correct, through love correct; whether thou spare, through love do thou spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good. ~ Augustine of Hippo, (born 13 November 354)
2006
The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. ~ Louis Brandeis (born November 13, 1856)
2007
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
2008
Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. ~ Louis Brandeis
2009
It is better to be a fool than to be dead. It is better to emit a scream in the shape of a theory than to be entirely insensible to the jars and incongruities of life and take everything as it comes in a forlorn stupidity. Some people swallow the universe like a pill; they travel on through the world, like smiling images pushed from behind. For God's sake give me the young man who has brains enough to make a fool of himself! ~ Robert Louis Stevenson
2010
The good man, though a slave, is free; the wicked, though he reigns, is a slave, and not the slave of a single man, but — what is worse — the slave of as many masters as he has vices. ~ Augustine of Hippo
2011
Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul. ~ Augustine of Hippo
2012
I do not fear but that He will go on to supply what is yet wanting when once I have begun to use what He has already given. For a possession which is not diminished by being shared with there, if it is possessed and not shared, is not yet possessed as it ought to be possessed.
~ Augustine of Hippo ~
2013
All who have meant good work with their whole hearts, have done good work, although they may die before they have the time to sign it. Every heart that has beat strong and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson ~
2014
Inasmuch as love grows in you, in so much beauty grows; for love is itself the beauty of the soul.
~ Augustine of Hippo ~
2015
An unjust law is no law at all.
~ Augustine of Hippo ~
2016
It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.
~ Augustine of Hippo ~
2017
Some men are called sagacious, merely on account of their avarice: whereas a child can clench its fist the moment it is born.
~ William Shenstone ~
2018
To me you can wrap all of Judaism up in one sentence, and that is, "Do not do unto others...". All I tried to do in my stories was show that there's some innate goodness in the human condition. And there's always going to be evil; we should always be fighting evil.
~ Stan Lee ~
  • proposed by Kalki in regard to his recent death.
2019
A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.
~ William Shenstone ~
2020
Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.
~ Augustine of Hippo ~
2021
Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold.
~ William Shenstone ~
2022
The spiritual virtue of a sacrament is like light, — although it passes among the impure, it is not polluted.
~ Augustine of Hippo ~
2023
Let the gull'd fool the toil of war pursue,
Where bleed the many to enrich the few.
~ William Shenstone ~
2024
Rank or add further suggestions…

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


  • If your morals make you dreary, depend upon it, they are wrong. I do not say give them up, for they may be all you have, but conceal them like a vice lest they spoil the lives of better and simpler people. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson


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]


What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know. ~ Augustine of Hippo born that day

—This unsigned comment is by MosheZadka (talkcontribs) .
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:55, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:07, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 06:16, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson, born that day.


Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson (born November 13, 1850)


If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold. ~ Louis Brandeis (born November 13, 1856)

  • 3 Kalki 00:07, 13 November 2006 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:07, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 06:16, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 DanielTom (talk) 10:36, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

How many loves have perished because, from pride, or spite, or diffidence, or that unmanly shame which withholds a man from daring to betray emotion, a lover, at the critical point of the relation, has but hung his head and held his tongue? ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

  • 3 Kalki 03:38, 10 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:07, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 06:16, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Oft has good nature been the fool's defence,
And honest meaning gilded want of sense. ~ William Shenstone

  • 3 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

There seem near as many people that want passion as want reason. ~ William Shenstone

  • 3 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Necessity may be the mother of lucrative invention, but it is the death of poetical. ~ William Shenstone

  • 4 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:42, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

I am chained to the earth to pay for the freedom of my eyes. ~ Antonio Porchia

  • 3 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

I would go to heaven, but I would take my hell; I would not go alone. ~ Antonio Porchia

  • 3 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

He who holds me by a thread is not strong; the thread is strong. ~ Antonio Porchia

  • 2 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Whatever I take, I take too much or too little; I do not take the exact amount. The exact amount is no use to me. ~ Antonio Porchia

  • 2 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

We become aware of the void as we fill it. ~ Antonio Porchia

  • 2 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

A thing, until it is everything, is noise, and once it is everything it is silence. ~ Antonio Porchia

  • 2 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Anger is a weed; hate is the tree. ~ Augustine of Hippo

  • 3 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Virtue and vice are not the same, even if they undergo the same torment. ~ Augustine of Hippo

  • 2 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Charity is the root of all good works. ~ Augustine of Hippo


Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times. ~ Augustine of Hippo

  • 3 Kalki 22:47, 12 November 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 DanielTom (talk) 10:36, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

I was not yet in love, yet I loved to love...I sought what I might love, in love with loving. ~ Augustine of Hippo


I doubt if there are very many rational people in this world to whom the word "fuck" is particularly diabolical or revolting or totally forbidden.
~ Kenneth Tynan ~
  • 3 ♌︎Kalki ⚓︎ 20:37, 24 April 2013 (UTC) The word "fuck" spoken for the first time on British television on this date, by Tynan, on 'BBC-3 (13 November 1965), with a slight lean toward 4 for the 50th anniversary of the event in 2015.
  • 2 DanielTom (talk) 10:36, 2 August 2014 (UTC)

People ask me if I have some kind of death wish, to keep saying the things I do. The answer is no: I would like to keep living. However, some things must be said, and there are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice. ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali


You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. ~ Augustine of Hippo


Theirs is the present who can praise the past.
~ William Shenstone ~

Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent.
~ William Shenstone ~

A man of remarkable genius may afford to pass by a piece of wit, if it happens to border on abuse. A little genius is obliged to catch at every witticism indiscriminately.
~ William Shenstone ~

Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are shewing you the grounds of it.
~ William Shenstone ~

While we labour to subdue our passions, we should take care not to extinguish them. Subduing our passions, is disengaging ourselves from the world; to which however, Whilst we reside in it, we must always bear relation; and we may detach ourselves to such a degree as to pass an useless and insipid life, which we were not meant to do. Our existence here is at least one part of a system.
A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.
~ William Shenstone ~

Health is beauty, and the most perfect health is the most perfect beauty.
~ William Shenstone ~