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January 8

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
True Love in this differs from gold and clay, That to divide is not to take away. Love is like understanding, that grows bright, Gazing on many truths. ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley
2005
The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity. ~ George Bernard Shaw
2006
For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk. ~ Stephen Hawking (born 8 January 1942)
2007
Some marry the first information they receive, and turn what comes later into their concubine. Since deceit is always first to arrive, there is no room left for truth. ~ Baltasar Gracián (born 8 January 1601)
2008
If you cannot make knowledge your servant, make it your friend. ~ Baltasar Gracián
2009
I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief. ~ Gerry Spence
2010
My intent is to tell the truth as I know it, realizing that what is true for me may be blasphemy for others. ~ Gerry Spence
2011
Some would be sages if they did not believe they were so already. ~ Baltasar Gracián
2012
The people of a nation are enslaved when, together, they are helpless to institute effective change, when the people serve the government more than the government serves them. ~ Gerry Spence
2013
There is a certain indolence in us, a wish not to be disturbed, which tempts us to think that when things are quiet, all is well. Subconsciously, we tend to give the preference to "social peace," though it be only apparent, because our lives and possessions seem then secure. Actually, human beings acquiesce too easily in evil conditions; they rebel far too little and too seldom. There is nothing noble about acquiescence in a cramped life or mere submission to superior force.
~ A. J. Muste ~
2014
We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life.
Disarmament cannot be achieved nor can the problem of war be resolved without being accompanied by profound changes in the economic order and the structure of society.
~ A. J. Muste ~
2015
The psychological basis for the use of nonviolent methods is the simple rule that like produces like, kindness provokes kindness, as surely as injustice produces resentment and evil. It is sometimes forgotten by those whose pacifism is a spurious, namby-pamby thing that if one Biblical statement of this rule is "Do good to them that hate you" (an exhortation presumably intended for the capitalist as well as for the laborer), another statement of the same rule is, "They that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind." You get from the universe what you give, with interest!
~ A. J. Muste ~
2016
Virtue alone is for real; all else is sham. Talent and greatness depend on virtue, not on fortune. Only virtue is sufficient unto herself. She makes us love the living and remember the dead.
~ Baltasar Gracián ~
2017
Teach the child to respect that which is not respectable and you teach the child the first requirement of slavery: submission to unjust authority.
~ Gerry Spence ~
2018
To bargain freedom for security is the devil's bargain. Having made the bargain, one enjoys neither freedom nor security.
~ Gerry Spence ~
2019
An ancient Chinese curse runs, "May you live in interesting times." Since the fall of the Roman Empire, there has rarely been more interesting times than these. Whenever history becomes unstable and destinies hang in the balance, then magicians and messiahs appear everywhere. Our own civilization has moved into an epoch of permanent crisis and upheaval, and we are beset with a plague of wizards. They serve an historic purpose, for whenever a society undergoes radical change, alternative spiritualities proliferate, and from among these a culture will select a new world view.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
2020
Don't live by generalities, unless it be to act virtuously, and don't ask desire to follow precise laws, for you will have to drink tomorrow from the water you scorn today.
~ Baltasar Gracián ~
2021
It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.
~ Mike Pence ~
  • proposed by Kalki, as a significant statement, prior to recent historical events as he engaged in his role in the official counting of the electoral votes by the US Congress.
2022
Hope is the eternal tool in the survival kit for mankind. We hope for a little luck, we hope for a better tomorrow, we hope — although it is an impossible hope — to somehow get out of this world alive.
And if we can't and don't, then it is enough to rejoice in our short time here and to remember how much we loved the view.
~ Sidney Poitier ~
2023
Honorable beginnings should serve to awaken curiosity, not to heighten people's expectations. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations, and something turns out better than we thought it would.
~ Baltasar Gracián ~
2024
The goal of a free nation is to reveal by example the enlightened possibilities of the human race, not to wield its power of destruction and death over the helpless, the poor, the starving and the war torn masses. The goal of a free nation must be no different outside its borders than within them. In America we do not massacre whole towns because they may be the chosen domicile of a criminal or a conspiracy of criminals. Instead we carefully root out the felons and bring them to justice. In the same way, the goal of a free nation must be to first view all people as members of the human race, and, as such, to insist that they possess fundamental human rights. They are, as we, citizens of the world. The rule of law shows us the way.
~ Gerry Spence ~
2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

