January 6 Quotations

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

All of humanity is in peril of extinction if each one of us does not dare, now and henceforth, always to tell only the truth, and all the truth, and to do so promptly — right now. ~ Buckminster Fuller

selected by Kalki

2005

I know the biggest crime is just to throw up your hands and say "This has nothing to do with me, I just want to live as comfortably as I can." ~ Ani DiFranco

selected by Kalki

2006

In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want... everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear... anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. ~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt

proposed by UDScott — from FDR's 8th State of the Union address, also known as the "Four Freedoms" speech (delivered 6 January 1941)

2007

History is the present. That's why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth. ~ E.L. Doctorow (born 6 January 1931)

proposed by UDScott

2008

Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love. ~ Khalil Gibran (born 6 January 1883)

proposed by Kalki

2009

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. ~ Khalil Gibran

proposed by Zarbon

2010

Suggestions

There is no formula for generating the authentic warmth of love. It cannot be copied. You cannot talk yourself into it or rouse it by straining at the emotions or by dedicating yourself solemnly to the service of mankind. Everyone has love, but it can only come out when he is convinced of the impossibility and the frustration of trying to love himself. This conviction will not come through condemnations, through hating oneself, through calling self love bad names in the universe. It comes only in the awareness that one has no self to love. ~ Alan Watts (born 6 January 1915)

3 Kalki 00:43, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 17:57, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
2 Triviaa 04:28, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:15, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

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Your thought sees power in armies, cannons, battleships, submarines, aeroplanes, and poison gas. But mine asserts that power lies in reason, resolution, and truth. ~ Khalil Gibran

4 because I agree with Gibran here. It's true that my thought sees power in armies, cannons, battleships, submarines, aeroplanes, and poison gas. He forgot to mention atomic bombs, rocket launchers, tanks, and heat-seeking missiles...but yeah, he's right. He asserts furthermore that he finds power in reason, resolution, and truth. Not so sure how far that would go against an entire army, but it is a rather moral perspective painted by Gibran here, a dynamic comparison, if you will. Zarbon 04:48, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
3 Triviaa 04:28, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:15, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC) I like this, but prefer a similar but more extensive passage from the same work, which I've added below

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To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but what he aspires to. ~ Khalil Gibran

3 because to see where a person's going, one must understand that person's aspirations. Zarbon 04:48, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
3 Triviaa 04:28, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:15, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 23:59, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

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Planning to write is not writing. Outlining ...researching ...talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing. ~ E. L. Doctorow

3 because planning to do something and actually doing it are two different things. Zarbon 04:53, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:15, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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When all is said and done, usually more is said than done. ~ Lou Holtz

3 Zarbon 07:06, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Triviaa 04:28, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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Drum on your drums, batter on your banjos,
sob on the long cool winding saxophones.
Go to it, O jazzmen.
~ Carl Sandburg

2 Zarbon 07:06, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:15, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusion. ~ Alan Watts

3 Zarbon 07:06, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
3 Triviaa 04:28, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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When no risk is taken there is no freedom. It is thus that, in an industrial society, the plethora of laws made for our personal safety convert the land into a nursery, and policemen hired to protect us become selfserving busybodies. ~ Alan Watts

3 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 14:06, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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It must be obvious... that there is a contradiction in wanting to be perfectly secure in a universe whose very nature is momentariness and fluidity. ~ Alan Watts

3 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 14:06, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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The most strongly enforced of all known taboos is the taboo against knowing who or what you really are behind the mask of your apparently separate, independent, and isolated ego. ~ Alan Watts

3 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 14:06, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man's purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life. ~ Khalil Gibran

3 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 14:06, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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Your thought advocates fame and show. Mine counsels me and implores me to cast aside notoriety and treat it like a grain of sand cast upon the shore of eternity. Your thought instills in your heart arrogance and superiority. Mine plants within me love for peace and the desire for independence. Your thought begets dreams of palaces with furniture of sandalwood studded with jewels, and beds made of twisted silk threads. My thought speaks softly in my ears, "Be clean in body and spirit even if you have nowhere to lay your head." Your thought makes you aspire to titles and offices. Mine exhorts me to humble service. ~ Khalil Gibran

3 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
3 Zarbon 14:06, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love. ~ Khalil Gibran

3 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 14:06, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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The mind weighs and measures but it is the spirit that reaches the heart of life and embraces the secret; and the seed of the spirit is deathless.
The wind may blow and then cease, and the sea shall swell and then weary, but the heart of life is a sphere quiet and serene, and the star that shines therein is fixed for evermore. ~ Khalil Gibran

3 Kalki 00:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 14:06, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

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