September 4 Quotations

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003

Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old. ~ Jonathan Swift

selected by Nanobug

2004

The silence often of pure innocence persuades when speaking fails. ~ William Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale

selected by Kalki

2005

I think television has betrayed the meaning of democratic speech, adding visual chaos to the confusion of voices. What role does silence have in all this noise? ~ Federico Fellini

proposed by MosheZadka for the anniversary of the first transatlantic television broadcast (4 September 1951)

2006

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand (born 4 September 1768)

proposed by Kalki

2007

Perfect works are rare, because they must be produced at the happy moment when taste and genius unite; and this rare conjuncture, like that of certain planets, appears to occur only after the revolution of several cycles, and only lasts for an instant. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand

proposed by Kalki

2008

An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand

proposed by Zarbon

2009

As soon as a true thought has entered our mind, it gives a light which makes us see a crowd of other objects which we have never perceived before. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand

proposed by Kalki

2010

Suggestions

Memory is often the attribute of stupidity; it generally belongs to heavy spirits whom it makes even heavier by the baggage it loads them down with. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand

3 because memories truly are a heavy burden to carry. Zarbon 15:57, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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One does not learn how to die by killing others. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand

3 because even after killing others, one will find death surprising when it comes for them. Zarbon 15:57, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:30, 1 September 2009 (UTC) ~~3 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)~~
3 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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Aristocracy has three successive ages, — the age of superiorities, the age of privileges, and the age of vanities; having passed out of the first, it degenerates in the second, and dies away in the third. ~ François-René de Chateaubriand

2 because the process of degeneration is well described here, ending magnificently with vanities. Zarbon 15:57, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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Political criticism is our enemies' best friend. ~ Bernard Kerik

2 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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Never tire yourself more than necessary, even if you have to found a culture on the fatigue of your bones. ~ Antonin Artaud

2 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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I myself spent nine years in an insane asylum and I never had the obsession of suicide, but I know that each conversation with a psychiatrist, every morning at the time of his visit, made me want to hang myself, realizing that I would not be able to cut his throat. ~ Antonin Artaud

2 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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With society and its public, there is no longer any other language than that of bombs, barricades, and all that follows. ~ Antonin Artaud

3 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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Tragedy on the stage is no longer enough for me, I shall bring it into my own life. ~ Antonin Artaud

2 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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There is in every madman a misunderstood genius whose idea, shining in his head, frightened people, and for whom delirium was the only solution to the strangulation that life had prepared for him. ~ Antonin Artaud

3 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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Man, machine and nature should function in artistic harmony. ~ Fritz Todt

3 Zarbon 05:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 22:13, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

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And now you know — the rest of the story. ~ Paul Harvey (born 4 September 1918)

2 Kalki 23:42, 1 March 2009 (UTC) but might rank this a 3 or even a 4 eventually.
1 this lacks context for those who are unfamiliar. - Zarbon 17:49, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

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In hatred as in love, we grow like the thing we brood upon. What we loathe, we graft into our very soul. ~ Mary Renault (DoB)

2.5 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
3 and lean toward 4. Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

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In times like these, it's helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. ~ Paul Harvey (DoB)

3 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
This was already used, on 2 March 2009. ~ Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
2 Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

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It's difficult to be rigorous about whether a machine really 'knows', 'thinks', etc., because we're hard put to define these things. We understand human mental processes only slightly better than a fish understands swimming. ~ John McCarthy (DoB)

2.5 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
2 Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
2 Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

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Whenever we write an axiom, a critic can say that the axiom is true only in a certain context. With a little ingenuity the critic can usually devise a more general context in which the precise form of the axiom doesn't hold.... There simply isn't a most general context. ~ John McCarthy (DoB)

2 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

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Silence, according to western and eastern tradition alike, is necessary for the emergence of persons. It is taken from us by machines that ape people. We could easily be made increasingly dependent on machines for speaking and for thinking, as we are already dependent on machines for moving. ~ Ivan Illich (DoB)

2.5 Ningauble 18:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
3 Kalki 19:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
2 Zarbon 04:16, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

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Quoternity