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April 28

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own. ~ Benjamin Disraeli
2005
It is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done. ~ Terry Pratchett (born 28 April 1948)
2006
War: first, one hopes to win; then one expects the enemy to lose; then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering; in the end, one is surprised that everyone has lost. ~ Karl Kraus (born 28 April 1874)
2007
The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret. ~ Terry Pratchett
2008
The pen is mightier than the sword if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp. ~ Terry Pratchett
2009
Too much magic could wrap time and space around itself, and that wasn't good news for the kind of person who had grown used to things like effects following things like causes. ~ Terry Pratchett in Sourcery ~
2010
You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it's just a cage. ~ Terry Pratchett
2011

“The secret is not to dream … The secret is to wake up. Waking up is harder. I have woken up and I am real. I know where I come from and I know where I'm going. You cannot fool me anymore. Or touch me. Or anything that is mine.”
I'll never be like this again, she thought, as she saw the terror in the Queen's face. I'll never again feel as tall as the sky and as old as the hills and as strong as the sea. I've been given something for a while, and the price of it is that I have to give it back.
And the reward is giving it back, too. No human could live like this. You could spend a day looking at a flower to see how wonderful it is, and that wouldn't get the milking done. No wonder we dream our way through our lives. To be awake, and see it all as it really is … no one could stand that for long.

~ Terry Pratchett ~
in
The Wee Free Men

2012
Everything makes sense a bit at a time. But when you try to think of it all at once, it comes out wrong. ~ Terry Pratchett
2013
I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
~ Harper Lee ~
2014
Ninety per cent of most magic merely consists of knowing one extra fact.
~ Terry Pratchett ~
2015
We ARE history! Everything we've ever been on the way to becoming us, we still are. Would you like the rest of the story? I'm made up of the memories of my parents and my grandparents, all my ancestors. They're in the way I look, in the color of my hair. And I'm made up of everyone I've ever met who's changed the way I think.
~ Terry Pratchett ~
2016
I have never disliked religion. I think it has some purpose in our evolution.
I don't have much truck with the "religion is the cause of most of our wars" school of thought because that is manifestly done by mad, manipulative and power-hungry men who cloak their ambition in God.
I number believers of all sorts among my friends. Some of them are praying for me. I'm happy they wish to do this, I really am, but I think science may be a better bet.
~ Terry Pratchett ~
2017
"Good evening, gentlemen!" said the vampire. "Please pay attention. I am a reformed vampire, which is to say, I am a bundle of suppressed instincts held together with spit and coffee. It would be wrong to say that violent, tearing carnage does not come easily to me. It's not tearing your throats out that doesn't come easily to me. Please don't make it any harder."
~ Terry Pratchett ~
in
~ Monstrous Regiment ~
2018
Do you know what it feels like to be aware of every star, every blade of grass? Yes. You do. You call it "opening your eyes again." But you do it for a moment. We have done it for eternity. No sleep, no rest, just endless … endless experience, endless awareness. Of everything. All the time. How we envy you, envy you! Lucky humans, who can close your minds to the endless deeps of space! You have this thing you call … boredom? That is the rarest talent in the universe! We heard a song — it went "Twinkle twinkle little star …" What power! What wondrous power! You can take a billion trillion tons of flaming matter, a furnace of unimaginable strength, and turn it into a little song for children! You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your minds, and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the morning without screaming!
~ Terry Pratchett ~
in
~ A Hat Full of Sky ~
2019
This is the school, isn't it. The magic place? The world. Here. And you don't realize it until you look. Do you know the pictsies think this world is heaven? We just don't look.
~ Terry Pratchett ~
in
~ The Wee Free Men ~
2020
The secret of the demagogue is to appear as dumb as his audience so that these people can believe themselves as smart as he.
~ Karl Kraus ~
2021
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.
~ Harper Lee ~
2022
Russia’s invasion is indefensible. And so are Russian atrocities.
We all start today from a position of moral clarity. Russia is waging a war of choice to indulge the ambitions of one man. Ukraine is fighting a war of necessity to defend its democracy, its sovereignty, and its citizens.
But the stakes stretch beyond Ukraine — and even beyond Europe.
Russia’s invasion is baseless, reckless, and lawless. It is an affront to the rules-based international order. It is a challenge to free people everywhere.
As we see this morning, nations of goodwill from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s imperial aggression. And that’s the way it should be.
~ Lloyd Austin ~
2023
One of the hardest lessons of young Sam's life had been finding out that the people in charge weren't in charge. It had been finding out that governments were not, on the whole, staffed by people who had a grip, and that plans were what people made instead of thinking.
~ Terry Pratchett ~
in
~ Night Watch ~
2024
  All fungi are edible …
Some fungi are not edible more than once.
~ Terry Pratchett ~
in
~ The Discworld Almanak ~
2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

