Wikiquote

October 16

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Nothing endures but change. ~ Heraclitus
2005
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. ~ Oscar Wilde (born 16 October 1854)
2006
Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. ~ Oscar Wilde
2007
If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out. ~ Oscar Wilde
2008
The way to combat noxious ideas is with other ideas. The way to combat falsehoods is with truth. ~ William O. Douglas
2009
The struggle is always between the individual and his sacred right to express himself and the power structure that seeks conformity, suppression, and obedience. ~ William O. Douglas
2010
The liberties of none are safe unless the liberties of all are protected. ~ William O. Douglas
2011
In many matters children — not ensnared by dogmatism, passion, or erudition — judge far truer than adults. ~ Adolf Freiherr Knigge
2012
The drop of rain maketh a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.
~ Hugh Latimer ~
2013
None of us can help the things life has done to us. They're done before you realize it, and once they're done they make you do other things until at last everything comes between you and what you'd like to be, and you've lost your true self forever.
~ Eugene O'Neill ~
2014
Supposing I was to tell you that it's just Beauty that's calling me, the beauty of the far off and unknown, the mystery and spell of the East which lures me in the books I've read, the need of the freedom of great wide spaces, the joy of wandering on and on — in quest of the secret which is hidden over there, beyond the horizon?
~ Eugene O'Neill ~
2015
Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
~ Oscar Wilde ~
in
~ The Picture of Dorian Gray ~
2016
All art is at once surface and symbol.
Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.
Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.
It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.
Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital.
~ Oscar Wilde ~
in
~ The Picture of Dorian Gray ~
2017
As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air — however slight — lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
~ William O. Douglas ~
2018
One may not give one's soul to a devil of hate — and remain forever scatheless.
~ Eugene O'Neill ~
2019
These days I see America identified more and more with material things, less and less with spiritual standards. These days I see America acting abroad as an arrogant, selfish, greedy nation interested only in guns and dollars, not in people and their hopes and aspirations. We need a faith that dedicates us to something bigger and more important than ourselves or our possessions. Only if we have that faith will we be able to guide the destiny of nations in this the most critical period of world history.
~ William O. Douglas ~
2020
I listen to people talking about this universal breakdown we are in and I marvel at their stupid cowardice. It is so obvious that they deliberately cheat themselves because their fear of change won't let them face the truth. They don't want to understand what has happened to them. All they want is to start the merry-go-round of blind greed all over again. They no longer know what they want this country to be, what they want it to become, where they want it to go. It has lost all meaning for them except as pig-wallow. And so their lives as citizens have no beginnings, no ends. They have lost the ideal of the Land of the Free. Freedom demands initiative, courage, the need to decide what life must mean to oneself. To them, that is terror. They explain away their spiritual cowardice by whining that the time for individualism is past, when it is their courage to possess their own souls which is dead — and stinking! No, they don't want to be free. Slavery means security — of a kind, the only kind they have courage for. It means they need not to think. They have only to obey orders from owners who are, in turn, their slaves!
~ Eugene O'Neill ~
2021
We can begin to create new goals for ourselves, ends for our days! A new discipline for life will spring into being, a new will and power to live, a new ideal to measure the value of our lives by! … We need a new leader who will teach us that ideal, who by his life will exemplify it and make it a living truth for us — a man who will prove that man's fleeting life in time and space can be noble. We need, above all, to learn again to believe in the possibility of nobility of spirit in ourselves!
~ Eugene O'Neill ~
2022
All power tends to develop into a government in itself. Power that controls the economy should be in the hands of elected representatives of the people, not in the hands of an industrial oligarchy. Industrial power should be decentralized. It should be scattered into many hands so that the fortunes of the people will not be dependent on the whim or caprice, the political prejudices, the emotional stability of a few self-appointed men.
~ William O. Douglas ~
2023
A function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purposes when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea.
~ William O. Douglas ~
2024
Question not, but live and labour
Till yon goal be won,
Helping every feeble neighbour,
 Seeking help from none;
Life is mostly froth and bubble;
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.
~ Adam Lindsay Gordon ~
2025
Rank or add further suggestions…

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

  • As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular. ~ Oscar Wilde

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

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. ~ Oscar Wilde

The youth of America is their oldest tradition. It has been going on now for three hundred years. ~ Oscar Wilde

