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November 18

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Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Nowadays most men lead lives of noisy desperation. ~ James Thurber
2005
We're all puppets, Laurie. I'm just a puppet who can see the strings. ~ Alan Moore in Watchmen (born 18 November 1953)
2006
It's a feature of our age that if you write a work of fiction, everyone assumes that the people and events in it are disguised biography — but if you write your biography, it's equally assumed you're lying your head off. ~ Margaret Atwood (born 18 November 1939)
2007
Whatever the scientists may come up with, writers and artists will continue to portray altered mental states, simply because few aspects of our nature fascinate people so much. The so-called mad person will always represent a possible future for every member of the audience — who knows when such a malady may strike? ~ Margaret Atwood
2008
War is what happens when language fails. ~ Margaret Atwood
2009
A lot of being a poet consists of willed ignorance. If you woke up from your trance and realized the nature of the life-threatening and dignity-destroying precipice you were walking along, you would switch into actuarial sciences immediately. ~ Margaret Atwood (born November 18, 1939)
2010
Ideas, unlike solid structures, do not perish. They remain immortal, immaterial and everywhere, like all Divine things. Ideas are a golden, savage landscape that we wander unaware, without a map. Be careful: in the last analysis, reality may be exactly what we think it is. ~ Alan Moore
2011
There are people. There are stories. The people think they shape the stories, but the reverse is often closer to the truth. ~ Alan Moore
2012
A love thought: I love you so much that I could wish I had been born your brother, or had brought you into the world myself.
~ Cesare Pavese ~
2013
So... all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will — where do you want to start?
~ Steven Moffat ~
2014
The world is so full of people, so crowded with these miracles that they become commonplace and we forget... I forget. We gaze continually at the world and it grows dull in our perceptions. Yet seen from the another's vantage point, as if new, it may still take our breath away. Come... dry your eyes, for you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg. Come, dry your eyes. And let's go home.
~ Alan Moore ~
in
~ Watchmen ~
2015
Most people find the word "Apocalypse" to be a terrifying concept. Checked in the dictionary, it means only revelation, although it obviously has also come to mean end of the world. As to what the end of the world means, I would say that probably depends on what we mean by world. I don't think this means the planet, or even the life forms upon the planet. I think the world is purely a construction of ideas, and not just the physical structures, but the mental structures, the ideologies that we've erected, THAT is what I would call the world. Our political structures, philosophical structures, ideological frameworks, economies. These are actually imaginary things, and yet that is the framework that we have built our entire world upon. It strikes me that a strong enough wave of information could completely overturn and destroy all of that. A sudden realization that would change our entire perspective upon who we are and how we exist.
~ Alan Moore ~
2016
The fabric of democracy is always fragile everywhere because it depends on the will of citizens to protect it, and when they become scared, when it becomes dangerous for them to defend it, it can go very quickly.
~ Margaret Atwood ~
2017
There were a lot of utopias in the nineteenth century, wonderful societies that we might possibly construct. Those went pretty much out of fashion after World War I. And almost immediately one of the utopias that people were trying to construct, namely the Soviet Union, threw out a writer called Zamyatin who wrote a seminal book called We, which contains the seeds of Orwell and Huxley. Writers started doing dystopias after we saw the effects of trying to build utopias that required, unfortunately, the elimination of a lot of people before you could get to the perfect point, which never arrived. … I don’t believe in a perfect world. I don’t believe it’s achievable, and I believe the people who try to achieve it usually end up turning it into something like Cambodia or something very similar because purity tests set in. Are you ideologically pure enough to be allowed to live? Well, it turns out that very few people are, so you end up with a big powerful struggle and a mass killing scene.
~ Margaret Atwood ~
2018
I believe that all other political states are in fact variations or outgrowths of a basic state of anarchy; after all, when you mention the idea of anarchy to most people they will tell you what a bad idea it is because the biggest gang would just take over. Which is pretty much how I see contemporary society. We live in a badly developed anarchist situation in which the biggest gang has taken over and have declared that it is not an anarchist situation— that it is a capitalist or a communist situation. But I tend to think that anarchy is the most natural form of politics for a human being to actually practice.
~ Alan Moore ~
2019
A lot of people facing fascism didn’t become fascists. I don’t happen to believe that we are all monsters.
~ Margaret Atwood ~
2020
Anarchy means "without leaders", not "without order". With anarchy comes an age of ordnung, of true order, which is to say voluntary order... this age of ordung will begin when the mad and incoherent cycle of verwirrung that these bulletins reveal has run its course... This is not anarchy, Eve. This is chaos.
~ Alan Moore ~
in
~ V for Vendetta ~
2021
After I wrote Handmaid’s Tale, people came up to me and asked why weren’t there any protests. And I said, “You don’t understand totalitarianism.” A real totalitarianism doesn’t fool around with protests in the streets.
~ Margaret Atwood ~
2022
I am in awe of the majestic miracle that is American democracy. As we participate in a hallmark of our republic — the peaceful, orderly transition from one Congress to the next — let us consider the words of, again, President Lincoln, spoken during one of America’s darkest hours. He called upon us to come together, to swell the chorus of the union, when once again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature. That again is the task at hand.
A new day is dawning on the horizon, and I look forward, always forward, to the unfolding story of our nation, a story of light and love, of patriotism and progress, of many becoming one. And always an unfinished mission to make the dreams of today the reality of tomorrow.
~ Nancy Pelosi ~
  • proposed by Kalki; in regard of her decision to not to seek leadership position of the Democratic party in the US House of Representatives, in the next Congress.
2023
Whatever stage of development it may reach, China will never pursue hegemony or expansion, and will never impose its will on others. China does not seek spheres of influence, and will not fight a cold war or a hot war with anyone. … No matter how the global landscape evolves, the historical trend of peaceful coexistence between China and the United States will not change.
~ Xi Jinping ~
  • proposed by Kalki; recent remarks while in the United States.
2024
While we labour to subdue our passions, we should take care not to extinguish them. Subduing our passions, is disengaging ourselves from the world; to which however, Whilst we reside in it, we must always bear relation; and we may detach ourselves to such a degree as to pass an useless and insipid life, which we were not meant to do. Our existence here is at least one part of a system.
A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.
~ William Shenstone ~
2025
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Suggestions

