Wikiquote

March 20

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Where there is great love there are always miracles. ~ Willa Cather
2005
Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour. ~ Ovid (born 20 March 43 BC)
2006
The spirit of truth and the spirit of freedom — these are the pillars of society. ~ Henrik Ibsen (born 20 March 1828)
2007
It is not only what we have inherited from our fathers and mothers that exists again in us, but all sorts of old dead ideas and all kinds of old dead beliefs and things of that kind. They are not actually alive in us; but there they are dormant, all the same, and we can never be rid of them. Whenever I take up a newspaper and read it, I fancy I see ghosts creeping between the lines. There must be ghosts all over the world. They must be as countless as the grains of the sands, it seems to me. And we are so miserably afraid of the light, all of us. ~ Henrik Ibsen (born 20 March 1828)
2008
If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run — and often in the short one — the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative. ~ Arthur C. Clarke (recent death)
2009
What is all that men have done and thought over thousands of years, compared with one moment of love. But in all Nature, too, it is what is nearest to perfection, what is most divinely beautiful! There all stairs lead from the threshold of life. From there we come, to there we go. ~ Friedrich Hölderlin
2010
A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm. ~ Henrik Ibsen
2011
When we dead awaken. … We see that we have never lived. ~ Henrik Ibsen
2012
I knew the Spring was come. I knew it even
Better than all by this, that through my chase
In bush and stone and hill and sea and heaven
I seem'd to see and follow still your face.
Your face my quarry was. For it I rode,
My horse a thing of wings, myself a god.
~ Wilfrid Scawen Blunt ~
2013
Being at one is god-like and good, but human, too human, the mania
Which insists there is only the One, one country, one truth, and one way.
~ Friedrich Hölderlin ~
2014
The trees are cloth'd with leaves, the fields with grass;
The blossoms blow; the birds on bushes sing;
And Nature has accomplish'd all the Spring.
~ Virgil ~
as translated by
~ John Dryden ~
2015
The number of the dead long exceedeth all that shall live. The night of time far surpasseth the day, and who knows when was the Æquinox? Every hour adds unto that current arithmetick, which scarce stands one moment.
~ Thomas Browne ~
2016
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
~ Jesus ~
2017
His mother told him "Someday you will be a man,
And you will be the leader of a big old band.
Many people coming from miles around
To hear you play your music when the sun go down.
Maybe someday your name will be in lights
Saying 'Johnny B. Goode tonight'."
~ Chuck Berry ~
  • proposed by Kalki in regard to his recent death.
2018
I've always assumed that every time a child is born, the Divine reenters the world. Okay? That's the meaning of the Christmas story. And every time that child's purity is corrupted by society, that's the meaning of the Crucifixion story. Your man Jesus stands for that child, that pure spirit, and as its surrogate, he's being born and put to death again and again, over and over, every time we inhale and exhale, not just at the vernal equinox and on the twenty-fifth of December.
~ Tom Robbins ~
2019
Fas est et ab hoste doceri.
It is right to learn even from an enemy.
~ Ovid ~
in
~ Metamorphoses ~
2020
The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.
~ B. F. Skinner ~
2021
In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;
In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;
In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~
in
~ Locksley Hall ~
2022
What is happening in Ukraine is a crime. Russia is an aggressor country and the responsibility for this aggression rests on the conscience of only one person. That person is Vladimir Putin. My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Russian, and they've never been enemies. This necklace I'm wearing is a symbol of the fact that Russia must immediately end this fratricidal war and our fraternal peoples will still be able to reconcile. Unfortunately, I've spent the last few years working for Channel One, doing Kremlin propaganda, and I'm very ashamed of this. Ashamed that I allowed lies to be broadcast from TV screens. Ashamed that I allowed others to zombify Russian people. We were silent in 2014 when all this started. We didn't protest when the Kremlin poisoned Navalny. We just silently watched this inhuman regime at work. And now the whole world has turned its back on us. And the next 10 generations won't wash away the stain of this fratricidal war. We Russians are thinking and intelligent people. It's in our power alone to stop all this madness. Go protest. Don't be afraid of anything. They can't lock us all away.
~ Marina Ovsyannikova ~
2023
The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearl'd;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven—
All's right with the world!
~ Robert Browning ~
2024
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley ~
  • proposed by Kalki; in regard to the first full day of Spring in the northern hemisphere of Earth.
2025
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You see, the point is that the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone. ~ Henrik Ibsen

