Wikiquote

December 12

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Every single moment of a person's life, both of the understanding and of the will, is a new beginning. ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
2005
I had some great things and I had some bad things. The best and the worst... In other words, I had a life. ~ Richard Pryor (recent death)
2006
The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments. ~ Gustave Flaubert (Date of birth)
2007
I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or to speak, or write, with moderation. … I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD. ~ William Lloyd Garrison
2008
Klaatu barada nikto! ~ Patricia Neal as "Helen Benson" in The Day the Earth Stood Still
(The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), the remake of the classic movie, which also uses the line is opening in wide release on 12·12·2008)
2009
What is beautiful is moral, that is all there is to it. ~ Gustave Flaubert
2010
An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere. ~ Gustave Flaubert
2011
It seems to me that understanding that our theories are the source of all our conflicts would go a long way in helping people with different belief systems to get along. ~ Michael Gazzaniga
2012
With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.
~ William Lloyd Garrison ~
2013
Our country is the world — our countrymen are all mankind.
~ William Lloyd Garrison ~
2014
Little boldness is needed to assail the opinions and practices of notoriously wicked men; but to rebuke great and good men for their conduct, and to impeach their discernment, is the highest effort of moral courage. The great mass of mankind shun the labor and responsibility of forming opinions for themselves.
~ William Lloyd Garrison ~
2015
You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it.
~ Gustave Flaubert ~
2016
I have not come here with reference to any flag but that of freedom. If your Union does not symbolize universal emancipation, it brings no Union for me. If your Constitution does not guarantee freedom for all, it is not a Constitution I can ascribe to. If your flag is stained by the blood of a brother held in bondage, I repudiate it in the name of God. I came here to witness the unfurling of a flag under which every human being is to be recognized as entitled to his freedom. Therefore, with a clear conscience, without any compromise of principles, I accepted the invitation of the Government of the United States to be present and witness the ceremonies that have taken place today.
And now let me give the sentiment which has been, and ever will be, the governing passion of my soul: "Liberty for each, for all, and forever!"
~ William Lloyd Garrison ~
2017
One becomes a critic when one cannot be an artist, just as a man becomes a stool pigeon when he cannot be a soldier.
~ Gustave Flaubert ~
2018
Our duty is to feel what is great and love what is beautiful — not to accept all the social conventions and the infamies they impose on us.
~ Gustave Flaubert ~
in
~ Madame Bovary ~
2019
I have been derisively called a "Woman's Rights Man". I know no such distinction. I claim to the a Human Rights Man, and wherever there is a human being, I see God-given rights inherent in that being, whatever may be the sex or complexion.
~ William Lloyd Garrison ~
2020
An ignorant doctor is the aide-de-camp of death.
~ Avicenna ~
2021
Do not read as children do to enjoy themselves, or, as the ambitious do to educate themselves. No, read to live.
~ Gustave Flaubert ~
2022
Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.
~ Gustave Flaubert ~
2023
This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin. The district court rejected respondent's claims, correctly recognizing that former Presidents are not above the law and are accountable for their violations of federal criminal law while in office. … It is of imperative public importance that respondent's claims of immunity be resolved by this Court and that respondent's trial proceed as promptly as possible if his claim of immunity is rejected. Respondent's claims are profoundly mistaken, as the district court held. But only this Court can definitively resolve them.
~ Jack Smith ~
2024
Poets shouldn't commit suicide. That would leave the world to those without imaginations or hearts. That would bequeath to the world a mangled syntax and no love of champagne. Poets must live in misery and ecstasy, to sing a song with the katydids. Poets should be ashamed to die before they kiss the sun.
~ Nikki Giovanni ~
  • proposed by Kalki; in regard of her recent death.
2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

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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.
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Suggestions

edit

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. ~ Frank Sinatra, born that day

  • 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 19:28, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

That which is not just is not law. ~ William Lloyd Garrison (Date of birth)

  • 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 0 Kalki 23:11, 11 December 2007 (UTC) 3 Kalki 19:28, 11 December 2006 (UTC) Though Garrison used this phrase, he was quoting Algernon Sydney: "That which is not just is not law, and that which is not law ought not to be obeyed." I have ranked this a 4 for 7 December, the date of Sydney's execution.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 16:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. ~ Robert Browning (Date of death)

  • 4 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 0 for this date, as this a mis-attribution... it is widely attributed to Nolan Bushnell (Founder of Atari), not to Browning.
  • 0 - InvisibleSun 23:43, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 0 for the reason stated above Zarbon 16:13, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

We should have known better after the first war. ~ Gerd von Rundstedt

  • 3 Zarbon 04:43, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:58, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost. ~ Gustave Flaubert

Everything one invents is true, you may be perfectly sure of that. Poetry is as precise as geometry. ~ Gustave Flaubert



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