December 16
2004
- The function of the imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange. ~ G. K. Chesterton
- selected by Kalki
2005
- Fear... can make you do more wrong than hate or jealousy. If you're afraid you don't commit yourself to life completely; fear makes you always, always hold something back. ~ Philip K. Dick (born 16 December 1928)
- proposed by UDScott
2006
- What renders man an imaginative and moral being is that in society he gives new aims to his life which could not have existed in solitude: the aims of friendship, religion, science, and art. ~ George Santayana (born 16 December 1863)
- proposed by InvisibleSun
2007
- Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
- proposed by Kalki
2008
- Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away. ~ Philip K. Dick
- proposed by Kalki
2009
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Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:
- One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other. ~ Jane Austen (born 16 December 1775)
- used 26 August 2003, selected by Nanobug
- Fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim. ~ George Santayana
- used 11 February 2004, selected by Kalki
Suggestions
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. ~ Mao Zedong in the Little Red Book, published in Beijing that day.- 2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
- 2 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
- 2 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
- 3 but 4 on correct date because the assurance of artillery is a very true factor to rely on. However, I'd prefer to see this on his date of birth (December 26). Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
- I would also like to mention that MosheZadka gave this one a 3 on the date of September 9. Zarbon 16:35, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
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Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors. ~ Ludwig van Beethoven (Date of birth)
- 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)- 3 Liquidice5 18:02, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
- 2 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
- 3 because this is very true. It is easy to search for error in others, but to find it in oneself is majestic and remains a difficult task, and for someone of nobility, that much harder. Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
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The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. ~ Arthur C. Clarke (Date of birth)
- 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
- 2 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
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An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones. ~ William Somerset Maugham (Date of death)
- 3 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)- 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
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The world is a king, and like a king, desires flattery in return for favor; but true art is selfish and perverse — it will not submit to the mold of flattery. ~ Ludwig van Beethoven (born December 16, 1770)
- 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
- 3 because this is rather true. Artists who want their work kept in its originality will not submit to any offers, because their art is who they are. Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Kalki 00:13, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
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The present has its élan because it is always on the edge of the unknown and one misunderstands the past unless one remembers that this unknown was once part of its nature. ~ V. S. Pritchett (born December 16, 1900)
- 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
- 1 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
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The dinosaurs disappeared because they could not adapt to their changing environment. We shall disappear if we cannot adapt to an environment that now contains spaceships, computers — and thermonuclear weapons. ~ Arthur C. Clarke (born 16 December 1917)
- 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
- 3 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
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So I ask, in my writing, What is real? Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo-realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms. I do not distrust their motives; I distrust their power. They have a lot of it. And it is an astonishing power: that of creating whole universes, universes of the mind. I ought to know. I do the same thing. ~ Philip K. Dick (born December 16, 1928)
- 3 InvisibleSun 09:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 22:53, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
- 1 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
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Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~ Arthur C. Clarke
- 3 Kalki 05:27, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 22:57, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
- 1 Zarbon 16:32, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
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If I had know it was harmless, I would have killed it myself. Philip K. Dick
- 3 Zarbon 03:13, 5 July 2008 (UTC)
- 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 1 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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Humility is a virtue all preach, none practice; and yet everybody is content to hear. ~ John Selden
- 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC) A bit too cynical to be true.
- 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain. ~ John Selden
- 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. ~ Amy Carmichael
- 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
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At times it may be necessary temporarily to accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good. ~ Margaret Mead
- 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
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What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely different things. ~ Margaret Mead
- 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
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Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment. ~ George Santayana
- 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Kalki 23:46, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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That life is worth living is the most necessary of assumptions and, were it not assumed, the most impossible of conclusions. ~ George Santayana
- 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Kalki 23:46, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ~ George Santayana
- 4 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC) but will also will probably give this a 4 eventually, prefer one by Philip K. Dick for this year.
- 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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Injustice in this world is not something comparative; the wrong is deep, clear, and absolute in each private fate. ~ George Santayana
- 2 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself. ~ George Santayana
- 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 1 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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Only the dead have seen the end of war. ~ George Santayana
- 3 with a strong lean towards a 4. Because the fighting continues for the living. Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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The young man who has not wept is a savage, and the older man who will not laugh is a fool. ~ George Santayana
- 3 Zarbon 17:22, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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The God to whom depth in philosophy bring back men’s minds is far from being the same from whom a little philosophy estranges them. ~ George Santayana
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 1 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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You shall not, for the sake of one individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity, nor endeavour to persuade yourself or me, that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of danger security for happiness. ~ Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 1 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me. ~ Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, to be secure of judging properly at first. ~ Jane Austen, in Pride and Prejudice
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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Great artists are always far-seeing. They easily avoid the big stumbling blocks of fact. They rely on their own simplicity and vision. ~ V. S. Pritchett
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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Life — how curious is that habit that makes us think it is not here, but elsewhere. ~ V. S. Pritchett
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 1 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
- 3 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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When two people dream the same dream, it ceases to be an illusion. ~ Philip K. Dick
- 3 Kalki 23:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 Zarbon 05:24, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
- 2 InvisibleSun 23:13, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
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