April 23 Quotations

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go. ~ Martha Washington

selected by Kalki

2005

We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep. ~ "Prospero" in The Tempest by William Shakespeare (birth traditionally celebrated 23 April 1564, died 23 April 1616 O.S.)

selected by Kalki

2006

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. ~ William Shakespeare in As You Like It (birth traditionally celebrated 23 April 1564, died 23 April 1616 O.S.)

selected by Kalki

2007

We defy augury; there's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all. ~ "Hamlet" in Hamlet by William Shakespeare

proposed by InvisibleSun

2008

We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again:
And by that destiny, to perform an act
Whereof what's past is prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge.
~ William Shakespeare in The Tempest ~

proposed by Kalki

2009

Suggestions

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless’d;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

~ William Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice)

3 InvisibleSun 05:34, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 20:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
And, as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.

~ William Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

4 InvisibleSun 05:34, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 20:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.

~ William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night)

3 InvisibleSun 05:34, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 20:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
~ "Ariel" in The Tempest by William Shakespeare~

3 Kalki 20:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward an eventual 4.
3 InvisibleSun 19:35, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't!
~ "Miranda" in The Tempest by William Shakespeare ~

3 Kalki 20:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward an eventual 4.
3 InvisibleSun 19:35, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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Men are accomplices to that which leaves them indifferent. ~ George Steiner (born April 23, 1929)

3 InvisibleSun 19:35, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. These are often as highly structured and selective as myths. Images and symbolic constructs of the past are imprinted, almost in the manner of genetic information, on our sensibility. ~ George Steiner

3 InvisibleSun 19:35, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
3 Kalki 20:57, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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For many human beings, religion has been the music which they believe in. ~ George Steiner

3 InvisibleSun 19:35, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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We are still waging Peloponnesian wars. Our control of the material world and our positive science have grown fantastically. But our very achievements turn against us, making politics more random and wars more bestial. ~ George Steiner

3 Kalki 20:57, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:39, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
3 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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We cannot turn back. We cannot choose the dreams of unknowing. We shall, I expect, open the last door in the castle, even if it leads, perhaps because it leads, on to realities which are beyond the reach of human comprehension and control. And we shall do so with that desolate clairvoyance, so marvellously rendered in Bartok's music, because opening doors is the tragic merit of our identity. ~ George Steiner

3 Kalki 20:57, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:39, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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The ordinary man casts a shadow. In a way we do not quite understand, the man of genius casts light. Instinctively, we flinch from this light. We assure ourselves that genius must pay a terrible price. Often history bears us out: the creator, the supreme artist, the master of politics carries the scars of his greatness. ~ George Steiner

3 Kalki 20:57, 22 April 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
3 InvisibleSun 21:39, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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O masters, lords and rulers in all lands
How will the Future reckon with this Man?
How answer his brute question in that hour
When whirlwinds of rebellion shake all shores?
How will it be with kingdoms and with kings —
With those who shaped him to the thing he is —
When this dumb Terror shall rise to judge the world.
After the silence of the centuries?
~ Edwin Markham ~

3 Kalki 20:57, 22 April 2008 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
3 InvisibleSun 21:39, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 00:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

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A pessimist is a man who thinks all women are bad. An optimist is a man who hopes they are. ~ Chauncey Depew

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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To create is to destroy. To induce life is to destroy life. ~ Halldór Laxness

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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The difference between a novelist and a historian is this: that the former tells lies deliberately and for the fun of it; the historian tells lies in his simplicity and imagines he is telling the truth. ~ Halldór Laxness

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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All gods are equally good except the god that answers prayers, because he is nowhere. ~ Halldór Laxness

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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War has always been the chief amusement of mankind. Other amusements are a surrogate for war. ~ Halldór Laxness

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
1 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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I feel that my duty has been faithfully, though it may be imperfectly, performed, and, whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country. ~ James Buchanan

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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What is right and what is practicable are two different things. ~ James Buchanan

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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Sir, if you are as happy in entering the White House as I shall feel on returning to Wheatland, you are a happy man indeed. ~ James Buchanan

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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Abstract propositions should never be discussed by a legislative body. ~ James Buchanan

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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I have no regret for any public act of my life, and history will vindicate my memory. ~ James Buchanan

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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Time is a great corrective. Political subjects which but a few years ago excited and exasperated the public mind have passed away and are now nearly forgotten. ~ James Buchanan

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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Anybody who has been seriously engaged in scientific work of any kind realizes that over the entrance to the gates of the temple of science are written the words: Ye must have faith. It is a quality which the scientist cannot dispense with. ~ Max Planck

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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We have no right to assume that any physical laws exist, or if they have existed up to now, that they will continue to exist in a similar manner in the future. ~ Max Planck

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness. ~ Max Planck

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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Both Religion and science require a belief in God. For believers, God is in the beginning, and for physicists He is at the end of all considerations… To the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view. ~ Max Planck

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. ~ Max Planck

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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Truth never triumphs — its opponents just die out. ~ Max Planck

4 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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It is not the possession of truth, but the success which attends the seeking after it, that enriches the seeker and brings happiness to him. ~ Max Planck

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve. ~ Max Planck

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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We may conclude that from what science teaches us, there is in nature an order independent of man's existence, a meaningful order to which nature and man are subordinate. ~ Max Planck

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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The city, that monster with a hundred mouths and a thousand ears, a monster that knows nothing but says everything, had written me off. ~ Jean-Dominique Bauby

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
1 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC) seems too inclomplete an assertion.
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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I would not so dishonour God as to lend my voice to perpetuate all the mad and foolish things which men have dared to say of Him. I believe that we may find in the Bible the highest and purest religion most of all in the history of Him in whose name we all are called. His religion — not the Christian religion, but the religion of Christ — the poor man's gospel; the message of forgiveness, of reconciliation, of love; and, oh, how gladly would I spend my life, in season and out of season, in preaching this! But I must have no hell terrors, none of these fear doctrines; they were not in the early creeds, God knows whether they were ever in the early gospels, or ever passed His lips. He went down to hell, but it was to break the chains, not to bind them. ~ James Anthony Froude

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
4 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

OR

He went down to hell, but it was to break the chains, not to bind them. ~ James Anthony Froude

3 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
1 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC) lacks context in this form.
1 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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I cut a hole in my heart and wrote with the blood. ~ James Anthony Froude

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

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Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral law is written on the tablets of eternity. For every false word or unrighteous deed, for cruelty and oppression, for lust or vanity, the price has to be paid at last. ~ James Anthony Froude

2 Zarbon 19:23, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:38, 22 April 2009 (UTC) but most of this was already used.

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Quoternity