December 20 Quotations

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed. ~ Joseph Campbell

selected by Kalki

2005

For most of human history we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Who are we? What are we? We find that we inhabit an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions, and by the depth of our answers. ~ Carl Sagan (died 20 December 1996)

proposed by UDScott

2006

Learn this lesson, that to be self-contented is to be vile and ignorant, and that to aspire is better than to be blindly and impotently happy. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott (Born 20 December 1838)

proposed by Kalki

2007

This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost. ~ John Steinbeck

proposed by Kalki

2008

I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. ~ John Steinbeck

proposed by UDScott

2009

Suggestions

Man is his own star, and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all light, all influence, all fate.
Nothing to him falls early, or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.
~ John Fletcher (baptized December 20, 1579)

3 InvisibleSun 12:59, 17 December 2006 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 19:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
4 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
3 Ningauble 23:07, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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There is no jesting with edge tools. ~ John Fletcher

3 Kalki 23:39, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 19:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
1 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC). The connection with John Fletcher (and hence December 20) is rather loose, since he was only using a long-established proverb. The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs records it from 1510.

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You call me a Circle; but in reality I am not a Circle, but an infinite number of Circles... For even a Sphere — which is my proper name in my own country — if he manifest himself at all to an inhabitant of Flatland — must needs manifest himself as a Circle. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott (Born 20 December 1838)

3 Kalki 23:39, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 19:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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I looked, and, behold, a new world! There stood before me, visibly incorporate, all that I had before inferred, conjectured, dreamed, of perfect Circular beauty. What seemed the centre of the Stranger's form lay open to my view: yet I could see no heart, nor lungs, nor arteries, only a beautiful harmonious Something — for which I had no words; but you, my Readers in Spaceland, would call it the surface of the Sphere. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott

3 Kalki 23:39, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 19:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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If I am right in saying that thought is the ultimate origin or source, it follows that if we don't do anything about thought, we won't get anywhere. We may momentarily relieve the population problem, the ecological problem, and so on, but they will come back in another way. ~ David Bohm

4 a hint of "history repeats itself." Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC) but prefer to trim it to the first sentence.
- The coming back in another way is the part that I like though... Zarbon 18:15, 18 December 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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Individuality is only possible if it unfolds from wholeness. ~ David Bohm

3 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC) but I will probably give this a 3 or even a 4 eventually.

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The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained. ~ David Bohm

2 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

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This is our culture; fight for it. This is our flag; pick it up. This is our country; take it back. ~ Tom Tancredo

3 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
1 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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A patriot is someone who cares what happens in their country. ~ Billy Bragg

2 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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Art is the objectification of feeling. ~ Susanne Langer

3 or in other words...bringing feelings to life through artwork. Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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Music is the tonal analogue of emotive life. ~ Susanne Langer

2 Zarbon 15:32, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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We have reversed the usual classical notion that the independent "elementary parts" of the world are the fundamental reality, and that the various systems are merely particular contingent forms and arrangements of these parts. Rather, we say that inseparable quantum interconnectedness of the whole universe is the fundamental reality, and that relatively independent behaving parts are merely particular and contingent forms within this whole. ~ David Bohm

3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:31, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
3 Ningauble 23:07, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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Men are divided in opinion as to the facts. And even granting the facts, they explain them in different ways. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott

3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 05:31, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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From dreams I proceed to facts. ~ Edwin Abbott Abbott

3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 05:31, 11 December 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 21:55, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Antiquary 22:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

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