April 1 Quotations

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

Years ago my mother used to say to me... "In this world, Elwood, you must be oh-so-smart, or oh-so-pleasant." Well, for years I was smart — I recommend pleasant. You may quote me. ~ Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in the film Harvey

selected by Kalki

2005

When you want to fool the world, tell the truth. ~ Otto von Bismarck (born 1 April 1815, and All Fools Day)

selected by Kalki

2006

The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year. ~ Mark Twain (All Fool's Day/April Fool's Day)

selected by Kalki

2007

Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. ~ Alexander Pope

proposed by Kalki

2008

What is unique about the "I" hides itself exactly in what is unimaginable about a person. All we are able to imagine is what makes everyone like everyone else, what people have in common. The individual "I" is what differs from the common stock, that is, what cannot be guessed at or calculated, what must be unveiled, uncovered, conquered. ~ Milan Kundera (born 1 April 1929)

proposed by InvisibleSun

2009

Very many maintain that all we know is still infinitely less than all that still remains unknown; nor do philosophers pin their faith to others' precepts in such wise that they lose their liberty, and cease to give credence to the conclusions of their proper senses. Neither do they swear such fealty to their mistress Antiquity that they openly, and in sight of all, deny and desert their friend Truth. ~ William Harvey (born 1 April 1578)

proposed by InvisibleSun

2010
Quotes by people born this day already used as QOTD:

I don't really know why I care so much. I just have something inside me that tells me that there is a problem, and I have got to do something about it. I think that is what I would call the God in me. All of us have a God in us, and that God is the spirit that unites all life, everything that is on this planet. ~ Wangari Maathai
- used 11 October 2004, selected by Kalki

Suggestions

Were I, who to my Cost already am
One of those strange, prodigious Creatures Man,
A Spirit free, to choose for my own Share,
What sort of Flesh and Blood I pleas’d to wear,
I’d be a Dog, a Monkey, or a Bear,
Or any thing, but that vain Animal,
Who is so proud of being Rational.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (born April 1, 1647)

3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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Whilst the misguided Follower climbs with Pain,
Mountains of Whimsies, heapt in his own Brain,
Stumbling from Thought to Thought, falls headlong down
Into Doubt’s boundless Sea, where like to drown,
Books bear him up a-while, and make him try
To swim with Bladders of Philosophy.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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For Wits are treated just like Common Whores;
First they're enjoy'd, and then kickt out of Doors.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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The light that radiates from the great novels time can never dim, for human existence is perpetually being forgotten by man and thus the novelists' discoveries, however old they may be, will never cease to astonish. ~ Milan Kundera

3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC) I have a strong tendency to prefer strong links to "All Fool's Day" on this date, but lean toward a 4 for this one despite this.
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past. They are fighting for access to the laboratories where photographs are retouched and biographies and histories rewritten. ~ Milan Kundera

3 InvisibleSun 08:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
2 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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There's not a thing on earth that I can name,
So foolish, and so false, as common fame.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester ~

3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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It is a good world to live in,
To lend, or to spend, or to give in;
But to beg or to borrow, or to get a man's own,
It is the very worst world that ever was known.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester ~

3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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Great Negative, how vainly would the Wise
Enquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise,
Didst thou not stand to point their dull Philosophies?

Is, or is not, the Two great Ends of Fate,
And, true or false, the Subject of Debate,
That perfect, or destroy, the vast Designs of Fate.
~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester ~

3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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Man differs more from Man, than Man from Beast. ~ John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 because this is one of my alltime favorites. The man and beast comparison is an excellent one, one of sheer brilliance. Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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No great movement designed to change the world can bear to be laughed at or belittled. Mockery is a rust that corrodes all it touches. ~ Milan Kundera

3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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Is not an event in fact more significant and noteworthy the greater the number of fortuities necessary to bring it about? ~ Milan Kundera

3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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Chance and chance alone has a message for us... Only chance can speak to us. ~ Milan Kundera

3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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Love is our freedom. ~ Milan Kundera

3 Kalki 20:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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I avow myself the partisan of truth alone. ~ William Harvey

3 Kalki 20:33, 31 March 2007 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
3 InvisibleSun 21:06, 31 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 23:08, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

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I've been to Sugartown/I shook the Sugar down/Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door. ~ Bob Dylan

0 Zarbon 23:10, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
0. What is the relevance to this date? - InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Not by speeches and votes of the majority, are the great questions of the time decided — but by iron and blood. ~ Otto von Bismarck

3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3, but an ellipsis should be used rather than a dash.
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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The wolf cannot help it that he was created by God the way he is, but one shoots him yet, if one can. ~ Otto von Bismarck

3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence. ~ Otto von Bismarck

3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war. ~ Otto von Bismarck

2 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
3 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

