# April 12

Quotes of the day from previous years:

## 2004

    Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt. ~ Pierre Trudeau (on Canadian relations with the US)
   * selected by Poor Yorick

## 2005

    A living body is not merely an integration of limbs and flesh but it is the abode of the soul which potentially has perfect perception, perfect knowledge, perfect power, and perfect bliss. ~ Mahavira (599 or 549 BC) Mahavira Jayanti 2005 celebrating Mahavira's birth (Cregorian calendar and the traditional Jain calculations do not correspond precisely from year to year).
   * selected by Kalki

## 2006

    Man is a creature of hope and invention, both of which belie the idea that things cannot be changed. ~ Tom Clancy (born 12 April 1947)
   * selected by Kalki

## 2007

    Fighting wars is not so much about killing people as it is about finding things out. The more you know, the more likely you are to win a battle. ~ Tom Clancy
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2008

    The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in all ages. It marks its victim; denounces it; and excites the public odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and encroachments. - Henry Clay (born 12 April 1777)
   * proposed by InvisibleSun

## 2009

    He that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. ~ Yeshua (Jesus Christ) (Easter Sunday 2009)
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2010

    No matter what you or anyone else does, there will be someone who says that there's something bad about it. Whenever somebody comes up with a good idea, there's somebody else who has never had a good idea in his life who stands up and says, "Oh, you can't do that..." ~ Tom Clancy
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2011

    I don't know what God is, or what God had in mind when the universe was set in motion. In fact, I don't know if God even exists, although I confess that I sometimes find myself praying in times of great fear, or despair, or astonishment at a display of unexpected beauty. There are some ten thousand religious sects — each with its own cosmology, each with its own answer for the meaning of life and death. Most assert that the other 9,999 not only have it completely wrong but are instruments of evil, besides. None of the ten thousand has yet persuaded me to make the requisite leap of faith. In the absence of conviction, I've come to terms with the fact that uncertainty is an inescapable corollary of life. An abundance of mystery is simply part of the bargain — which doesn't strike me as something to lament. Accepting the essential inscrutability of existence, in any case, is surely preferable to its opposite: capitulating to the tyranny of intransigent belief. And if I remain in the dark about our purpose here, and the meaning of eternity, I have nevertheless arrived at an understanding of a few modest truths: Most of us fear death. Most of us yearn to comprehend how we got here, and why — which is to say, most of us ache to know the love of our creator. And we will no doubt feel that ache, most of us, for as long as we happen to be alive. ~ Jon Krakauer
   * proposed by Zarbon

## 2012

    Historically, anything that gets information to people is good for the world. The most important human being whoever lived, if you want to leave out religious figures, would be Johannes Gutenberg... that's when the liberation of human thought happened, because people could read the thoughts of people across the world, and have thoughts of their own, and publish them and spread information around. Anything that gets information to people is good. ~ Tom Clancy
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2013

* The basic drive behind real philosophy is curiosity about the world, not interest in the writings of philosophers. Each of us emerges from the preconsciousness of babyhood and simply finds himself here, in it, in the world. That experience alone astonishes some people. What is all this — what is the world? And what are we? From the beginning of humanity some have been under a compulsion to ask these questions, and have felt a craving for the answers. This is what is really meant by any such phrase as "mankind's need for metaphysics."
* ~ Bryan Magee ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2014

* I have very strongly this feeling... that our everyday life is at one and the same time banal, overfamiliar, platitudinous and yet mysterious and extraordinary.
* ~ Bryan Magee ~
   * proposed by Zarbon

## 2015

* Religion is another name for the realization of Truth. It consists in becoming and being one with the Supreme Being. Doctrines and dogmas are only details of a secondary nature.
* ~ Swami Narayanananda ~
   * proposed by Zarbon

## 2016

* Life is about learning; when you stop learning, you die.
* ~ Tom Clancy ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2017

* The average guy is smart enough to know the difference between what works and what doesn't, and if you have bad information, sooner or later, you figure it out and you get onto something else.
* ~ Tom Clancy ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2018

