January 8

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
True Love in this differs from gold and clay, That to divide is not to take away. Love is like understanding, that grows bright, Gazing on many truths. ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley
2005
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity. ~ George Bernard Shaw
2006
For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk. ~ Stephen Hawking (born 8 January 1942)
2007
Some marry the first information they receive, and turn what comes later into their concubine. Since deceit is always first to arrive, there is no room left for truth. ~ Baltasar Gracián (born 8 January 1601)
2008
If you cannot make knowledge your servant, make it your friend. ~ Baltasar Gracián
2009
I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief. ~ Gerry Spence
2010
My intent is to tell the truth as I know it, realizing that what is true for me may be blasphemy for others. ~ Gerry Spence
2011
Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already. ~ Baltasar Gracián
2012
The people of a nation are enslaved when, together, they are helpless to institute effective change, when the people serve the government more than the government serves them. ~ Gerry Spence
2013
There is a certain indolence in us, a wish not to be disturbed, which tempts us to think that when things are quiet, all is well. Subconsciously, we tend to give the preference to "social peace," though it be only apparent, because our lives and possessions seem then secure. Actually, human beings acquiesce too easily in evil conditions; they rebel far too little and too seldom. There is nothing noble about acquiescence in a cramped life or mere submission to superior force.
~ A. J. Muste ~
2014 
Rank or add further suggestions…

Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

Ranking system:

4 : Excellent - should definitely be used.
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.

Suggestions

Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing. ~ Baltasar Gracián

  • 3 InvisibleSun 14:15, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:00, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 18:00, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Some die because they feel everything, others because they feel nothing. Some are fools because they suffer no regrets, and others because they do. ~ Baltasar Gracián

  • 3 InvisibleSun 14:15, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:00, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 18:00, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Ethical obligation has to subordinate itself to the totalitarian nature of war. ~ Karl Brandt (born January 8)

  • 3 Zarbon 04:19, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: 1947 Trial Documents
  • 1 Kalki 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward ZERO; there is very little chance I see of so profoundly STUPID a statement ever being an appropriate choice for QOTD.
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

The image is one thing and the human being is another...it's very hard to live up to an image. ~ Elvis Presley

  • 3 Zarbon 06:10, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Prejudice locks the mind. Nothing can enter. Nothing true can escape. ~ Gerry Spence

  • 3 Zarbon 06:10, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3, though I consider it a somewhat flawed and prejudicial statement — truth can escape any prison — and any form of confinement — in ways that seem incredible to the dull and dimwitted, and which seem impossible to the oblivious.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

To bargain freedom for security is the devil's bargain. Having made the bargain, one enjoys neither freedom nor security. ~ Gerry Spence

  • 4 because to sacrifice one would automatically sacrifice both. Zarbon 06:10, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC) agree with the statement, but it little more than paraphrases Franklin's famous maxim on the matter; might still rank it higher eventually...
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Power can win the body count but it cannot win this war. Because the enemy is not human. This is a war against a malicious spirit. Only fools attempt to defeat a spirit with guns and rockets and bombs. ~ Gerry Spence

  • 3 and leaning toward a 4. Zarbon 06:10, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 bystander (talk) 03:11, 5 January 2013 (UTC)

The goal of a free nation is to reveal by example the enlightened possibilities of the human race, not to wield its power of destruction and death over the helpless, the poor, the starving and the war torn masses. The goal of a free nation must be no different outside its borders than within them. In America we do not massacre whole towns because they may be the chosen domicile of a criminal or a conspiracy of criminals. Instead we carefully root out the felons and bring them to justice. ~ Gerry Spence

The less of one's life one must exchange for money, the more freedom one may enjoy. ~ Gerry Spence

When any system has for its goal the advancement of the system over the betterment of its individual members, such a system is embedded in slavery. ~ Gerry Spence

