# September 3

Quotes of the day from previous years:

## 2003

    There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and dead armadillos. ~ Jim Hightower
   * selected by Nanobug

## 2004

    I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy. ~ J. D. Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye
   * selected by Kalki

## 2005

    I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence. ~ Frederick Douglass
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2006

    Your pretended fear lest error should step in, is like the man that would keep all the wine out of the country lest men should be drunk. It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy, to deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it. ~ Oliver Cromwell
   * proposed by InvisibleSun

## 2007

    A harbor, even if it is a little harbor, is a good thing, since adventurers come into it as well as go out, and the life in it grows strong, because it takes something from the world, and has something to give in return. ~ Sarah Orne Jewett (born 3 September 1849)
   * proposed by InvisibleSun

## 2008

    The old poets little knew what comfort they could be to a man. ~ Sarah Orne Jewett
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2009

    Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom, the toiling work-horse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law. Where function does not change form does not change. The granite rocks, the ever brooding hills, remain for ages; the lightning lives, comes into shape, and dies in a twinkling. It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law. ~ Louis Sullivan (born 3 September 1856)
   * proposed by Ningauble

## 2010

    Your patience may have long to wait, Whether in little things or great, But all good luck, you soon will learn, Must come to those who nobly earn. Who hunts the hay-field over Will find the four-leaved clover. ~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2011

    The warm sun kissed the earth To consecrate thy birth, And from his close embrace Thy radiant face Sprang into sight, A blossoming delight. ~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2012

* The thing that teases the mind over and over for years, and at last gets itself put down rightly on paper— whether little or great, it belongs to Literature.
* ~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~
   * proposed by InvisibleSun

## 2013

* How strange it seems that education, in practice, so often means suppression: that instead of leading the mind outward to the light of day it crowds things in upon it that darken and weary it. Yet evidently the true object of education, now as ever, is to develop the capabilities of the head and of the heart.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by bystander

## 2014

* The greatest man of action is he who is the greatest, and a life-long, dreamer. For in him the dreamer is fortified against destruction by a far-seeing eye, a virile mind, a strong will, a robust courage. And so has perished the kindly dreamer — on the cross or in the garret. A democracy should not let its dreamers perish. They are its life, its guaranty against decay. Thus would I expand the sympathies of youth.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2015

* It cannot for a moment be doubted that an art work to be alive, to awaken us to its life, to inspire us sooner or later with its purpose, must indeed be animate with a soul, must have been breathed upon by the spirit and must breathe in turn that spirit. It must stand for the actual, vital first-hand experiences of the one who made it, and must represent his deep-down impression not only of physical nature but more especially and necessarily his understanding of the out-working of that Great Spirit which makes nature so intelligible to us that it ceases to be a phantasm and becomes a sweet, a superb, a convincing Reality.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2016

* An architect, to be a true exponent of his time, must possess first, last and always the sympathy, the intuition of a poet … this is the one real, vital principle that survives through all places and all times.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2017

* High ideals make a people strong. … decay comes when ideals wane.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2018

* The true architectural art, that art toward which I would lead you, rests, not upon scholarship but upon human powers; and, therefore, it is to be tested, not by the fruits of scholarship, but by the touch-stone of humanity.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2019

* What are books but folly, and what is an education but an arrant hypocrisy, and what is art but a curse when they touch not the heart and impel it not to action?
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2020

* True art, springing fresh from Nature, must have in it, to live, much of the glance of an eye, much of the sound of a voice, much of the life of a life.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2021

* Unceasingly the essence of things is taking shape in the matter of things, and this unspeakable process we call birth and growth. Awhile the spirit and the matter fade away together, and it is this that we call decadence, death. These two happenings seem jointed and interdependent, blended into one like a bubble and its iridescence, and they seem borne along upon a slowly moving air. This air is wonderful past all understanding.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2022

* He who knows naught of dreaming can, likewise, never attain the heights of power and possibility in persuading the mind to act. He who dreams not creates not.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2023

