# May 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

    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

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)
O happiness! our being's end and aim! ~ Alexander Pope
* 3 DanielTom (talk) 22:39, 28 July 2015 (UTC)
* 2 dibbydib$^{⌐■_■}$ (barate me) 00:26, 19 May 2020 (UTC)