The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means. ~ Oscar Wilde

It isn't right to be obedient only when things go well; it is much harder to be a good, obedient soldier when things go badly and times are hard. Obedience and faith at such time is a virtue. ~ Wilhelm Keitel (died October 16)

  • 4 because this to me, is one of my three all-time favorite quotes. I have been waiting all year for this quotation and if a rating of 5 were possible, I would give it to this, since the wait has been rather long. Other than 2 other quotes, this quote is highly important to me. For more, please see the September 22 section. I initially suggested this for the date of birth, where ratings of 2 (Kalki), 2 (InvisibleSun), and 2 (UDScott) were given but I am bringing this up here in the hopes that it will make it this year. I really hope it makes it. Again, I've made quite a few suggestions for upcoming years, but I seriously hope this makes it for this year. - Zarbon 03:14, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
    • Because it is so important to you, I will refrain from rating this time. However for my thoughts on the subject I would direct people to our discussion on september 22. Denji 21:50, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 This evokes qualities and appeals to certain emotions of devotion and loyalty which might be admirable, but this statement itself, to my mind is not admirable at all.
    I could agree with a statement that asserted "It isn't right to seek to be virtuous only when things are easy", but absolute obedience to the will of any person or group is something I consider not to be virtuous at all, though it is often very easy, comfortable, and convenient to many of those who are profoundly confused about what the paths of true virtue actually impel, and how greatly they can and often must diverge from paths of any form of abject or absolute obedience to anyone.
    I was inclined to rank this at 1 for a time, because I do believe that if enough people do strongly endorse such profoundly stupid views, I do believe their voices should be heard. Yet reflecting upon the profound contempt I have for such extremely confused attitudes, and for many others which I would also be inclined to rank at 0, I finally resolved that there certainly are attitudes and expressions which I certainly do not believe are at all worth noting as a quote of the day, and this is one of them.
    If this does end up clearly ranking highest for the day, under the current guidelines, it will probably still be selected for use despite my own protests and objections. Even so, I firmly believe that the worship of any form of abject or absolute obedience to any person or group, is certainly never a virtue, even when the views they express are actually virtuous, and to my own views this quote is testimony from someone whose ideas and loyalties were far from that.
    To me the quote itself remains an expression of a profoundly contemptible attitude, by a person who lived to a great extent a profoundly contemptible life, in service to a profoundly contemptible cause. Though I recognize that some situations exist where there are conflicts and challenges which give advantages to those who have some form of limited obedience to others, this expression of total worship of the traditions of slavery, by an enslaved mind who seeks to be a master over the enslaved minds of others, is not even a view which could ever be endorsed by someone who is entirely sane and rational.
    I expect it is a view which many who have much capacity for much good sense brutally beaten out of them by others or by other foul circumstances might come to endorse most avidly. I can pity such people for their fates and their very limited views of things, but I certainly cannot agree with them upon such matters. ~ Kalki 15:29, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
    • You gave the quote a 2 on another date, why the change of heart...also, the rating of 0 isn't even possible unless the quote has nothing to do with the person's date of birth or date of death. It is highly noteworthy that we should maintain the consensus of rating the quotes on the basis of 1-4 and 0 only if they are worthless/useless or completely out of context and date. This quote is neither of those things. If this were the case, then I'd give everything else a 0 for this date just to have this quote make it. - Zarbon 03:47, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
    • I believe this is a very climactic quote and loyalty at times of difficulty is an admirable quality. Historical quotations have incorporated powerful imagery with sincere and dire loyalty. I like this quote a lot. Waheedone 04:00, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
    • Again I must assert that I perceive there to be an extreme confusion of concepts evident in the quote and in the comments about it. Loyalty can certainly be a virtue, when it is well informed, and not simply automatic or blind, but loyalty involves some levels of proper autonomy and freedom of will, and even great forms of fairness and equality which are not intrinsic to most notions of obedience. As the term "obedience" is usually used, it involves some presumptions of inherent superiority and inferiority on the part of the participants, which I am generally loathe to accept, let alone presume. I might possibly have ranked the quote higher in the past somewhere because I was less reluctant to let some rather foolish expressions be heard, but I do not know of any official statements anywhere where the rankings used on these pages indicate anything other than the assessments of those who choose to rank them, and I certainly don't believe that I have ever made such statements anywhere as constrain people's right to use the zero ranking on a quotation that they simply abhor. It is a ranking I certainly rarely use, even on remarks which I do abhor strongly, usually giving them a 1, but I thought it proper to be as fully honest as possible in indicating my own assessments of this remark. It is one I do not wish to use, and truly believe not generally suitable for a Wikiquote QOTD. Though I might concede there could conceivably be some ironic use of it I could accept someday, where I might rank it a 1 or 2, I cannot think of any particular situations in which I would ever be very eager to use it. ~ Kalki 13:29, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 While virtue is to be found in loyalty, devotion, and self-sacrifice, appeal to obedience in itself is dehumanizing. ~ Ningauble 13:43, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0. This quote belongs on the subject's DOB, September 22. There is no reason to repeat it for his DOD. This is not a practice to be encouraged. - InvisibleSun 20:34, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Be of good comfort...play the man...we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace...as I trust shall never be put out. ~ Hugh Latimer (date of death)

