Wikiquote

November 23

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. ~ Václav Havel
2005
As good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. ~ Areopagitica by John Milton (published 23 November 1644)
2006
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~ Thornton Wilder (quote for US Thanksgiving Day)
2007
There's only us, there's only this.
Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.
No other road, no other way, no day but today.
I can't control my destiny.
I trust my soul. My only goal is just to be.
There's only now, there's only here.
Give in to love, or live in fear.
No other path, no other way.
No day but today.
~ Jonathan Larson in "Another Day" from Rent ~
  • proposed by UDScott (initially proposed in 2005 for movie's opening date, but the John Milton quote was ranked higher)
2008
Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play on the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? ~ John Milton in Areopagitica
2009
Old wood to burn! Old wine to drink! Old friends to trust! Old authors to read! ~ Alfonso X of Castile
2010
Revolutions of ages do not oft recover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of which whole nations fare the worse. ~ John Milton in Areopagitica
2011
I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat. ~ John Milton in Areopagitica
2012
He who thinks we are to pitch our tent here, and have attained the utmost prospect of reformation that the mortal glass wherein we contemplate can show us, till we come to beatific vision, that man by this very opinion declares that he is yet far short of truth.
~ John Milton ~
in
~ Areopagitica ~
2013
I've been running all my lives. Through time and space, every second of every minute of every day for over 900 years. I fought for peace in a universe at war. Now the time has come to face the choices I've made in the name of the Doctor. Our future depends upon one single moment of one impossible day — the day I've been running from all my life: The Day of the Doctor.
~ Eleventh incarnation of the Doctor of Doctor Who ~
  • proposed by Kalki for the 50th anniversary of the first episode of Doctor Who, first broadcast on 23 November 1963.
2014
I am not … a "good man"! … And I'm not a bad man. … I am not a "hero" — and I'm definitely not a President — and no — I'm not an officer! … You know what I am? … I AM … an IDIOT! … with a box — and a screwdriver — passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army, I never have. …because love, it's not an emotion — Love is a promise!
~ Twelfth incarnation of the Doctor ~
in
~ Doctor Who ~
2015
Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.
~ John Milton ~
in
~ Areopagitica ~
2016
A stupid person can make only certain, limited types of errors; the mistakes open to a clever fellow are far broader. But to the one who knows how smart he is compared to everyone else, the possibilities for true idiocy are boundless.
~ Steven Brust ~
2017
Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous dragon's teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. 'Tis true, no age can restore a life, whereof perhaps there is no great loss; and revolutions of ages do not oft recover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of which whole nations fare the worse.
~ John Milton ~
in
~ Areopagitica ~
  • proposed by Kalki in regard to the anniversary of the publishing of Areopagitica
2018
It isn't always easy to act on what's in your head instead of what's in your heart. And it isn't always right to. The whole trick to knowing what to do is deciding when to make yourself listen to your head, and when it's okay to just follow your feelings.
~ Steven Brust ~
2019
Those who knowingly allow the King to err deserve the same punishment as traitors.
~ Alfonso X of Castile ~
2020
You have summoned me in my weakness. You must sustain me by your strength.
~ Franklin Pierce ~
2021
I will always hold to those principles by which I have been raised … To seek understanding before taking action, yet to trust my instincts when action is called for. Never to avoid danger from fear, never to seek out danger for its own sake. Never to conform to fashion from fear of eccentricity, never to be eccentric from fear of conformity. … To hold myself to higher standards of conduct than I hold another. To never strike without cause, and, when there is cause, to strike for the heart.
~ Steven Brust ~
2022
My message and my final message — maybe the final message I give you from this podium — is that: Please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated COVID-19 shot as soon as you’re eligible to protect yourself, your family, and your community. 
I urge you to visit Vaccines.gov to find a location where you can easily get an updated vaccine. And please do it as soon as possible.
~ Anthony Fauci ~
  • proposed by Kalki; final scheduled White House press briefing before his retirement.
2023
Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about...?
~ The Doctor ~
in
~ An Unearthly Child ~
  • proposed by Kalki; for the 60th anniversary of the first broadcast of Doctor Who.
2024
Had I been present at the Creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.
~ Alfonso X of Castile ~
2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

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Suggestions

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Service is service, wherever it occurred. The defense of the fatherland is no small thing. ~ Rodion Malinovsky (born November 23)

  • 3 because this defines military principle and ideal. A loyal soldier is the same the world over, he is the man I adore and respect most of all. Zarbon 17:01, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Gates of Hell - Page 343 by Harrison Evans Salisbury - 1976
  • 1 InvisibleSun 22:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Born a saint, die a sinner, thats the way it's got ta be! ~ Billy the Kid

  • 2 Zarbon 13:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Tell me thou all pervading mind,
When I this life forsake,
Must ev'ry tender tie unbind,
Each sweet connection break?
~ Ann Eliza Bleecker

  • 2 Zarbon 13:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Though such the darkness of my soul,
Not such the calmness there;
But waves of guilt tumultuous roll
'Midst billows of despair.
~ Ann Eliza Bleecker

  • 2 Zarbon 13:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:33, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 22:40, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

People long to go backward in their imagination as well as forward. We don't wish simply to exist forever in some future; we wish to have existed in some distant past. ~ Gloria Whelan (dob) (goodreads)

I understood the life around me better, not from love, which everybody acknowledges to be a great teacher, but from estrangement, to which nobody has attributed the power of reinforcing insight. ~ Nirad C. Chaudhuri (dob) The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (goodreads)


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