December 4

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death. ~ George Carlin

selected by IP 68.227.198.159

2004

Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels'
hierarchies? and even if one of them suddenly
pressed me against his heart, I would perish
in the embrace of his stronger existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

selected by Kalki

2005

Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke (born 4 December 1875)

proposed by UDScott

2006

No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men. ~ Thomas Carlyle (date of birth)

proposed by Kalki

2007

You don't get very far in life without having to be brave an awful lot. Because we all have our frightening moments and difficult trials and we don't have much of a choice but to get through them, and it takes a lot of bravery to do that. The most important thing about bravery is this — It's not about not being scared — it's about being scared and doing it anyway — that's bravery. ~ Ysabella Brave

proposed by Kalki

2008

Is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other? If so, this should be enough. I find the nicest and best people generally profess no religion at all, but are ready to like the best men of all religions. ~ Samuel Butler

proposed by InvisibleSun

2009

That there should one Man die ignorant who had capacity for Knowledge, this I call a tragedy. ~ Thomas Carlyle

proposed by UDScott

2010

Standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards any one. ~ Edith Cavell

proposed by Kalki

2011

Someday, somehow, I am going to do something useful, something for people. They are, most of them, so helpless, so hurt and so unhappy. ~ Edith Cavell

proposed by Kalki

2012

You need to laugh more. Life is filled with too many problems, to not laugh every day. … We need to have a sense of humor going into this because it's too tough without it.

~ Ysabella Brave ~

proposed by Kalki

2013

Words, words, words, are the stumbling-blocks in the way of truth. Until you think of things as they are, and not of the words that misrepresent them, you cannot think rightly. Words produce the appearance of hard and fast lines where there are none. Words divide; thus we call this a man, that an ape, that a monkey, while they are all only differentiations of the same thing. To think of a thing they must be got rid of: they are the clothes that thoughts wear — only the clothes. I say this over and over again, for there is nothing of more importance. Other men's words will stop you at the beginning of an investigation. A man may play with words all his life, arranging them and rearranging them like dominoes. If I could think to you without words you would understand me better.

~ Samuel Butler ~

proposed by bystander

2014

It is love that alone gives life, and the truest life is that which we live not in ourselves but vicariously in others, and with which we have no concern. Our concern is so to order ourselves that we may be of the number of them that enter into life — although we know it not.

~ Samuel Butler ~

proposed by bystander

2015

It is the manner of gods and prophets to begin: "Thou shalt have none other God or Prophet but me." If I were to start as a God or a prophet I think I should take the line: "Thou shalt not believe in me. Thou shalt not have me for a God. Thou shalt worship any d_____d thing thou likest except me." This should be my first and great commandment, and my second should be like unto it.

~ Samuel Butler ~

proposed by Kalki

2016

I can’t stop while there are lives to be saved.

~ Edith Cavell ~

proposed by Kalki

2017

The great characters of fiction live as truly as the memories of dead men. For the life after death it is not necessary that a man or woman should have lived.

~ Samuel Butler ~

proposed by InvisibleSun

2018

Every new idea has something of the pain and peril of childbirth about it; ideas are just as mortal and just as immortal as organised beings are.

~ Samuel Butler ~

proposed by InvisibleSun

2019

Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.

~ Samuel Butler ~

proposed by Kalki

2020

The whole universe is carried on on the credit system, and if the mutual confidence on which it is based were to collapse, it must itself collapse immediately. Just or unjust, it lives by faith; it is based on vague and impalpable opinion that by some inscrutable process passes into will and action, and is made manifest in matter and in flesh: it is meteoric — suspended in mid-air; it is the baseless fabric of a vision so vast, so vivid, and so gorgeous that no base can seem more broad than such stupendous baselessness, and yet any man can bring it about his ears by being over-curious; when faith fails, a system based on faith fails also.
Whether the universe is really a paying concern, or whether it is an inflated bubble that must burst sooner or later, this is another matter. If people were to demand cash payment in irrefragable certainty for everything that they have taken hitherto as paper money on the credit of the bank of public opinion, is there money enough behind it all to stand so great a drain even on so great a reserve?

