411 REFERENCE · Wikiquote
May 21
Reference material by Wikiquote contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
Category:DaysMay 21 Quotes of the day from previous years:
2004
The road to wisdom? — Well, it's plain and simple to express: Err and err and err again but less and less and less. ~ Piet Hein
selected by Kalki
2005
May the Force be with you. ~ Jedi saying; used in all Star Wars episodes.
selected by Kalki (recent release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the last of the "prequel trilogy" of Star Wars)
2006
A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. ~ Alexander Pope (born 21 May 1688)
selected by Kalki
2007
Life — a culmination of the past, an awareness of the present, an indication of a future beyond knowledge, the quality that gives a touch of divinity to matter. ~ Charles Lindbergh (80th anniversary of his solo flight across the Atlantic.)
proposed by Kalki
2008
The flying Rumours gather'd as they roll'd,Scarce any Tale was sooner heard than told;And all who told it, added something new,And all who heard it, made Enlargements too,In ev'ry Ear it spread, on ev'ry Tongue it grew. ~ Alexander Pope ~
proposed by Kalki
2009
Some Figures monstrous and mis-shap'd appear, Consider'd singly, or beheld too near, Which, but proportion'd to their Light, or Place, Due Distance reconciles to Form and Grace. A prudent Chief not always must display His Pow'rs in equal Ranks, and fair Array, But with th' Occasion and the Place comply, Conceal his Force, nay seem sometimes to Fly. Those oft are Stratagems which Errors seem, Nor is it Homer Nods, but We that Dream. ~ Alexander Pope ~
proposed by Kalki
2010
All seems Infected that th' Infected spy,As all looks yellow to the Jaundic'd Eye. ~ Alexander Pope ~
proposed by Kalki
2011
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. ~ Alexander Pope
proposed by Kalki
2012
Trust not your self; but your Defects to know,Make use of ev'ry Friend — and ev'ry Foe. Alexander Pope
proposed by Kalki
2013
Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: God said, "Let Newton be!" and all was light. Alexander Pope
proposed by Kalki
2014
The environment of human life has changed more rapidly and more extensively in recent years than it has ever changed before. When environment changes, there must be a corresponding change in life. That change must be so great that it is not likely to be completed in a decade or in a generation. Charles Lindbergh
proposed by Kalki
2015
I have come to believe … that the stage may do more than teach, that much of our current moral instruction will not endure the test of being cast into a lifelike mold, and when presented in dramatic form will reveal itself as platitudinous and effete. That which may have sounded like righteous teaching when it was remote and wordy, will be challenged afresh when it is obliged to simulate life itself. Jane Addams
proposed by bystander
2016
Some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon. Alexander Pope
proposed by Kalki
2017
In the United States of America, satire is protected speech, even if the object of the satire doesn’t get it. Al Franken
proposed by Kalki
2018
He who tells a lie, is not sensible how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one. Alexander Pope
proposed by Kalki
2019
Some old men, by continually praising the time of their youth, would almost persuade us that there were no fools in those days; but unluckily they are left themselves for examples. Alexander Pope
proposed by Kalki
2020
Teach me to feel another's woe, To right the fault I see; That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me. Alexander Pope
proposed by Kalki
2021
What after all, has maintained the human race on this old globe despite all the calamities of nature and all the tragic failings of mankind, if not faith in new possibilities, and courage to advocate them. Jane Addams
proposed by Kalki
2022
In his own way each man must struggle, lest the moral law become a far-off abstraction utterly separated from his active life. Jane Addams
proposed by Kalki
2023
We fatuously hoped that we might pluck from the human tragedy itself a consciousness of a common destiny which should bring its own healing, that we might extract from life’s very misfortunes a power of cooperation which should be effective against them. Jane Addams
proposed by Kalki
2024
What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. ... It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not the freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check on their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few. Learned Hand
proposed by HouseOfChange
2025
Oh, happiness! Our being’s end and aim! Good, pleasure, ease, content! whate’er thy name: That something still which prompts the eternal sigh, For which we bear to live, or dare to die, Which still so near us, yet beyond us lies, O’erlooked, seen double, by the fool, and wise. Plant of celestial seed! if dropped below, Say, in what mortal soil thou deign’st to grow? … Where grows? — where grows it not? If vain our toil, We ought to blame the culture, not the soil: Fixed to no spot is happiness sincere, ’Tis nowhere to be found, or everywhere; ’Tis never to be bought, but always free, And fled from monarchs, St. John! dwells with thee. Alexander Pope ~ in ~ An Essay on Man
proposed by DanielTom
2026
In a free society a large degree of human activity is none of the government's business. We should make criminal what's going to hurt other people and other than that we should leave it to people to make their own choices. Barney Frank
proposed by Kalki; in regard of his recent death.
2027 Rank or add further suggestions…
Suggestions
I've said that net neutrality is the most important free speech issue of our time. It's true. If Republicans have their way, large corporations won't just have the loudest voices in the room. They'll be able to effectively silence everyone else. Every small business they'd prefer not to compete with. Every blogger who publishes something they don't like. We have to stop them. ~ Al Franken (date of birth)
3 bystander (talk) 04:59, 21 May 2012 (UTC)
3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 10:16, 17 May 2013 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
3 dibbydib⌐■_■ (barate me) 00:26, 19 May 2020 (UTC)