September 26

September 26

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2003

We have a firm commitment to NATO; we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe; we are a part of Europe. ~ Dan Quayle

• selected by Nanobug

2004

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. ~ Jonathan Swift

• selected by Kalki

2005

The awful daring of a moment's surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed.
~ T. S. Eliot (born 26 September 1888)

• proposed by Kalki

2006

What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets

• proposed by Kalki

2007

Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2008

All is always now. Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Will not stay still.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2009

Whatever we inherit from the fortunate
We have taken from the defeated
What they had to leave us — a symbol:
A symbol perfected in death.
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
By the purification of the motive
In the ground of our beseeching.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2010

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.
And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.

~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Ningauble

2011

Quick now, here, now, always —
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2012

Right action is freedom From past and future also. For most of us, this is the aim Never here to be realised; Who are only undefeated Because we have gone on trying; We, content at the last If our temporal reversion nourish (Not too far from the yew-tree) The life of significant soil.

~ T. S. Eliot ~ in ~ The Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2013

If we all were judged according to the consequences Of all our words and deeds, beyond the intention And beyond our limited understanding Of ourselves and others, we should all be condemned.

~ T. S. Eliot ~

• proposed by Kalki

2014

Time past and time future Allow but a little consciousness. To be conscious is not to be in time But only in time can the moment in the rose-garden, The moment in the arbour where the rain beat, The moment in the draughty church at smokefall Be remembered; involved with past and future. Only through time time is conquered.

~ T. S. Eliot ~ in ~ The Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2015

Do I dare Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

~ T. S. Eliot ~

• proposed by Kalki

2016

In all Debates, let Truth be thy Aim, not Victory, or an unjust Interest: And endeavor to gain, rather than to expose thy Antagonist.

~ William Penn ~

• proposed by Kalki for the date of the first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, 2016

2017

If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent If the unheard, unspoken Word is unspoken, unheard; Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard, The Word without a word, the Word within The world and for the world; And the light shone in darkness and Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled About the centre of the silent Word.       O my people, what have I done unto thee. Where shall the word be found, where will the word Resound? Not here, there is not enough silence

~ T. S. Eliot ~

• proposed by Kalki

2018

The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.

~ Martin Heidegger ~

• proposed by bystander

2019

We must always take risks. That is our destiny.

~ T. S. Eliot ~ in ~ The Cocktail Party ~

• proposed by Kalki

2020

Every thinking of being, all philosophy, can never be confirmed by "facts," ie, by beings. Making itself intelligible is suicide for philosophy. Those who idolize "facts" never notice that their idols only shine in a borrowed light. They are also meant not to notice this; for thereupon they would have to be at a loss and therefore useless. But idolizers and idols are used wherever gods are in flight and so announce their nearness.

~ Martin Heidegger ~

• proposed by Kalki

2021

Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black. We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

~ T. S. Eliot ~

• proposed by Kalki

2022

What the dead had no speech for, when living, They can tell you, being dead: the communication Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.

~ T. S. Eliot ~ in ~ Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2023

What there is to conquer By strength and submission, has already been discovered Once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope To emulate — but there is no competition — There is only the fight to recover what has been lost And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss. For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.

~ T. S. Eliot ~ in ~ The Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2024

Do not let me hear Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly, Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession, Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God. The only wisdom we can hope to acquire Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.

~ T. S. Eliot ~ in ~ The Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2025

Trying to use words, and every attempt Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure Because one has only learnt to get the better of words For the thing one no longer has to say, or the way in which One is no longer disposed to say it.

~ T. S. Eliot ~ in ~ Four Quartets ~

• proposed by Kalki

2026

Rank or add further suggestions…

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Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:

• We shall not cease from exploration.
  And at the end of all our exploring
  Will be to arrive where we started
  And know the place for the first time. ~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets
  • Used on 3 October 2003, selected by Nanobug

• Where is the Life we have lost in living?
  Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
  Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
  ~ T. S. Eliot ~
  • used 15 August 2004, selected by Kalki

• Men learn little from others' experience. But in the life of one man, never the same time returns. ~ T. S. Eliot, in Murder in the Cathedral
  • used 4 January 2007, proposed by UDScott

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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!