[edit]

I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize. ~ George Bernard Shaw, said that day, when refusing the money from the Nobel prize.

  • 2 UDScott 14:53, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:05, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 21:19, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:36, 17 November 2007 (UTC) humourous, but I have no strong desire to use it for QOTD.
  • 2 Zarbon 06:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Moderately witty. Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
  • 2 Laurentius (talk) 20:35, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. ~ Niels Bohr (date of death)

  • 3 UDScott 14:53, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:05, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 3. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 21:19, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
  • This was already used on 7 October 2005 ~ Kalki 17:36, 17 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 06:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Already used. Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Do not let the bastards grind you down. ~ Margaret Atwood (date of birth)

  • 3 InvisibleSun 21:05, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 1. Too general, and I find it difficult to believe any one person could have coined such a phrase. Fys. “Ta fys aym”. 21:19, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 17:36, 17 November 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 06:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Antiquary 23:25, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Per Fys. Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
  • 1 Laurentius (talk) 20:35, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

You can't sweep other people off their feet, if you can't be swept off your own. ~ Clarence Day

  • 4 because one must first stand for oneself before standing for others. Zarbon 00:30, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:32, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Trite, not particularly well expressed. Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

A moderate addiction to money may not always be hurtful; but when taken in excess it is nearly always bad for the health. ~ Clarence Day

  • 2 because an excess of anything is harmful. Zarbon 00:30, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Kalki 18:32, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Trite, not particularly well expressed. Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting. ~ Alan Dean Foster

  • 3 because the freedom to do anything with any limits results in chaos. Zarbon 00:30, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 18:32, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

We're shooting handcuffed prisoners in the back of the head, execution-style, instantly "liberating" their souls from their bodies. ~ Justin Raimondo

  • 2 because the terminology of liberation has been used from different perspectives to describe different opinions. Zarbon 00:30, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 18:32, 14 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 InvisibleSun 23:14, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Antiquary 23:25, 17 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 Hard to understand out of context. Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

