October 30

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

It’s always worthwhile to make others aware of their worth. ~ Malcolm Forbes

selected by Kalki

2005

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. ~ John Adams (born 30 October 1735)

proposed by Kalki

2006

The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratical council, an oligarchical junto, and a single emperor. Equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody, and in every respect diabolical. ~ John Adams

proposed by Kalki

2007

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. ~ John Adams

proposed by Kalki

2008

Date not the life which thou hast run by the mean of reckoning of the hours and days, which though hast breathed: a life spent worthily should be measured by a nobler line, — by deeds, not years... ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan (born 30 October 1751)

proposed by Zarbon

2009

The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts. I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. ~ John Adams

proposed by Kalki

2010

As to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people. ~ John Adams

proposed by Kalki

2011

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead,
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said —
Feed your head! Feed your head!
~ Grace Slick ~ (born 30 October 1939)

proposed by Kalki

2012

That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certain to be false.

~ Paul Valéry ~

proposed by Zarbon

2013

The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.

~ John Adams ~

proposed by Kalki

2014

There is no such thing as a normal period of history. Normality is a fiction of economic textbooks.

~ Joan Robinson ~

proposed by Kalki

2015

We think ourselves possessed, or, at least, we boast that we are so, of liberty of conscience on all subjects, and of the right of free inquiry and private judgment in all cases, and yet how far are we from these exalted privileges in fact!

~ John Adams ~

proposed by Kalki

2016

A work is never completed except by some accident such as weariness, satisfaction, the need to deliver, or death: for, in relation to who or what is making it, it can only be one stage in a series of inner transformations.

~ Paul Valéry ~

proposed by Zarbon

2017

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.

~ John Adams ~

proposed by Kalki

2018

Virtue is not always amiable. Integrity is sometimes ruined by prejudices and by passions.

~ John Adams ~

proposed by Kalki

2019

Let every declamation turn upon the beauty of liberty and virtue, and the deformity, turpitude, and malignity, of slavery and vice. Let the public disputations become researches into the grounds and nature and ends of government, and the means of preserving the good and demolishing the evil. Let the dialogues, and all the exercises, become the instruments of impressing on the tender mind, and of spreading and distributing far and wide, the ideas of right and the sensations of freedom.
In a word, let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set a-flowing.

~ John Adams ~

proposed by Kalki

2020

Metaphysicians and politicians may dispute forever, but they will never find any other moral principle or foundation of rule or obedience, than the consent of governors and governed.

~ John Adams ~

proposed by Kalki

2021

Dreams grow holy put in action; work grows fair through starry dreaming,
But where each flows on unmingling, both are fruitless and in vain.

~ Adelaide Anne Procter ~

proposed by Kalki

2022

The number of those who undergo the fatigue of judging for themselves is very small indeed!

~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan ~

proposed by Kalki

2023

The best way I can describe it is: after the show was over, at a party or any — any kind social gathering, if one of us bumped into each other, that was it, that was the end of the night. We just sat with the person all night long — and that was it. You apologized to the people that you were with, but they had to understand you had met somebody special to you, and you were going to talk to that person for the rest of the night. And that's the way it worked. It's certainly the way it worked with all of us. It's just the way it is.

~ Matthew Perry ~

proposed by Kalki; in regard of his recent death.

2024

The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many.

~ John Adams ~

proposed by Kalki

2025: 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!

I turned myself from a 97 pound weakling into the World's Most Perfectly Developed Man. ~ Charles Atlas, born that day.

3 brings back memories of the old comic books with the cool comic book ads. ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 19:54, 23 October 2005 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:50, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
1 (braggadocio, memorable tho it may be) ~ Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
1 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small,
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all.
Go ask Alice when she's ten feet tall.
~ Grace Slick (date of birth)

3 Kalki 18:23, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:50, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall,
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call.
~ Grace Slick (date of birth)

3 Kalki 18:23, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 05:50, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't want to do something for the sake of it. I am prepared to wait. If I wait until I am buried, too bad. ~ Michael Winner

2 Zarbon 04:12, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 16:13, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
1 Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Science means simply the aggregate of all the recipes that are always successful. All the rest is literature. ~ Paul Valéry

3 Zarbon 04:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 16:13, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
0 (Science is much misunderstood in popular culture today. This doesn't help.) ~ Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

God created man, and finding him not sufficiently alone, gave him a female companion so that he might feel his solitude more acutely. ~ Paul Valéry

3 because with all the company in the world, man is still alone. Beautiful. Zarbon 04:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 16:13, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

A man who is "of sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key. ~ Paul Valéry

3 Zarbon 04:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
3 Kalki 16:13, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
3 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
0 (unsourced) Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
0 because it is unsourced. - InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Death's a debt; his mandamus binds all alike — no bail, no demurrer. ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan

3 because this is magnificent and elegant. Beautiful to conjure death as a debt, paid in full and in the end. Zarbon 04:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
2Kalki 16:13, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
1 Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

You are not like Cerberus, three gentlemen at once, are you? ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan

3 nice attachment to mythological character Cerberus and the changing of personality. Zarbon 04:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 16:13, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
1 Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

The quarrel is a very pretty quarrel as it stands; we should only spoil it by trying to explain it. ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan

3 because some things are best left unexplained. Zarbon 04:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 16:13, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
1 Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I know too well the poison and the sting
Of things too sweet. ~ Adelaide Anne Procter

3 because beauty is only skin deep. Zarbon 04:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 16:13, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
2 ~ UDScott 13:02, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
2 Ningauble 13:46, 29 October 2008 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. ~ John Adams

3 Kalki 17:17, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

You write with ease to show your breeding,
But easy writing's curst hard reading. ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan

2 Kalki 17:17, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Certainly nothing is unnatural that is not physically impossible. ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan

3 Kalki 17:17, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Man's social happiness all rests on us:
Through all the drama — whether damned or not —
Love gilds the scene, and women guide the plot.
~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan ~

3 Kalki 17:17, 19 October 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Never say more than is necessary. ~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan

3 Kalki 17:17, 19 October 2009 (UTC), with a lean toward 4.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,
That one lost chord divine,
Which came from the soul of the Organ,
And entered into mine.

It may be that Death's bright angel
Will speak in that chord again,
It may be that only in Heaven
I shall hear that grand Amen.
~ Adelaide Anne Procter ~

3 Kalki 17:17, 19 October 2009 (UTC) with a VERY strong lean toward 4.

The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

~ John Adams ~

3.25. Pictures of Kristallnacht would be fitting for this quote. – Illegitimate Barrister, 15:27, 1 October 2015 (UTC)
2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 20:18, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

October 30

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October 30

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