April 24

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
In war, you win or lose, live or die — and the difference is just an eyelash. ~ Douglas MacArthur
2005
Everything seems an echo of something else. ~ Robert Penn Warren (born 24 April 1905)
2006
The end of man is knowledge but there's one thing he can't know. He can't know whether knowledge will save him or kill him. He will be killed, all right, but he can't know whether he is killed because of the knowledge which he has got or because of the knowledge which he hasn't got and which if he had it would save him. ~ Robert Penn Warren (born 24 April 1905)
2007
I judge a man by his actions with men, much more than by his declarations Godwards. When I find him to be envious, carping, spiteful, hating the successes of others, and complaining that the world has never done enough for him, I am apt to doubt whether his humility before God will atone for his want of manliness. ~ Anthony Trollope
2008
The poem... is a little myth of man's capacity of making life meaningful. And in the end, the poem is not a thing we see — it is, rather, a light by which we may see — and what we see is life. ~ Robert Penn Warren
2009
The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to defend himself from it. ~ Vincent de Paul
2010
One need not hope in order to undertake, nor succeed in order to persevere. ~ William the Silent
2011
However great the work that God may achieve by an individual, he must not indulge in self-satisfaction. He ought rather to be all the more humbled, seeing himself merely as a tool which God has made use of. ~ Vincent de Paul
2012
So little time we live in Time,
And we learn all so painfully,
That we may spare this hour's term
To practice for Eternity.

~ Robert Penn Warren ~
2013
In all things there must be order, but it must of such a kind as is possible to observe … to see a man burnt for doing as he thought right, harms the people, for this is a matter of conscience.
~ William the Silent ~
2014
I cannot approve of monarchs who want to rule over the conscience of the people, and take away their freedom of choice and religion.
~ William the Silent ~
2015
You will find out that Charity is a heavy burden to carry, heavier than the kettle of soup and the full basket. But you will keep your gentleness and your smile. It is not enough to give soup and bread. This the rich can do. You are the servant of the poor, always smiling and good-humored. They are your masters, terribly sensitive and exacting master you will see. and the uglier and the dirtier they will be, the more unjust and insulting, the more love you must give them. It is only for your love alone that the poor will forgive you the bread you give to them.
~ Vincent de Paul ~
2016
things explain each other,
Not themselves.
~ George Oppen ~
2017
The end will show the whole truth.
~ William the Silent ~
2018
The best way to be thankful is to use the goods the gods provide you.
~ Anthony Trollope ~
2019
I cannot hold with those who wish to put down the insignificant chatter of the world.
~ Anthony Trollope ~
2020
From all evil against which the law bars you, you should be barred, at an infinite distance, by honour, by conscience, and nobility. Does the law require patriotism, philanthropy, self-abnegation, public service, purity of purpose, devotion to the needs of others who have been placed in the world below you? The law is a great thing, — because men are poor and weak, and bad. And it is great, because where it exists in its strength, no tyrant can be above it. But between you and me there should be no mention of law as the guide of conduct. Speak to me of honour, of duty, and of nobility; and tell me what they require of you.
~ Anthony Trollope ~
2021
The good and the bad mix themselves so thoroughly in our thoughts, even in our aspirations, that we must look for excellence rather in overcoming evil than in freeing ourselves from its influence.
~ Anthony Trollope ~
2022
Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
~ Jesus Christ ~
in
~ Gospel of Matthew ~
  • proposed by Kalki; in regard of Eastern Orthodox Easter 2022.
2023
Historical sense and poetic sense should not, in the end, be contradictory, for if poetry is the little myth we make, history is the big myth we live, and in our living, constantly remake.
~ Robert Penn Warren ~
2024
Poetry is more than fantasy and is committed to the obligation of trying to say something, however obliquely, about the human condition. Therefore, a poem dealing with history is no more at liberty to violate what the writer takes to be the spirit of his history than it is at liberty to violate what he takes to be the nature of the human heart. What he takes those things to be is, of course, his ultimate gamble.
~ Robert Penn Warren ~


Suggestions

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Growing to full manhood now,
With the care-lines on our brow,
We, the youngest of the nations,
With no childish lamentations,
Weep, as only strong men weep,
For the noble hearts that sleep,
Pillowed where they fought and bled,
The loved and lost, our glorious dead.
~ Frederick George Scott (anniversary of the Battle of Fish Creek)