November 23

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. ~ Václav Havel
2005
As good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. ~ Areopagitica by John Milton (published 23 November 1644)
2006
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~ Thornton Wilder (quote for US Thanksgiving Day)
2007
There's only us, there's only this.
Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.
No other road, no other way, no day but today.
I can't control my destiny.
I trust my soul. My only goal is just to be.
There's only now, there's only here.
Give in to love, or live in fear.
No other path, no other way.
No day but today.
~ Jonathan Larson in "Another Day" from Rent ~
  • proposed by UDScott (initially proposed in 2005 for movie's opening date, but the John Milton quote was ranked higher)
2008
Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play on the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? ~ John Milton in Areopagitica
2009
Old wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends to trust! Old authors to read! ~ Alfonso X of Castile
2010
Revolutions of ages do not oft recover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of which whole nations fare the worse. ~ John Milton in Areopagitica
2011
I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat. ~ John Milton in Areopagitica
2012
He who thinks we are to pitch our tent here, and have attained the utmost prospect of reformation that the mortal glass wherein we contemplate can show us, till we come to beatific vision, that man by this very opinion declares that he is yet far short of truth.
~ John Milton ~
in
~ Areopagitica ~
2013 
Rank or add further suggestions…

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.

Service is service, wherever it occurred. The defense of the fatherland is no small thing. ~ Rodion Malinovsky (born November 23)

  • 3 because this defines military principle and ideal. A loyal soldier is the same the world over, he is the man I adore and respect most of all. Zarbon 17:01, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Gates of Hell - Page 343 by Harrison Evans Salisbury - 1976
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe. ~ Alfonso X of Castile

  • 3 Zarbon 13:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.

Those who knowingly allow the King to err deserve the same punishment as traitors. ~ Alfonso X of Castile

  • 3 Zarbon 13:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Born a saint, die a sinner, thats the way it's got ta be! ~ Billy the Kid

  • 2 Zarbon 13:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Tell me thou all pervading mind,
When I this life forsake,
Must ev'ry tender tie unbind,
Each sweet connection break?
~ Ann Eliza Bleecker

  • 2 Zarbon 13:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Though such the darkness of my soul,
Not such the calmness there;
But waves of guilt tumultuous roll
'Midst billows of despair.
~ Ann Eliza Bleecker

  • 2 Zarbon 13:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

You have summoned me in my weakness. You must sustain me by your strength. ~ Franklin Pierce

  • 4 Zarbon 13:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. ~ John Milton in Areopagitica

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. ~ John Milton in Areopagitica

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Last modified on 10 January 2013, at 14:35