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

  • The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication. ~ Terry Pratchett
  • How is the world ruled and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read. ~ Karl Kraus

The Quote of the Day (QOTD) is a prominent feature of the Wikiquote Main Page. Thank you for submitting, reviewing, and ranking suggestions!

Ranking system
4 : Excellent – should definitely be used. (This is the utmost ranking and should be used by any editor for only one quote at a time for each date.)
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.
An averaging of the rankings provided to each suggestion produces it’s general ranking in considerations for selection of Quote of the Day. The selections made are usually chosen from the top ranked options existing on the page, but the provision of highly ranked late additions, especially in regard to special events (most commonly in regard to the deaths of famous people, or other major social or physical occurrences), always remain an option for final selections.
Thank you for participating!

Suggestions

edit

My unconscious knows more about the consciousness of the psychologist than his consciousness knows about my unconscious. ~ Karl Kraus

  • 3 Kalki 01:17, 28 April 2007 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 00:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 10:18, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Science is spectral analysis. Art is light synthesis. ~ Karl Kraus

  • 3 Kalki 01:17, 28 April 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 00:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 10:18, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Love and art do not embrace what is beautiful but what is is made beautiful by this embrace. ~ Karl Kraus

  • 3 Kalki 01:17, 28 April 2007 (UTC) (I have modified this from its current listing on the Kraus page, because I believe this form makes more sense. We have at least about a year to check out which is more accurate depiction of the German original.)
  • 1 Zarbon 00:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 pending resolution of this form of the quote. - InvisibleSun 10:18, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Soup is never eaten as hot as it is cooked. ~ Heinrich Müller (born April 28)

  • 2 Zarbon 17:00, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1. The quote is unsourced and should therefore be avoided as a QOTD choice. - InvisibleSun 10:18, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
    • 1 InvisibleSun 23:10, 27 April 2009 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The SS, Alibi of a Nation, 1922-1945 - Page 33 by Gerald Reitlinger - History - 1989 (I can provide sources for all the quotes if they are necessary) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zarbon (talk • contribs) at 17:56 on April 27, 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 02:08, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Let us not allow disorder enter where order prevails. ~ António de Oliveira Salazar (born April 28)

  • 2 Zarbon 04:28, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1. The quote is unsourced and should therefore be avoided as a QOTD choice. - InvisibleSun 10:18, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 02:08, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

If you knew how hard it is to command, you would only want to obey. ~ António de Oliveira Salazar (born April 28)

  • 2 because most of the time, it is best to follow orders. Zarbon 06:14, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 02:08, 24 April 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 0.

I call on you not to hate, because hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking. ~ Saddam Hussein

Never trust any complicated cocktail that remains perfectly clear until the last ingredient goes in, and then immediately clouds. ~ Terry Pratchett

If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting "All gods are bastards". ~ Terry Pratchett

"We've strayed into a zone with a high magical index,' he said. 'Don't ask me how. Once upon a time a really powerful magic field must have been generated here, and we're feeling the after-effects."
"Precisely," said a passing bush. ~ Terry Pratchett

It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination, because wherever it appeared it was a sign that mere matter was a servant of the powers of the magical mind. It was enchantment itself.
But Rincewind always thought it looked a sort of greenish-purple. ~ Terry Pratchett

Of course I'm sane, when trees start talking to me, I don't talk back. ~ Terry Pratchett

Everyone has gods. You just don't think they're gods. ~ Terry Pratchett

The truth isn't easily pinned to a page. In the bathtub of history the truth is harder to hold than the soap, and much more difficult to find... ~ Terry Pratchett

Wizards didn't kill ordinary people because a) they seldom noticed them and b) it wasn't considered sporting and c) besides, who'd do all the cooking and growing food and things. ~ Terry Pratchett

