Wikiquote

November 28

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003
Security is mostly a superstition... Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. ~ Helen Keller
2004
Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. ~ George Washington
2005
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. ~ William Blake (born 28 November 1757)
2006
Whatever nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge. ~ Enrico Fermi (date of death)
2007
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
~ William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827)
2008
One must be very naïve or dishonest to imagine that men choose their beliefs independently of their situation. ~ Claude Lévi-Strauss (100th Birthday — born 28 November 1908)
2009
Enthusiastic partisans of the idea of progress are in danger of failing to recognize — because they set so little store by them — the immense riches accumulated by the human race on either side of the narrow furrow on which they keep their eyes fixed; by underrating the achievements of the past, they devalue all those which still remain to be accomplished. ~ Claude Lévi-Strauss
2010
I am going to my Father’s; and though with great difficulty I have got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who will now be my rewarder. When the day that he must go hence was come, many accompanied him to the river-side, into which as he went, he said, "Death, where is thy sting?" And as he went down deeper, he said, "Grave, where is thy victory?"
So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side. ~ John Bunyan
2011
There stood a man with his sword drawn, and his face all over with blood. Then said Mr. Great-Heart, Who art thou? The man made answer, saying, I am one whose name is Valiant-for-truth. I am a pilgrim, and am going to the Celestial City. ~ John Bunyan
2012
We are the light inside light that fuses into the atoms of our bodies; we are the fire that whirls across the stellar deeps and dances all things into being.
~ David Zindell ~
2013
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't.
~ David Zindell ~
2014

Let it go, let it go!
I am one with the wind and sky!
Let it go, let it go!
You'll never see me cry…

Let it go, let it go!
And I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go!
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand
In the light of day!
Let the storm rage on!
The cold never bothered me anyway!

~ Queen Elsa ~
in
~ Frozen ~
2015
Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
~ James Allen ~
2016

He that is down needs fear no fall;
He that is low, no pride;
He that is humble, ever shall
Have God to be his guide.

I am content with what I have,
Little be it or much:
And, Lord, contentment still I crave,
Because thou savest such.

~ John Bunyan ~
2017
Reason, or the ratio of all we have already known, is not the same that it shall be when we know more.
~ William Blake ~
2018
While I complain of being able to glimpse no more than the shadow of the past, I may be insensitive to reality as it is taking shape at this very moment, since I have not reached the stage of development at which I would be capable of perceiving it. A few hundred years hence, in this same place, another traveller, as despairing as myself, will mourn the disappearance of what I might have seen, but failed to see.
~ Claude Lévi-Strauss ~
2019
Lord, for the erring thought
Not into evil wrought:
Lord, for the wicked will
Betrayed and baffled still:
For the heart from itself kept,
Our thanksgiving accept.

For ignorant hopes that were
Broken to our blind prayer:
For pain, death, sorrow, sent
Unto our chastisement:
For all loss of seeming good,
Quicken our gratitude.
~ William Dean Howells ~
  • proposed by Kalki, regarding the US Thanksgiving Day of 2019.
2020
I never had, and still do not have, the perception of feeling my personal identity. I appear to myself as the place where something is going on, but there is no "I", no "me". Each of us is a kind of crossroads where things happen. The crossroads is purely passive; something happens there. A different thing, equally valid, happens elsewhere. There is no choice, it is just a matter of chance.
~ Claude Lévi-Strauss ~
2021
You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader. You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it.
~ Eric Shinseki ~
2022
The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colours, which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.

So you will be, what you "will" to be.
Let failure find its false content,
In that poor word "environment,"
But spirit scorns it and is free.

~ James Allen ~
2023
The dreamers are the saviours of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers. Humanity cannot forget its dreamers; it cannot let their ideals fade and die; it lives in them; it knows them as the realities which it shall one day see and know.
~ James Allen ~
2024

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is God, our father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is Man, his child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

~ William Blake ~
2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

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

  • If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is: Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern. ~ William Blake
  • Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them. ~ Washington Irving (date of death)

The Quote of the Day (QOTD) is a prominent feature of the Wikiquote Main Page. Thank you for submitting, reviewing, and ranking suggestions!

Ranking system
4 : Excellent – should definitely be used. (This is the utmost ranking and should be used by any editor for only one quote at a time for each date.)
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.
Thank you for participating!

