February 23

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. ~ Dr. Seuss
2005
If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up. ~ Hunter S. Thompson (recent death)
2006
Man is always something more than what he knows of himself. He is not what he is simply once and for all, but is a process... ~ Karl Jaspers (born 23 February 1883)
2007
The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course by bitter experience. ~ W. E. B. Du Bois
2008
There is but one coward on earth, and that is the coward that dare not know. ~ W. E. B. Du Bois
2009
We cannot avoid conflict, conflict with society, other individuals and with oneself. Conflicts may be the sources of defeat, lost life and a limitation of our potentiality but they may also lead to greater depth of living and the birth of more far-reaching unities, which flourish in the tensions that engender them. ~ Karl Jaspers
2010
How shall Integrity face Oppression? What shall Honesty do in the face of Deception, Decency in the face of Insult, Self-Defense before Blows? How shall Desert and Accomplishment meet Despising, Detraction, and Lies? What shall Virtue do to meet Brute Force? There are so many answers and so contradictory; and such differences for those on the one hand who meet questions similar to this once a year or once a decade, and those who face them hourly and daily. ~ W. E. B. Du Bois
2011
There can be no rainbow without a cloud and a storm. ~ John Heyl Vincent
2012
Man, if he is to remain man, must advance by way of consciousness. There is no road leading backward. … We can no longer veil reality from ourselves by renouncing self-consciousness without simultaneously excluding ourselves from the historical course of human existence. ~ Karl Jaspers
2013
It is the search for the truth, not possession of the truth which is the way of philosophy. Its questions are more relevant than its answers, and every answer becomes a new question.
~ Karl Jaspers ~
2014
The function of the university is not simply to teach bread-winning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools or to be a centre of polite society; it is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment which forms the secret of civilization.
~ W. E. B. Du Bois ~
2015
At some time, here or hereafter, every account must be settled, and every debt paid in full.
~ John Heyl Vincent ~
2016
Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor,— all men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked — who is good? not that men are ignorant, — what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men.
~ W. E. B. Du Bois ~
2017
Believe in life! Always human beings will progress to greater, broader, and fuller life.
~ W. E. B. Du Bois ~
2018
"What is the greatest surprise you have found about life?” a university student asked me several years ago.
"It's brevity" I replied without hesitation. … Time moves so quickly, and no matter who we are or what we have done, the time will come when our lives will be over. As Jesus said, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work". … Life is short, and every day is a gift from God.
~ Billy Graham ~
2019
Either the United States will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States.
And when we call for education we mean real education. We believe in work. We ourselves are workers, but work is not necessarily education. Education is the development of power and ideal. We want our children trained as intelligent human beings should be, and we will fight for all time against any proposal to educate black boys and girls simply as servants and underlings, or simply for the use of other people. They have a right to know, to think, to aspire.
~ W. E. B. Du Bois ~
2020
Our questions and answers are in part determined by the historical tradition in which we find ourselves. We apprehend truth from our own source within the historical tradition.
The content of our truth depends upon our appropriating the historical foundation. Our own power of generation lies in the rebirth of what has been handed down to us. If we do not wish to slip back, nothing must be forgotten; but if philosophising is to be genuine our thoughts must arise from our own source. Hence all appropriation of tradition proceeds from the intentness of our own life. The more determinedly I exist, as myself, within the conditions of the time, the more clearly I shall hear the language of the past, the nearer I shall feel the glow of its life.
~ Karl Jaspers ~
2021
The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.
~ W. E. B. Du Bois ~
2022
There is always a certain glamour about the idea of a nation rising up to crush an evil simply because it is wrong. Unfortunately, this can seldom be realized in real life; for the very existence of the evil usually argues a moral weakness in the very place where extraordinary moral strength is called for.
~ W. E. B. Du Bois ~
2023
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The truth is, I do indulge myself a little the more in pleasure, knowing that this is the proper age of my life to do it; and out of my observation that most men that do thrive in the world, do forget to take pleasure during the time that they are getting their estate, but reserve that till they have got one, and then it is too late for them to enjoy it with any pleasure. ~ Samuel Pepys (born 23 February 1633)

  • 3 Kalki 23:50, 22 February 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 05:43, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Musique and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business is. ~ Samuel Pepys (born 23 February 1633)

  • 3 Kalki 23:50, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 05:43, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

To live a godly life is the best way to light up a lesson that the teacher can possibly employ. ~ John Heyl Vincent


We are pilgrims, not settlers; this earth is our inn, not our home. ~ John Heyl Vincent


In the highest class of God's school of suffering we learn not resignation nor patience, but rejoicing in tribulation. ~ John Heyl Vincent


The teacher should use illustrations for the better teaching of the lesson, and never to fill up time, to amuse the class, or to display his own genius. ~ John Heyl Vincent


He that would speak Divine things in a language which living men of to-day can comprehend, must keep up with the researches and discoveries of men who study nature, and put her words into the speech of the present. ~ John Heyl Vincent


Liberty trains for liberty. Responsibility is the first step in responsibility.
~ W. E. B. Du Bois ~

The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame.
~ W. E. B. Du Bois ~

Today for the first time in more than a half century, the US has returned to the moon. Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company — an American company — launched and led the voyage up there. And today is a day that shows the power and promise of NASA's commercial partnerships. … What a triumph! Odysseus has taken the moon. This feat is a giant leap forward for all of humanity.
~ Bill Nelson ~
  • 4 ♌︎Kalki ⚓︎ 00:21, 23 February 2024 (UTC) — remarks upon the current lunar landing of Oddysseus at the South Pole of the Moon.