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User:Jeffq/Experiments/QotD: June

< User:Jeffq | Experiments
WARNING: This is an experimental version of Wikiquote:Quote of the day/June. It should only be edited for experimental purposes, NOT to propose or vote for quotes of the day.


May << June 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 >> July

We are still developing the new procedures for selecting quotes of the day. This page is for quote of the day proposals specifically for dates in the month of June, and quotes proposed should ideally have some relation to the day, or persons born on it, though sometimes exceptions can be made for quotes that relate to notable current events. Developing ideas of people or works to quote on specific days can be explored through the Wikipedia page : List of historical anniversaries.

Ranking system

4 : Excellent - should definitely be used. (Perhaps, at most, only one quote per day should be ranked thus by any user, as to avoid confusions)
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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2004 : In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better it is for him. ~ G. I. Gurdjieff

2005 : I want to walk through life instead of being dragged through it. ~ Alanis Morissette

This was the last quotation selected from the Quote of the Day proposals page, prior to setting up the current system of ranking quotes to be used for each day of the year.

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2004 : The difference between a hooker and a ho ain't nothin' but a fee. ~ Cheryl James ("Salt" of the rap group "Salt 'N' Pepa")

  • proposed by IP 66.157.59.118

2005 : I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat. ~ W. Mark Felt

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2004 : There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. That little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative. ~ W. Clement Stone

2005 : A time is marked not so much by ideas that are argued about as by ideas that are taken for granted. The character of an era hangs upon what needs no defense. Power runs with ideas that only the crazy would draw into doubt. The "taken for granted" is the test of sanity... In these times, the hardest task for social or political activists is to find a way to get people to wonder again about what we all believe is true. The challenge is to sow doubt. ~ Lawrence Lessig

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2004 : We all have ability. The difference is how we use it. ~ Stevie Wonder

2005 : I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. ~ Socrates

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2004 : Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

2005 : A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind. ~ John Maynard Keynes

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2004 : Do nothing, and everything is done. ~ Laozi

  • suggested by IP 68.201.219.53

2005 : Fearing no insult, asking for no crown, receive with indifference both flattery and slander, and do not argue with a fool. ~ Aleksandr Pushkin

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2004 : Man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe. ~ Euripides

2005 : Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for candy bars. ~ Gwendolyn Brooks

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2004 : It is not so much what you believe in that matters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to translate that belief into action. ~ Lin Yutang

2005 : I have something to tell you today. Mac OS X has been leading a secret double life — for the past five years. ~ Steve Jobs

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2004 : A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence. ~ David Hume

2005 : There are always good parts. They may not pay what you want, and they may not have as many days' work as you want, they may not have the billing that you want, they may not have a lot of things, but — the content of the role itself — I find there are many roles. ~ Anne Bancroft

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2004 : History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. ~ Ronald Reagan (recent death)

2005 : A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude of false ones that make up most of what we call life. It tells us that for every human being there is a diversity of existences, that the single existence is itself an illusion in part, that these many existences signify something, tend to something, fulfill something; it promises us meaning, harmony and even justice. ~ Saul Bellow

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2004 : Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way. ~ Ronald Reagan (recent death)

2005 : The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis, and we'd have a mighty dull literature if all the writers that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads. ~ William Styron

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2004 : Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

2005 : I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop and to express all that's inside me! ~ Anne Frank

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2004 : To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level. ~ Bertrand Russell

2005 : Talent perceives differences, Genius unity. ~ William Butler Yeats

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2004 : Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal, with takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice. ~ Arnold J. Toynbee

2005 : At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality... We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force. ~ Che Guevara

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2004 : Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who need help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. ~ Albert Schweitzer

2005 : If fate means you to lose, give him a good fight anyhow ~ William McFee

Doing what's right is no guarantee against misfortune. ~ William McFee

The world belongs to the Enthusiast who keeps cool. ~ William McFee

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2004 : Happiness is the only good. The place to be happy is here. The time to be happy is now. The way to be happy is to make others so. ~ Robert G. Ingersoll

2005 : I cannot think we are useless or Usen would not have created us. He created all tribes of men and certainly had a righteous purpose in creating each. ~ Geronimo

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2004 : Love loves to love love. ~ James Joyce in Ulysses

2005 : I observed, 'Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment.' It is not only 'the first and great' command, but all the commandments in one. 'Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise,' they are all comprised in this one word, love. ~ John Wesley (This selection was made for this date prior to noticing that Wesley's date of birth was the 28th in the Gregorian calendar, and only the 17th in the "Old Style" Julian calendar.)