Paranoids only think everyone is out to get them. Wizards know it. ~ Terry Pratchett

Many people who had got to know Rincewind had come to treat him as a sort of two-legged miner's canary, and tended to assume that if Rincewind was still upright and not actually running then some hope remained. ~ Terry Pratchett

Take it from me, there's nothing more terrible than someone out to do the world a favour. ~ Terry Pratchett

It's vital to remember who you really are. It's very important. It isn't a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong. ~ Terry Pratchett

No gods anywhere play chess. They haven't got the imagination. Gods prefer simple, vicious games, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go Straight to Oblivion; A key to the understanding of all religion is that a god's idea of amusement is Snakes and Ladders with greased rungs. ~ Terry Pratchett

The days followed one another patiently. Right back at the beginning of the multiverse they had tried all passing at the same time, and it hadn't worked. ~ Terry Pratchett

Seeing, contrary to popular wisdom, isn't believing. It's where belief stops, because it isn't needed any more. ~ Terry Pratchett

Never trust a species that grins all the time. It's up to something. ~ Terry Pratchett

Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying "End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH", the paint wouldn't even have time to dry. ~ Terry Pratchett

I am the grim reaper. I do not think people wish me to get... creative. ~ Terry Pratchett

In order to have a change of fortune at the last minute you have to take your fortune to the last minute ~ Terry Pratchett

I have no use for people who have learned the limits of the possible. ~ Terry Pratchett

More heads of the Guilds were pouring in, and every single one of them wanted to be involved in the decision-making process without necessarily going through the intelligence-using process first. ~ Terry Pratchett

We who think we are about to die will laugh at anything.
What a bunch. I know you well, gentlemen. You're in it for the quiet life and the pension, you don't hurry too much in case the danger is still around when you get there, and the most you ever expected to face was an obstreperous drunk or a particularly difficult cow. Most of you aren't even coppers, not in your head. In the sea of adventure, you're bottomfeeders. And now, it's war... and you're in the middle. Not on either side. You're the stupid little band of brownjobs. You're beneath contempt. But believe me, boys — you'll rise. ~ Terry Pratchett

Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes. ~ Terry Pratchett

They did the job they didn't have to do, and they died doing it, and you can't give them anything. Do you understand? They fought for those who'd been abandoned, they fought for one another, and they were betrayed. Men like them always are. What good would a statue be? It'd just inspire new fools to believe they're going to be heroes. They wouldn't want that. Just let them be. For ever. ~ Terry Pratchett

To be looked at by Annagramma was to know that you'd already taken up too much of her valuable time. ~ Terry Pratchett

People didn't respect Miss Level. They liked her, in an unthinking sort of way, and that was it. … "she likes people," said the witch, striding ahead. "She cares about 'em. Even the stupid, mean drooling ones, the mothers with the runny babies and no sense, the feckless and silly fools who treat her like some kind of a servant. Now that's what I call magic — seein' all that, dealin' with all that, and still goin' on." ~ Terry Pratchett

They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man's mind wonderfully; unfortunately what the mind inevitably concentrates on is that it is in a body, that, in the morning, is going to be hanged. ~ Terry Pratchett

I commend my soul to any god that can find it. ~ Terry Pratchett

What sort of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter. ~ Terry Pratchett

Now the golems were freeing themselves. It was the quietest, most socially responsible revolution in history. They were property, and so they saved up and bought themselves. ~ Terry Pratchett

Speak softly and employ a huge man with a crowbar. ~ Terry Pratchett

Always remember that the crowd that applauds your coronation is the same crowd that will applaud your beheading. People like a show. ~ Terry Pratchett

There be a lot o' men who became heroes cuz they wuz too scared tae run! ~ Terry Pratchett

Magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten. ~ Terry Pratchett

Sourcerer, n. (mythical) A proto-wizard, a doorway through which new majik may enter the world, a wizard not limited by the physical capabilities of hys own bodie, not by Destinie, nor by Deathe. It is written that there once were sourcerers in the youth of the world but not may there by now and blessed be, for sourcery would mean the Ende of the World … If the Creator hadd meant menne to be bee as goddes, he would have given them wings. ~ Terry Pratchett

He had the unique opportunity to watch Conina fight. Not many men ever got to see it twice.
Her opponents started off grinning at the temerity of a slight young girl attacking them, and then rapidly passed through various stages of puzzlement, doubt, concern, and abject gibbetting terror as they apparently became the center of a flashing, tightening circle of steel. ~ Terry Pratchett

