Wikiquote:Quote of the day/May 2021

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Today is Saturday, December 21, 2024; it is now 16:48 (UTC)

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May 1

Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing until it embraces the totality of men and the earth. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ~

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May 2

Philosophy is properly Home-sickness; the wish to be everywhere at home. ~ Novalis ~

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May 3

Copying is not theft Stealing a thing leaves one less left Copying it makes one thing more That's what copying's for. ~ Nina Paley ~

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May 4

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and, however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly. ~ T. H. Huxley ~

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May 5

The presence of irony does not necessarily mean that the earnestness is excluded. Only assistant professors assume that. ~ Søren Kierkegaard ~ in ~ Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments ~

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May 6

Come holy harlequin! Shake the world and shock the hypocrite Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down. Let the feast of love begin, Let the hungry all come in, Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down. ~ Sydney Carter ~

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May 7

The human soul is on its journey from the law to love, from discipline to liberation, from the moral plane to the spiritual. ~ Rabindranath Tagore ~

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May 8

Why should things be easy to understand? ~ Thomas Pynchon ~

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May 9

The "ideas" of the average man are not genuine ideas, nor is their possession culture. An idea is a putting truth in checkmate. Whoever wishes to have ideas must first prepare himself to desire truth and to accept the rules of the game imposed by it. It is no use speaking of ideas when there is no acceptance of a higher authority to regulate them, a series of standards to which it is possible to appeal in a discussion. These standards are the principles on which culture rests. ~ José Ortega y Gasset ~

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May 10

If nature has offered to produce the maximum effect with minimum causes, it is in all of its laws that it had to solve this major problem. It is without doubt difficult to discover the foundations of this wonderful economy, i.e. the simplest causes of phenomena considered from such a wide point of view. But if this general principle of the philosophy of physics does not lead immediately to the knowledge of truth, it can direct the efforts of the human spirit, by leading it away from theories which relate the phenomena to too many different causes, and by adopting preferably those based on the smallest number of assumptions, which show to be more fruitful in consequences. ~ Augustin-Jean Fresnel ~

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May 11

Learning in the true sense of the word is possible only in that state of attention, in which there is no outer or inner compulsion. Right thinking can come about only when the mind is not enslaved by tradition and memory. It is attention that allows silence to come upon the mind, which is the opening of the door to creation. That is why attention is of the highest importance. Knowledge is necessary at the functional level as a means of cultivating the mind, and not as an end in itself. We are concerned, not with the development of just one capacity, such as that of a mathematician, or a scientist, or a musician, but with the total development of the student as a human being. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti ~

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May 12

When shall we see a life full of steady enthusiasm, walking straight to its aim, flying home, as that bird is now, against the wind — with the calmness and the confidence of one who knows the laws of God and can apply them? ~ Florence Nightingale ~

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May 13

I felt that I had done my duty. Nothing drove me now. I had run out of causes and was as close as I might ever be to peace. With all this behind me, I felt that if I had to die now, it was all right. I would not protest quite so loudly as I would have at any other time. ~ Roger Zelazny ~ in ~ The Courts of Chaos ~

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May 14

Don't avoid the clichés — they are clichés because they work! ~ George Lucas ~

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May 15

Rationality is what we do to organize the world, to make it possible to predict. Art is the rehearsal for the inapplicability and failure of that process. ~ Brian Eno ~

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May 16

Remember always that the cause of the United States is the cause of human nature. ~ William H. Seward ~

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May 17

All those people who cannot or will not make peace on earth; all those who for one reason or another cling to the ancient state of things and find or invent excuses for it — they are your enemies! They are your enemies as much as those German soldiers are to-day who are prostrate here between you in the mud, who are only poor dupes hatefully deceived and brutalized, domestic beasts. They are your enemies, wherever they were born, however they pronounce their names, whatever the language in which they lie. Look at them, in the heaven and on the earth. Look at them, everywhere! Identify them once for all, and be mindful for ever! ~ Henri Barbusse ~

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May 18

There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death. ~ Bertrand Russell ~

