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April 6

day of the year From Wikiquote, the free quote compendium

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
There is no sincerer love than the love of food. ~ George Bernard Shaw
2005
See, I write jokes for a living, man. I sit in my hotel at night and think of something that's funny and then I go get a pen and write 'em down. Or, if the pen's too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain't funny. ~ Mitch Hedberg (recent death)
2006
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. ~ Isaac Asimov (died 6 April 1992)
2007
I am less concerned with expressing the motions of the soul and mind than to render visible, so to speak, the inner flashes of intuition which have something divine in their apparent insignificance and reveal magic, even divine horizons, when they are transposed into the marvellous effects of pure plastic art. ~ Gustave Moreau
2008
I have never looked for dream in reality or reality in dream. I have allowed my imagination free play, and I have not been led astray by it. ~ Gustave Moreau
2009

Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our pleasant earth below
Like the heaven above.

~ Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney ~

2010

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.

Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.
~ Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney ~

2011
I believe neither in what I touch nor what I see. I only believe in what I do not see, and solely in what I feel. ~ Gustave Moreau
2012
אלהי אלהי למא שבקתני
ελωι ελωι λεμα σαβαχθανι
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
~ Jesus ~
2013
No one could have less faith in the absolute and definitive importance of the work created by man, because I believe that this world is nothing but a dream.
~ Gustave Moreau ~
2014
Whenever the powers of government are placed in any hands other than those of the community, whether those of one man, of a few, or of several, those principles of human nature which imply that government is at all necessary, imply that those persons will make use of them to defeat the very end for which government exists.
~ James Mill ~
2015
Speak kindly to the erring;
Thou yet may'st lead them back,
With holy words and tones of love,
From misery's thorny track.
Forget not thou hast often sinned.
And sinful yet must be;
Deal gently with the erring one,
As God hath dealt with thee.
~ Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney ~
2016
Sleep and death of the senses; tears and the death of the heart. Do you understand the progression?
Sleep, though sad, is gentler than tears which, though painful, are gentler than death. Ecstasy is more delightful than song, which is gentler than work. Prayer is superior to dreaming which is more elevated than manual work.
~ Gustave Moreau ~
2017
Today I started loving you again
I'm right back where I've really always been;
I got over you just long enough to let my heartache mend,
Then today I started loving you again.
~ Merle Haggard ~
2018
Of the laws of nature on which the condition of man depends, that which is attended with the greatest number of consequences is the necessity of labor for obtaining the means of subsistence, as well as the means of the greatest part of our pleasures. This is no doubt the primary cause of government; for if nature had produced spontaneously all the objects which we desire, and in sufficient abundance for the desires of all, there would have been no source of dispute or of injury among men, nor would any man have possessed the means of ever acquiring authority over another.
The results are exceedingly different when nature produces the objects of desire not in sufficient abundance for all. The source of dispute is then exhaustless, and every man has the means of acquiring authority over others in proportion to the quantity of those objects which he is able to possess. In this case the end to be obtained through government as the means, is to make that distribution of the scanty materials of happiness which would insure the greatest sum of it in the members of the community taken altogether, preventing every individual or combination of individuals from interfering with that distribution or making any man to have less than his share.
~ James Mill ~
2019
The government and the people are under a moral necessity of acting together; a free press compels them to bend to one another.
~ James Mill ~
2020
Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow.

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on.
~ Bill Withers ~
  • proposed by Kalki, in regard of his recent death.
2021
This habit of forming opinions, and acting upon them without evidence, is one of the most immoral habits of the mind. ... As our opinions are the fathers of our actions, to be indifferent about the evidence of our opinions is to be indifferent about the consequences of our actions. But the consequences of our actions are the good and evil of our fellow-creatures. The habit of the neglect of evidence, therefore, is the habit of disregarding the good and evil of our fellow-creatures.
~ James Mill ~
2022
The war in Ukraine is one of the greatest challenges ever to the international order and the global peace architecture, founded on the United Nations Charter.
Because of its nature, intensity, and consequences.
We are dealing with the full-fledged invasion, on several fronts, of one Member State of the United Nations, Ukraine, by another, the Russian Federation — a Permanent Member of the Security Council — in violation of the United Nations Charter, and with several aims, including redrawing the internationally-recognized borders between the two countries.
The war has led to senseless loss of life, massive devastation in urban centres, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
I will never forget the horrifying images of civilians killed in Bucha.
I immediately called for an independent investigation to guarantee effective accountability.
~ António Guterres ~
2023
No good government can ever want more than two things for its support: 1st, Its own excellence; and, 2dly, a people sufficiently instructed, to be aware of that excellence. Every other pretended support, must ultimately tend to its subversion, by lessening its dependence upon these.
~ James Mill ~
2024
Every fool has a rainbow
But he never seems to find
The reward that should be waiting
At the end of the line.