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2004 : There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great. ~ G. K. Chesterton

2005 : In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. ~ Paul McCartney

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2004 : I'm not a prettier everywoman. I am an everywoman that they clean up awfully well for TV. ~ Kelly Ripa

    • suggested by IP 66.157.63.6

2005 : True eloquence makes light of eloquence, true morality makes light of morality... To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher. ~ Blaise Pascal

The first Wikiquote "Quote of the day" selected by a multi-user ranking system, this is a more extensive excerpt of Pensées (No. 4). that was first suggested by MosheZadka with a different translation :

"True morality makes fun of morality." Blaise Pascal
Rational: born that day MosheZadka 23:50, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 2 MosheZadka 23:50, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 Aphaia 13:19, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:07, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi

  • 3 Kalki 15:37, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

"The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi

  • 3 Kalki 15:37, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

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2004 : Vanity is so anchored in the heart of man that a soldier, a soldier's servant, a cook, a porter brags and wishes to have his admirers. Even philosophers wish for them. Those who write against it want to have the glory of having written well; and those who read it desire the glory of having read it. I who write this have perhaps this desire, and perhaps those who will read it... ~ Blaise Pascal

2005 : I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions. ~ Lillian Hellman

--- "The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying." John Carmack, in celebration of the two year anniversary of the expiry of the infamous U.S. Patent 4,558,302 pertaining to GIF generation.

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This date is usually that of the Summer solstice for most locations in the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter solstice in the Southern.

2004 : With most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another. ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

2005 : Life has no meaning a priori...It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose. ~ Jean-Paul Sartre (born that day)

Liberty, as it is conceived by current opinion, has nothing inherent about it; it is a sort of gift or trust bestowed on the individual by the state pending good behavior. ~ Mary McCarthy

  • 2 Kalki 19:50, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

If someone tells you he is going to make "a realistic decision", you immediately understand that he is going to do something bad. ~ Mary McCarthy

  • 2 Kalki 19:50, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

To be disesteemed by people you don’t have much respect for is not the worst fate. ~ Mary McCarthy

  • 2 Kalki 19:50, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

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2004 : How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress. ~ Niels Bohr

2005 : The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient... Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach — waiting for a gift from the sea. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

  • 4 Kalki 20:19, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

"You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is 'never get involved in a land war in Asia,' but only slightly less well-known is this: 'Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!'" - Vizzini, The Princess Bride

Rationale: On June 22, Nazi Germany began w:Operation Barbarossa -- got into a land war an Asia, a major turning point in WWII.
  • 3 MosheZadka 00:12, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 2. I love this quote, but my fellow Americans might question which nation's mistakes are being celebrated here, especially if followed in 4 days by the Malraux quote. Jeff Q (talk) 10:45, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 One of my favorites from the movie, I remember laughing out loud at its perfect delivery, but I don't feel it makes a great QotD. ~ Kalki 20:19, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I suggest:

  • "The US has broken the second rule of war. That is, don't go fighting with your land army on the mainland of Asia. Rule One is don't march on Moscow. I developed these two rules myself."

Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery as it seems a little more relevant to w:Operation Barbarossa. Also I added it myselfAllanHainey 12:53, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The intellectual is constantly betrayed by his vanity. Godlike he blandly assumes that he can express everything in words; whereas the things one loves, lives, and dies for are not, in the last analysis completely expressible in words. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

  • 3 Kalki 20:19, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

  • 3 Kalki 20:19, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

  • 3 Kalki 20:19, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

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2004 : Every man should be capable of all ideas. ~ Jorge Luis Borges

2005 : Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition. ~ Alan Turing, born on June 23

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2004 : Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. ~ Alfred Whitney Griswold

2005 : Conservative, n. A statesman enamored of existing evils, as opposed to a Liberal, who wants to replace them with new ones. ~ Ambrose Bierce, born that day.

