Wikiquote

July 12

date

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003
It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. ~ Harry S. Truman
2004
What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children — not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women — not merely peace in our time but peace for all time. ~ John F. Kennedy
2005
I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ~ misattributed to Bill Cosby, (born 12 July 1937)
2006
In the country of the blind the one eyed man is king. ~ Desiderius Erasmus (died 12 July 1536)
2007
There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. ~ Henry David Thoreau (born 12 July 1817)
2008
To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour. ~ Henry David Thoreau
2009
The philosophies of one age have become the absurdities of the next, and the foolishness of yesterday has become the wisdom of tomorrow. ~ William Osler
2010
No human being is constituted to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and even the best of men must be content with fragments, with partial glimpses, never the full fruition. ~ William Osler
2011
I have to say, I think that we are in some kind of final examination as to whether human beings now, with this capability to acquire information and to communicate, whether we're really qualified to take on the responsibility we're designed to be entrusted with. And this is not a matter of an examination of the types of governments, nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with economic systems. It has to do with the individual. Does the individual have the courage to really go along with the truth? ~ Buckminster Fuller
2012
Dear reader, traditional human power structures and their reign of darkness are about to be rendered obsolete.
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
2013
We must progress to the stage of doing all the right things for all the right reasons instead of doing all the right things for all the wrong reasons.
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
2014
Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment. … Humanity is in "final exam" as to whether or not it qualifies for continuance in Universe.
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
2015
There is more recognition now that things are changing, but not because there is a political move to do it. It is simply a result of the information being there. Our survival won’t depend on political or economic systems. It’s going to depend on the courage of the individual to speak the truth, and to speak it lovingly and not destructively. It’s saying what you really know and feel is the truth, in all directions. Our greatest vulnerability lies in the amount of misinformation and misconditioning of humanity. I’ve found the educations systems are full of it. You have to examine each word and ask yourself, "Is that the right word for that?" — the integrity and the courage of the individual to speak his own truth and not to go along with the crowd, yet not making others seem ignorant. After a while, if enough human beings are doing it, then everybody will start going in the right direction.
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
2016
If you take all the machinery in the world and dump it in the ocean, within months more than half of all humanity will die and within another six months they’d almost all be gone; if you took all the politicians in the world, put them in a rocket, and sent them to the moon, everyone would get along fine.
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
2017
Politicians are always realistically maneuvering for the next election. They are obsolete as fundamental problem-solvers.
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
2018
The dark ages still reign over all humanity, and the depth and persistence of this domination are only now becoming clear.
This Dark Ages prison has no steel bars, chains, or locks. Instead, it is locked by misorientation and built of misinformation.
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
2019
Acquire the art of detachment, the virtue of method, and the quality of thoroughness, but above all the grace of humility.
~ William Osler ~
2020
You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
2021
We're here to make space more accessible to all. We want to turn the next generation of dreamers into the astronauts of today and tomorrow. We've all us on this stage have had the most extraordinary experience, and we'd love it if a number of you can have it, too. … If you ever had a dream, now is the time to make it come true — and I'd like to end by saying welcome to the dawn of a new space age.
~ Richard Branson ~
  • proposed by Kalki, in regard to his recent spaceflight in his own spacecraft.
2022
There’s a built-in resistance to letting humanity be a success. Each one claims that their system is the best one for coping with inadequacy. We have to make them all obsolete. We need to find within technology that there is something we can do which is capable of taking care of everybody, and to demonstrate that this is so. That’s what geodesic domes are about and that’s what my whole life has been about.
~ Buckminster Fuller ~
2023
Do the day's work well and not to bother about tomorrow. You may say that is not a satisfactory ideal. It is; and there is not one which the student can carry with him into practice with greater effect. To it more than anything else I owe whatever success I have had — to this power of settling down to the day's work and trying to do it well to the best of my ability, and letting the future take care of itself.
~ William Osler ~
2024
War is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.
~ Robert Fisk ~
2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

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

  • Who knows what beautiful and winged life, whose egg has been buried for ages under many concentric layers of woodenness in the dead dry life of society … may unexpectedly come forth … to enjoy its perfect summer life at last! … such is the character of that morrow which mere lapse of time can never make to dawn. … Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. ~ Henry David Thoreau in Walden

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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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When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes. - Desiderius Erasmus died today

This type of man who is devoted to the study of wisdom is always most unlucky in everything, and particularly when it comes to procreating children; I imagine this is because Nature wants to ensure that the evils of wisdom shall not spread further throughout mankind. - Desiderius Erasmus, The Praise of Folly

  • 4 AllanHainey 7 July 2005 14:06 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 8 July 2005 21:31 (UTC)
  • 2 Aphaia
  • 0 Jeff Q (talk) 10:43, 10 July 2006 (UTC). Don't know if this was supposed to be ironic, but it seems a rather seriously taken POV these days, to the point of ushering in a new Dark Age (IMHO).
    • If we do go for this quote, we really should include the title of the work (which I've added, thanks to InvisibleSun), lest we encourage folks to use it without irony. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 02:07, 12 July 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 08:27, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 05:25, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 16:58, 4 July 2013 (UTC) I think this quote will confuse main page viewers if promoted.

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains. ~ Henry David Thoreau (birth date)

You've been rejected more times than Doctor Octopus has arms! ~ Gregory Helms

  • 2 for comedic value. Zarbon 04:57, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 07:49, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 16:17, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 16:58, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

If you're not getting better, you're getting worse. ~ Gregory Helms

  • 2 Zarbon 04:57, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 07:49, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 16:17, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 16:58, 4 July 2013 (UTC) Needs source.

The natural man has only two primal passions, to get and to beget. ~ William Osler

We can only instill principles, put the student in the right path, give him method, teach him how to study, and early to discern between essentials and non-essentials. ~ William Osler

  • 3 Kalki 19:04, 11 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 16:58, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

One of the first essentials in securing a good-natured equanimity is not to expect too much of the people amongst whom you dwell. ~ William Osler

  • 3 Kalki 19:04, 11 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 16:58, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

The greater the ignorance the greater the dogmatism. ~ William Osler

  • 3 Kalki 19:04, 11 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 16:58, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

When schemes are laid in advance, it is surprising how often the circumstances fit in with them. ~ William Osler

  • 3 Kalki 19:04, 11 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 16:58, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well. ~ William Osler

  • 3 Kalki 19:04, 11 September 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 //Gbern3 (talk) 16:58, 4 July 2013 (UTC)

Thinking is a momentary dismissal of irrelevancies. ~ Buckminster Fuller

There is no joy equal to that of being able to work for all humanity and doing what you're doing well. ~ Buckminster Fuller


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