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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

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Politeness and a sense of honor have this advantage: we bestow them on others without losing a thing. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Some die because they feel everything, others because they feel nothing. Some are fools because they suffer no regrets, and others because they do. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Ethical obligation has to subordinate itself to the totalitarian nature of war. ~ Karl Brandt (born January 8)

  • 3 Zarbon 04:19, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: 1947 Trial Documents
  • 1 Kalki 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward ZERO; there is very little chance I see of so profoundly STUPID a statement ever being an appropriate choice for QOTD.
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

The image is one thing and the human being is another...it's very hard to live up to an image. ~ Elvis Presley

  • 3 Zarbon 06:10, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Prejudice locks the mind. Nothing can enter. Nothing true can escape. ~ Gerry Spence

  • 3 Zarbon 06:10, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3, though I consider it a somewhat flawed and prejudicial statement — truth can escape any prison — and any form of confinement — in ways that seem incredible to the dull and dimwitted, and which seem impossible to the oblivious.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Power can win the body count but it cannot win this war. Because the enemy is not human. This is a war against a malicious spirit. Only fools attempt to defeat a spirit with guns and rockets and bombs. ~ Gerry Spence

  • 3 and leaning toward a 4. Zarbon 06:10, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 bystander (talk) 03:11, 5 January 2013 (UTC)

The less of one's life one must exchange for money, the more freedom one may enjoy. ~ Gerry Spence

When any system has for its goal the advancement of the system over the betterment of its individual members, such a system is embedded in slavery. ~ Gerry Spence

A new fascism promises security from the terror of crime. All that is required is that we take away the criminals’ rights – which, of course, are our own. Out of our desperation and fear we begin to feel a sense of security from the new totalitarian state. ~ Gerry Spence

Argument is the affirmation of our being. It is the principal instrument of human intercourse. Without argument the species would perish. As a subtle suggestion, it is the means by which we aid another. As a warning, it steers us from danger. As exposition, it teaches. As an expression of creativity, it is the gift of ourselves. As a protest, it struggles for justice. As a reasoned dialogue, it resolves disputes. As an assertion of self, it engenders respect. As an entreaty of love, it expresses our devotion. As a plea, it generates mercy. As charismatic oration it moves multitudes and changes history. We must argue — to help, to warn, to lead, to love, to create, to learn, to enjoy justice — to be. ~ Gerry Spence

Knowing how to keep a friend is more important than gaining a new one. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Not believing others implies that you yourself are deceitful. The liar suffers twice: he neither believes nor is believed. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Readiness is the mother of luck. ~ Baltasar Gracián

Do something well, and that is quickly enough. ~ Baltasar Gracián

In a world built on violence, one must be a revolutionary before one can be a pacifist. ~ A. J. Muste

There is no way to peace; peace is the way. ~ A. J. Muste

Yes! the books - the generous friends who met me without suspicion - the merciful masters who never used me ill! The only years of my life that I can look back on with something like pride... Early and late, through the long winter nights and the quiet summer days, I drank at the fountain of knowledge, and never wearied of the draught. ~ Wilkie Collins, Armadale (dob)

There is nothing wrong with crying. Your feelings tell you who are. They tell what is important. Don't ever be ashamed of them. ~ Terry Brooks, Armageddon's Children (dob)

If you are always frightened for yourself you can't act, and then life loses its purpose. You just have to tell yourself that, when you get right down to it, you don't matter all that much. ~ Terry Brooks, The Elf Queen Of Shannara