This day presented the most complicated of the decisions thus far for the new QotD procedures; 3 quotes, "Acquaintance", "Conservative" and a "Love" quote (which I added) were ranked 4 by someone... with "Conservative" (added by JeffQ) having the most positve responses of these... thus "Conservative" seemed the fairest choice to me, despite my own strong preference for the Love quote. ~ Kalki

Guilt, n. The condition of one who is known to have committed an indiscretion, as distinguished from the state of him who has covered his tracks. ~ Ambrose Bierce, born that day.

Absurdity, n. A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion. ~ Ambrose Bierce, born that day.

Acquaintance, n. A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. ~ Ambrose Bierce, born that day.

Circus, n. A place where horses, ponies and elephants are permitted to see men, women and children acting the fool. ~ Ambrose Bierce, born that day.

There is nothing better or more necessary than love. ~ John of the Cross (born this day)

  • 4 Kalki 19:03, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) I feel this is a perfect follow up to "Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition." by Alan Turing which has been used for the 23rd, and a nearly perfect statement on its own. It joins "Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is." by Richard Feynman, "It is love alone that gives worth to all things." by Teresa of Avila and a few others in my own rankings of the very best "Love" quotes.
  • 4 Jeff Q (talk) 23:28, 19 May 2006 (UTC). I love Bierce, but I prefer variety.

My sole occupation is love. ~ John of the Cross (born this day)

All I do is done in love; all I suffer, I suffer in the sweetness of love. ~ John of the Cross (born this day)

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2004 : Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out. ~ Hugh Latimer

2005 : Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ~ George Orwell (born this day)

  • 4 Kalki 11:52, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC) Good follow up to yesterdays quote of Ambrose Bierce on Conservatives and Liberals, and good lead in to tomorrow's apparent choice on torture victims and terrorists .

Fall is my favorite season in Los Angeles, watching the birds change color and fall from the trees. David Letterman

Rationale: Last episode of w:Late Night with David Letterman aired on June 25, 1993
  • 3 MosheZadka 00:32, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 Jeff Q (talk) 11:41, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 11:54, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC) I feel this particular quote might be better in the fall perhaps.

In a Society in which there is no law, and in theory no compulsion, the only arbiter of behaviour is public opinion. But public opinion, because of the tremendous urge to conformity in gregarious animals, is less tolerant than any system of law. ~ George Orwell

  • 3 Kalki 11:52, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. ~ George Orwell

  • 3 Kalki 11:52, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

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2004 : It is circumstances which show what men are. ~ Epictetus

2005 : The sons of torture victims make good terrorists. ~ André Malraux

Rationale: note the United Nations' Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
  • 3 MosheZadka 00:38, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 4 Aphaia 13:23, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 23:07, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 4, since I added it to the Malraux article. ☺ Jeff Q (talk) 10:34, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 4 AllanHainey 12:57, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

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2004 : Faith and doubt both are needed — not as antagonists, but working side by side to take us around the unknown curve. ~ Lillian Smith

2005 : "There are ... some potentates I would kill by any and all means at my disposal. They are Ignorance, Superstition, and Bigotry — the most sinister and tyrannical rulers on earth." Emma Goldman born on June 27th

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2004 : They serve so that we don't have to. They offer to give up their lives so that we can be free. It is, remarkably, their gift to us. And all they ask for in return is that we never send them into harm's way unless it is absolutely necessary. Will they ever trust us again? ~ Michael Moore

2005 : Now you see, Lone Starr, that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb. ~ "Dark Helmet" in Spaceballs by Mel Brooks

One of the best-known works of w:Mel Brooks, born on June 28th

"All I really want is to provide a hard-working man in the blouse business with a method of expressing himself; if he likes a tune, he can whistle it, and it will make his life happier." Richard Rodgers, born on June 28th