  • 3 because strength is heightened ten-fold by serenity, devoid of human obsessions and needs. Zarbon 05:33, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 20:31, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 10:07, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:27, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 allixpeeke (talk) 21:30, 22 August 2014 (UTC) (Perhaps it can be said that the strongest human in the world is she or he who has the fortitude to stand alone, but that wouldn't mean ipso facto that she or he does does stand alone is the strongest human in the world.)

Nothing is stronger than habit. ~ Ovid

  • 3 because those governed by habit will become accustomed to it and the harder it will become to separate oneself from it. Zarbon 05:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 20:31, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 10:07, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:27, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 (leaning toward 2) allixpeeke (talk) 21:30, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe there are. ~ Ovid

  • 3 because convenience is a very powerful ally. To decipher motives based on convenience and to conceive of opportunities solely based on belief when needed, is how people become successful...it takes more than being at the right place at the right time. Zarbon 05:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 UDScott 20:31, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 10:07, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:27, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 allixpeeke (talk) 21:30, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

Time, the devourer of all things. ~ Ovid

  • 3 because the description of time here is solid, a personification of the very word, characterizing time as a learner of man's history, and a devourer who has never subsided or been subdued. Zarbon 05:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 UDScott 20:31, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 10:07, 13 March 2009 (UTC), but I would prefer to include the original Latin as well: Tempus edax rerum
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:27, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Allixpeeke (talk) 21:30, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

You need a reason to be sad. You don't need a reason to be happy. ~ Louis Sachar

Yet still are you holy to me, as the might of the earth
That bore you away, audaciously perishing!
And I would follow the hero into the depths
Did love not hold me.
~ Friedrich Hölderlin

What is the wisdom of a book compared with the wisdom of an angel? ~ Friedrich Hölderlin

  • 2 Zarbon 14:58, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 10:07, 13 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:27, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Society attacks early, when the individual is helpless. ~ B. F. Skinner

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. ~ B. F. Skinner

Tho' Doubt's beleaguering forces hem us in,
Yet Truth upon the Serpent's head shall trample.
The cause of Love shall win —
Yes, Love shall win!
~ Henrik Ibsen ~

  • 3 Kalki 15:26, 19 March 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:27, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:15, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 (leaning toward 2) allixpeeke (talk) 21:30, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

The gods have their own rules. ~ Ovid

It is the mind that makes the man, and our vigour is in our immortal soul. ~ Ovid

Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these. ~ Ovid

The mind, conscious of rectitude, laughed to scorn the falsehood of report. ~ Ovid

He who possesses liberty otherwise than as an aspiration possesses it soulless, dead. One of the qualities of liberty is that, as long as it is being striven after, it goes on expanding. ~ Henrik Ibsen

The great secret of power is never to will to do more than you can accomplish. The great secret of action and victory is to be capable of living your life without ideals. Such is the sum of the whole world's wisdom. ~ Henrik Ibsen

It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make their experiments on journalists and politicians. ~ Henrik Ibsen

  • 2 bystander (talk) 16:20, 18 March 2012 (UTC) I have no strong desire to see this used, but I find it humorous.
  • 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 16:36, 18 March 2012 (UTC) with a slight lean toward 4 (of course not agreeing with the suggestion literally, but accepting it as ironically humorous).
  • 2 allixpeeke (talk) 21:30, 22 August 2014 (UTC)

We shouldn't teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. Knowing the contents of a few works of literature is a trivial achievement. Being inclined to go on reading is a great achievement. ~ B. F. Skinner

Troops don't sacrifice. Only individuals can sacrifice. For some of them, the sacrifice is a year out of their lives. For others, the sacrifice is in living for a year or more in constant fear and danger.