~ Samuel Butler ~

proposed by InvisibleSun

2021

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.

~ Thomas Carlyle ~

proposed by UDScott

2022: Rank or add further suggestions…

The Quote of the Day (QOTD) is a prominent feature of the Wikiquote Main Page. Thank you for submitting, reviewing, and ranking suggestions!

Ranking system

4 : Excellent – should definitely be used. (This is the utmost ranking and should be used by any editor for only one quote at a time for each date.)

3 : Very Good – strong desire to see it used.

2 : Good – some desire to see it used.

1 : Acceptable – but with no particular desire to see it used.

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.

Thank you for participating!

Suggestions

There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life. ~ Frank Zappa (date of death)

2 ~ UDScott 23:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 08:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
2 Kalki 22:55, 3 December 2007 (UTC) with a lean toward 3.
2 Zarbon 15:36, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
Note: The quote on the Frank Zappa page is now: "I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe." - InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

It's like not only does he shit on our heads, we're supposed to say thanks for the hat. ~ from The Sopranos Brendan Filone Anthony DeSando (born December 4)

3 because I like the message behind the quote. I'm curious if the word "shit" is considered profanity. I don't agree with curses appearing on quote of the day, but is that specific word excessive, I'd like Kalki's thoughts since we both seem to disagree with profanity for the most part. Zarbon 16:41, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
0 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC) this is fine by me as a quote within the article, but a bit too extreme for QOTD.
1 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

Kids, you think you can protect 'em, well you can't. ~ from The Sopranos Brendan Filone Anthony DeSando (born December 4)

4 because children seem to do things that places them in danger and no matter how hard one may try, a child finds a way. Zarbon 16:41, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
1 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

~~There are more fools than knaves in the world, else the knaves would not have enough to live upon. ~ Samuel Butler~~

3 Zarbon 22:24, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

2 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

~~0. This is the 17th century Samuel Butler, whose DOB has now been corrected as February 8, 1612. - InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)~~

Neither have they hearts to stay,
Nor wit enough to run away.
~ Samuel Butler

2 Zarbon 22:24, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

2 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

~~0. This is the 17th century Samuel Butler, whose DOB has now been corrected as February 8, 1612. - InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)~~

I have no fear nor shrinking; I have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me. ~ Edith Cavell

3 Zarbon 23:19, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 3 or even 4 eventually.
2 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

I thank God for this ten weeks' quiet before the end... Life has always been hurried and full of difficulty... This time of rest has been a great mercy. ~ Edith Cavell

2 Zarbon 23:19, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 01:05, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 21:01, 3 December 2008 (UTC)

The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something. The strongest, by dispensing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything. The drop, by continually falling, bores its passage through the hardest rock. The hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar, and leaves no trace behind.

~ Thomas Carlyle ~

4 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:30, 4 December 2022 (UTC)

This world tendency to make history the vehicle of certain definite political, social and economic ideas, which reign supreme in each country for the time being, is like a cloud, at present no bigger than a man’s hand, but which may soon grow in volume, and overcast the sky, covering the light of the world by an impenetrable gloom. The question is therefore of paramount importance, and it is the bounden duty of every historian to guard himself against the tendency, and fight it by the only weapon available to him, namely by holding fast to truth in all his writings irrespective of all consequences. A historian should not trim his sail according to the prevailing wind, but ever go straight, keeping in view the only goal of his voyage—the discovery of truth.

~ R. C. Majumdar ~

3 --ᘙ (talk) 11:29, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Surely all art is the result of one's having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, where no one can go any further.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

4 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:00, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

Violence does even justice unjustly. ~ Thomas Carlyle

4 Ficaia (talk) 11:59, 25 June 2024 (UTC)

Rien ne m'est plus, plus ne m'est rien. / Nothing is left me, and everything is now as nothing. ~ Valentina Visconti, Duchess of Orléans

2 Ficaia (talk) 19:09, 2 August 2024 (UTC)

Kings are in the moral order what monsters are in the physical. Courts are the workshops of crimes, the lair of tyrants. The history of kings is the martyrology of nations. ~ Henri Grégoire (dob)

3 Ficaia (talk) 16:00, 24 August 2024 (UTC)