* The drafters of the Constitution had made one simple but far-reaching error. They'd assumed that the people selected by The People to manage the nation would be as honest and honorable as they'd been. One could almost hear the "Oops!" emanating from all those old graves.
* ~ Tom Clancy ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2019

* I honestly beleave it iz better tew know nothing than two know what ain't so.
* ~ Josh Billings ~
   * proposed by Zarbon

## 2020

* Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
* ~ Gospel of Luke ~
   * proposed by Kalki, in regard to Easter Sunday 2020, by the Western calendar.

## 2021

* I have heard something said on this and a former occasion about allegiance to the South. I know no South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance. I owe allegiance to two sovereignty, and only two: one is the sovereignty of this Union, and the other is the sovereignty of the state of Kentucky. My allegiance is to this Union and to my state; but if gentlemen suppose they can exact from me an acknowledgement of allegiance to any ideal or future contemplated confederacy of the South, I here declare that I owe no allegiance to it; nor will I, for one, come under any such allegiance if I can avoid it.
* ~ Henry Clay ~
   * proposed by InvisibleSun

## 2022

* There are no words for the horror I have seen in Bucha, the ugly face of Putin's army terrorising people. And I have so much admiration for our brave Ukrainian friends fighting against this. They are fighting our war. It is our fight that they are in. Because it is not only Ukraine fighting for its sovereignty and integrity, but they are also fighting for the question whether humanity will prevail or whether heinous devastation will be the result. It is the question whether democracy will be stronger or if it is autocracy that will dominate. It is the question whether there is the right of might dominating or whether it is the rule of law.
* ~ Ursula von der Leyen ~
   * proposed by Kalki; recent remarks regarding the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

## 2023

* The one Reality takes manifold names and forms as a result of human ignorance. It is one and the same Thing that a Bhakta calls God, a Jnani calls Brahman, a Shakta calls Shakti, an Atheist calls Nature, a Scientist calls Force or Energy, a Christian calls Father in Heaven, a Mussulman calls Allah, some others call Infinity or Truth and a Vedantin calls Atman or Self. Whatever different names there may be, the fact remains that the Thing is one and the same. The difference is only in names. The Absolute Thing, which is beyond name and form, is birthless, growthless, decayless, deathless, sexless, All-pervading, All-knowing, All-blissful, without beginning, without end, changeless, beyond time, space and causation. The One Thing or the Ocean of Consciousness by Itself is ever the same — One only without a second.
* ~ Swami Narayanananda ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2024

* The Ultimate Truth is called God. This one can realize in the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi. A circle can have only one centre but it can have numerous radii. The centre can be compared to God and the radii to religions. So, no one sect, no one religion or book can make an absolute claim of It.
* ~ Swami Narayanananda ~
   * 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

