December 11 Quotations

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003

Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps. ~ Emo Phillips

selected by Kalki

2004

I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference after another. ~ Ellen Goodman

selected by Kalki

2005

Woe to that nation whose literature is cut short by the intrusion of force. This is not merely interference with freedom of the press but the sealing up of a nation's heart, the excision of its memory. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (born 11 December 1918)

proposed by UDScott

2006

In all our associations; in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim — that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people. ~ George Mason

proposed by InvisibleSun

2007

Let us not forget that violence does not live alone and is not capable of living alone: it is necessarily interwoven with falsehood. Between them lies the most intimate, the deepest of natural bonds. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his METHOD must inexorably choose falsehood as his PRINCIPLE. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

proposed by Kalki

2008

The belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession of it, seems to me the deepest root of all that is evil in the world. ~ Max Born (born 11 December 1882)

proposed by Kalki

2009

Suggestions

Oh, Be A Fine Girl - Kiss Me! ~ Mnemonic for remembering the star classification established by Annie Jump Cannon, born that day

2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 22:37, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
1 Kalki 23:35, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 16:10, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

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Taught to regard a part of our own Species in the most abject and contemptible Degree below us, we lose that Idea of the dignity of Man which the Hand of Nature had implanted in us, for great and useful purposes. ~ George Mason (born December 11, 1725)

3 InvisibleSun 22:37, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
3 Kalki 23:35, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 16:10, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

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That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. ~ George Mason

3 InvisibleSun 22:37, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
3 Kalki 23:35, 10 December 2006 (UTC) - but truncated without the article's prefatory "That"
1 Zarbon 16:10, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

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There are metaphysical problems, which cannot be disposed of by declaring them meaningless. ... We have to accept this fact to be honest. There are two objectionable types of believers: those who believe the incredible and those who believe that "belief" must be discarded and replaced by "the scientific method." ~ Max Born (born December 11, 1882)

3 Kalki 21:26, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:51, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 16:10, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

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Sins are not forgiven to anyone, unless when the priest forgives them he believes they are forgiven. ~ Pope Leo X (born December 11, 1475)

3 Zarbon 05:37, 9 November 2008 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

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Nobody can teach you love. Love you have to find yourself, within your being, by raising your consciousness to higher levels. ~ Osho (born December 11, 1931)

2 Zarbon 05:37, 9 November 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

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If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

4 Zarbon 06:34, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC), but one of my favorites by Solzhenitsyn, and I might also give it a 4 eventually

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Can a man who's warm understand one who's freezing? ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

3 Zarbon 06:34, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

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How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? `John Kerry, Testimony before subcommittees of the U.S. Senate, April, 1971 (this is his birthday)

3 Matchups 20:51, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 06:08, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

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Any mundane activity can become meditative. Digging a hole in the garden, planting new roses in the garden — you can do it with such tremendous love and compassion, you can do it with the hands of a buddha. There is no contradiction ... I say unto you, your every act should be a ceremony. ~ Osho

3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
3 Zarbon 05:12, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

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Existence is a mystery, and one should accept it as a mystery and not pretend to have any explanation. No, explanation is not needed — only exclamation, a wondering heart, awakened, surprised, feeling the mystery of life each moment. Then, and only then, you know what truth is. And truth liberates. ~ Osho

3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
2 Zarbon 05:12, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

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Be realistic: Plan for a miracle. ~ Osho

3 Kalki 00:02, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
2 Zarbon 05:12, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

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He who writes poetry is not a poet. He whose poetry has become his life, and who has made his life his poetry — it is he who is a poet. ~ Subramanya Bharathi

3 Kalki 10:47, 28 October 2009 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.

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Quoternity