July 11 Quotations

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

First "Quote of the Day" at Wikiquote, selected by Nanobug

2004:

The old order changeth, yielding place to new, and God fulfils himself in many ways lest one good custom should corrupt the world. ~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson in Idylls of the King

selected by Kalki

2005

All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse. ~ John Quincy Adams (born 11 July 1767)

proposed by Kalki

2006

Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. ~ John Quincy Adams (born 11 July 1767)

proposed by Kalki

2007

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. ~ E. B. White

proposed by InvisibleSun

2008

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed. ~ E. B. White

proposed by Kalki

2009

Suggestions

In God we trust, all others must submit an X.509 Certificate - Source unknown

"In God We Trust" was added to the dollar on July 11th
3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 08:51, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)
2 121a0012 June 27, 2005 03:52 (UTC) (I love this, but I think it may be too esoteric for a general audience.)
1 AllanHainey June 27, 2005 11:37 (UTC) (X.509 don't know what it is but sounds like a USA tax thing - too obscure)
- Actually, it's an ITU standard. Your browser almost certainly implements it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 121a0012 (talk • contribs) 02:41, 28 June 2005 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

----

"In God We Trust." I don't believe it would sound any better if it were true. — Mark Twain

3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 08:51, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)
3 121a0012 June 27, 2005 03:52 (UTC)
3 AllanHainey June 27, 2005 11:37 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

----

I can never join with my voice in the toast which I see in the papers attributed to one of our gallant naval heroes. I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong. Fiat justitia, pereat coelum. My toast would be, may our country always be successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right. ~ John Quincy Adams (birth date)

In response to Stephen Decatur's famous phrase, "our country, right or wrong". The Latin phrase is an ancient one that can be translated as : "Let justice be done though heaven should fall."
4 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC) * 3 Kalki 8 July 2005 22:19 (UTC)
3 Jeff Q (talk) 10:32, 8 July 2006 (UTC). Would that we had a single JQ Adams in this age.
3 InvisibleSun 10:31, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
3 because even when wrong, one's loyalty and devotion makes it right. Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

----

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time. ~ E. B. White (born July 11, 1899)

3 InvisibleSun 10:31, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 00:06, 11 July 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4, but would prefer to extend this to "Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time. It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere."
1 Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

----

One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy. ~ E. B. White

3 InvisibleSun 10:31, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 00:06, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
3 Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

----

It is easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet; the bylaws are shorter, and he is personally acquainted with the other members. ~ E. B. White

4 InvisibleSun 10:31, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 00:06, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

----

New York is part of the natural world. I love the city, I love the country, and for the same reasons. The city is part of the country. When I had an apartment on East Forty-Eighth Street, my backyard during the migratory season yielded more birds than I ever saw in Maine. ~ E. B. White

3 InvisibleSun 10:31, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

----

Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth. They accept, almost without question, anything you present them with, as long as it is presented honestly, fearlessly, and clearly. ~ E. B. White

3 InvisibleSun 10:31, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
3 Kalki 00:06, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

----

If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. ~ E. B. White

3 Kalki 00:06, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 15:11, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

----

Life's meaning has always eluded me and I guess it always will. But I love it just the same. ~ E. B. White

3 Kalki 00:06, 11 July 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
3 Zarbon 05:22, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 15:11, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

----

I am a member of a party of one, and I live in an age of fear. ~ E. B. White

3 Kalki 21:59, 10 July 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
2 Zarbon 03:58, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

----

Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind. ~ E. B. White

OR

Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it. ~ E. B. White

4 for both versions. Zarbon 22:25, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3, or an eventual 4, but only for the first sourcable version.

----

When you consider that there are a thousand ways to express even the simplest idea, it is no wonder writers are under a great strain. Writers care greatly how a thing is said — it makes all the difference. So they are constantly faced with too many choices and must make too many decisions.
I am still encouraged to go on. I wouldn't know where else to go. ~ E. B. White

3 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 18:12, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

----

The great problem of legislation is, so to organize the civil government of a community ... that in the operation of human institutions upon social action, self-love and social may be made the same. ~ John Quincy Adams

3 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 18:12, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

----

Folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do. It aggravates ‘em. You’re not gonna change any of them by talkin’ right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language. ~ Harper Lee (in To Kill a Mockingbird — first published on 11 July 1960)

3 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 18:12, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

----

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. ~ Harper Lee (in To Kill a Mockingbird — first published on 11 July 1960)

3 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
3 Zarbon 18:12, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

----

I'm gonna be a new kind of clown. I'm gonna stand in the middle of the ring and laugh at the folks. ~ Harper Lee (in To Kill a Mockingbird — first published on 11 July 1960)

3 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 18:12, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

----

Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. ~ Harper Lee (in To Kill a Mockingbird — first published on 11 July 1960)

3 Kalki 18:15, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 18:12, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

----

Quoternity