While it was bad enough to be attacked with deadly and ferocious accuracy by a rather pretty girl in a white dress with flowers on it, it was even worse for the male ego to be tripped up and beaten by a travel accessory; it was pretty bad for all the rest of the male, too. ~ Terry Pratchett

Magicians and scientists are, on the face of it, poles apart. Certainly, a group of people who often dress strangely, live in a world of their own, speak a specialized language and frequently make statements that appear to be in flagrant breach of common sense have nothing in common with a group of people who often dress strangely, speak a specialized language, live in … er … ~ Terry Pratchett

Here, gentlemen, good does not ultimately triumph at the expense of a few bruises and a non-threatening shoulder wound. Here, evil is generally defeated by a more organized kind of evil. ~ Terry Pratchett

If anyone has poisoned our Librarian, then, although I am not, by nature, a vindictive man, I will see to it that this university hunts down the poisoner by every thaumic, mystic and occult means available and makes the rest of their life not only as horrible as they can imagine it, but as horrible as I can imagine it. And you can depend on it, gentlemen, that I have already started work on it. ~ Terry Pratchett

"The box exists in ten or possibly eleven dimensions. Practically anything may be possible."
"Why only eleven dimensions?"
"We don't know," said Ponder. "It might be simply that more would be silly." ~ Terry Pratchett

Technically, the city of Ankh-Morpork is a Tyranny, which is not always the same thing as a monarchy, and in fact even the post of Tyrant has been somewhat redefined by the incumbent, Lord Vetinari, as the only form of democracy that works. Everyone is entitled to vote, unless disqualified by reason of age or not being Lord Vetinari.
And yet it does work. This has annoyed a number of people who feel, somehow, that it should not, and who want a monarch instead, thus replacing a man who has achieved his position by cunning, a deep understanding of the realities of the human psyche, breathtaking diplomacy, a certain prowess with the stiletto dagger, and, all agree, a mind like a perfectly balanced circular saw, with a man who has got there by being born…
A third proposition, that the city be governed by a choice of respectable members of the community who would promise not to give themselves airs or betray the public trust at every turn, was instantly the subject of music-hall jokes all over the city. ~ Terry Pratchett

Sometimes, the best answer is a more interesting question. ~ Terry Pratchett

"We're the Good Guys, aren't we?"
"Yes, but that rather hinges on doing certain things and not doing others, sir", said Ponder. "Playing around with other people's heads against their will would almost certainly be one of the nots." ~ Terry Pratchett

I am sorry. It is hard to convey five-dimensional ideas in a language evolved to scream defiance at the monkeys in the next tree. ~ Terry Pratchett

Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. ~ Terry Pratchett

Joy is to fun what the deep sea is to a puddle. It’s a feeling inside that can hardly be contained. ~ Terry Pratchett

Never enter an arsekicking contest with a porcupine. ~ Terry Pratchett

I think magic is very related to happiness. So it is not there all the time, but there are beautiful moments of magic in everyone's life. ~ Penélope Cruz (born 28 April 1974)

When a child asks you something, answer him, for goodness' sake. But don't make a production of it. Children are children, but they can spot an evasion quicker than adults, an evasion simply muddles 'em. ~ Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird

They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience. ~ Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird

Either mathematics is too big for the human mind, or the human mind is more than a machine.
~ Kurt Gödel ~
  • Is it lawful to wish for death—merely to wish—without doing anything to accelerate it? Such wishes may proceed rather from the pressure of affliction, from a sense of the vanities of the world, or from an earnest desire to partake, as soon as possible, of the joys of immortality. The two latter form my case. There is very little indeed to bind me to this world—nothing except my beloved children. To them my departure, whenever it may happen, will no doubt be cause of grief; but time assuages sorrow, and in a little while the memory of me will perhaps be a pleasing melancholy, succeeding to the first violent emotions. For my transition, I hope I am not wholly unprepared. I endeavor every day to increase my readiness to go. Thou, O God! knowest how often I think of thee, how often I pray thee to increase my love for thee, and to enable me to steer clear of giving thee offence. Adieu, then, my earthly friends! adieu, my beloved children! Weep not for me! ~ William Rawle (dob)


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