Suggestions

edit

A kind heart is a fountain of gladness making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles. ~ Washington Irving (date of death)

  • 3 UDScott 14:53, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 03:44, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 07:03, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion. ~ William Blake (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 21:28, 27 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 03:44, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Zarbon 07:03, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind doth move
Silently, invisibly. ~ William Blake (date of birth)

  • 3 Kalki 21:28, 27 November 2005 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
  • 3 InvisibleSun 03:44, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 07:03, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Natural man did not precede society, nor is he outside it. ~ Claude Lévi-Strauss

  • 3 InvisibleSun 03:44, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:30, 1 December 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 07:03, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

All revolutions devour their own children. ~ Ernst Röhm (born November 28)

  • 3 because this has proven to be true throughout history. All revolutions have eventually led to failure and those who have led the revolutions to corruption. Zarbon 04:47, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership - Page 147 by Joachim C. Fest - History - 1999
  • 1 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC) though I might conceivably rank it a 2, I cannot agree with it. The American Revolution, among many others proceeded well, and George Washington led his nation very ably into the era of modern democracies.
    • Whether or not the American Revolution proceeded any better than the French Revolution is a matter of opinion. One ended in slaughter through guillotine while the other started a Civil War in order to obtain independence. This is truly a matter of opinion. However, as a historian, the fact that a revolution devours the essence of its founding fathers isn't hard to attest to, since the people who are responsible for its conception are, in turn, affected by its institution. Zarbon 06:47, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Since I am an immature and wicked man, war and unrest appeal to me more than good bourgeois order. Brutality is respected, the people need wholesome fear. They want to fear someone. They want someone to frighten them and make them shudderingly submissive. ~ Ernst Röhm (born November 28)

  • 3 Zarbon 04:47, 18 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The Face of the Third Reich: Portraits of the Nazi Leadership - Page 139 by Joachim C. Fest - History - 1999
  • 1 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more. ~ Eric Shinseki

  • 2 Zarbon 04:26, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God. ~ James Eastland

  • 2 Zarbon 05:03, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 this is a misattribution. This has usually been quoted as a maxim of the American Revolution, and variously attributed to Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, as well as others who have used it in later times.

Eternity and pain, pain and eternity -- they are the only two things of which the universe is made. ~ David Zindell

  • 2 Zarbon 05:03, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. ~ Friedrich Engels

  • 3 Zarbon 05:03, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results. ~ Rita Mae Brown

  • 2 Zarbon 05:03, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. ~ Rita Mae Brown

  • 2 Zarbon 05:03, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3

Life moved ever outward into infinite possibilities and yet all things were perfect and finished in every single moment, their end attained. ~ David Zindell

  • 3 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 1 Zarbon 06:44, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Truth, like a woman, must be wooed and won — and this only through the purity of mind and the heart’s deep love. ~ David Zindell

  • 3 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 06:44, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Poems are the dreams of the universe crystallized in words. ~ David Zindell

  • 3 Kalki 02:17, 27 November 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
  • 2 Zarbon 06:44, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

The universe is a womb for the genesis of gods. ~ David Zindell

The only truly alive beings are those unafraid to die. ~ David Zindell

You must remember that an oak tree is not a crime against the acorn. ~ David Zindell

The order and harmony of the Western world, its most famous achievement, and a laboratory in which structures of a complexity as yet unknown are being fashioned, demand the elimination of a prodigious mass of noxious by-products which now contaminate the globe. The first thing we see as we travel round the world is our own filth, thrown into the face of mankind.
~ Claude Lévi-Strauss ~
Logically, the "infantilization" of the culprit implied by the notion of punishment demands that he should have a corresponding right to a reward, in the absence of which the initial procedure will prove ineffective and may even lead to results contrary to those that were hoped for. Our system is the height of absurdity, since we treat the culprit both as a child, so as to have the right to punish him, and as an adult, in order to deny him consolation; and we believe we have made great spiritual progress because, instead of eating a few of our fellow-men, we subject them to physical and moral mutilation.
~ Claude Lévi-Strauss ~
Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts, for out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all, heavenly environment; of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.
~ James Allen ~
In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. Chance is not. Gifts, powers, material, intellectual, and spiritual possessions are the fruits of effort; they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished, visions realized.
The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart — this you will build your life by, this you will become.
~ James Allen ~


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