Wikiquote:Quote of the day/August 2010
- August 1
It is — or seems to be — a wise sort of thing, to realise that all that happens to a man in this life is only by way of joke, especially his misfortunes, if he have them. And it is also worth bearing in mind, that the joke is passed round pretty liberally & impartially, so that not very many are entitled to fancy that they in particular are getting the worst of it. ~ Herman Melville ~ |
- August 2
One writes out of one thing only — one's own experience. Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from this experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give. This is the only real concern of the artist, to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art. ~ James Baldwin ~ |
- August 3
- August 4
Contrary to the rumours that you've heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-El, to save the planet Earth. ~ Barack Obama ~ |
- August 5
Tis true, my form is something odd but blaming me, is blaming God. Could I create myself anew I would not fail in pleasing you. ~ Joseph Merrick ~ |
- August 6
Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new: For I dipped into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm, Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furled There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe, ~ Alfred Tennyson ~ |
- August 7
The real struggle is not between the right and the left but between the party of the thoughtful and the party of the jerks. ~ Jimmy Wales ~ |
- August 8
No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. ~ Shirley Jackson ~ |
- August 9
If you are not ready, and did not know what to do, it could hurt you in different ways. It could knock you down, hard, or throw you against a tree or a wall. It is such a big explosion, it can smash in buildings and knock signboards over, and break windows all over town, but if you duck and cover, like Bert, you will be much safer. ~ Duck and Cover ~ |
- August 10
The one thing we know about torture is that it was never designed in the first place to get at the actual truth of anything; it was designed in the darkest days of human history to produce false confessions in order to annihilate political and religious dissidents. And that is how it always works: it gets confessions regardless of their accuracy. ~ Andrew Sullivan ~ |
- August 11
Wait until the world is free before you write a creed. In this creed there will be but one word — Liberty. |
- August 12
No external power, no terrorist organization, can defeat us. But we can defeat ourselves by getting caught in a quagmire. ~ George Soros ~ |
- August 13
Television has done much for psychiatry by spreading information about it, as well as contributing to the need for it. ~ Alfred Hitchcock ~ |
- August 14
One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honour or observation. ~ Walter Scott ~ |
- August 15
If the art of war were nothing but the art of avoiding risks, glory would become the prey of mediocre minds. I have made all the calculations; fate will do the rest. |
- August 16
Some men, like a tiled house, are long before they take fire, but once on flame there is no coming near to quench them. ~ Thomas Fuller ~ |
- August 17
Most of authors seek fame, but I seek for justice — a holier impulse than ever entered into the ambitious struggles of the votaries of that fickle, flirting goddess. ~ Davy Crockett ~ |
- August 18
I saw the starry Tree Eternity Put forth the blossom Time. |
- August 19
Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter. ~ Bernard Baruch ~ |
- August 20
- August 21
The night was long and dark and just And anyway, ~ Alicia Witt ~ |
- August 22
A gram of experience is worth a ton of theory. |
- August 23
- August 24
- August 25
- August 26
Happiness comes out of contentment, and contentment always comes out of service. |
- August 27
Ambiguity of language is philosophy's main source of problems. That is why it is of the utmost importance to examine attentively the very words we use. ~ Giuseppe Peano ~ |
- August 28
File:RobertsonDavies.jpg | The ironist is not bitter, he does not seek to undercut everything that seems worthy or serious, he scorns the cheap scoring-off of the wisecracker. He stands, so to speak, somewhat at one side, observes and speaks with a moderation which is occasionally embellished with a flash of controlled exaggeration. He speaks from a certain depth, and thus he is not of the same nature as the wit, who so often speaks from the tongue and no deeper. The wit's desire is to be funny; the ironist is only funny as a secondary achievement. ~ Robertson Davies ~ |
- August 29
- August 30
If you're in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent. ~ Warren Buffett ~ |
- August 31
The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less. ~ Eldridge Cleaver ~ |