* True art, springing fresh from Nature, must have in it, to live, much of the glance of an eye, much of the sound of a voice, much of the life of a life. … Nature is strong, generous, comprehensive, fecund, subtile … in growth and decadence she continually sets forth the drama of man's life. … thro' the rotating seasons, thro' the procession of the years, thro' the march of the centuries, permeating all, sustaining all, there murmurs the still, small voice of a power that holds us in the hollow of its hand.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2024

* We are rounding out our absorbing study of Democracy. Thus, turning slowly upon the momentous axis of our theme, are we coming more and more fully into the light of our sun: the refulgent and resplendent and life-giving sun of our art — an art of aspirant democracy! Let us then be on our way; for our sun is climbing ever higher. Let us be adoing; lest it set before we know the glory and the import of its light, and we sink again into the twilight and the gloom from which we have come.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 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

Once you learn to read you will be forever free. ~ Frederick Douglass, who boarded a train that day on 1838 on his way to freedom.
* 3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 13:22, 1 August 2005 (UTC)
* 2 ~ Kalki 22:54, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
* 3 InvisibleSun 13:13, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
* 1 Zarbon 21:53, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
* 2.5 Ningauble 15:51, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
* 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:24, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. ~ Frederick Douglass
* 0 This has now already been used on 20 February 2007 Kalki * 3 Kalki 01:32, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
* 3 InvisibleSun 02:43, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
* 3 Zarbon 21:53, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
It is not my design to drink or to sleep, but my design is to make what haste I can to be gone. ~ Oliver Cromwell (died 3 September 1658)
* 3 Kalki 00:45, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
* 1 Zarbon 15:29, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
* 2 InvisibleSun 22:52, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
* 2 Ningauble 15:51, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
* 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:24, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
In the life of each of us … there is a place remote and islanded, and given to endless regret or secret happiness. ~ Sarah Orne Jewett
* 3 Kalki 23:58, 2 September 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
* 2 Zarbon 04:46, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
* 2 Ningauble 15:51, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
* 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:24, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
"Dear robin," said this sad young flower, "Perhaps you'd not mind trying To find a nice white frill for me, Some day when you are flying?"
"You silly thing!" the robin said; "I think you must be crazy! I'd rather be my honest self Than any made-up daisy.
"You're nicer in your own bright gown, The little children love you; Be the best buttercup you can, And think no flower above you.
"Though swallows leave me out of sight, We'd better keep our places; Perhaps the world would all go wrong With one too many daisies.
"Look bravely up into the sky, And be content with knowing That God wished for a buttercup Just here, where you are growing." ~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~
* 3 Kalki 20:35, 2 September 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
* 1 Zarbon 04:14, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
* 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:24, 23 August 2013 (UTC)
OR these stanzas separately:
* I'd rather be my honest self Than any made-up daisy.
* ~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 02:17, 2 September 2014 (UTC)
* Though swallows leave me out of sight, We'd better keep our places; Perhaps the world would all go wrong With one too many daisies. Look bravely up into the sky, And be content with knowing That God wished for a buttercup Just here, where you are growing.
* ~ Sarah Orne Jewett ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 02:17, 2 September 2014 (UTC)
* The human mind, like the silk-worm oppressed with the fullness of its own accumulation, has spun about itself gradually and slowly a cocoon that at last has shut out the light of the world from which it drew the substance of its thread. But this darkness has produced the chrysalis, and we within the darkness feel the beginning of our throes. The inevitable change, after centuries upon centuries of preparation, is about to begin.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 02:17, 2 September 2014 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
* Thro' the rotating seasons, thro' the procession of the years, thro' the march of the centuries, permeating all, sustaining all, there murmurs the still, small voice of a power that holds us in the hollow of its hand.
* ~ Louis Sullivan ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 02:17, 2 September 2014 (UTC); but with a lean toward 2, as I used this as part of another quote in 2023. — Kalki 2023·09·02
* For us, the Battle of the Atlantic was becoming a private war. If you were in it, you knew all about it. You knew how to keep watch on filthy nights, and how to go without sleep; and how to bury the dead and how to die without wasting anyone's time.
** The Cruel Sea (1953 film)
** Rationale: anniversary of the w:Battle of the Atlantic
*** 3 Ficaia (talk) 16:16, 31 May 2024 (UTC)