Teach the child to respect that which is not respectable and you teach the child the first requirement of slavery: submission to unjust authority. ~ Gerry Spence

A new fascism promises security from the terror of crime. All that is required is that we take away the criminals’ rights – which, of course, are our own. Out of our desperation and fear we begin to feel a sense of security from the new totalitarian state. ~ Gerry Spence

Argument is the affirmation of our being. It is the principal instrument of human intercourse. Without argument the species would perish. As a subtle suggestion, it is the means by which we aid another. As a warning, it steers us from danger. As exposition, it teaches. As an expression of creativity, it is the gift of ourselves. As a protest, it struggles for justice. As a reasoned dialogue, it resolves disputes. As an assertion of self, it engenders respect. As an entreaty of love, it expresses our devotion. As a plea, it generates mercy. As charismatic oration it moves multitudes and changes history. We must argue — to help, to warn, to lead, to love, to create, to learn, to enjoy justice — to be. ~ Gerry Spence

Knowing how to keep a friend is more important than gaining a new one. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Not believing others implies that you yourself are deceitful. The liar suffers twice: he neither believes nor is believed. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Readiness is the mother of luck. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Honorable beginnings should serve to awaken curiosity, not to heighten people's expectations. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations, and something turns out better than we thought it would. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Do something well, and that is quickly enough. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Don't live by generalities, unless it be to act virtuously, and don't ask desire to follow precise laws, for you will have to drink tomorrow from the water you scorn today. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Virtue alone is for real; all else is sham. Talent and greatness depend on virtue, not on fortune. Only virtue is sufficient unto herself. She makes us love the living and remember the dead. ~ Baltasar Gracián

In a world built on violence, one must be a revolutionary before one can be a pacifist. ~ A. J. Muste

There is no way to peace; peace is the way. ~ A. J. Muste

We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life.
Disarmament cannot be achieved nor can the problem of war be resolved without being accompanied by profound changes in the economic order and the structure of society. ~ A. J. Muste

Yes! the books - the generous friends who met me without suspicion - the merciful masters who never used me ill! The only years of my life that I can look back on with something like pride... Early and late, through the long winter nights and the quiet summer days, I drank at the fountain of knowledge, and never wearied of the draught. ~ Wilkie Collins, Armadale (dob)

  • 3 bystander (talk) 03:11, 5 January 2013 (UTC) with a lean toward 4

There is nothing wrong with crying. Your feelings tell you who are. They tell what is important. Don't ever be ashamed of them. ~ Terry Brooks, Armageddon's Children (dob)

If you are always frightened for yourself you can't act, and then life loses its purpose. You just have to tell yourself that, when you get right down to it, you don't matter all that much. ~ Terry Brooks, The Elf Queen Of Shannara

Let me tell you something you haven’t learned yet, something you learn only by living awhile. As you get older, you find that life begins to wear you down. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, it happens. Experience, time, events—they all conspire against you to steal away your energy, to erode your confidence, to make you question things you wouldn’t have given a second thought to when you were young. It happens gradually, a chipping away that you don’t even notice at first, and then one day it’s there. You wake up and you just don’t have the fire anymore. ~ Terry Brooks, The Elf Queen Of Shannara

We are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, and no amount of education gleaned from our propensity for self-destruction and misguided thinking ever teaches us anything. Not anything that we remember for more than a generation or two. ~ Terry Brooks, Bearers of the Black Staff

What we have in life that we can count on is who we are and where we come from... For better or worse, that is what we have to sustain us in our endeavors, to buttress us in our darker moments, and to remind us of our identity. Without those things, we are adrift. ~ Terry Brooks, A Knight of the Word

You spend so much time wondering who you are, don't you think? You flounder about, searching for your identity, when most of the time it is plain as the nose on your face. You struggle with questions of purpose and need, and forget that the answers are found mostly inside yourselves. ~ Terry Brooks, The Tangle Box

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Last modified on 9 January 2013, at 22:29