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May 19

Design is really a special case of problem solving. One wants to bring about a desired state of affairs. Occasionally one wants to remedy some fault but more usually one wants to bring about something new. For that reason design is more open ended than problem solving. It requires more creativity. It is not so much a matter of linking up a clearly defined objective with a clearly defined starting position (as in problem solving) but more a matter of starting out from a general position in the direction of a general objective. ~ Edward de Bono ~

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May 20

Ages are no more infallible than individuals; every age having held many opinions which subsequent ages have deemed not only false but absurd; and it is as certain that many opinions now general will be rejected by future ages, as it is that many, once general, are rejected by the present. ~ John Stuart Mill ~

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May 21

What after all, has maintained the human race on this old globe despite all the calamities of nature and all the tragic failings of mankind, if not faith in new possibilities, and courage to advocate them. ~ Jane Addams ~

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May 22

There’s a creation, a creating force. But whatever it is is in everything we see. It’s in that log, in that stone. It’s just the power. And I’ve had many experiences with it. Certain circumstances bring it out, which all the mystics know. That is part of our Zen training too. It’s called an "opening." … For a second, you see what the world is. It is a whole other way of seeing, which is horrible, terrifying, and extraordinary and a great blessing to have. ~ Peter Matthiessen ~

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May 23

Dogmatic imitations of ancestral beliefs are passing. They have been the axis around which religion revolved but now are no longer fruitful; on the contrary, in this day they have become the cause of human degradation and hindrance. Bigotry and dogmatic adherence to ancient beliefs have become the central and fundamental source of animosity among men, the obstacle to human progress, the cause of warfare and strife, the destroyer of peace, composure and welfare in the world. ~ `Abdu'l-Bahá ~

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May 24

I'm going to spare the defeated, I'm going to speak to the crowd I'm going to spare the defeated, I'm going to speak to the crowd I'm going to teach peace to the conquered, I'm going to tame the proud. ~ Bob Dylan ~

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May 25

The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

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May 26

All I have to do is make you see this. This one particular thing here. That's all. And sometimes it's impossible. Sometimes, I know the best odds I can hope for are a thousand to one. You'll see what you see, what your life has conditioned you to see upon encountering that combination of words, not what I want or need you to see. Fiction writing is like making films for the blind. ~ Caitlín R. Kiernan ~

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May 27

We are entitled to our informed opinions. Without research, without background, without understanding, it’s nothing. It’s just bibble-babble. It’s like a fart in a wind tunnel, folks. ~ Harlan Ellison ~

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May 28

Never say "no" to adventures. Always say "yes", otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life. ~ Ian Fleming ~

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May 29

I believe in an America that is on the march — an America respected by all nations, friends and foes alike — an America that is moving, doing, working, trying — a strong America in a world of peace. That peace must be based on world law and world order, on the mutual respect of all nations for the rights and powers of others and on a world economy in which no nation lacks the ability to provide a decent standard of living for all of its people. ~ John F. Kennedy ~

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May 30

I speak of that justice which is based solely upon human conscience, the justice which you will rediscover deep in the conscience of every man, even in the conscience of the child, and which translates itself into simple equality. This justice, which is so universal but which nevertheless, owing to the encroachments of force and to the influence of religion, has never as yet prevailed in the world of politics, of law, or of economics, should serve as a basis for the new world. Without it there is no liberty, no republic, no prosperity, no peace! It should therefore preside at all our resolutions in order that we may effectively cooperate in establishing peace. ~ Mikhail Bakunin ~

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May 31

Weave lasting sure, weave day and night the weft, the warp, incessant weave, tire not, (We know not what the use O life, nor know the aim, the end, nor really aught we know, But know the work, the need goes on and shall go on, the death-envelop'd march of peace as well as war goes on,) For great campaigns of peace the same the wiry threads to weave, We know not why or what, yet weave, forever weave. ~ Walt Whitman ~ in ~ Leaves of Grass ~

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QOTD by month + Suggestions for: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
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Today is Saturday, December 21, 2024; it is now 16:48 (UTC)

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