Wikiquote

May 24

date

Quotes of the dayfrom previous years:

2004
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves. ~Carl Jung
2005
I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom. ~Bob Dylan(born 24 May 1941)
2006
Every failure is a step to success. ~William Whewell(born 24 May 1794)
2007
Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom. ~Benjamin N. Cardozo(born 24 May 1870)
2008
Every failure is a step to success. Every detection of what is false directs us towards what is true: every trial exhausts some tempting form of error. ~William Whewell
  • proposed byKalki(proposed and chosen without recognition that part of it had been used in 2006)
2009
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
~Bob Dylan~
2010
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
~Bob Dylan~
2011
Magic words and incantations are as fatal to our science as they are to any other. Methods, when classified and separated, acquire their true bearing and perspective as a means to an end, not as ends in themselves. We seek to find peace of mind in the word, the formula, the ritual. The hope is illusion. ~Benjamin N. Cardozo
2012
Lifeconsists notsimplyin whatheredityandenvironmentdo to us but in whatwemake out of what they do to us.
~Harry Emerson Fosdick~
2013
Peaceis anawarenessof reserves from beyondourselves,so that ourpoweris not so much in us as through us. Peace is thegift,not of volitional struggle, but ofspiritualhospitality.
~Harry Emerson Fosdick~
2014
Thefactthatastronomieschangewhile thestarsabide is a trueanalogyof every realm ofhumanlifeandthought,religionnot least ofall.No existenttheologycan be a final formulation ofspiritualtruth.
~Harry Emerson Fosdick~
2015
Godofgraceand God ofglory,
On Thypeoplepour Thypower.
Crown Thine ancientchurch’sstory,
Bring her bud to gloriousflower.
Grant uswisdom,grant uscourage,
For the facing of thishour,
For the facing of this hour.
~Harry Emerson Fosdick~
2016
Our course of advance... is neither a straight line nor a curve. It is a series of dots and dashes.Progresscomesper saltum,by successivecompromisesbetween extremes, compromises often… between "positivismandidealism".Thenotionthat ajuristcan dispense with anyconsiderationas to what thelawought to be arises from thefictionthat the law is acompleteand closedsystem,and thatjudgesand jurists are mereautomatato record its will or phonographs to pronounce its provisions.
~Benjamin N. Cardozo~
2017
Nolifeever growsgreatuntil it is focused, dedicated, disciplined. One of the widest gaps inhumanexperienceis the gap between what we say we want to be and our willingness to discipline ourselves to get there.
~Harry Emerson Fosdick~
2018
There istruthand then again there is truth. For all that theworldis full ofpeoplewho go aroundbelievingthey've got you or your neighbor figured out, there really is no bottom to what is notknown.The truth about us isendless.As are thelies.
~Philip Roth~
2019
Self-pitygets you nowhere. One must have the adventurousdaringtoacceptoneselfas a bundle ofpossibilitiesand undertake the most interestinggamein theworld— making the most of one's best.
~Harry Emerson Fosdick~
2020
Come gather 'roundpeople
Wherever you roam
And admit that thewaters
Around you have grown.
Andacceptit that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If yourtimeto you is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like astone
For the times they area-changin'.
~Bob Dylan~
2021
I'm going tospare the defeated,I'm going tospeakto the crowd
I'm going to spare the defeated, I'm going to speak to the crowd
I'm going toteachpeaceto the conquered, I'm going to tame the proud.
~Bob Dylan~
2022
Everyfailureis a step tosuccess.Every detection of what isfalsedirects us towards what istrue:everytrialexhausts some tempting form oferror.Not only so; but scarcely any attempt is entirely a failure; scarcely anytheory,the result of steadythought,is altogether false; no tempting form of Error is without some latentcharmderived from Truth.
~William Whewell~
2023
I renouncewarfor itsconsequences,for theliesit lives on and propagates, for the undyinghatredit arouses, for thedictatorshipsit puts in place ofdemocracy,for thestarvationthat stalks after it. I renounce war, and never again, directly or indirectly, will I sanction or support another.
~Harry Emerson Fosdick~
2024
We maytrytoseethingsasobjectivelyas we please. None the less, we can never see them with anyeyesexcept our own.
~Benjamin N. Cardozo~
2025
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Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

  • I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it. ~Harry Emerson Fosdick

