User:JMK
650+ | This user has made over 650 contributions to Wikiquote. |
I also have pages on the English and Afrikaans wikipedias, as well as wikimedia Commons. JMK 13:52, 21 July 2010 (UTC)
Value of wikiquote
[edit]Wikiquote is in my view an indispensable part of the wikimedia family. The quotes are ideas, some of them the most important ideas in this world, which illustrate the world views of notable individuals. These ideas or opinions are not specifically aimed at truth, and may care little for accepted values. They may be either true or false, or exist in the space between truths and untruths, or that between responsibility and irresponsibility. Their relation to either value systems, truths or untruths may also be, as yet, undetermined and undecided - ideas to be mulled over by the readers of wikiquote, or by coming generations. The quotes listed here may reflect on the prejudices of the person that brought them to life as much as it would illuminate or obfuscate the subject being addressed. As an accessory to wikipedia articles on living or dead persons, it is invaluable. While the quotes themselves may contain untruths, they must reflect as closely as possible what the person actually said. When this is achieved, wikiquote fulfills a role that wikipedia arguably cannot. It facilitates an instructive, direct and unadulterated exposition of the person, and his or her ideas, the elements of which are usually difficult to conceal or falsify.