Wikiquote

February 28

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. ~ Oscar Wilde
2005
Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being. ~ Michel de Montaigne (born 28 February 1533)
2006
If you want to have good ideas you must have many ideas. Most of them will be wrong, and what you have to learn is which ones to throw away. ~ Linus Pauling (born 28 February 1901)
2007
Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields,
See how these names are feted in the waving grass
And by the streamers of the white cloud
And whispers of the wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life,
Who wore at their hearts the fire's centre.
Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.
~ Stephen Spender ~
(born 28 February 1909)
2008
The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry. ~ William F. Buckley, Jr. (recent death)
2009
I speak the truth, not my fill of it, but as much as I dare speak; and I dare to do so a little more as I grow old. ~ Michel de Montaigne
2010
Virtue refuses facility for her companion … the easy, gentle, and sloping path that guides the footsteps of a good natural disposition is not the path of true virtue. It demands a rough and thorny road. ~ Michel de Montaigne
2011
Science cannot be stopped. Man will gather knowledge no matter what the consequences — and we cannot predict what they will be. Science will go on — whether we are pessimistic, or are optimistic, as I am. I know that great, interesting, and valuable discoveries can be made and will be made… But I know also that still more interesting discoveries will be made that I have not the imagination to describe — and I am awaiting them, full of curiosity and enthusiasm. ~ Linus Pauling
  • "Man will gather knowledge no matter what the consequences — and we cannot predict what they will be" proposed by Zarbon, extension proposed by Kalki
2012
The world progresses, year by year, century by century, as the members of the younger generation find out what was wrong among the things that their elders said. So you must always be skeptical — always think for yourself. ~ Linus Pauling
2013
My single pair of eyes
Contain the universe they see;
Their mirrored multiplicity
Is packed into a hollow body
Where I reflect the many, in my one.
~ Stephen Spender ~
2014
What is precious is never to forget
The delight of the blood drawn from ancient springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth;
Never to deny its pleasure in the simple morning light,
Nor its grave evening demand for love;
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.
~ Stephen Spender ~
2015
The miracle is this
The more we share...
The more
We have
~ Leonard Nimoy ~
  • proposed by DanielTom, in relation to Nimoy's recent death.
2016
Wherever your life ends, it is all there. The advantage of living is not measured by length, but by use; some men have lived long, and lived little; attend to it while you are in it. It lies in your will, not in the number of years, for you to have lived enough.
~ Michel de Montaigne ~
2017
Great abuses in the world are begotten, or, to speak more boldly, all the abuses of the world are begotten, by our being taught to be afraid of professing our ignorance, and that we are bound to accept all things we are not able to refute: we speak of all things by precepts and decisions. The style at Rome was that even that which a witness deposed to having seen with his own eyes, and what a judge determined with his most certain knowledge, was couched in this form of speaking: “it seems to me.” They make me hate things that are likely, when they would impose them upon me as infallible.
~ Michel de Montaigne ~
2018
The way of the world is to make laws, but follow customs.
~ Michel de Montaigne ~
2019
I want to first of all, thank you. I know that this has been hard. I know that you face a lot. I know that you are worried about your family — but this is part of your destiny. And, hopefully, this portion of your destiny will lead to a better — a better, a better Michael Cohen, a better Donald Trump, a better United States of America and a better world.
And I mean that from the depths of my heart.
When we’re dancing with the angels, the question will be asked: "In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact?" Did we stand on the sidelines and say nothing? … Come on, now — we can do more than one thing. And we have got to get back to normal.
~ Elijah Cummings ~
2020
Let us give Nature a chance; she knows her business better than we do.
~ Michel de Montaigne ~
2021
Wherever your life ends, it is all there. The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time; a man may have lived long, and yet lived but a little. Make use of time while it is present with you. It depends upon your will, and not upon the number of days, to have a sufficient length of life. Is it possible you can imagine never to arrive at the place towards which you are continually going? and yet there is no journey but hath its end. And, if company will make it more pleasant or more easy to you, does not all the world go the self-same way?
~ Michel de Montaigne ~
2022
The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.
~ Volodymyr Zelenskyy ~
2023
The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her state is like that in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene.
~ Michel de Montaigne ~
2024
Great poetry is always written by somebody straining to go beyond what he can do.
~ Stephen Spender ~
2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

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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

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself. ~ Michel de Montaigne

  • 3 because it is easy to be controlled by others. Zarbon 05:36, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 06:46, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:24, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 bystander (talk) 21:47, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not a pastime to her more than she is to me? ~ Michel de Montaigne

  • 3 because power is in the eye of the beholder. And to the cat, the master might be under its control. This is actually a rather interesting view. Zarbon 05:36, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 06:46, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:24, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

A man must be a little mad if he does not want to be even more stupid. ~ Michel de Montaigne

  • 3 because madness is preferable to stupidity. At least to me it is. Zarbon 05:36, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 06:46, 27 February 2009 (UTC) a good statement, but the interpretation is easily skewed in several different ways, not all of them profound; though I lean slightly toward a 3, despite these objections.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:24, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 bystander (talk) 21:47, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

And now you know — the rest of the story. ~ Paul Harvey (born 4 September 1918) (died 28 February 2009)

  • 2 Kalki 23:43, 1 March 2009 (UTC) but might rank this a 3 or even a 4 eventually.
  • 3 bystander (talk) 21:47, 16 February 2012 (UTC) Appropriate for the day of his death.

What America has succeeded in creating is not an economy impervious to shocks, but merely one which enables their consequences to be postponed to a later date. ~ Peter Schiff

—This unsigned comment is by Smallman12q (talk • contribs) .
  • 1 Kalki (talk · contributions) 13:04, 21 February 2010 (UTC) I would rank this 2 on the 23 March page, which is Schiff's birthday, but there seems to be no clear relation to this date.


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