Quotes of the day from previous years:
| Do not gogentle into that goodnight, Old age should burn and rave at close ofday; Rage, rage against thedying of thelight. |
| ~Dylan Thomas ~ |
| Ourwords must bejudged by ourdeeds; and in striving for a loftyideal we must use practicalmethods; and if we cannot attainall at one leap, we must advance towards it step by step,reasonablycontent so long as we do actually make someprogress in the right direction. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
Light breaks where nosun shines; |
| ~Dylan Thomas ~ |
| Wemustrecognize that it is a cardinalsin againstdemocracy to support a man for public office because he belongs to a givencreed or tooppose him because he belongs to a given creed. It is just asevil as to draw the line betweenclass and class, betweenoccupation and occupation inpoliticallife. No man who tries to draw either line is agoodAmerican.TrueAmericanism demands that wejudge each man on his conduct, that we so judge him in private life and that we so judge him in public life. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| Anattitude ofmoderation is apt to be misunderstood whenpassions are greatlyexcited and whenvictory is apt to rest with theextremists on one side or the other; yet I think it is in the long run the onlywise attitude... |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| We standequally againstgovernment by aplutocracy and government by amob. There is something to be said for government by a greataristocracy which has furnishedleaders to thenation inpeace andwar for generations; even ademocrat like myself must admit this. But there is absolutelynothing to be said for government by a plutocracy, for government by men verypowerful in certain lines and gifted with "themoney touch," but withideals which in theiressence are merely those of so many glorifiedpawnbrokers. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| All of us, no matter from what land ourparents came, no matter in what way we may severallyworship ourCreator, must stand shoulder to shoulder in aunitedAmerica for the elimination of race and religiousprejudice. We must stand for a reign ofequaljustice to both big and small. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| The poorest way to facelife is to face it with asneer. There are many men whofeel a kind of twistedpride incynicism; there are many who confine themselves tocriticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no moreunhealthy being, no man lessworthy ofrespect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, anattitude of sneeringdisbelief towardall that isgreat and lofty, whether inachievement or in thatnobleeffort which, even if itfails, comes to second achievement. A cynicalhabit ofthought andspeech, a readiness tocriticizework which the critic himself never tries toperform, anintellectualaloofness which will notaccept contact with life'srealities — all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, ofsuperiority but ofweakness. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| Men with the muckrake are often indispensable to thewell-being ofsociety, but only if they know when to stop raking the muck, and to look upward to the celestial crown above them. … If they gradually grow tofeel that thewholeworld is nothing but muck theirpower ofusefulness is gone. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| Inname we had theDeclaration of Independence in 1776; but we gave thelie by ouracts to thewords of the Declaration of Independence until 1865; andwords count fornothing except in so far as they represent acts. This istrue everywhere. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| I wish to preach, not thedoctrine of ignoble ease, butthe doctrine of the strenuous life, thelife of toil andeffort, oflabor and strife; to preach that highest form ofsuccess which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink fromdanger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of thesewins the splendid ultimatetriumph. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| There are good citizens and badcitizens in everyclass as in every locality, and theattitude of decentpeople toward great public andsocial questions should be determined, not by the accidental questions ofemployment or locality, but by those deep-setprinciples which represent the innermostsouls of men. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| It’stime to sing a newsong. A song that began 248 years ago. The old notes of downfall,discord,despair, no longer resonate. Our generations of loved ones before us are whispering aprophecy, a quest, a calling, an anthem. Ourmoment rightnow. It’s time forAmerica to sing a new song. Ourvoices sing a chorus ofunity. They sing a song ofdignity andopportunity. Are y’all ready to add your voice to the new American song? Because I am.So let’s do this! |
| ~Beyoncé ~ |
| Acting is what I do; it's not what I am. And I have always had a varied actingcareer and a very fulllife beyond my actingendeavors. |
| ~June Lockhart ~ |
Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:
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When you meet the head of state in Great Britain, you only have to go down on one knee. ~John Cleese, born that day
I have always been fond of the West African proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." ~Theodore Roosevelt, born that day
If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I'm neurotic as hell. I'll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days. ~Sylvia Plath (born October 27, 1932)
Perfection is terrible, it cannot have children. ~Sylvia Plath
I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.
~Sylvia Plath
I am inhabited by a cry.
Nightly it flaps out
Looking, with its hooks, for something to love.
I am terrified by this dark thing
That sleeps in me;
All day I feel its soft, feathery turnings, its malignity.
~Sylvia Plath
What would you do if your country's welfare depended on labor? When a ship is in a storm it requires one captain. ~Fritz Sauckel (born October 27)
There will be certain things in a man that have to be won, not forced; inspired, not compelled. ~Alfred Whitney Griswold
We needed someone who could play like the devil and sing like heaven. ~Scott Weiland
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.
~Dylan Thomas
The more blessed she felt on earth, the more rarely she turned to heaven. ~Zadie Smith
For what is life but a play in which everyone acts a part until the curtain comes down? ~Desiderius Erasmus
War is sweet to them that know it not. ~Desiderius Erasmus
The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war. ~Desiderius Erasmus
Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. ~Theodore Roosevelt
You can tear a poem apart to see what makes it technically tick... You're back with the mystery of having been moved by words. The best craftsmanship always leaves holes and gaps in the works of the poem so that something that isnot in the poem can creep, crawl, flash, or thunder in. The joy and function of poetry is, and was, the celebration of man, which is also the celebration of God. ~Dylan Thomas
The fact that logic cannot satisfy us awakens an almost insatiable hunger for the irrational ~A. N. Wilson, born that day
| I cannot consent to take the position that the door of hope, the door of opportunity, is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to my convictions, be fundamentally wrong. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| The only wise and honorable and Christian thing to do is to treat each black man and each white man strictly on his merits as a man, giving him no more and no less than he shows himself worthy to have. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts 'native' before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance. But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as anyone else. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| Treat each man on his own merits. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |
| The immigrant who comes here in good faith, becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn't doing his part as an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality... We have room for but one soul loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people. |
| ~Theodore Roosevelt ~ |