Wikiquote:Quote of the day/November 2021

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Today is Monday, December 30, 2024; it is now 16:48 (UTC)

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November 1

If there is a witness to my little life,
To my tiny throes and struggles,
He sees a fool;
And it is not fine for gods to menace fools.

~ Stephen Crane ~

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November 2

A lot of writers write as if the hero sort of popped out of the box at age 22 fully formed. And one thing that raising children does is give you some sense of how human beings really are put together. So when you go to put together a character you can have a more realistic sense of where people really come from, why they really behave the way they do and what a tremendous amount of life and complexity lies behind every human being.

~ Lois McMaster Bujold ~

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November 3

Honest pioneer work in the field of science has always been, and will continue to be, life's pilot. On all sides, life is surrounded by hostility. This puts us under an obligation.

~ Wilhelm Reich ~

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November 4

I am a peace man. I haven't got any use for wars and there is no more humor in 'em than there is reason for 'em.

~ Will Rogers ~

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November 5

Now let us thank the Eternal Power: convinced
That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction,—
That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour
Serves but to brighten all our future days.

~ John Brown ~

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November 6

Good sense travels on the well-worn paths; genius, never. And that is why the crowd, not altogether without reason, is so ready to treat great men as lunatics.

~ Cesare Lombroso ~

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November 7

I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. We should not allow it to be believed that all scientific progress can be reduced to mechanisms, machines, gearings, even though such machinery also has its beauty.
Neither do I believe that the spirit of adventure runs any risk of disappearing in our world. If I see anything vital around me, it is precisely that spirit of adventure, which seems indestructible and is akin to curiosity.

~ Marie Curie ~

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November 8

Truth seeth God, and Wisdom beholdeth God, and of these two cometh the third: that is, a holy marvellous delight in God; which is Love. Where Truth and Wisdom are verily, there is Love verily, coming of them both. And all of God’s making: for He is endless sovereign Truth, endless sovereign Wisdom, endless sovereign Love, unmade; and man’s Soul is a creature in God which hath the same properties made, and evermore it doeth that it was made for: it seeth God, it beholdeth God, and it loveth God. Whereof God enjoyeth in the creature; and the creature in God, endlessly marvelling.

~ Julian of Norwich ~

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November 9

We are star stuff which has taken its destiny into its own hands. The loom of time and space works the most astonishing transformations of matter. Our own planet is only a tiny part of the vast cosmic tapestry, a starry fabric of worlds yet untold. Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth. Each of those worlds is as real as ours. In every one of them there's a succession of incidents, events, occurrences, which influence its future.

~ Carl Sagan ~

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November 10

The little folk dare anything … And they talks a lot of nonsense. But they talks an awful lot of sense, as well. You listen to 'em at your peril, and you ignore 'em at your peril, too.

~ Neil Gaiman ~
in
~ Stardust : Being A Romance Within The Realm of Faerie ~

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November 11

Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and nothing easier than flattery. If there’s the hundredth part of a false note in speaking the truth, it leads to a discord, and that leads to trouble. But if all, to the last note, is false in flattery, it is just as agreeable, and is heard not without satisfaction. It may be a coarse satisfaction, but still a satisfaction. And however coarse the flattery, at least half will be sure to seem true. That’s so for all stages of development and classes of society.

~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky ~
in
~ Crime and Punishment ~

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November 12

To understand is difficult; to act is easy.

~ Sun Yat-sen ~

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November 13

Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold.

~ William Shenstone ~

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November 14

The only alternative to coexistence is codestruction.

~ Jawaharlal Nehru ~

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November 15

A writer is unfair to himself when he is unable to be hard on himself.

~ Marianne Moore ~

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November 16

You can't satisfy everybody; especially if there are those who will be dissatisfied unless not everybody is satisfied.

~ Robert Nozick ~

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November 17

Politics, as I never tire of saying, is for social and emotional misfits, handicapped folk, those with a grudge. The purpose of politics is to help them overcome these feelings of inferiority and compensate for their personal inadequacies in the pursuit of power.

~ Auberon Waugh ~

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November 18

After I wrote Handmaid’s Tale, people came up to me and asked why weren’t there any protests. And I said, “You don’t understand totalitarianism.” A real totalitarianism doesn’t fool around with protests in the streets.

~ Margaret Atwood ~

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November 19

I would rather be beaten in Right than succeed in Wrong.

~ James Garfield ~

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November 20

I believe the American people — the vast majority — are with us. I think they see much more clearly what you’ve all been fighting for your whole lives now. It’s in stark relief.
The bad news: We had a President who appealed to the prejudice. The good news is that he took the — he ripped the Band-Aid off, made it absolutely clear what’s at stake. And I think the American people will follow us.
But guess what? Whether they will or not, we have no choice. We have to continue to fight.
God bless you all. May God protect our troops.

~ Joe Biden ~

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November 21

All men would then be necessarily equal, if they were without needs. It is the poverty connected with our species which subordinates one man to another. It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.

~ Voltaire ~

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November 22

What another would have done as well as you, do not do it. What another would have said as well as you, do not say it; what another would have written as well, do not write it. Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself — and thus make yourself indispensable.

~ André Gide ~

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November 23

I will always hold to those principles by which I have been raised … To seek understanding before taking action, yet to trust my instincts when action is called for. Never to avoid danger from fear, never to seek out danger for its own sake. Never to conform to fashion from fear of eccentricity, never to be eccentric from fear of conformity. … To hold myself to higher standards of conduct than I hold another. To never strike without cause, and, when there is cause, to strike for the heart.

~ Steven Brust ~

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November 24

I have laboured carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate human actions, but to understand them.

~ Baruch Spinoza ~

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November 25

I am grateful for what I am & have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite — only a sense of existence. Well, anything for variety. I am ready to try this for the next 1000 years, & exhaust it. How sweet to think of! My extremities well charred, and my intellectual part too, so that there is no danger of worm or rot for a long while. My breath is sweet to me. O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my bank can drain it — for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment.

~ Henry David Thoreau ~

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November 26

How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude!
But grant me still a friend in my retreat
Whom I may whisper — solitude is sweet.

~ William Cowper ~

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November 27

Have you ever been experienced?
Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful.

~ Jimi Hendrix ~

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November 28

You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader. You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it.

~ Eric Shinseki ~

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November 29

There's a place for us, Somewhere a place for us
Peace and quiet and open air wait for us, Somewhere.
There's a time for us, Some day a time for us
Time together with time to spare, time to look, time to care, Someday.
Somewhere we'll find a new way of living.
We'll find a way of forgiving, Somewhere.

~ Stephen Sondheim ~
in
~ West Side Story ~

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November 30

There is nothing in this world constant, but inconstancy.

~ Jonathan Swift ~

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Today is Monday, December 30, 2024; it is now 16:48 (UTC)