# May 16

Quotes of the day from previous years:

## 2004

    If we begin with certainties, we shall end in doubts; if we begin with doubts, and are patient, we shall end in certainties. ~ Marcus Aurelius
   * selected by Kalki

## 2005

    You say that you are my judge. I don't know if you are — but take care not to judge wrongly, lest you place yourself in great danger. ~ Jehanne Darc (Jeanne d'Arc; Joan of Arc) (canonized 16 May 1920)
   * selected by Kalki

## 2006

    I like quoting Einstein. Know why? Because nobody dares contradict you. ~ Studs Terkel (born 16 May 1912)
   * selected by Kalki

## 2007

    The universe is flux, life is opinion. ~ Marcus Aurelius
   * proposed by Aphaia

## 2008

    Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear. ~ Marcus Aurelius
   * proposed by Aphaia

## 2009

    The slave system is one of constant danger, distrust, suspicion, and watchfulness. It debases those whose toil alone can produce wealth and resources for defence, to the lowest degree of which human nature is capable, to guard against mutiny and insurrection, and thus wastes energies which otherwise might be employed in national development and aggrandizement. The free-labor system educates all alike, and by opening all the fields of industrial employment and all the departments of authority, to the unchecked and equal rivalry of all classes of men, at once secures universal contentment, and brings into the highest possible activity all the physical, moral, and social energies of the whole state. ~ William H. Seward
   * proposed by InvisibleSun

## 2010

    I have learned, by some experience, that virtue and patriotism, vice and selfishness, are found in all parties, and that they differ less in their motives than in the policies they pursue. ~ William H. Seward (born May 16, 1801)
   * proposed by InvisibleSun

## 2011

    Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised. ~ Marcus Aurelius
   * proposed by Aphaia

## 2012

* Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?
* ~ George Bernard Shaw ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2013

* Religion is a great force — the only real motive force in the world; but what you fellows don't understand is that you must get at a man through his own religion and not through yours. Instead of facing that fact, you persist in trying to convert all men to your own little sect, so that you can use it against them afterwards. You are all missionaries and proselytizers trying to uproot the native religion from your neighbor's flowerbeds and plant your own in its place. You would rather let a child perish in ignorance than have it taught by a rival sectary.
* ~ George Bernard Shaw ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2014

* What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts.
* ~ George Bernard Shaw ~ in ~ Man and Superman ~
   * selected by Kalki

## 2015

* Acceptance is right. Kindness is right. Love is right. I pray, right now, that we're moving into a kinder time when prejudice is overcome by understanding; when narrow-mindedness, and narrow-minded bigotry is overwhelmed by open-hearted empathy; when the pain of judgmentalism is replaced by the purity of love.
* ~ Janet Jackson ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2016

* If I were in a wood, I could easily hear the Voice which came to me. It seemed to me to come from lips I should reverence. I believe it was sent me from God. When I heard it for the third time, I recognized that it was the Voice of an Angel. This Voice has always guarded me well, and I have always understood it; it instructed me to be good and to go often to Church; it told me it was necessary for me to come into France.
* ~ Joan of Arc ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2017

* The light comes at the same time as the Voice. … I will not tell you all; I have not leave; my oath does not touch on that. My Voice is good and to be honored. I am not bound to answer you about it. I request that the points on which I do not now answer may be given me in writing. … You shall not know yet. There is a saying among children, that "Sometimes one is hanged for speaking the truth."
* ~ Joan of Arc ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2018

* At this weak, pale, tabescent moment in the history of American literature, we need a battalion, a brigade, of Zolas to head out into this wild, bizarre, unpredictable, Hog-stomping, Baroque country of ours and reclaim it as literary property.
* ~ Tom Wolfe ~
   * proposed by Kalki, in regard to his recent death.

## 2019

* The really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you'll grow out of it.
* ~ Doris Day ~
   * proposed by Kalki, in regard to her recent death.

## 2020

* If ever I do escape, no one shall reproach me with having broken or violated my faith, not having given my word to any one, whosoever it may be.
* ~ Joan of Arc ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2021

* Remember always that the cause of the United States is the cause of human nature.
* ~ William H. Seward ~
   * proposed by Illegitimate Barrister

## 2022

* What counts is what you do with your money, not where it came from.
* ~ Merton Miller ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2023

* The Voice had promised me that, as soon I came to the King, he would receive me. Those of my party knew well that the Voice had been sent me from God; they have seen and known this Voice, I am sure of it. My King and many others have also heard and seen the Voices which came to me: there were there Charles de Bourbon and two or three others. There is not a day when I do not hear this Voice; and I have much need of it. But never have I asked of it any recompense but the salvation of my soul.
* ~ Joan of Arc ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2024

    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!

## Suggestions

* The color of the prisoner’s skin, and the form of his features, are not impressed upon the spiritual immortal mind which works beneath. In spite of human pride, he is still your brother, and mine, in form and color accepted and approved by his Father, and yours, and mine, and bears equally with us the proudest inheritance of our race — the image of our Maker. Hold him then to be a Man.
* ~ William H. Seward ~
* 3.25. May 16 is the man's birthday. – Illegitimate Barrister 14:37, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
* 2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:55, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
* 3 dibbydib$^{⌐■_■}$ (barate me) 23:48, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
* Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen, Bright topaz denizens of a world of green. They do not fear the men beneath the tree; They pace in sleek chivalric certainty. ~ Adrienne Rich (birthday)
** 4 Ficaia (talk) 08:27, 3 May 2024 (UTC)