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March 19

day of the year
(Redirected from 19 March)

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Education: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. ~ Ambrose Bierce in The Devil's Dictionary
2005
The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing, will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible behavior. ~ Earl Warren (born 19 March 1891)
2006
Who save the madman dares to cry: "'Tis I am right, you all are wrong"?
"You all are right, you all are wrong," we hear the careless Soofi say,
"For each believes his glimm'ering lamp to be the gorgeous light of day."
~ Sir Richard Francis Burton ~ (born 19 March 1821)
2007
All Faith is false, all Faith is true: Truth is the shattered mirror strown
In myriad bits; while each believes his little bit the whole to own.
~ Sir Richard Francis Burton ~
2008
Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause;
He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws.
~ Sir Richard Francis Burton ~
2009

"Fools rush where Angels fear to tread!" Angels and Fools have equal claim
To do what Nature bids them do, sans hope of praise, sans fear of blame!

~ Sir Richard Francis Burton ~

2010
Cease, Man, to mourn, to weep, to wail; enjoy thy shining hour of sun;
We dance along Death's icy brink, but is the dance less full of fun?
~ Richard Francis Burton
2011
Reason is Life's sole arbiter, the magic Laby'rinth's single clue:
Worlds lie above, beyond its ken; what crosses it can ne'er be true.
~ Sir Richard Francis Burton ~
2012
How shall the Shown pretend to ken aught of the Showman or the Show?
Why meanly bargain to believe, which only means thou ne'er canst know?
How may the passing Now contain the standing Now — Eternity? —
An endless is without a was, the be and never the to-be?
~ Sir Richard Francis Burton ~
2013
The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error.
~ William Jennings Bryan ~
2014
I am an individual … a circle touching and intersecting my neighbours at certain points, but nowhere corresponding, nowhere blending. … But my individuality, however all-sufficient for myself, is an infinitesimal point, an atom subject in all things to the Law of Storms called Life. I feel, I know that Fate is. But I cannot know what is or what is not fated to befall me. Therefore in the pursuit of perfection as an individual lies my highest, and indeed my only duty, the "I" being duly blended with the "We." … I am bound to take careful thought concerning the consequences of every word and deed. When, however, the Future has become the Past, it would be the merest vanity for me to grieve or to repent over that which was decreed by universal Law.
~ Richard Francis Burton ~
2015
I believe the preservation of our civil liberties to be the most fundamental and important of all our governmental problems, because it always has been with us and always will be with us and if we ever permit those liberties to be destroyed, there will be nothing left in our system worthy of preservation.
~ Earl Warren ~
2016
Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.
~ William Jennings Bryan ~
2017
Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism.
~ Earl Warren ~
2018
In war, science has proven itself an evil genius; it has made war more terrible than it ever was before. Man used to be content to slaughter his fellowmen on a single plane — the earth's surface. Science has taught him to go down into the water and shoot up from below and to go up into the clouds and shoot down from above, thus making the battlefield three times a bloody as it was before; but science does not teach brotherly love. Science has made war so hellish that civilization was about to commit suicide; and now we are told that newly discovered instruments of destruction will make the cruelties of the late war seem trivial in comparison with the cruelties of wars that may come in the future.
~ William Jennings Bryan ~
2019
No government can long endure unless its citizens are willing to make some sacrifice for its existence.
In this, our land, we are called upon to give but little in return for the advantages which we receive. Shall we give that little grudgingly? Our definition of patriotism is often too narrow.
Shall the lover of his country measure his loyalty only by his service as a soldier? No! Patriotism calls for the faithful and conscientious performance of all of the duties of citizenship, in small matters as well as great, at home as well as upon the tented field.
~ William Jennings Bryan ~
2020
No one I know of has foreseen an America like the one we live in today. No one (except perhaps the acidic H. L. Mencken, who famously described American democracy as "the worship of jackals by jackasses") could have imagined that the 21st-century catastrophe to befall the U.S.A., the most debasing of disasters, would appear not, say, in the terrifying guise of an Orwellian Big Brother but in the ominously ridiculous commedia dell’arte figure of the boastful buffoon.
~ Philip Roth ~
2021
Obviously the facts are never just coming at you but are incorporated by an imagination that is formed by your previous experience. Memories of the past are not memories of facts but memories of your imaginings of the facts.
~ Philip Roth ~


