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January 12

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Dignity does not come in possessing honors, but in deserving them. ~ Aristotle
2005
Do not think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago. ~ Horace Mann
2006
Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. ~ Edmund Burke (born 12 January 1729)
2007
Society is indeed a contract... it is not a partnership in things subservient only to the gross animal existence of a temporary and perishable nature. It is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are to be born. ~ Edmund Burke
2008
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods. ~ Edmund Burke (born 12 January 1729)
2009
We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature, and the means perhaps of its conservation. ~ Edmund Burke
2010
Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe. ~ Edmund Burke
2011
The use of force alone is but temporary. It may subdue for a moment; but it does not remove the necessity of subduing again: and a nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered. ~ Edmund Burke
2012
To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. “I will drink the ocean”, says the persevering soul; “at my will mountains will crumble up”. Have that sort of energy, that sort of will; work hard, and you will reach the goal. ~ Swami Vivekananda (born 12 January 1863)
2013
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites, — in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity, — in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption, — in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.
~ Edmund Burke ~
2014
Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.
~ Edmund Burke ~
2015
Give me few men and women who are pure and selfless and I shall shake the world.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
2016

Look up here, I’m in heaven
I’ve got scars that can’t be seen
I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen
Everybody knows me now

Look up here, man, I’m in danger
I’ve got nothing left to lose
I’m so high it makes my brain whirl
Dropped my cell phone down below

Ain’t that just like me

~ David Bowie ~
2017
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
~ Edmund Burke ~
2018
All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
2019
Liberty, if I understand it at all, is a general principle, and the clear right of all the subjects within the realm, or of none. Partial freedom seems to me a most invidious mode of slavery. But, unfortunately, it is the kind of slavery the most easily admitted in times of civil discord; for parties are but too apt to forget their own future safety in their desire of sacrificing their enemies. People without much difficulty admit the entrance of that injustice of which they are not to be the immediate victims … great determined measures are not commonly so dangerous to freedom. They are marked with too strong lines to slide into use. … But the true danger is, when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts.
~ Edmund Burke ~
2020
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
It is not enough in a situation of trust in the commonwealth, that a man means well to his country; it is not enough that in his single person he never did an evil act, but always voted according to his conscience, and even harangued against every design which he apprehended to be prejudicial to the interests of his country. This innoxious and ineffectual character, that seems formed upon a plan of apology and disculpation, falls miserably short of the mark of publick duty. That duty demands and requires, that what is right should not only be made known, but made prevalent; that what is evil should not only be detected, but defeated.
~ Edmund Burke ~
2021
We faced an unprecedented assault on our Capitol, our Constitution, and our country.
The assault was fueled by more than four years of poison politics spreading deliberate misinformation, sowing distrust in our system, and pitting Americans against one another. The match was lit by Donald Trump and his most ardent enablers, including many in Congress, to overturn the results of an election he lost.
The election was free, the count was fair, the result is final. We must complete the peaceful transfer of power our Constitution mandates.
~ Bill Clinton ~
  • proposed by Kalki; remarks of a former US President on major current issues and events.
2022
Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being?
~ Swami Vivekananda ~

2023

A solo should do something; it shouldn't just be there as a cosmetic. It should have some aim, take the tune somewhere. I'm not saying I can do it, but I try and take the tune somewhere.
~ Jeff Beck ~
  • proposed by Kalki; in regard of his recent death.
2024
It is in love that religion exists and not in ceremony, in the pure and sincere love in the heart. Unless a man is pure in body and mind, his coming into a temple and worshipping Shiva is useless. The prayers of those that are pure in mind and body will be answered by Shiva, and those that are impure and yet try to teach religion to others will fail in the end. External worship is only a symbol of internal worship; but internal worship and purity are the real things. Without them, external worship would be of no avail.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
2025
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Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion. ~ Edmund Burke (born 12 January 1729)

  • 3 Kalki 23:29, 9 January 2007 (UTC) with a VERY strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 10:07, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 18:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I take toleration to be a part of religion. I do not know which I would sacrifice; I would keep them both: it is not necessary that I should sacrifice either. ~ Edmund Burke

  • 3 InvisibleSun 10:07, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:01, 12 January 2007 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 18:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I think that women are wonderful but I've never met one yet who didn't show more feeling than logic. ~ Hermann Göring (born January 12)

  • 3 Zarbon 04:35, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Nuremberg Interviews by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004 - Page 120
  • 1 Kalki 15:22, 6 January 2009 (UTC) I would say the same is true of any man, even those who presume themselves most logical.
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:04, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Every bullet which leaves the barrel of a police pistol now is my bullet. If one calls this murder, then I have murdered: I ordered all this. I back it up. I assume the responsibility, and I am not afraid to do so. ~ Hermann Göring (born January 12)

  • 3 because courage to admit and take responsibility is an admirable quality. Zarbon 04:35, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:22, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:04, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat. ~ Hermann Göring (born January 12)

  • 3 Zarbon 04:35, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:22, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:04, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

The victor will always be the judge, and the vanquished the accused. ~ Hermann Göring (born January 12)