We don't have a Rodgers page yet (hardly surprising); this quotation is the only Rodgers in my Simpson's (number 9614).
  • 2 121a0012 02:24, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 27 June 2005 21:53 (UTC)

To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties. For him who renounces everything no indemnity is possible. Such a renunciation is incompatible with man's nature; to remove all liberty from his will is to remove all morality from his acts. ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau born on June 28th

  • 4 Kalki 27 June 2005 19:09 (UTC)

Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse. ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau born on June 28th

  • 3 Kalki 27 June 2005 19:09 (UTC)

Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves. ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau born on June 28th

  • 3 Kalki 27 June 2005 19:09 (UTC)

Hatred, as well as love, renders its votaries credulous. ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau born on June 28th

  • 3 Kalki 27 June 2005 19:09 (UTC)

The longer I live, the larger allowances I make for human infirmities. ~ John Wesley born on June 28th

  • 3 Kalki 27 June 2005 19:09 (UTC)

Think and let think. ~ John Wesley born on June 28th

  • 3 Kalki 27 June 2005 19:09 (UTC)

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2004 : How is the world ruled and how do wars start? Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe what they read. ~ Karl Kraus

2005 : Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.", Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, born June 29th

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2004 : Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral laws are written on the tablets of eternity. ~ Lord Acton

2005 : It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing — a somewhat unfamilar conception for the average mind. Furthermore, the equation E = mc², in which energy is put equal to mass, multiplied by the square of the velocity of light, showed that very small amounts of mass may be converted into a very large amount of energy and vice versa. ~ Albert Einstein (anniversary of "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/)" Annalen der Physik. June 30, 1905, first work to show relativity)

"When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity." Albert Einstein

In honor of "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/)" Annalen der Physik. June 30, 1905, first work to show relativity
  • 3 MosheZadka 00:54, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 Zhaladshar 22:47, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 AllanHainey 12:57, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 121a0012 02:14, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)
  • 0 Kalki 28 June 2005 22:57 (UTC) The joke is fine, but I have never been able to establish this as an actual statement of Einstein's and have long been inclined to doubt that it is, despite it often being cited as one. If we are to commemorate the centennial of Einstein's publication, I would much prefer to use a far less dubious quotation of him, or perhaps the famous equation summing up the relations indicated by the theory: E = mc². The joke has been "quoted" by Steve Mirsky in the humorous "antigravity" section of Scientific American (September 2002). Vol. 287, Iss. 3; pg. 102 but this should hardly be taken as an authentication of the statement as actually Einstein's, as Mirsky cites the original source as being a fictional magazine: "Amazingly, the pretty girl/hot stove quote is actually the abstract from a short paper written by Einstein that appeared in the now defunct Journal of Exothermic Science and Technology (JEST, Vol. 1, No. 9; 1938)."
There is a thunderstorm rumbling where I am at, so to avoid a possible disconnect, I have just made a choice to use a more reliably genuine quote that includes "E = mc²", as it is the most famous statement of Einstein's theories. I am open to other options, but there are only about 5 hours remaining before the automated updates occur to the main page. After several sessions of extensive searching I cannot find any information that leads me to accept the above statement as a genuine quotation of Einstein, though it has often come to be cited as one. If anyone can provide reliable evidence that it is, it would be very welcome. ~ Kalki 29 June 2005 18:43 (UTC)

"Einstein explained his theory to me every day, and on my arrival I was fully convinced that he understood it." Chaim Weizmann, about a 1921 trans-Atlantic voyage

"It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing — a somewhat unfamilar conception for the average mind." ~ Albert Einstein

  • 3 Kalki 28 June 2005 22:57 (UTC)

E = mc²

  • 3 Kalki 28 June 2005 22:57 (UTC) the famous equation summing up the relations indicated by relativity theory

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence. ~ Albert Einstein

  • 2 Kalki 28 June 2005 22:57 (UTC) This quote remains unsourced, but strikes me as far less dubious than the "That's relativity" statement. I would rank it higher if it could be sourced.

Ranking system

4 : Excellent - should definitely be used. (Perhaps, at most, only one quote per day should be ranked thus by any user, as to avoid confusions)
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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