  • 2 Zarbon 14:50, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
  • This has already been used. ~ Kalki 15:29, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Respect yourself, if you want others to respect you. ~ Adolf Freiherr Knigge

  • 2 Zarbon 14:50, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 15:29, 14 October 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4; this attitude can be used to provide a stark contrast to that presented by Wilhelm Keitel, above.
  • 2 ~ Ningauble 13:43, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:34, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Do not be too much a slave of others' opinions of you! Be self-sufficient! Why, in the end, does the opinion of the whole world trouble you, if you do what you should? ~ Adolf Freiherr Knigge

  • 2 Zarbon 14:50, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 15:29, 14 October 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4; this attitude can be used to provide a stark contrast to that presented by Wilhelm Keitel, above.
  • 2 ~ Ningauble 13:43, 15 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:34, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

I tell you this; early this morning I signed my death warrant. I thought at the time how odd, how ridiculous — a bullet may just as well have done the job five years ago. ~ Michael Collins

  • 2 Zarbon 14:50, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 15:29, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 ~ Ningauble 13:43, 15 October 2008 (UTC) Not very meaningful without context.
  • 2 if the quote is expanded to "Think — what have I got for Ireland? Something which she has wanted these past seven hundred years. Will anyone be satisfied at the bargain? Will anyone? I tell you this; early this morning I signed my death warrant. I thought at the time how odd, how ridiculous — a bullet may just as well have done the job five years ago." - InvisibleSun 20:34, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

My art cannot be bought. I will not exchange my feelings for earthly treasure. ~ Otto Mueller

  • 2 Zarbon 14:50, 3 July 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 15:29, 14 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 20:34, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Songs can be Trojan horses, taking charged ideas and sneaking past the ego's defenses and into the open mind. ~ John Mayer

Sometimes it feels like my life is just one long day. ~ John Mayer

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. ~ Oscar Wilde

Absolute discretion is a ruthless master. It is more destructive of freedom than any of man's other inventions.
~ William O. Douglas ~
Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us? The constitutional theory is that we the people are the sovereigns, the state and federal officials only our agents. We who have the final word can speak softly or angrily. We can seek to challenge and annoy, as we need not stay docile and quiet.
~ William O. Douglas ~
One aspect of modern life which has gone far to stifle men is the rapid growth of tremendous corporations. Enormous spiritual sacrifices are made in the transformation of shopkeepers into employees... The disappearance of free enterprise has led to a submergence of the individual in the impersonal corporation in much the same manner as he has been submerged in the state in other lands.
~ William O. Douglas ~
All executive power – from the reign of ancient kings to the rule of modern dictators – has the outward appearance of efficiency.
~ William O. Douglas ~
Big Brother in the form of an increasingly powerful government and in an increasingly powerful private sector will pile the records high with reasons why privacy should give way to national security, to law and order, to efficiency of operation, to scientific advancement and the like.
~ William O. Douglas ~
We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there are no secrets from government.
~ William O. Douglas ~
The conception of political equality from the Declaration of Independence, to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, to the Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Nineteenth Amendments could mean only one thing — one person, one vote.
~ William O. Douglas ~
We need to be bold and adventurous in our thinking in order to survive.
~ William O. Douglas ~


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