411 REFERENCE · Wikiquote
January 2
Reference material by Wikiquote contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
January 2
January 2 Quotes of the day from previous years:
2004
Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind. ~ Albert Einstein
selected by Basil Fawlty
2005
We are all in this together. ~ English proverb
selected by Kalki
2006
How often people speak of art and science as though they were two entirely different things, with no interconnection...That is all wrong. The true artist is quite rational as well as imaginative and knows what he is doing; if he does not, his art suffers. The true scientist is quite imaginative as well as rational, and sometimes leaps to solutions where reason can follow only slowly; if he does not, his science suffers. ~ Isaac Asimov (born c. 2 January 1920)
proposed by Kalki
2007
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. ~ Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2008
When people grow wise in one direction, they are sure to make it easier for themselves to grow wise in other directions as well. On the other hand, when they split up knowledge, concentrate on their own field, and scorn and ignore other fields, they grow less wise — even in their own field. ~ Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2009
It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be … ~ Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2010
I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be. ~ Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2011
Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not. ~ Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2012
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for subtlety. ~ Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2013
Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2014
There are no happy endings in history, only crisis points that pass. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2015
If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2016
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2017
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. Isaac Asimov:* proposed by Kalki
2018
To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2019
It is better to go to defeat with free will than to live in a meaningless security as a cog in a machine. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2020
All you have to do is take a close look at yourself and you will understand everyone else. We’re in no way different ourselves … You show me someone who can’t understand people and I’ll show you someone who has built up a false image of himself. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2021
In memory yet green, in joy still felt, The scenes of life rise sharply into view. We triumph; Life’s disasters are undealt, And while all else is old, the world is new. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2022
It is the invariable lesson to humanity that distance in time, and in space as well, lends focus. It is not recorded, incidentally, that the lesson has ever been permanently learned. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2023
I can have respect and admiration for famous people, but I have never had a sense of fear or awe. Barbara Walters
proposed by Kalki; in regard of her recent death.
2024
There is no belief, however foolish, that will not gather its faithful adherents who will defend it to the death. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2025
My crime is that I have never labored to make myself popular — I admit that much — and I have paid too little attention to fools who are old enough to be senile but young enough to have power. Isaac Asimov
proposed by Kalki
2026
A moment like this comes rarely. Seldom do we hold such an opportunity to transform and reinvent. Rarer still is it the people themselves whose hands are the ones upon the levers of change. And yet we know that too often in our past, moments of great possibility have been promptly surrendered to small imagination and smaller ambition. … In writing this address, I have been told that this is the occasion to reset expectations, that I should use this opportunity to encourage the people of New York to ask for little and expect even less. I will do no such thing. The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations. Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try. Zohran Mamdani
proposed by Kalki
2027 Rank or add further suggestions…
Suggestions
DOB: Isaac Asimov · Philip Morin Freneau · Gilbert Murray
I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects-of-faith are outside reason and play no part in rationalism, thus you don't have to waste your time in either attacking or defending. ~ Isaac Asimov (date of birth)
3 Kalki 01:10, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
3 InvisibleSun 13:51, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 17:51, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;They took the spear, but left the shield. ~ Philip Morin Freneau
3 because in the heat of combat, defense is as important as offense, if not more important. Zarbon 05:33, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 16:55, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
2 InvisibleSun 23:24, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
3 could also run on September 8 for the Battle of Eutaw Springs Ficaia (talk)
Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right. Isaac Asimov
3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 05:29, 31 December 2013 (UTC)
When we realize that our lives are one with the great and eternal life of the universe, we are the Buddha. The purpose of Buddhism is to enable all people to come to this realization. Daisaku Ikeda
3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 13:54, 25 May 2023 (UTC); with a lean toward 4.
An old eagle, a blind eagle, who waits hungry and cold and still;He seeks nothing, he fears nothing: he stands lone on a lonely hill. ~ Gilbert Murray
4 Ficaia (talk) 12:59, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
1 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:36, 1 January 2025 (UTC); though poetic presentation of imagery is well structured, there is little context provided here indicating why a description of a doomed and dying eagle is to be considered extraordinarily significant.