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May 19

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
It is love alone that gives worth to all things. ~ St. Teresa of Avila (Teresa de Jesús)
2005
Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. ~ Malcolm X (born 19 May 1925)
2006
Faith is a continuum, and we each fall on that line where we may. By attempting to rigidly classify ethereal concepts like faith, we end up debating semantics to the point where we entirely miss the obvious — that is, that we are all trying to decipher life's big mysteries, and we're each following our own paths of enlightenment. ~ Dan Brown (author of The Da Vinci Code; film adaptation released worldwide on 19 May 2006)
2007
With all reverence, I would say, let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles. ~ Abraham Davenport (Statement on 19 May 1780, "New England's Dark Day" which many feared might be the coming of the Last Judgment; as quoted by John Greenleaf Whittier.
2008
Mankind is a single body and each nation a part of that body. We must never say "What does it matter to me if some part of the world is ailing?" If there is such an illness, we must concern ourselves with it as though we were having that illness. ~ Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (precise birthdate unknown, but celebrated on May 19)
2009
Humankind consists of two sexes, woman and man. Is it possible that a mass is improved by the improvement of only one part and the other ignored? Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains and the other half can soar into skies? ~ Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (born May 19)
2010
I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful and that which is love. Therefore, since I have known all of these things, I have found them to be reason enough and — I wish to live. Moreover, because this is so, I wish others to live for generations and generations and generations. ~ Lorraine Hansberry (born 19 May 1930)
2011
To make a discovery is not necessarily the same as to understand a discovery. ~ Abraham Pais (born 19 May 1918)
2012
I have found out that the real essentials of greatness in men are not written in books, nor can they be found in the schools, They are written into the inner consciousness of everyone who intensely searches for perfection in creative achievement and are understandable to such men only.
~ Walter Russell ~
2013
Upon the progress of knowledge the whole progress of the human race is immediately dependent: he who retards that, hinders this also.
~ Johann Gottlieb Fichte ~
2014
Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your — your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action.
~ Malcolm X ~
2015
Progress leads to confusion leads to progress and on and on without respite. Every one of the many major advances … created sooner or later, more often sooner, new problems. These confusions, never twice the same, are not to be deplored. Rather, those who participate experience them as a privilege.
~ Abraham Pais ~
2016
Of course, relative citation frequencies are no measure of relative importance. Who has not aspired to write a paper so fundamental that very soon it is known to everyone and cited by no one?
~ Abraham Pais ~
2017
Today we live in the midst of upheaval and crisis. We do not know where we are going, nor even where we ought to be going. Awareness is spreading that our future cannot be a straight extension of the past or the present … The century now approaching its end has been one of indiscriminate violence, it has been perhaps the most murderous one in Western history of which we have record. Yet I would think that what will strike people most when, hundreds of years from now, they will look back on our days is that this was the age when the exploration of space began, the microchip was invented, revolutions in transport and communication virtually annihilated time and distance, transforming the world into a "global village," and relativity theory, quantum mechanics, and the structure of the atom were discovered, in brief that this has been the century of science and technology.
~ Abraham Pais ~
2018
Humanity may endure the loss of everything: all its possessions may be torn away without infringing its true dignity; — all but the possibility of improvement.
~ Johann Gottlieb Fichte ~
2019
For me the important distinction is between a stylistic approach to the design; and an analytical approach giving the process of due consideration to time, place, and purpose ... My analytical approach requires a full understanding of the three essential elements ... to arrive at an ideal balance among them.
~ I. M. Pei ~
  • proposed by Kalki, in regard to his recent death.
2020
Most executives, many scientists, and almost all business school graduates believe that if you analyze data, this will give you new ideas. Unfortunately, this belief is totally wrong. The mind can only see what it is prepared to see.
~ Edward de Bono ~
2021
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 ~
2022
There isn't just one point; it takes time to learn. You don't have to be intelligent, but I think you have to be open to possibilities and willing to explore. The only stupid people are those who are arrogant and closed off.
~ Edward de Bono ~
2023
Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.
~ Edward de Bono ~
2024
  Usually in an argument, I can see the other person's point of view. It comes down to three basic things: different information, different perception and different values. Once you can see where people come from you can consider if the other person has better information and compare their values and perceptions to yours. I am willing to listen.
~ Edward de Bono ~
2025
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Suggestions

