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March 9

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
People often say to me, "I understand what you are talking about intellectually, but I don't really feel it, I don't realize it," and I am apt to reply, "I wonder whether you do understand it intellectually, because if you did you would also feel it." ~ Alan Watts
2005
When I orbited the Earth in a spaceship, I saw for the first time how beautiful our planet is. Mankind, let us preserve and increase this beauty, and not destroy it! ~ Yuri Gagarin (born 9 March 1934)
2006
Some choices will choose you. How you face these choices, these turns in the road, with what kind of attitude, more than the choices themselves, is what will define the context of your life. ~ Dana Reeve (recent death)
2007
Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book. ~ Mickey Spillane (born 9 March 1918)
2008
If you're a singer you lose your voice. A baseball player loses his arm. A writer gets more knowledge, and if he's good, the older he gets, the better he writes. ~ Mickey Spillane
2009
A philosopher is a lover of wisdom, not of knowledge, which for all its great uses ultimately suffers from the crippling effect of ephemerality. All knowledge is transient, linked to the world around it and subject to change as the world changes, whereas wisdom, true wisdom is eternal, immutable. ~ Shashi Tharoor
2010
Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it! ~ Yuri Gagarin
2011
It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? for the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. Growth is exciting; growth is dynamic and alarming. Growth of the soul, growth of the mind; how the observation of last year seems childish, superficial; how this year — even this week — even with this new phrase — it seems to us that we have grown to a new maturity. It may be a fallacious persuasion, but at least it is stimulating, and so long as it persists, one does not stagnate. ~ Vita Sackville-West
2012
I would have these good people to recollect, that the laws of this country hold out to foreigners an offer of all that liberty of the press which Americans enjoy, and that, if this liberty be abridged, by whatever means it may be done, the laws and the constitution, and all together, is a mere cheat; a snare to catch the credulous and enthusiastic of every other nation; a downright imposition on the world. ~ William Cobbett
2013
I have come to the conclusion, after many years of sometimes sad experience, that you cannot come to any conclusion at all.
~ Vita Sackville-West ~
2014

It is found in every light of hope,
It knows no bounds nor space
It has risen in red and black and white,
It is there in every race.

It lies in the hearts of heroes dead,
It screams in tyrantseyes,
It has reached the peak of mountains high,
It comes searing ‘cross the skies.

It lights the dark of this prison cell,
It thunders forth its might,
It is "the undauntable thought", my friend,
That thought that says "I'm right!"

~ Bobby Sands ~
2015
Of course I have no right whatsoever to write down the truth about my life involving as it naturally does the lives of so many other people, but I do so urged by a necessity of truth-telling, because there is no living soul who knows the complete truth; here, may be one who knows a section; and there, one who knows another section: but to the whole picture not one is initiated.
~ Vita Sackville-West ~
2016
I am full of doubts ... Each new film is like a trial. Before I step in front of the camera, I do not know whether I am going to fall or whether I am going to fly — and that is exactly the way I want it to stay.
~ Juliette Binoche ~
2017
There isn't a coliseum any more, but the city is a bigger bowl, and it seats more people. The razor-sharp claws aren't those of wild animals but man's can be just as sharp and twice as vicious. You have to be quick, and you have to be able, or you become one of the devoured, and if you can kill first, no matter how and no matter who, you can live and return to the comfortable chair and the comfortable fire. But you have to be quick. And able. Or you'll be dead.
~ Mickey Spillane ~
2018
I could feel the hackles on the back of my neck stiffening and I knew he felt the same way.
Dog was meeting dog. Nobody knew it but the dogs and they weren't telling.
He was bigger than I thought. The suggestion of power I had seen in his photographs was for real. When he moved it was with the ponderous grace of some jungle animal, dangerously deceptive, because he could move a lot faster if he had to.
When we were ten feet away he pretended to see us for the first time and a wave of charm washed the cautious expression from his face and he stepped out to greet Dulcie with outstretched hand.
But it wasn't her he was seeing. It was me he was watching. I was one of his own kind. I couldn't be faked out and wasn't leashed by the proprieties of society. I could lash out and kill as fast as he could and of all the people in the room, I was the potential threat. I knew what he felt because I felt the same way myself.
~ Mickey Spillane ~
2019
I have nothing to prove to you.
~ Captain Marvel ~
2020
Good government is known from bad government by this infallible test: that under the former the labouring people are well fed and well clothed, and under the latter, they are badly fed and badly clothed.
~ William Cobbett ~
2021
America has always been a nation of fearless explorers who dream bigger and reach further than others imagined. … There are no limits so open your eyes and open your imagination. The next great discovery could be yours.
~ Barack Obama ~
2022
The past eight years of conflict in Ukraine have already inflicted profound and lasting harm to children.
With the escalation of the conflict, the immediate and very real threat to Ukraine’s 7.5 million children has grown. Homes, schools, orphanages, and hospitals have all come under attack. Civilian infrastructure like water and sanitation facilities have been hit, leaving millions without access to safe water.
For many, life has moved underground as families seek safety in shelters, subways, or basements, often for hours on end. Women are giving birth in makeshift maternity wards with limited medical supplies.
Most stores are closed, making it hard for people to buy essential items, including basic necessities for children like diapers and medication. And even if stores were open, millions of people are too afraid to venture outside for food or water because of continuous shelling and shooting.
The intensification of the armed conflict is posing severe human costs, which are increasing exponentially by the day.
~ Catherine M. Russell ~
2023
Any work of architecture which does not express serenity is a mistake.
~ Luis Barragán ~
2024
To lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future and what can and should be done.
Tonight, you’ve heard mine.
I see a future where defending democracy, you don’t diminish it.
I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect our freedoms, not take them away.
I see a future where the middle class has — finally has a fair shot and the wealthy have to pay their fair share in taxes.
I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence.
Above all, I see a future for all Americans. I see a country for all Americans. And I will always be President for all Americans because I believe in America. I believe in you, the American people.
You’re the reason we’ve never been more optimistic about our future than I am now.
So, let’s build the future together. Let’s remember who we are.
We are the United States of America.
And there is nothing — nothing beyond our capacity when we act together.
~ Joe Biden ~
  • proposed by Kalki; recent remarks in the close of the State of the Union address.