The Constitution of the United States was made not merely for the generation that then existed, but for posterity — unlimited, undefined, endless, perpetual posterity. - Henry Clay
* 3 InvisibleSun 09:13, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
* 3 Kalki 00:13, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
* 1 Zarbon 23:40, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
* 2 Arjen Dijksman 13:58, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
Slow justice is not justice. ~ Federico Hernández Denton
* 3 Zarbon 15:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 Kalki 07:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 InvisibleSun 18:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
Straddling the top of the world, one foot in China and the other in Nepal, I cleared the ice from my oxygen mask, hunched a shoulder against the wind, and stared absently down at the vastness of Tibet. I understood on some dim, detached level that the sweep of earth beneath my feet was a spectacular sight. I'd been fantasizing about this moment, and the release of emotion that would accompany it, for many months. But now that I was finally here, actually standing on the summit of Mount Everest, I just couldn't summon the energy to care. ~ Jon Krakauer
* 3 Zarbon 15:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 Kalki 07:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 InvisibleSun 18:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
Every discord is a harmony not understood. Happiness is a disease, and pain, a medicine. ~ Swami Narayanananda
* 2 Zarbon 15:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 Kalki 07:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 InvisibleSun 18:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
Love is not lust. The two are poles apart. Love liberates while lust binds. ~ Swami Narayanananda
* 3 Zarbon 15:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
* 3 Kalki 07:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
* 2 InvisibleSun 18:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
If women could be fair and yet not fond, Or that their love were firm, not fickle still, I would not marvel that they make men bond By service long to purchase their good will; But when I see how frail those creatures are, I laugh that men forget themselves so far. ~ Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford
* 2 Zarbon 15:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 Kalki 07:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 InvisibleSun 18:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
Nothing, believe me, nothing is more satisfying to me personally than getting a great idea and then beatin' it to death. ~ David Letterman
* 2 Zarbon 15:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 InvisibleSun 18:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 Kalki 07:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
I don't care how much a man talks, if he only says it in a few words. ~ Josh Billings
* 2 Zarbon 15:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
* 2 Kalki 07:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC) with a lean toward 1, as this is not actually Billings DOB — it is the 21st not the 12th.
* 2 InvisibleSun 18:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
You will either offend the world and please God, or please the world and offend God. ~ John Hagee
* 4 Zarbon 15:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
* 1 Kalki 07:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC) Though I accept that there are absolute truths to be sought and reckoned by, far beyond concerns about any pleasing or displeasing of others, because I do, I cannot accept so absolute and thus false a dichotomy as this statement implies.
* 2 InvisibleSun 18:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
Why would you want to be politically correct when you can be right? ~ John Hagee
* 2 Zarbon 15:19, 7 April 2009 (UTC)
* 1 Kalki 07:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC) Though the wisest usually aim to be polite and politically prudent, they don't seek to have themselves or anyone else constrained to any extremely shallow notions of "correctness" as are presumptively pre-defined and delineated by many — whether they are actually called that or not. Too shallow and narrow a conception of what is either "right" or "correct" for everyone, is galling to a mind which respects the principles of both Liberty and Justice, and the interplay that arises between them.
* 1 InvisibleSun 18:38, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
* Ending your own life is not something the average person does. Everybody's assuming these are Islamic terrorists. Well, if so they've defiled their own religion. Islam does not permit suicide. It says you go to hell if you do something like this... We saw people in Northern Ireland, Catholics acting like savages and Protestants acting like savages... We have people who call themselves Muslims acting like savages. It's not because of their religion, it's because they're fools.
* ~ Tom Clancy ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:51, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
* Fifteen years ago, there was this country called the Soviet Union that had over 10,000 nuclear warheads pointed at us... they're not there anymore. That's a good thing. And when people talk about how the world is more dangerous now than it was because we had these terrorists running around, my reply is, you know, a terrorist is like a buzzing mosquito. About 15 years ago, there was a great, big vampire bat; that's several orders of magnitude different from a mosquito. So the world is much safer — a lot safer than it was. It's not perfectly safe, but it's a heck of a lot safer than it was.
* ~ Tom Clancy ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:51, 13 April 2016 (UTC) with a lean towards 4.
* There is an inborn tendency to be Free. Every being is struggling to be Free. No one wants bondage. No one wants misery. The very idea of disease and death is appalling to all. Still, a being thinks that it will be happy by sense-pleasures. Can these sense-pleasures make one happy? No. Any amount of sense-pleasures will not make one really happy. Sense-pleasures will bring momentary satisfaction and then make one unhappy. Then comes the question: Where does this real happiness lie? It lies in knowing the True Nature. To know your True Nature, you have to control your mind. In order to control your mind, you have to live a true life. You must be a man of good character. That is why all the Scriptures ask their followers to be good, kind, gentle, noble, charitable, truthful, etc. In fact, moral and ethical codes of good conduct are the starting points of all Religions. They start with moral and ethical codes and end with God-realization or Self-realization.
* ~ Swami Narayanananda ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 23:53, 11 April 2023 (UTC)