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They treat me like a fox, a cunning fellow of the first rank. But the truth is that with a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and when I have to deal with a pirate, I try to be a pirate and a half. ~ Otto von Bismarck

3 Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
3 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC) (for this or one of the other variant translations of this)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches. ~ Otto von Bismarck

3 and strong lean toward 4. Zarbon 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

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As art is a habit with reference to things to be done, so is science a habit in respect to things to be known. ~ William Harvey

3 Kalki 17:14, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 19:31, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Politics is not an exact science. ~ Otto von Bismarck

3 Kalki 01:04, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. ~ Abraham Maslow

3 Kalki 01:29, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Education is learning to grow, learning what to grow toward, learning what is good and bad, learning what is desirable and undesirable, learning what to choose and what not to choose. ~ Abraham Maslow

3 Kalki 01:29, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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I am fated to journey hand in hand with my strange heroes and to survey the surging immensity of life, to survey it through the laughter that all can see and through the tears unseen and unknown by anyone. ~ Nikolai Gogol

3 Kalki 01:29, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever? ~ Daniel Daly

2 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
0 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
1. Frederick II of Prussia had already said something quite similar. - InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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What I look for in a friend is someone who's different from me. The more different the person is, the more I'll learn from him. The more he'll come up with surprising takes on ideas and things and situations. ~ Samuel R. Delany

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Words mean things. When you put them together they speak. Yes, sometimes they flatten out and nothing they say is real, and that is one kind of magic. But sometimes a vision will rip up from them and shriek and clank wings clear as the sweat smudge on the paper under your thumb. And that is another kind. ~ Samuel R. Delany

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Business is globalizing so fast that it has led to the often quoted ‘clash of civilizations’. People simply have not had time to get to know and understand people of other cultures sufficiently to live and work in harmony. ~ Begum Aga Khan

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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It is at night that faith in light is admirable. ~ Edmond Rostand

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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What say you? It is useless? Ay, I know
But who fights ever hoping for success?
I fought for lost cause, and for fruitless quest!
You there, who are you! — You are thousands! Ah!
I know you now, old enemies of mine!
Falsehood!
Have at you! Ha! and Compromise!
Prejudice, Treachery! ...
Surrender, I?
Parley? No, never! You too, Folly, — you?
I know that you will lay me low at last;
Let be! Yet I fall fighting, fighting still!
~ Edmond Rostand

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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You strip from me the laurel and the rose!
Take all! Despite you there is yet one thing
I hold against you all, and when, tonight,
I enter Christ's fair courts, and, lowly bowed,
Sweep with doffed casque the heavens' threshold blue,
One thing is left, that, void of stain or smutch,
I bear away despite you ...
My panache.
~ Edmond Rostand

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Instinct is the direct connection with truth. ~ Laurette Taylor

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Personality is more important than beauty, but imagination is more important than both of them. ~ Laurette Taylor

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Twas Beauty that killed the beast! ~ Edgar Wallace

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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I present you with a Key. ~ Roger Williams

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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The God of Peace, the God of Truth will shortly seal this truth, and confirm this witness, and make it evident to the whole world, that the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience, is most evidently and lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Christ Jesus the Prince of Peace. ~ Roger Williams

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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I have read ... the last will and testament of the Lord Jesus over many times, and yet I cannot find by one tittle of that testament that if He had been pleased to have accepted of a temporal crown and government that ever He would have put forth the least finger of temporal or civil power in the matters of His spiritual affairs and Kingdom. ~ Roger Williams

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No man shall be required to worship or maintain a worship against his will. ~ Roger Williams

3 Kalki 02:02, 29 March 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
1 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Only the foolish learn from experience - the wise learn from the experience of others. ~ Rolf Hochhuth

3 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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It is no use to blame the looking glass if your face is awry. ~ Nikolai Gogol

3 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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We have a special responsibility to the ecosystem of this planet. In making sure that other species survive we will be ensuring the survival of our own. ~ Wangari Maathai

2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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All of us have a God in us, and that God is the spirit that unites all life, everything that is on this planet. It must be this voice that is telling me to do something, and I am sure it's the same voice that is speaking to everybody on this planet — at least everybody who seems to be concerned about the fate of the world, the fate of this planet. ~ Wangari Maathai

2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC) Though part of this was already used.
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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The people are starving. They need food; they need medicine; they need education. They do not need a skyscraper to house the ruling party and a 24-hour TV station. ~ Wangari Maathai

2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking. ~ Wangari Maathai

2 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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To joke in the face of danger is the supreme politeness, a delicate refusal to cast oneself as a tragic hero. ~ Edmond Rostand

4 Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC) I would probably rank this a 3, or even a 4 eventually, but have a much stronger inclination to use "I avow myself the partisan of truth alone." by William Harvey for this year.
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. ~ Abraham Maslow

3 and strong lean toward 4. Zarbon 05:08, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

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