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Suggestions

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All that I can hope to make you understand is only events: not what has happened. And people to whom nothing has ever happened cannot understand the unimportance of events. ~ T. S. Eliot (date of birth)

• 3 Kalki 22:46, 23 September 2005 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
• 2 InvisibleSun 21:04, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
• 1 Zarbon 23:27, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
• 3 N6n 16:43, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

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Yet if the only form of tradition, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, "tradition" should positively be discouraged. We have seen many such simple currents soon lost in the sand; and novelty is better than repetition. Tradition is a matter of much wider significance. It cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour. ~ T. S. Eliot

• 3 InvisibleSun 21:04, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 06:11, 25 September 2007 (UTC) but might eventually give it a 3 or a 4, but ONLY if truncated to remove the initial "Yet".
• 2 Zarbon 23:27, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
• 3 N6n 16:43, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

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If you don't have a hammer, you don't want anything to look like a nail. ~ Robert Kagan

• 4 Zarbon 04:39, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
• 3 InvisibleSun 22:45, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
• 1 Kalki 00:19, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

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If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For you will heap burning coals on his head. ~ Proverbs 25:21,22

• 3 Tab1of2 21:54, 25 September 2009 (UTC)
• 2 Kalki 22:07, 25 September 2009 (UTC) but this has no clear relation to the date.
• 2 N6n 16:43, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

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We dwell with satisfaction upon the poet's difference from his predecessors, especially his immediate predecessors; we endeavour to find something that can be isolated in order to be enjoyed. Whereas if we approach a poet without this prejudice we shall often find that not only the best, but the most individual parts of his work may be those in which the dead poets, his ancestors, assert their immortality most vigorously. And I do not mean the impressionable period of adolescence, but the period of full maturity.
~ T. S. Eliot ~

• 3 Kalki 22:07, 25 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

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Desire itself is movement
Not in itself desirable;
Love is itself unmoving,
Only the cause and end of movement,
Timeless, and undesiring
Except in the aspect of time
Caught in the form of limitation
Between un-being and being.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

• 3 Kalki 22:07, 25 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

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Fare forward, you who think that you are voyaging;
You are not those who saw the harbour
Receding, or those who will disembark.
Here between the hither and the farther shore
While time is withdrawn, consider the future
And the past with an equal mind.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

• 3 Kalki 22:07, 25 September 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
• 3 N6n 16:43, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

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Let me disclose the gifts reserved for age
To set a crown upon your lifetime's effort.
First, the cold fricton of expiring sense
Without enchantment, offering no promise
But bitter tastelessness of shadow fruit
As body and soul begin to fall asunder.
Second, the conscious impotence of rage
At human folly, and the laceration
Of laughter at what ceases to amuse.
And last, the rending pain of re-enactment
Of all that you have done, and been; the shame
Of things ill done and done to others' harm
Which once you took for exercise of virtue.
Then fools' approval stings, and honour stains.
From wrong to wrong the exasperated spirit
Proceeds, unless restored by that refining fire
Where you must move in measure, like a dancer.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

• 3 Kalki 22:07, 25 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

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We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them.
The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew-tree
Are of equal duration. A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

• 3 Kalki 22:07, 25 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

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And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
...
Do I dare
Disturb the universe? (Eliot)

• 3 N6n 16:43, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
• 2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:17, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

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Why are there beings at all, and why not rather nothing? That is the question.

~ Martin Heidegger ~

• 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 03:01, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

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The human being is not the lord of beings, but the shepherd of Being.

~ Martin Heidegger ~

• 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 03:01, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

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Philosophy will not be able to effect an immediate transformation of the present condition of the world. This is not only true of philosophy, but of all merely human thought and endeavor. Only a god can save us. The sole possibility that is left for us is to prepare a sort of readiness, through thinking and poeticizing, for the appearance of the god or for the absence of the god in the time of foundering for in the face of the god who is absent, we founder.

~ Martin Heidegger ~

• 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 03:01, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

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Everyone is the other, and no one is himself. The they, which supplies the answer to the who of everyday Da-sein, is the nobody to whom every Da-sein has always already surrendered itself, in its being-among-one-another.

~ Martin Heidegger ~

• 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 03:01, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

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We think of beauty as being most worthy of reverence. But what is most worthy of reverence lights up only where the magnificent strength to revere is alive. To revere is not a thing for the petty and lowly, the incapacitated and underdeveloped. It is a matter of tremendous passion; only what flows from such passion is in the grand style.

~ Martin Heidegger ~

• 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 03:01, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

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The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.

~ T. S. Eliot ~

• 3 DanielTom (talk) 21:37, 20 September 2017 (UTC)

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