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If the Tiger does not stop fighting the Elephant, the Elephant will die of exhaustion. ~ Ho Chi Minh (born May 19)

  • 4 because this is so true. A battle can be won by tiring the greater enemy into defeat. I love this quote wholeheartedly. It sets the idea of david and goliath into an understandable and moral realm. Zarbon 06:23, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
    • Source: A Short History of Communism - Page 137 - by Robert Harvey - Political Science - 2004
  • 1 Kalki (talk · contributions) 08:11, 30 April 2010 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 00:08, 18 May 2008 (UTC) I still wish to use this quote eventually, but am making a tactical shift, because I strongly prefer another for this year.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:19, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

Men, I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. ~ Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (born May 19)

  • 3 because in this one statement, the leader explains to the soldiers how low their chances of survival would be in one assault, yet in this honest situation, gives courage and strikes honor and valor, allowing the soldier to serve full-throttle and serve to the bitter end. Zarbon 05:08, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:08, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 09:19, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment: Although Atatürk's birthdate is unknown, this is a good day for posting quotes for him because it has become the Turkish national holiday in his honor. - InvisibleSun 09:32, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
  • Comment: But I could've sworn he's born on May 19th. Maybe it's not listed on the wikipedia pages, but it is listed in numerous other sites, for reference purposes. Zarbon 16:52, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
His birthdate isn't listed on Wikipedia because they evidently concluded, based on the information shown here, that his birthdate could not be determined. - InvisibleSun 21:40, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

Eventually it comes to you: the thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely. ~ Lorraine Hansberry (born May 19, 1930)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 09:19, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 14:21, 18 May 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 because those who are bound to being exceptional are bound to loneliness. Nice. Zarbon 16:54, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

It struck me that the movies had spent more than half a century saying, "They lived happily ever after" and the following quarter century warning that they'll be lucky to make it through the weekend. Possibly now we are entering a third era, in which the movies will be sounding a note of cautious optimism: You know, it just might work. ~ Nora Ephron (born May 19, 1941)

Never be afraid to sit a while and think.~ Lorraine Hansberry (born May 19, 1930)

Children see things very well sometimes — and idealists even better. ~ Lorraine Hansberry (born May 19, 1930)

A woman who is willing to be herself and pursue her own potential runs not so much the risk of loneliness as the challenge of exposure to more interesting men — and people in general. ~ Lorraine Hansberry (born May 19, 1930)

There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. ~ Lorraine Hansberry (born May 19, 1930)

  • 3 Kalki 18:38, 18 May 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 02:34, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Studies have shown that 90% of error in thinking is due to error in perception. If you can change your perception, you can change your emotion and this can lead to new ideas. ~ Edward de Bono

The concept of logical thinking is selection and this is brought about by the processes of acceptance and rejection. Rejection is the basis of logical thinking. - Edward de Bono

You cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same hole deeper. ~ Edward de Bono

What happened was, 2,400 years ago, the Greek Gang of Three, by whom I mean Aristotle, Plato and Socrates, started to think based on analysis, judgment and knowledge. At the same time, church people, who ran the schools and universities, wanted logic to prove the heretics wrong. As a result, design and perceptual thinking was never developed. People assumed philosophers were doing it and so they blocked anyone else from doing it. But philosophers were not. Philosophers may look out at the world from a stained-glass window, but after a while they stop looking at the world and start looking at the stained glass. ~ Edward de Bono

Creative thinking — in terms of idea creativity — is not a mystical talent. It is a skill that can be practised and nurtured. You can never tell how a policy has been reached just by looking at the end result. ~ Edward de Bono


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