August 23 Quotations

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of Communists and other subversives. We intend to clean them out, even if it means rounding up every bird watcher in the country. ~ John Mitchell

selected by Nanobug

2004

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

selected by Kalki

2005

I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject. ~ William Wallace at his trial (executed 23 August 1305)

proposed by AllanHainey

2006

I have brought you to the ring, now see if you can dance. ~ William Wallace

proposed by Warrior-Poet

2007

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
~ William Ernest Henley ~

proposed by Kalki

2008

A few Cobras in your home will soon clear it of Rats and Mice. Of course, you will still have the Cobras. ~ Will Cuppy (born 23 August 1884)

proposed by InvisibleSun

2009

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
for my unconquerable soul.
~ William Ernest Henley ~

proposed by Kalki

2010

Suggestions

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. ~ Abraham Lincoln, in honor of the abolition of slavery in the British colonies.

3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 11:34, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
2 If we're going to have something about abolition of slavery then something by William Wilberforce might be more suited.AllanHainey 10:43, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
COMMENT - There is some uncertainty as to whether slavery in British Empire/colonies was repealed today or on 1 Aug see relevant dates talk pages. AllanHainey 12:00, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 16:00, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 21:42, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
1 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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Sons of Scotland! I am William Wallace...

0 121a0012 02:55, July 21, 2005 (UTC) (too long, misformatted dialogue, inadequate attribution)
0 User:Warrior-Poet Fair enough, I could put the Scots Gaelic line in there 21 July, 2005 8:06 (CST)
0 AllanHainey 10:43, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
0 Zarbon 16:00, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
0 InvisibleSun 21:42, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

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The Age of Reptiles ended because it had gone on long enough and it was all a mistake in the first place. A better day was dawning at the close of the Mesozoic Era. There were some little warm-blooded animals around which had been stealing and eating the eggs of the Dinosaurs, and they were gradually learning to steal other things, too. Civilization was just around the corner. ~ Will Cuppy

4 InvisibleSun 08:47, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
2 Kalki 18:48, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 16:00, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
1.5 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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The moral of the story of the Pilgrims is that if you work hard all your life and behave yourself every minute and take no time out for fun you will break practically even, if you can borrow enough money to pay your taxes. ~ Will Cuppy

3 InvisibleSun 08:47, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 18:48, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 16:00, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
2 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge. ~ from Star Wars as Darth Maul Ray Park (born August 23)

3 Maul is my alltime favorite Star Wars character, along with Sidious, Dooku, and Tarkin closely followed up. Zarbon 05:58, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 23:37, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 21:42, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
0 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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Fear. Fear attracts the fearful. The strong. The weak. The innocent. The corrupt. Fear. Fear is my ally. ~ from the Star Wars main trailer sequence, said by Darth Maul Ray Park (born August 23)

4 his best description of power through spreading fear in the hearts of his enemies, my favorite Maul saying. Zarbon 05:58, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 23:37, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 21:42, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
0 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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It is evident that one cannot say anything demonstrable about the problem before having resolved these preliminary questions, and yet we hardly possess the necessary information to solve some of them. ~ Georges Cuvier

4 Fossil 20:04, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 16:22, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
1 Kalki 15:26, 22 August 2009 (UTC) context is not clearly provided by the quote.
0 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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Why has not anyone seen that fossils alone gave birth to a theory about the formation of the earth, that without them, no one would have ever dreamed that there were successive epochs in the formation of the globe. ~ Georges Cuvier

3 Fossil 20:04, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 16:22, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
1 Kalki 15:26, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
0 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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Who says that we shall pass, or the fame of us fade and die,
While the living stars fulfil their round in the living sky?
~ William Ernest Henley ~

3 Kalki 13:54, 21 August 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
2 Zarbon 17:41, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
2.5 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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Think on the shame of dreams for deeds,
The scandal of unnatural strife,
The slur upon immortal needs,
The treason done to life:
Arise! no more a living lie,
And with me quicken and control
Some memory that shall magnify
The universal Soul.
~ William Ernest Henley ~

3 Kalki 13:54, 21 August 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
1 Zarbon 17:41, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
2.5 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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The strife of Love's the abysmal strife,
And the word of Love is the Word of Life.
And they that go with the Word unsaid,
Though they seem of the living, are damned and dead.
~ William Ernest Henley ~

3 Kalki 13:54, 21 August 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
3 Zarbon 17:41, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
2.5 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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We are the Choice of the Will: God, when He gave the word
That called us into line, set in our hand a sword;
Set us a sword to wield none else could lift and draw,
And bade us forth to the sound of the trumpet of the Law.
~ William Ernest Henley ~

3 Kalki 13:54, 21 August 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
1 Zarbon 17:41, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
2.5 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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The passion for wealth is certainly in some senses new. It grew up very rapidly at the beginning of the present century [19^th]; it was not so strong in the last century, when men were much more content to lead a quiet easy life of leisure. The change has really influenced the relations between men; but in the future it is quite possible that the scramble for wealth may grow less intense, and a change in the opposite direction take place. ~ Arnold Toynbee (DoB)

2.5 Ningauble 19:18, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 15:26, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it. ~ Arnold Toynbee (DoB)

3 Ningauble 19:18, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 15:26, 22 August 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

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You may think, passer-by, that Fate
Is a pit-fall outside of yourself,
Around which you may walk by the use of foresight
And wisdom.
~ Edgar Lee Masters (DoB)

3 Ningauble 19:18, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 15:26, 22 August 2009 (UTC) but would prefer to extend this with the ending of the poem:

...
In time you shall see Fate approach you
In the shape of your own image in the mirror;
Or you shall sit alone by your own hearth,
And suddenly the chair by you shall hold a guest,
And you shall know that guest,
And read the authentic message of his eyes.

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I ended up with forty acres
I ended up with a broken fiddle
A broken laugh, a thousand memories
And not a single regret.
~ Edgar Lee Masters (DoB)

3.5 Ningauble 19:18, 21 August 2009 (UTC) as corrected and extended
3 Kalki 15:26, 22 August 2009 (UTC) but this was originally misquoted slightly in the article: I would correct and extend this to read:

I never started to plow in my life
That some one did not stop in the road
And take me away to a dance or picnic.
I ended up with forty acres;
I ended up with a broken fiddle —
And a broken laugh, and a thousand memories,
And not a single regret.

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The earth keeps some vibration going
There in your heart, and that is you.
And if the people find you can fiddle,
Why, fiddle you must, for all your life.
~ Edgar Lee Masters

3 Kalki 15:26, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
2.5 Ningauble 15:53, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

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