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December 18

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003
That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as anothers. We see so much only as we possess. ~ Henry David Thoreau
2004
The Tree that was withered shall be renewed, and he shall plant it in the high places, and the City shall be blessed. Sing all ye people! ~ J. R. R. Tolkien
(From The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King (Book VI, Chapter 5, "The Steward and the King"); in the novel this is a song of a great Eagle heralding the victory of Aragorn's forces against those of Sauron and the Dark Tower.)
2005
It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die. ~ Steve Biko (born 18 December 1946)
2006
Formerly we used to represent things visible on earth, things we either liked to look at or would have liked to see. Today we reveal the reality that is behind visible things, thus expressing the belief that the visible world is merely an isolated case in relation to the universe and that there are many more other, latent realities. Things appear to assume a broader and more diversified meaning, often seemingly contradicting the rational experience of yesterday. There is a striving to emphasize the essential character of the accidental. ~ Paul Klee (born 18 December 1879)
2007
I cannot be grasped in the here and now. For I reside just as much with the dead as with the unborn. Somewhat closer to the heart of creation than usual. But not nearly close enough. ~ Paul Klee
2008
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new born King!"

~ Charles Wesley ~ (born 18 December 1707, and song for the Christmas season)

2009
Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible. ~ Paul Klee
2010
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise.
Join the triumph of the skies.
With th'angelic hosts proclaim
Christ is born in Bethlehem!

~ Charles Wesley ~ (born 18 December 1707, and song for the Christmas season)

2011
Nature can afford to be prodigal in everything, the artist must be frugal down to the last detail. Nature is garrulous to the point of confusion, let the artist be truly taciturn. ~ Paul Klee
2012
Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman's conquering Seed,
bruise in us the serpent's head.
Adam's likeness, Lord, efface;
stamp thine image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new born King!"
~ Charles Wesley ~
2013
The main thing now is not to paint precociously but to be, or at least become, an individual. The art of mastering life is the prerequisite for all further forms of expression, whether they are paintings, sculptures, tragedies, or musical compositions.
~ Paul Klee ~
2014
God buries his workmen, but carries on his work.
~ Charles Wesley ~
2015
The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.
~ George Lucas ~
in
~ Star Wars ~
2016
The animal which the Egyptians worshipped as divine, which the Romans venerated as a symbol of liberty, which Europeans in the ignorant Middle Ages anathematised as an agent of demonology, has displayed to all ages two closely blended characteristics — courage and self-respect. No matter how unfavourable the circumstances, both qualities are always to the fore. Confront a child, a puppy, and a kitten with a sudden danger; the child will turn instinctively for assistance, the puppy will grovel in abject submission to the impending visitation, the kitten will brace its tiny body for a frantic resistance. … The cat of the slums and alleys, starved, outcast, harried, still keeps amid the prowlings of its adversity the bold, free, panther-tread with which it paced of yore the temple courts of Thebes, still displays the self-reliant watchfulness which man has never taught it to lay aside.
~ Saki ~
2017
The immediate facts are what we must relate to. Darkness and light, beginning and end.
~ Peter Wessel Zapffe ~
2018
Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown;
Jesu, thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love thou art,
Visit us with thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.
~ Charles Wesley ~
2019
You'll never know until you try it
You don't have to keep it quiet

And I know it makes you nervous
But I promise you, it's worth it
To show 'em everything you kept inside
Don't hide, don't hide
Too shy to say, but I hope you stay
Don't hide away
Come out and play.
~ Billie Eilish ~
2020
Was I stupid to love you?
Was I reckless to help?
Was it obvious to everybody else
That I'd fallen for a lie?
You were never on my side.

Fool me once, fool me twice
Are you death or paradise?
Now you'll never see me cry
There's just no time to die.
~ Billie Eilish ~
2021
When I'm away from you
I'm happier than ever
Wish I could explain it better
I wish it wasn't true.
Give me a day or two
To think of something clever
To write myself a letter
To tell me what to do.
~ Billie Eilish ~
2022
The internet's gone wild watching movie stars on trial
While they're overturning Roe v. Wade.
Now all of my friends are missing again
'Cause that's what happens when you fall in love
You don't have the time, you leave them all behind
And you tell yourself it's fine, you're just in love.
And I don't get along with anyone
Maybe I'm the problem.
~ Billie Eilish ~
2023
I don't know how to feel
But I wanna try
I don't know how to feel
But someday I might
Someday I might

Think I forgot how to be happy
Something I'm not, but something I can be
Something I wait for
Something I'm made for.
~ Billie Eilish ~
2024
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The beautiful, which is perhaps inseparable from art, is not after all tied to the subject, but to the pictorial representation. In this way and in no other does art overcome the ugly without avoiding it. ~ Paul Klee

  • 3 InvisibleSun 16:51, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 17:20, 17 December 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 19:41, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Lyle 15:31, 17 December 2008 (UTC)
Narrating incredible things as though they were real — old system; narrating realities as though they were incredible — the new. ~ Cesare Pavese
  • 2 we need some quotations on narrativology. Nemo 14:11, 18 January 2012 (UTC)
  • 1 ♞☮♌︎︎Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 21:12, 15 December 2012 (UTC) no clear relation to the date.

Man is a tragic animal. Not because of his smallness, but because he is too well endowed. Man has longings and spiritual demands that reality cannot fulfill. We have expectations of a just and moral world. Man requires meaning in a meaningless world. ~ Peter Wessel Zapffe (dob)

Why, then, has mankind not long ago gone extinct during great epidemics of madness? Why do only a fairly minor number of individuals perish because they fail to endure the strain of living- because cognition gives them more than they can carry? Cultural history, as well as observation of ourselves and others, allow the following answer: Most people learn to save themselves by artificially limiting the content of consciousness.
~ Peter Wessel Zapffe ~
I myself am no longer very much afflicted by the thought of my own death. The synthesis, Peter Wessel Zapffe, did not originate until 1899. It was spared from immediate participation in the horrors of the previous years, and it will not miss what awaits mankind at the end of its vertiginous madness.
~ Peter Wessel Zapffe ~
If one regards life and death as natural processes, the metaphysical dread vanishes, and one obtains "peace of mind."
~ Peter Wessel Zapffe ~
Death is a terrible provocation. It appears almost everywhere, presenting a stern but effective scale for both values and ethical standards.
~ Peter Wessel Zapffe ~


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