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0:Not acceptable– not appropriate for use as a quote of the day.
An averaging of the rankings provided to each suggestion produces it’s general ranking in considerations for selection of Quote of the Day.The selections made are usually chosen from the top ranked options existing on the page, but the provision of highly ranked late additions, especially in regard to special events (most commonly in regard to the deaths of famous people, or other major social or physical occurrences), always remain an option for final selections.
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Man is the interpreter of nature, science the right interpretation. ~William Whewell(born May 24)

  • 3 because science is a deciphered truth, based on fact and fact alone. Misinterpretation has never played a role in the scientific defense, even when man has interpreted as such from nature itself.Zarbon05:34, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2Kalki19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3InvisibleSun22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1J.A.R.N.Y.🗣01:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

If a nation does not want a monarchy, change the nation's mind. If a nation does not need a monarchy, change the nation's needs. ~Jan Smuts(born May 24)

  • 3 because the needs and wants of man can be changed.Zarbon05:33, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1Kalki19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1InvisibleSun22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3J.A.R.N.Y.00:58, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

The emotional appeal of nature is tremendous, sometimes almost more than one can bear. ~Jan Smuts(born May 24)

  • 2 because the effects of nature on one can be irreperable.Zarbon05:33, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 but would extend this to "The intimate rapport with nature is one of the most precious things in life. Nature is indeed very close to us; sometimes closer than hands and feet, of which in truth she is but the extension. The emotional appeal of nature is tremendous, sometimes almost more than one can bear."
  • 3 For the extended quotation. -InvisibleSun22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1J.A.R.N.Y.🗣01:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

It is the army that finally makes a citizen of you; without it you still have a chance, however slim, to remain a human being. ~Joseph Brodsky

The formula for prison is a lack of space counterbalanced by a surplus of time. ~Joseph Brodsky

Five or six hundred [aristocratic] heads lopped off would have assured you repose and happiness; a false humanity has restrained your arm and suspended your blows; it will cost the lives of millions of your brothers. ~Jean-Paul Marat

No force however great can stretch a cord however fine into an horizontal line which is accurately straight. ~William Whewell

  • 2Kalki19:23, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 I remember seeing this quotation, beginning "Hence no force," etc., cited inThe Oxford Dictionary of Quotationsas "an example of accidental rhyme and metre." InBartlett'sthe quotation begins with "And so no force," etc. It might be better to restore the original phrasing, whichever it might be, so as to emphasize, by the cadence of the words, the serendipity of this rhymed-and-metered prose. -InvisibleSun22:31, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1Zarbon00:08, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
  • 1J.A.R.N.Y.🗣01:07, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it. Bitterness paralyzes life; love empowers it. Bitterness sours life; love sweetens it. Bitterness sickens life; love heals it. Bitterness blinds life; love anoints its eyes. ~Harry Emerson Fosdick

He who chooses the beginning of a road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determine the end. ~Harry Emerson Fosdick

Real Christians do not carry their religion, their religion carries them. It is not weight, it is wings. It lifts them up, it sees them over hard places. It makes the universe seem friendly, life purposeful, hope real, sacrifice worthwhile. It sets them free from fear, futility, discouragement, and sin — the great enslaver of men's souls. You can know a real Christian when you see him, by his buoyancy. ~Harry Emerson Fosdick

In art, truth is a means to an end; in science, it is the only end.
~William Whewell~
It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena.
~William Whewell~
We unfold out of the Idea of Space the propositions of geometry, which are plainly truths of the most rigorous necessity and universality. But if the idea of space were merely collected from observation of the external world, it could never enable or entitle us to assert such propositions: it could never authorize us to say that not merely some lines, but all lines, not only have, but must have, those properties which geometry teaches. Geometry in every proposition speaks a language which experience never dares to utter; and indeed of which she but half comprehends the meaning.
~William Whewell~
According to the technical language of old writers, a thing and its qualities are described as subject and attributes; and thus a man’s faculties and acts are attributes of which he is the subject. The mind is the subject in which ideas inhere. Moreover, the man’s faculties and acts are employed upon external objects; and from objects all his sensations arise. Hence the part of a man’s knowledge which belongs to his own mind, is subjective: that which flows in upon him from the world external to him, is objective.
~William Whewell~
We cannot observe external things without some degree of Thought; nor can we reflect upon our Thoughts, without being influenced in the course of our reflection by the Things which we have observed.
~William Whewell~


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