Let me tell you something you haven’t learned yet, something you learn only by living awhile. As you get older, you find that life begins to wear you down. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, it happens. Experience, time, events—they all conspire against you to steal away your energy, to erode your confidence, to make you question things you wouldn’t have given a second thought to when you were young. It happens gradually, a chipping away that you don’t even notice at first, and then one day it’s there. You wake up and you just don’t have the fire anymore. ~ Terry Brooks, The Elf Queen Of Shannara

We are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, and no amount of education gleaned from our propensity for self-destruction and misguided thinking ever teaches us anything. Not anything that we remember for more than a generation or two. ~ Terry Brooks, Bearers of the Black Staff

What we have in life that we can count on is who we are and where we come from... For better or worse, that is what we have to sustain us in our endeavors, to buttress us in our darker moments, and to remind us of our identity. Without those things, we are adrift. ~ Terry Brooks, A Knight of the Word

You spend so much time wondering who you are, don't you think? You flounder about, searching for your identity, when most of the time it is plain as the nose on your face. You struggle with questions of purpose and need, and forget that the answers are found mostly inside yourselves. ~ Terry Brooks, The Tangle Box

Educational enterprises do not for any length of time remain immune from the struggle of interests for power which is the dominant feature of social life under a class system.
~ A. J. Muste ~
It has taken us two million years to elevate politics from the level of a monkey squabble, to a level comprehensible to a six year old child.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
The Conscious mind is a maelstrom of fleeting thoughts, images, sensations, feelings, conflicting desires, and doubts; barely able to confine its attention to a single clear objective for a microsecond before secondary thoughts begin to adulterate it and provoke yet further trains of mental discourse. If you do not believe this, then attempt to confine your conscious attention to the dot at the end of this sentence without involving yourself in any other form of thinking, including thinking about the dot.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
Matter can be conveniently divided for descriptive purposes into space, time, mass, and energy. However we can only describe any one of these phenomena in terms of the other three. Any definitions we care to make about matter are thus tautological.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
Physical processes alone will never completely explain the existence of the universe, life, and consciousness. Religious answers are just wishful thinking and wanton fabrication cast over a bottomless pit of ignorance. To explain their occult and mystical experiences, magicians are forced to develop models beyond the scope of materialistic or religious systems.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
Science has brought us power and ideas but not the wisdom or responsibility to handle them.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
Man considers himself center of will and a center of perception. Will and perception are not separate but only appear so to the mind. The unity which appears to the mind to exert twin functions of will and perception is called Kia by magicians. Sometimes it is called the spirit, or soul, or life force, instead.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
WE CAN ONLY ESCAPE THE BLOODY AND IGNORANT NIGHTMARE OF HISTORY BY EXPLORING ALTERNATIVES WHICH TODAY LOOK FRIGHTENINGLY WEIRD.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
Enforcing equality to compensate for the monstrous unfairness of nature destroys liberty.
But total liberty leads to various forms of "aristocracy" and decay.
Yet total equality leads to oppressive statism and decay.
However, equality of opportunity leads to a vibrantly chaotic and creative meritocracy.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
Magic doesn't suit everyone. Only those prepared to take full responsibility for themselves should apply.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
Any sufficiently advanced form of magick will appear indistinguishable from science.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~
We doubt that any facts actually exist. We only have observations and interpretations. Most of the interpretations remain questionable.
~ Peter J. Carroll ~

Many of us suspect that all of this - all the worlds, stars, galaxies and clusters in our observable universe - is but one tiny bubble in an infinite ocean of other universes; a multiverse. Universe upon universe; worlds without end. ~ In commemoration of the 8 January 1942 birth of Stephen Hawking (a notable proponent of the multiverse idea), from the first episode of the science documentary television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014).

  • 4 Pithy Francoln (talk) 19:55, 11 October 2016 (UTC) This is THE quote that made me want to watch all of the Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey episodes. After hearing this for the first time my mind just melted and I was left happily speechless. I'd love to see it as a quote of the day.
  • 2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:33, 7 January 2017 (UTC) I do like the quote, and though the connection to the date is somewhat tenuous, I could rank it 3 in the future, but perhaps expanded slightly for context.


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