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Wikiquote:Quote of the day/March 2019

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Today is Sunday, December 22, 2024; it is now 03:48 (UTC)


March 1
 
Pride is not a wise counselor. People who believe themselves to be the incarnation of good have a distorted view of the world. The absence of any obstacle to the deployment of strength is dangerous for the strong themselves: passion takes precedence over reason. "No power without limit can be legitimate," as Montesquieu wrote long ago. Political wisdom does not consist in seeking only immediate victory, nor does it require systematic preference of "us" over "them."
~ Tzvetan Todorov ~
 

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March 2
 
Life forces enough final decisions on us. We should have the sense to avoid as many of the unnecessary ones as we can.
~ John Irving ~
 

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March 3
 
Truth is powerful, and, if not instantly, at least by slow degrees, may make good her possession. Gleams of good sense may penetrate through the thickest clouds of error … and, as the true object of education is not to render the pupil the mere copy of his preceptor, it is rather to be rejoiced in, than lamented, that various reading should lead him into new trains of thinking; open to him new mines of science and new incentives to virtue; and perhaps, by a blended and compound effect, produce in him an improvement which was out of the limits of his lessons, and raise him to heights the preceptor never knew.
~ William Godwin ~
 

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March 4
 
Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points.
~ Knute Rockne ~
 

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March 5
 
My favorite thing about the Internet is that you get to go into the private world of real creeps without having to smell them.
~ Penn Jillette ~
 

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March 6
 
All is in the hands of Man. Therefore you should wash them often.
~ Stanisław Jerzy Lec ~
 

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March 7
 
Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.
~ John Herschel ~
 

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March 8
 
In a world populated by people who believe that through more and more information, paradise is attainable, the computer scientist is king. But I maintain that all of this is a monumental and dangerous waste of human talent and energy. Imagine what might be accomplished if this talent and energy were turned to philosophy, to theology, to the arts, to imaginative literature or to education? Who knows what we could learn from such people — perhaps why there are wars, and hunger, and homelessness and mental illness and anger.
~ Neil Postman ~
 

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March 9
 
I have nothing to prove to you.
~ Captain Marvel ~
 

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March 10
 
Wit is the appearance, the external flash of imagination. Thus its divinity, and the witty character of mysticism.
~ Friedrich Schlegel ~
 

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March 11
 
Science, by itself, provides no panacea for individual, social, and economic ills. It can be effective in the national welfare only as a member of a team, whether the conditions be peace or war. But without scientific progress no amount of achievement in other directions can insure our health, prosperity, and security as a nation in the modern world.
~ Vannevar Bush ~
 

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March 12
 
Doth the reality of sensible things consist in being perceived? or, is it something distinct from their being perceived, and that bears no relation to the mind?
~ George Berkeley ~
 

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March 13
 
It may, perhaps, be true, though we cannot distinctly see it to be so, that as all finite things require a cause, infinites admit of none. It is evident, that nothing can begin to be without a cause; but it by no means follows from thence, that that must have had a cause which had no beginning. But whatever there may be in this conjecture, we are constrained, in pursuing the train of causes and effects, to stop at last at something uncaused.
~ Joseph Priestley ~
 

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March 14
 
The genuine scientist is not moved by praise or blame, nor does he preach. He unveils the universe and people come eagerly, without being pushed, to behold a new revelation: the order, the harmony, the magnificence of creation! And as man becomes conscious of the stupendous laws that govern the universe in perfect harmony, he begins to realize how small he is. He sees the pettiness of human existence, with its ambitions and intrigues, its "I am better than thou" creed. This is the beginning of cosmic religion within him; fellowship and human service become his moral code. And without such moral foundations, we are hopelessly doomed.
~ Albert Einstein ~
 

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March 15
 
Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.
~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg ~
 

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March 16
 
Odious ideas are not entitled to hide from criticism behind the human shield of their believers' feelings.
~ Richard Stallman ~
 

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March 17
 
I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s host to secure me
against snares of devils
against temptations of vices
against inclinations of nature
against everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd.
~ Saint Patrick ~
 

