March 16 Quotations

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

Do not say, "I follow the one true path of the Spirit", but rather, "I have found the Spirit walking on my path", for the Spirit walks on all paths. ~ Khalil Gibran

selected by Kalki

2005

If in my lifetime the problem of non-free software is solved, I could perhaps relax and write software again. But I might instead try to help deal with the world's larger problems. Standing up to an evil system is exhilarating, and now I have a taste for it. ~ Richard Stallman (born 16 March 1953)

selected by Kalki

2006

Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. The detective must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor. He talks as the man of his age talks, that is, with rude wit, a lively sense of the grotesque, a disgust for sham, and a contempt for pettiness. ~ Raymond Chandler

proposed by IP 220.233.188.149

2007

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. ~ James Madison (born 16 March 1751)

selected by Kalki

2008

Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere instrument of the major number of the Constituents. ~ James Madison

proposed by Kalki

2009

Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne (from The Scarlet Letter first published on this date in 1850)

proposed by Kalki

2010

Suggestions

Of all the enemies to public liberty war, is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. ~ James Madison (born 16 March 1751)

3 Kalki 10:29, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:43, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 22:18, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 04:23, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
3 UDScott 20:12, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

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I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. ~ James Madison (born 16 March 1751)

3 Kalki 10:29, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 20:43, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 22:18, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 04:23, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
# UDScott 20:12, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

I am currently assuming the above mark was meant to be a 3 (this message can be removed if a correction is made). ~ Kalki 09:12, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

I'd assume the same exact thing, as the numerical number sign is on the 3, probably a caps lock error or shift key hold. - Zarbon 02:41, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

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The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan gave us the Taliban. The American occupation of Saudi Arabia gave us bin Laden and Al Qaeda. The Israeli occupation of Lebanon gave us Hezbollah. Let us see what the American occupation of Iraq is going to give us. ~ As'ad AbuKhalil

2 Zarbon 02:37, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 09:12, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:38, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

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Art has a double face, of expression and illusion, just like science has a double face: the reality of error and the phantom of truth. ~ René Daumal

4 Zarbon 02:37, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 09:12, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:38, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

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It is still not enough for language to have clarity and content ... it must also have a goal and an imperative. Otherwise from language we descend to chatter, from chatter to babble and from babble to confusion. ~ René Daumal

2 Zarbon 02:37, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 09:12, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:38, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

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Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,
Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye.
Thy steps I follow with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.
~ Tobias Smollett

2 Zarbon 02:37, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 09:12, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:38, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

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Death is the price paid to have trees, and clams and birds and grasshoppers, and death is the price paid to have human consciousness, to be aware of all that shimmering awareness and all that love. ~ Ursula Goodenough

2 Zarbon 02:37, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 09:12, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:38, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

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The Big Bang, the formation of stars and planets, the origin and evolution of life on this planet, the advent of human consciousness and the resultant evolution of cultures— this is the story, the one story, that has the potential to unite us, because it happens to be true. ~ Ursula Goodenough

2 Zarbon 02:37, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 09:12, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:38, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

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One can start from the perspective of a religious naturalist or from the perspective of the world religions and arrive at the same place: a moral imperative that this Earth and its creatures be respected and cherished. ~ Ursula Goodenough

3 Zarbon 02:37, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 09:12, 13 March 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
3 InvisibleSun 23:38, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

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