But he'll give up a bed of roses
For a hammock filled with thorns
And go chasing after rainbows
Every time a dream is born.
~ Merle Haggard ~
2025
Having lots of ideas doesn't mean you're clever, any more than having lots of soldiers means you're a good general.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
2026
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Suggestions

If we don't play God, who will? ~ James D. Watson

  • 3 Zarbon 00:37, 4 April 2009 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 02:01, 5 April 2009 (UTC) there is ambiguity and significance here beyond his intentions.
  • 2 InvisibleSun 20:23, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
Do things as soon as you can. If a decision needs to be made, make it. It gives you more time to change your mind.
~ James D. Watson ~
Every fool has a rainbow
That only he can see
Every fool has a rainbow
And the rule applies to me.
~ Merle Haggard ~
When the world wide war is over and done
And the dream of peace comes through
We'll all be drinking some free bubble up
And eating some rainbow stew.
~ Merle Haggard ~
There are people who feel the need to be prominent, to rise above their fellow men, at all costs. Their whole concern is to play the charlatan in full view of everyone: on the stage, on the throne or on the gallows, they'll always feel fine as long as they're the centre of attention.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~


In cities the old are more corrupt than the young.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Most anthologists of poetry or quotations are like those who eat cherries or oysters, first picking the best and ending by eating everything.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
We must start human society from scratch; as Francis Bacon said, we must recreate human understanding.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Every day I add to the list of things I refuse to discuss. The wiser the man, the longer the list.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Foolish, ignorant and vicious persons go to books for their thoughts and judgments, and for all their elevated and noble sentiments, just as a rich woman goes with her money to a draper.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
He was passionate and thought he was wise; I was a fool and suspected it; I was nearer to wisdom.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Public opinion reigns in society because stupidity reigns amongst the stupid.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Most social institutions seem to be designed to keep man in a state of intellectual and emotional mediocrity that makes him more fit to govern or be governed.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Economists are surgeons ... who operate beautifully on the dead and torment the living.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
The things you know best are: first, those you know intuitively; second, those you've learned from experience; third, those you've learned not from but through books and the ideas they've inspired in you; and finally, those you've learned in books and from your teachers.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
What I admire in the ancient philosophers is their desire to make their lives conform to their writings, a trait which we notice in Plato, Theophrastus and many others. Practical morality was so truly their philosophy's essence that many, such as Xenocrates, Polemon, and Speusippus, were placed at the head of schools although they had written nothing at all. Socrates was none the less the foremost philosopher of his age, although he had not composed a single book or studied any other science than ethics.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
A good number of works owe their success to the mediocrity of their authors' ideas, which match the mediocrity of those of the general public.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
The perfect man ... is in a well-lit area watching the foolish antics of people stumbling around in the dark. He can demolish with a laugh the false standards and judgments which others apply to people and things.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Good taste, tact, and propriety have more in common than men of letters affect to believe. Tact is good taste applied to bearing and conduct, and propriety is good taste applied to conversation.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Feeling creates thought, men willingly agree; but they will not so willingly agree that thought creates feeling, though this is scarcely less true.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Anyone whose needs are small seems threatening to the rich, because he's always ready to escape their control.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Nature didn't tell me “Don't be poor”; and certainly didn't say: “Get rich”; but she did shout: “Always be independent!”
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
There aren't many benefactors who don't say, like Satan: “All these things will I give you if you bow down and worship me.”
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Both the court and the general public give a conventional value to men and things, and then are surprised to find themselves deceived by it. This is as if arithmeticians should give a variable an arbitrary value to the figures in a sum, and then, after restoring their true and regular value in the addition, be astonished at the incorrectness of their answer.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Anyone who relies too heavily on reason to achieve happiness, who analyses it, who, so to speak, quibbles over his enjoyment and can accept only refined pleasures, ends up not having any at all. He's like a man who wants to get rid of all the lumps in his mattress and eventually ends up sleeping on bare boards.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Money is the greatest concern for small characters, but is nothing but the smallest for great characters.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
An honest fellow stripped of all his illusions is the ideal man. Though he may have little wit, his society is always pleasant. As nothing matters to him, he cannot be pedantic; yet is he tolerant, remembering that he too has had the illusions which still beguile his neighbor. He is trustworthy in his dealings, because of his indifference; he avoids all quarreling and scandal in his own person, and either forgets or passes over such gossip or bickering as may be directed against himself. He is more entertaining than other people because he is in a constant state of epigram against his neighbor. He dwells in truth, and smiles at the stumbling of others who grope in falsehood. He watches from a lighted place the ludicrous antics of those who walk in a dim room at random. Laughing, he breaks the false weight and measure of men and things.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Few people are able to appreciate a philosopher; he's almost a sort of public enemy. Faced by the various pretensions of mankind, ...he says bluntly: “I'm prepared to take you only at your true value, what you're really worth.” It's not easy to get people to appreciate anyone who makes such an uncompromising declaration.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Love, a pleasant folly; ambition, a serious stupidity.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
To be in no one's hand, to be a man of one's heart, of one's principles, of one's feelings, that's the rarest thing I've ever seen.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
There are more fools than wise men, and even in a wise man there is more folly than wisdom.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
The most completely wasted of all days is that in which we have not laughed.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Men whose only concern is other people's opinion of them are like actors who put on a poor performance to win the applause of people of poor taste; some of them would be capable of good acting in front of a good audience. A decent man plays his part to the best of his ability, regardless of the taste of the gallery.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
The public is governed as it reasons; its own prerogative is foolish speech and that of its governors is foolish action.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
Few people are prepared to use their reason without fear or favor, or bold enough to apply it relentlessly to every moral, political and social issue: to kings and ministers, to men in high places, to the philosophers, to absolutely every scientific and artistic principle. And if we don't, we're doomed to remain mediocre.
~ Nicolas Chamfort ~
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