2022
I urge the Russian people and the Russian soldiers in Ukraine to understand the propaganda and the disinformation that you are being told. I ask you to help me spread the truth so that your fellow Russians will know the human catastrophe that is happening in Ukraine. To President Putin, I say: You started this war. You’re leading this war. You can stop this war now.
And to the Russians who have been protesting on the streets against the invasion of Ukraine: the world has seen your bravery. We know that you have suffered the consequences of your courage. You have been arrested. You have been jailed and you’ve been beaten. You are my new heroes. You have the strength of Yury Petrovich Vlasov. You have the true heart of Russia.
~ Arnold Schwarzenegger ~
2023
Times change but principles endure. The jury has protected us from the abuse of power.
While human government exists the tendency to abuse power will remain. This system, coming down from former generations crowned with the honors of age, is today and for the future our hope.
Let us correct its defects with kindly hands, let us purge it of its imperfections and it will be, as in the past, the bulwark of our liberties.
~ William Jennings Bryan ~
2024
You can't undo the past but you can certainly not repeat it.
~ Bruce Willis ~
2025
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Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

There is truth and then again there is truth. For all that the world is full of people who go around believing they've got you or your neighbor figured out, there really is no bottom to what is not known. The truth about us is endless. As are the lies.
~ Philip Roth ~

Suggestions

edit

DOB: William Jennings Bryan · Richard Francis Burton · Philip Roth · Earl Warren · Bruce Willis

"He who wants to protect everything, protects nothing," is one of the fundamental rules of defense. ~ Adolf Galland (born March 19)

  • 3 because it is very true. Basically, he who tries to do everything all at once, fails miserably. Time and patience are virtues. And protection works well as a perfect example to this fundamental military practice. Zarbon 04:30, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The First and the Last: The Rise and Fall of the German Fighter Forces - Page 165 by Adolf Galland - World War, 1939-1945 - 1954
  • 1 Kalki 16:07, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 20:29, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:37, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself. ~ Richard Francis Burton

  • 3 because man truly has shamelessly used religion as an excuse to further man's own purposes. Zarbon 05:51, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:07, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 UDScott 20:29, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:37, 18 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 bystander (talk) 15:47, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Listen: if there is war down there — and if you think me worthy of it, and capable — you ought to grant me the honor of conducting the campaign. Surely, you don't think me too old? ~ Emilio De Bono

  • 2 Zarbon 04:40, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 16:07, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 20:29, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:37, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Forgive me, that was the soldier speaking. Now this is the man speaking again. And the man is more than the soldier. I can bear anything. Death is a more solemn thing than all the earthly trash. ~ Emilio De Bono

  • 3 Zarbon 04:40, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 16:07, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 20:29, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:37, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

We look on seriously, but serenely. ~ Emilio De Bono

  • 3 Zarbon 04:40, 17 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 16:07, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 20:29, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:37, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

When you publish a book, it's the world's book. The world edits it. ~ Philip Roth

Scarcely a tear to shed;
Hardly a word to say;
The end of a Summer's day;
Sweet Love is dead.
~ William Allingham

Winds and waters keep
A hush more dead than any sleep.
~ William Allingham

I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure you — it would make life easier. But discretion is, unfortunately, not for novelists. ~ Philip Roth

  • 3 Kalki 09:55, 13 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 02:47, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:37, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

I write fiction and I’m told it’s autobiography, I write autobiography and I’m told it’s fiction, so since I’m so dim and they’re so smart, let them decide what it is or it isn’t. ~ Philip Roth

All I can tell you with certainty is that I, for one, have no self, and that I am unwilling or unable to perpetrate upon myself the joke of a self.... What I have instead is a variety of impersonations I can do, and not only of myself — a troupe of players that I have internalised, a permanent company of actors that I can call upon when a self is required.... I am a theater and nothing more than a theater. ~ Philip Roth

  • 3 Kalki 09:55, 13 March 2009 (UTC) with very strong lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 02:47, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:37, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Implicit in the term "national defense" is the notion of defending those values and ideals which set this Nation apart. For almost two centuries, our country has taken singular pride in the democratic ideals enshrined in its Constitution, and the most cherished of those ideals have found expression in the First Amendment. It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of one of those liberties — the freedom of association — which make the defense of our nation worthwhile. ~ Earl Warren

The English language is a form of communication! Conversation isn’t just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where you’ve got to duck for your life and aim to kill! Words aren’t only bombs and bullets — no, they’re little gifts, containing meanings! ~ Philip Roth

Success is brought by continued labor and continued watchfulness. We must struggle on, not for one moment hesitate, nor take one backward step. ~ William Jennings Bryan

There is no more menacing feature in these modern times than the disinclination of what are called the better classes to assume the burdens of citizenship. If we desire to preserve to future generations the purity of our courts and the freedom of our people, we must lose no opportunity to impress upon our citizens the fact that above all pleasure, above all convenience, above all business, they must place their duty to their government; for a good government doubles every joy and a bad government multiplies every sorrow.
~ William Jennings Bryan ~


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