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September 14

day of the year

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are. ~ Anaïs Nin
2005
I've had enough of breakdowns and diagrams — judging from picture books, apparently Heaven is a partly cloudy place. ~ Jenny Lewis, "Don't Deconstruct"
  • proposed by IP 69.3.198.42 ("Pacian")
2006
The acceptance of the principle of international cooperation is of immense importance for all states. Even the states which are most tempted to believe that they can stand by themselves have very much to gain by such cooperation. And for the smaller states — the weaker states — it is vital to all their hopes of liberty and justice. ~ Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (born 14 September 1864)
2007
The vast majority of the peoples of the world are against war and against aggression. If they make their wishes known and effective, war can be stopped. It all depends on whether they are willing to make the effort necessary for the purpose. For, that it will require an effort, no one who considers the history of the world on these subjects can doubt. ~ Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood
2008
Patriotism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country’s virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest," but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is. ~ Sydney J. Harris
2009
The difference between faith and superstition is that the first uses reason to go as far as it can, and then makes the jump; the second shuns reason entirely — which is why superstition is not the ally, but the enemy, of true religion. ~ Sydney J. Harris
2010
An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run. ~ Sydney J. Harris
2011
The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war. ~ Sydney J. Harris
2012
Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason.
~ Sydney J. Harris ~
2013
The old phrase, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people", represents a true ideal. It is best for the people as a whole. It is even more clearly the best for the development of the individual man and woman. And since in the end, the character and the prosperity of the nation depend on the character of the individuals that compose it, the form of government which best promotes individual development is the best for the people as a whole.
~ Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood ~
2014
Freud's prescription for personal happiness as consisting of work and love must be taken with the proviso that the work has to be loved, and the love has to be worked at.
~ Sydney J. Harris ~
2015
The principal difference between love and hate is that love is an irradiation, and hate is a concentration. Love makes everything lovely; hate concentrates itself on the object of its hatred. All the fearful counterfeits of love — possessiveness, lust, vanity, jealousy — are closer to hate: they concentrate on the object, guard it, suck it dry.
~ Sydney J. Harris ~
2016
Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify. Some people have easy temperaments and weak characters; others have difficult temperaments and strong characters.
We are all prone to confuse the two in assessing people we associate with. Those with easy temperaments and weak characters are more likable than admirable; those with difficult temperaments and strong characters are more admirable than likable. Of course, the optimum for a person is to possess both an easy temperament and a strong character, but this is a rare combination, and few of us are that lucky.
~ Sydney J. Harris ~
2017
The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, "I was wrong."
~ Sydney J. Harris ~
2018
Patriotism or any other version of the herd instinct seems to me an entirely inadequate basis of virtue. Christianity is from that point of view an explanation of and a support for an essential ingredient in man's nature — far the best, though necessarily imperfect.
~ Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood ~
2019
Baby hold on to me
Whatever will be, will be
The future is ours to see
So baby hold on to me.
~ Eddie Money ~
2020
The most worthwhile form of education is the kind that puts the educator inside you, as it were, so that the appetite for learning persists long after the external pressure for grades and degrees has vanished. Otherwise you are not educated; you are merely trained.
~ Sydney J. Harris ~
2021
Only what we have wrought into our character during life can we take away with us.
~ Alexander von Humboldt ~
2022
Beauty is composed of an eternal, invariable element whose quantity is extremely difficult to determine, and a relative element which might be, either by turns or all at once, period, fashion, moral, passion.
~ Jean-Luc Godard ~
2023
Work and play are an artificial pair of opposites, because the best kind of play contains an element of work, and the most productive kind of work must include something of the spirit of play.
~ Sydney J. Harris ~
2024
The great difficulty of all schemes for leagues of nations and the like has been to find an effective sanction against nations determined to break the peace.
I will not now discuss at length the difficulties of joint armed action, but every one who has studied the question knows they are very great. It may be, however, that a league of nations, properly furnished with machinery to enforce the financial, commercial, and economic isolation of any nation determined to force its will upon the world by mere violence, would be a real safeguard for the peace of the world.
~ Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood ~
2025
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Ranking system:

4 : Excellent - should definitely be used.
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.

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Mankind will possess incalculable advantages and extraordinary control over human behavior when the scientific investigator will be able to subject his fellow men to the same external analysis he would employ for any natural object, and when the human mind will contemplate itself not from within but from without. – Ivan Pavlov (born September 14, 1849)

  • 3. David | Talk 20:23, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 00:43, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 00:28, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 22:52, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Our imagination is struck only by what is great; but the lover of natural philosophy should reflect equally on little things. ~ Alexander von Humboldt

  • 2 Zarbon 19:55, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 22:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

The beauty of "spacing" children many years apart lies in the fact that parents have time to learn the mistakes that were made with the older ones—which permits them to make exactly the opposite mistakes with the younger ones. ~ Sydney J. Harris

  • 2 for comedic value. Zarbon 19:55, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 22:16, 13 September 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:46, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

People who think they’re generous to a fault usually think that’s their only fault. ~ Sydney J. Harris

Self-discipline without talent can often achieve astounding results, whereas talent without self-discipline inevitably dooms itself to failure. ~ Sydney J. Harris

Superior people are only those who let it be discovered by others; the need to make it evident forfeits the very virtue they aspire to. ~ Sydney J. Harris

Darkness comes. In the middle of it, the future looks blank. The temptation to quit is huge. Don't. You are in good company... You will argue with yourself that there is no way forward. But with God, nothing is impossible. He has more ropes and ladders and tunnels out of pits than you can conceive. Wait. Pray without ceasing. Hope. ~ John Piper[citation needed]

—This unsigned comment is by Josephine W. (talk • contribs) .


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