The bards were feared. They were respected, but more than that they were feared. If you were just some magician, if you'd pissed off some witch, then what's she gonna do, she's gonna put a curse on you, and what's gonna happen? Your hens are gonna lay funny, your milk's gonna go sour, maybe one of your kids is gonna get a hare-lip or something like that — no big deal. You piss off a bard, and forget about putting a curse on you, he might put a satire on you. And if he was a skilful bard, he puts a satire on you, it destroys you in the eyes of your community, it shows you up as ridiculous, lame, pathetic, worthless, in the eyes of your community, in the eyes of your family, in the eyes of your children, in the eyes of yourself, and if it's a particularly good bard, and he's written a particularly good satire, then three hundred years after you're dead, people are still gonna be laughing, at what a twat you were. ~ Alan Moore

  • 3 Kalki 16:45, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Very long and still doesn't express much of the power of satire. Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
  • 1 Too long. Laurentius (talk) 20:35, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

Life isn’t divided into genres. It’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky. ~ Alan Moore

  • 3 Kalki 16:45, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
  • 1 Doesn't express the point very well. Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

An atheist doesn't have to be someone who thinks he has a proof that there can't be a god. He only has to be someone who believes that the evidence on the God question is at a similar level to the evidence on the werewolf question. ~ John McCarthy.

What would be the point of having this job if I didn't get to make up some of the maddest possible scenes I've ever had in my head since I was a kid? ~ Steven Moffat

  • 2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 03:59, 8 January 2012 (UTC)
  • 1 Not particularly witty, hard to understand for those who don't know him. Nemo 19:30, 29 March 2012 (UTC)
  • 1 (as Nemo said) - Laurentius (talk) 20:35, 12 November 2012 (UTC)
I know what I need. … I need... I need... I need... fish fingers … and custard!
~ Steven Moffat ~
When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it'll never end. But however hard you try you can't run forever. Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like the Doctor. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if he ever, for one moment, accepts it. … Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. Not today. Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the Doctor comes to call, everybody lives.
~ Steven Moffat ~
Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek? Subtract Love, add Anger.
~ Steven Moffat ~
There's something you better understand about me 'cause it's important and one day your life may depend on it...I am definitely a mad man with a box.
~ Steven Moffat ~
Silly me; silly old Doctor. When you wake up, you'll have a mum and dad, and you won't even remember me. Well, you'll remember me a little... I'll be a story in your head. But that's OK. We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh? Cause it was, you know. It was the best. A daft old man who stole a magic box and ran away.
~ Steven Moffat ~
Well, I was on my way to this gay gypsy Bar Mitzvah for the disabled when I suddenly thought, "Gosh, the Third Reich's a bit rubbish. I think I'll kill the Führer". Who's with me?
~ Steven Moffat ~
You make them so afraid. When you began, all those years ago, sailing off to see the universe, did you ever think you'd become this? The man who can turn an army around at the mention of his name? "Doctor" — the word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. But if you carry on the way you are, what might that word come to mean? To the people of the Gamma Forests, the word "doctor" means "mighty warrior". How far you've come. And now they've taken a child. The child of your best friends. And they're going to turn her into a weapon, just to bring you down. And all this, my love... in fear of you.
~ Steven Moffat ~


Oft has good nature been the fool's defence,
And honest meaning gilded want of sense. ~ William Shenstone

  • 3 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

There seem near as many people that want passion as want reason. ~ William Shenstone

  • 3 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 00:18, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Necessity may be the mother of lucrative invention, but it is the death of poetical. ~ William Shenstone

  • 4 Zarbon 12:04, 3 October 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 23:08, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 01:42, 11 November 2009 (UTC)
Theirs is the present who can praise the past.
~ William Shenstone ~
Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent.
~ William Shenstone ~
A man of remarkable genius may afford to pass by a piece of wit, if it happens to border on abuse. A little genius is obliged to catch at every witticism indiscriminately.
~ William Shenstone ~
Zealous men are ever displaying to you the strength of their belief, while judicious men are shewing you the grounds of it.
~ William Shenstone ~
Health is beauty, and the most perfect health is the most perfect beauty.
~ William Shenstone ~



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