From Wikiquote
Quotes of the day from previous years:
- 2003
- Certain old men prefer to rise at dawn, taking a cold bath and
a long walk with an empty stomach and otherwise mortifying the
flesh. They then point with pride to these practices as the cause
of their sturdy health and ripe years; the truth being that they
are hearty and old, not because of their habits, but in spite of
them. The reason we find only robust persons doing this thing is
that it has killed all the others who have tried it. ~ The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose
Bierce
- 2004
- It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than
to make a mistake in punishing. ~ Muhammad
- 2005
- I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the
sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be
able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood... I have a
dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the
content of their character. I have a dream today... ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
- proposed by MosheZadka, expanded from the first Wikiquote Quote
of the Day, selected by Nanobug.
- 2006
- Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others,
and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though 'twere his own. ~
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- 2007
- Moderation, the Golden Mean, the Aristonmetron, is the secret
of wisdom and of happiness. But it does not mean embracing an
unadventurous mediocrity: rather it is an elaborate balancing-act,
a feat of intellectual skill demanding constant vigilance. Its aim
is a reconciliation of opposites. ~ Robertson Davies
- 2008
- To which of the warring serpents should I turn with the problem
that now faces me?
It is easy, and tempting, to choose the god of Science. Now I would
not for a moment have you suppose that I am one of those idiots who
scorns Science, merely because it is always twisting and turning,
and sometimes shedding its skin, like the serpent that is its
symbol. It is a powerful god indeed but it is what the students of
ancient gods called a shape-shifter, and sometimes a trickster. ~
Robertson
Davies
- 2009
- What is the use of being wise if we are not sometimes merry?
The merriment of wise men is not the uninformed, gross fun of
ignorant men, but it has more kinship with that than the pinched,
frightened fun of those who are neither learned nor ignorant,
gentle nor simple, bound nor free. The idea that a wise man must be
solemn is bred and preserved among people who have no idea what
wisdom is, and can only respect whatever makes them feel inferior.
~ Robertson
Davies
- 2010
Suggestions
The ironist is not bitter, he does not seek to undercut
everything that seems worthy or serious, he scorns the cheap
scoring-off of the wisecracker.
.^ SANTOLI: But on the Senate side, we had one person standing in the way of getting in positions that would have been very tough on government bureaucrats who didn’t tell the truth.- Sadly, No! » Does St. BBQ have anything to offer other than bullshit? 11 September 2009 4:04 UTC www.sadlyno.com [Source type: Original source]
He speaks from a certain depth, and thus he is not of the same
nature as the wit, who so often speaks from the tongue and no
deeper. The wit's desire is to be funny; the ironist is only funny
as a secondary achievement. ~
Robertson Davies (born August 28,
1913)
- 3 InvisibleSun 10:24, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 05:43, 29 August 2007 (UTC) with a VERY strong lean
toward 4.
- 1 Zarbon 16:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
To be apt in quotation is a splendid and dangerous gift.
Splendid, because it ornaments a man's speech with other men's
jewels; dangerous, for the same reason. ~
Robertson
Davies
- 3 InvisibleSun 10:24, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 23:07, 25 August 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Zarbon 16:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
.^ There is no easier or more direct way to prove to the world that we will no longer be subject to the whims of others than to expand our production capabilities.- Sadly, No! » Does St. BBQ have anything to offer other than bullshit? 11 September 2009 4:04 UTC www.sadlyno.com [Source type: Original source]
Without
language, what concept have we of past or future as separated from
the immediate present? Without language, how can we tell anyone
what we feel, or what we think? It might be said that until he
developed language, man had no soul, for without language how could
he reach deep inside himself and discover the truths that are
hidden there, or find out what emotions he shared, or did not
share, with his fellow men and women. ~
Robertson Davies
- 3 InvisibleSun 10:24, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 23:07, 25 August 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
- 1 Zarbon 16:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
The best among our writers are doing their accustomed work of
mirroring what is deep in the spirit of our time; if chaos appears
in those mirrors, we must have faith that in the future, as always
in the past, that chaos will slowly reveal itself as a new aspect
of order. ~
Robertson Davies
- 3 InvisibleSun 10:24, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 23:07, 25 August 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
- 2 Zarbon 16:20, 24 April 2008 (UTC)