2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

The Quote of the Day (QOTD) is a prominent feature of the Wikiquote Main Page. Thank you for submitting, reviewing, and ranking suggestions!

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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.
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Suggestions

[edit]

You can figure things out as quickly as I can, but you haven't got the ways and means of doing the dirty work. That's where I come in. You'll be right behind me every inch of the way, but when the pinch comes I'll get shoved aside and you slap the cuffs on. That is, if you can shove me aside. I don't think you can. ~ Mickey Spillane


Movies are open doors, and at every door, I change character and life... I live for the present always. I accept this risk. I don't deny the past, but it's a page to turn. ~ Juliette Binoche (born 9 March 1964)

  • 3 Kalki 00:35, 9 March 2008 (UTC) I might rank this a 4 if a definite published source can be found for it.
  • 1 Zarbon 04:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 UDScott 15:46, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

I looked and looked but I didn't see God. ~ Yuri Gagarin

  • 3 because sometimes God need not be found by eyes, even when floating in outer space, through the eyes of an astronaut. Zarbon 15:29, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 UDScott 15:46, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 07:55, 7 March 2009 (UTC) no strong desire to use this one, and the accuracy of it has been disputed.

Men of integrity are generally pretty obstinate, in adhering to an opinion once adopted. ~ William Cobbett (born 9 March 1763), Life and Adventures of Peter Porcupine (1796)


The Art of Seeing. It is essential to an architect to know how to see: I mean, to see in such a way that the vision is not overpowered by rational analysis. ~ Luis Barragán


With that she dasht her on the lippes,
So dyed double red:
Hard was the heart that gave the blow,
Soft were those lips that bled. ~ William Warner (birth unknown/date of death)


Gravitation is the only logical factor a sculptor has to contend with. ~ David Smith


I'm not as soft or as generous a person as I would be if the world hadn't changed me. ~ Bobby Fischer


The vehicles of human politics seem to run off course, but the site of the accident turns out to have been the intended destination. ~ Shashi Tharoor

  • 3 and lean toward 4. Zarbon 05:27, 7 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 07:55, 7 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:17, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Dear Mum, I know you're always there
To help and guide me with all your care,
You nursed and fed me and made me strong
To face the world and all its wrong. ~ Bobby Sands


Nothing is so well calculated to produce a death-like torpor in the country as an extended system of taxation and a great national debt. ~ William Cobbett


What Cosmos has, at its heart, is hope. It's about the future we could have if we get our act together. - Ann Druyan, co-writer with Carl Sagan for the science documentary television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980) and a co-writer, executive producer and director for the sequel series, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (which premiered on March 9, 2014).

  • 2 Pithy Francoln (talk) 21:44, 19 October 2016 (UTC) If any of these three semi-promotional videos for Cosmos: ASO which I've listed on this date are used, I think it should be the President's.

We've reached a point in time where we've gotten a little lax with our enthusiasm about science and our thirst for knowledge. . . . I hope that this Cosmos can instigate a reawakening of the same enthusiasm for science that the original Cosmos brought. - Seth MacFarlane, executive producer for the science documentary television series, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (which premiered on March 9, 2014).

  • 2 Pithy Francoln (talk) 21:44, 19 October 2016 (UTC) If any of these three semi-promotional videos for Cosmos: ASO which I've listed on this date are used, I think it should be the President's.

I don't research anything. If I need something, I'll invent it.
~ Mickey Spillane ~

If the public likes you, you're good. Shakespeare was a common, down-to-earth writer in his day.
~ Mickey Spillane ~

However roguish a man may be, he always loves to deal with an honest man.
~ William Cobbett ~

  • Nous sommes assemblés par la volonté nationale, nous n’en sortirons que par la force.
    We are here by the will of the nation, and we shall not leave except we are driven out by force.