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March 18
 
Ethics occupies a central place in philosophy because it is concerned with sin, with the origin of good and evil and with moral valuations. And since these problems have a universal significance, the sphere of ethics is wider than is generally supposed. It deals with meaning and value and its province is the world in which the distinction between good and evil is drawn, evaluations are made and meaning is sought.
~ Nikolai Berdyaev ~
 

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March 19
 
No government can long endure unless its citizens are willing to make some sacrifice for its existence.
In this, our land, we are called upon to give but little in return for the advantages which we receive. Shall we give that little grudgingly? Our definition of patriotism is often too narrow.
Shall the lover of his country measure his loyalty only by his service as a soldier? No! Patriotism calls for the faithful and conscientious performance of all of the duties of citizenship, in small matters as well as great, at home as well as upon the tented field.
~ William Jennings Bryan ~
 

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March 20
 
Fas est et ab hoste doceri.
It is right to learn even from an enemy.
~ Ovid ~
in
~ Metamorphoses ~
 

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March 21
 
Poets are all who love, who feel great truths,
And tell them; and the truth of truths is love.
~ Philip James Bailey ~
 

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March 22
 
History is not made only by kings and parliaments, presidents, wars, and generals. It is the story of people, of their love, honor, faith, hope and suffering; of birth and death, of hunger, thirst and cold, of loneliness and sorrow.
~ Louis L'Amour ~
 

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March 23
 
Man's life cannot "be lived" by repeating the pattern of his species; he must live. Man is the only animal that can be bored, that can be discontented, that can feel evicted from paradise. Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape. He cannot go back to the prehuman state of harmony with nature; he must proceed to develop his reason until he becomes the master of nature, and of himself.
~ Erich Fromm ~
 

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March 24
 
Six minutes, and about 20 seconds. In a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us, 15 more were injured, and everyone, absolutely everyone in the Douglas community was forever altered. Everyone who was there understands. Everyone who has been touched by the cold grip of gun violence understands. … Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15, and my friend Carmen would never complain to me about piano practice. Aaron Feis would never call Kyra "miss sunshine," Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan, Scott Beigel would never joke around with Cameron at camp, Helena Ramsay would never hang around after school with Max, Gina Montalto would never wave to her friend Liam at lunch, Joaquin Oliver would never play basketball with Sam or Dylan. Alaina Petty would never, Cara Loughren would never, Chris Hixon would never, Luke Hoyer would never, Martin Duque Anguiano would never, Peter Wang would never, Alyssa Alhadeff would never, Jamie Guttenberg would never, Jamie Pollack would never … [long silence] … Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an hour before arrest. Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job.
~ Emma González ~
 

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March 25
 
Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of ignorance.
~ Robert Quillen ~
 

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March 26
 
I think that the appetite for mystery, the enthusiasm for that which we do not understand, is healthy and to be fostered. It is the same appetite which drives the best of true science, and it is an appetite which true science is best qualified to satisfy.
~ Richard Dawkins ~
 

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March 27
 
In our contemporary social and intellectual plight, it is nothing less than shocking to discover that those persons who claim to have discovered an absolute are usually the same people who also pretend to be superior to the rest. To find people in our day attempting to pass off to the world and recommending to others some nostrum of the absolute which they claim to have discovered is merely a sign of the loss of and the need for intellectual and moral certainty, felt by broad sections of the population who are unable to look life in the face.
~ Karl Mannheim ~
 

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March 28
 
Why should it not be the whole function of a word to denote many things?
~ J. L. Austin ~
 

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March 29
 
Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
~ R. S. Thomas ~
 

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March 30
 
It's my rule never to lose me temper till it would be dethrimental to keep it.
~ Seán O'Casey ~
 

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March 31
 
I am a man: little do I last
and the night is enormous.
But I look up:
the stars write.
Unknowing I understand:
I too am written,
and at this very moment
someone spells me out.
~ Octavio Paz ~
 

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Today is Sunday, December 22, 2024; it is now 03:48 (UTC)