  • 4 because next to the victor, the weak shall be the vanquished. A magnificent narrative of Darwinism, where the strong survive and the weak perish. Zarbon 17:08, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:22, 6 January 2009 (UTC) Sometimes there are victories where no one is vanquished, but ignorance and delusion are, and sometimes there are victories with no victors, and ignorance and confusion seem to reign supreme in the affairs of humankind. Reality is the ultimate judge of all, and it is neither victor, for there are none who can truly oppose it, nor is it ever vanquished by fools who pit themselves against much of what they can perceive of it — it simply IS what it IS — and includes all the efforts, defeats and triumphs of mortal minds as a subordinate part of itself — it is not a subordinate part of them.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:04, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

You could not claim for yourself that which you were not prepared to grant others. ~ Pieter Willem Botha (born January 12)

  • 3 because giving and claiming are all a nicely knit package of morality, compensation isn't always had. Zarbon 03:44, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 15:22, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:04, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

I never have the nagging doubt of wondering whether perhaps I am wrong. ~ Pieter Willem Botha (born January 12)

  • 2 because sometimes thinking too much of one's own errors would cause further errors, like a chain reaction, so to speak. Zarbon 03:44, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 15:22, 6 January 2009 (UTC) or sometimes it might actually result in a greater level of enlightenment than that which is ever held by those so arrogant and presumptuous that they refuse to wonder if they perhaps might be wrong about things. No one wise can ever truly condone such levels of arrogance and presumption.
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:04, 11 January 2009 (UTC)
It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. First, believe in this world — that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you are not understanding it in the right light. throw the burden on yourselves!
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
The Vedanta teaches that Nirvana can be attained here and now, that we do not have to wait for death to reach it. Nirvana is the realization of the Self; and after having once known that, if only for an instant, never again can one be deluded by the mirage of personality.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
All that is real in me is God; all that is real in God is I. The gulf between God and me is thus bridged. Thus by knowing God, we find that the kingdom of heaven is within us.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
This life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
Dead, insentient matter, never calls out knowledge. It is the action of knowledge that brings out knowledge. Knowing beings must be with us to call forth what is in us, so these teachers were always necessary. The world was never without them, and no knowledge can come without them. God is the Teacher of all teachers, because these teachers, however great they may have been—gods or angels—were all bound and limited by time, and God is not limited by time.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
The unselfish man says, "I will be last, I do not care to go to heaven, I will even go to hell if by doing so I can help my brothers." This unselfishness is the test of religion. He who has more of this unselfishness is more spiritual and nearer to Shiva. Whether he is learned or ignorant, he is nearer to Shiva than anybody else, whether he knows it or not.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
People have become so degraded in this Kali Yuga that they think they can do anything, and then they can go to a holy place, and their sins will be forgiven. If a man goes with an impure mind into a temple, he adds to the sins that he had already, and goes home a worse man than when he left it.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
Buddha is the only prophet who said, I do not care to know your various theories about God. What is the use of discussing all the subtle doctrines about the soul? Do good and be good.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
When you hear a man say "I am inspired," and then talk irrationally, reject it. Why? Because these three states — instinct, reason, and super-consciousness, or the unconscious, conscious and super-conscious states—belong to one and the same mind. There are not three minds in one man, but one state of it develops into the others. Instinct develops into reason, and reason into the transcendental consciousness ; therefore not one of the states contradicts the others. Real inspiration never contradicts reason, but fulfils it.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
Whenever a prophet got into the superconscious state by heightening his emotional nature, he brought away from it not only some truths, but some fanaticism also, some superstition which injured the world as much as the greatness of the teaching helped. To get any reason out of the mass of incongruity we call human life, we have to transcend our reason, but we must do it scientifically, slowly, by regular practice, and we must cast off all superstition. We must take up the study of the super-conscious state just as any other science. On reason we must have to lay our foundation, we must follow reason as far as it leads, and when reason fails reason itself will show us the way to the highest plane.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
The highest truth is this: God is present in all beings. They are His multiple forms. There is no other God to seek. . . . It is a man-making religion that we want. . . . Give up these weakening mysticisms, and be strong. . . For the next fifty years. ... let all other gods disappear from our minds. This is the only God that is awake, our own race, everywhere His hands, everywhere His feet, everywhere His ears; He covers everything. . . . The first of all worships is the worship of those all around us. ... He alone serves God who serves all other beings.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
One of the chief distinctions between the Vedic and the Christian religion is that the Christian religion teaches that each human soul had its beginning at its birth into this world, whereas the Vedic religion asserts that the spirit of man is an emanation of the Eternal Being and has no more a beginning than God Himself.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
This is the gist of all worship — to be pure and to do good to others. He who sees Shiva in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Shiva; and if he sees Shiva only in the image, his worship is but preliminary. He who has served and helped one poor man seeing Shiva in him, without thinking of his caste, or creed, or race, or anything, with him Shiva is more pleased than with the man who sees Him only in temples.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
All is the Self or Brahman. The saint, the sinner, the lamb, the tiger, even the murderer, as far as they have any reality, can be nothing else, because there is nothing else.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is not religion.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
The powers of the mind are like the rays of the sun; when they are concentrated, they illumine.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
All who have actually attained any real religious experience never wrangle over the form in which the different religions are expressed. They know that the soul of all religions is the same and so they have no quarrel with anybody just because he or she does not speak in the same tongue.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
Do any deserve liberty who are not ready to give it to others? Let us calmly go to work, instead of dissipating our energy in unnecessary fretting and fuming.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~
It is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity.
~ Swami Vivekananda ~


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