But for too many, the sacrifice is one's life. The loss of one's whole life.

That's not the same as giving a tenth of your income to the church, or working 15 hours a week in a soup kitchen, or spending a day a week helping out at a nursing home. When you sacrifice your life, you give up everything. The world has ended. What you were no longer exists. No more life, no more love, no more music, no more sports, no more breathing, no more interest in anything.

~ Harry Browne ~


[Note: 20 March 2003 was the day the Iraq War began.  This quote is from an article about the Iraq War.  Source of quote.]

The dead are dead, and they can't come back. They won't dance at any inaugural balls — or even attend their alumni reunions. They won't attend presidential banquets — or even eat at the local coffee shop. Not ever again.

They are dead. And George Bush killed them. He killed them as certainly as though he personally had fired a rocket launcher at their homes.

~ Harry Browne ~


[Note: 20 March 2003 was the day the Iraq War began.  This quote is from an article about the Iraq War.  Source of quote.]

  • 3 allixpeeke (talk) 21:30, 22 August 2014 (UTC).
  • 2.75. A bit political. It'd be better if the quote were "The dead are dead, and they can't come back. They won't dance at any inaugural ball, or even attend their alumni reunions. They won't attend presidential banquets, or even eat at the local coffee shop. Not ever again." That way, it'd be more general. – Illegitimate Barrister 09:02, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
This nation was created to give expression, validity and purpose to our spiritual heritage, the supreme worth of the individual. In such a nation, a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, racial discrimination has no place. It can hardly be reconciled with a constitution that guarantees equal protection under law to all persons. In a deeper sense, too, it is immoral and unjust.
~ Republican Party Platform of 1960 ~


  • 3. March 20 was when the U.S. Republican Party was founded. – Illegitimate Barrister 09:02, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
With our republican fathers, we hold it to be a self-evident truth, that all men are endowed with the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the primary object and ulterior design of our federal government were to secure these rights to all persons under its exclusive jurisdiction.
~ Republican Party Platform of 1865 ~
  • 2.75. March 20 was when the U.S. Republican Party was founded. – Illegitimate Barrister 09:08, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
As slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength of this rebellion, and as it must be, always and everywhere, hostile to the principles of republican government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil of the republic.
~ Republican Party Platform of 1865 ~
  • 3. March 20 was when the U.S. Republican Party was founded. – Illegitimate Barrister 09:12, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
We condemn bigots who inject class, racial and religious prejudice into public and political matters. Bigotry is un-American and a danger to the republic.
~ Republican Party Platform of 1952 ~
  • 2.75. March 20 was when the U.S. Republican Party was founded. – Illegitimate Barrister 11:29, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
The Republican Party will not mislead, exploit or attempt to confuse minority groups for political purposes. All American citizens are entitled to full, impartial enforcement of federal laws relating to their civil rights.
~ Republican Party Platform of 1952 ~
  • 2.75. March 20 was when the U.S. Republican Party was founded. – Illegitimate Barrister 11:29, 5 August 2015 (UTC)
A multi-racial society with guarantees of individual rights is possible and can work. We must remain open and helpful to all parties.
~ Republican Party Platform of 1980 ~
  • 2.75. March 20 was when the U.S. Republican Party was founded. – Illegitimate Barrister 21:07, 6 August 2015 (UTC)
Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy. Our government has failed to denounce atrocities. Our government has failed to take forceful measures to protect its citizens while at the same time bending over backwards to placate the West Pak[istan] dominated government and to lessen any deservedly negative international public relations impact against them. Our government has evidenced what many will consider moral bankruptcy, (...) But we have chosen not to intervene, even morally, on the grounds that the Awami conflict, in which unfortunately the overworked term genocide is applicable, is purely an internal matter of a sovereign state. Private Americans have expressed disgust. We, as professional civil servants, express our dissent with current policy and fervently hope that our true and lasting interests here can be defined and our policies redirected.
~ Archer Blood ~
  • 3. --ᘙ (talk) 11:41, 29 December 2021 (UTC)


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