# May 3

Quotes of the day from previous years:

## 2004

    In nature's infinite book of secrecy a little I can read. ~ William Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra
   * selected by Kalki

## 2005

    It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli (born 3 May 1469)
   * selected by Kalki

## 2006

    Education is what you get when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't. ~ Pete Seeger (born 3 May 1919)
   * selected by Kalki

## 2007

    The easiest way to avoid wrong notes is to never open your mouth and sing. What a mistake that would be. ~ Pete Seeger
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2008

    The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2009

    To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time for every purpose under heaven. ~ Pete Seeger ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2010

    No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution. Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2011

    It’s no accident many accuse me of conducting public affairs with my heart instead of my head. Well, what if I do? . . . Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either. ~ Golda Meir (born 3 May 1898)
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2012

    Few men are brave by nature, but good discipline and experience make many so. Good order and discipline in an army are more to be depended upon than ferocity. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2013

* It's up to you whether or not you want to do work with no contract. I think artists do need to do work with no contract, because what we're motivated by is not money. We're motivated by a need to express ourselves and to get our ideas out. That's the motivation. It turns out that when people like it they frequently will support you if you give them a means, but this is not a contract.
* ~ Nina Paley ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2014

* It seems that scientists are often attracted to beautiful theories in the way that insects are attracted to flowers — not by logical deduction, but by something like a sense of smell.
* ~ Steven Weinberg ~
   * proposed by bystander

## 2015

* The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things which lifts human life a little above the level of farce and gives it some of the grace of tragedy.
* ~ Steven Weinberg ~
   * proposed by bystander

## 2016

* Whenever men are not obliged to fight from necessity, they fight from ambition; which is so powerful in human breasts, that it never leaves them no matter to what rank they rise. The reason is that nature has so created men that they are able to desire everything but are not able to attain everything: so that the desire being always greater than the acquisition, there results discontent with the possession and little satisfaction to themselves from it.
* ~ Niccolò Machiavelli ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2017

* The corporations that hold these copyrights are media companies that also control most of the new media that comes out. Estimates vary, but it's said that 98 percent of all culture is unavailable right now because of copyrights. So the reason they hold the copyrights isn't because they want to get paid, it's because they don't want all the old stuff competing with the media stream that they control now.
* ~ Nina Paley ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2018

* ♡ Copying is an act of love. Please copy & share.
* ~ Nina Paley ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2019

* The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.
* ~ Niccolò Machiavelli ~
   * proposed by Illegitimate Barrister

## 2020

* A prince who is not wise himself will never take good advice.
* ~ Niccolò Machiavelli ~
   * proposed by Illegitimate Barrister

## 2021

* Copying is not theft Stealing a thing leaves one less left Copying it makes one thing more That's what copying's for.
* ~ Nina Paley ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2022

* Every single one of you, whether you like it or not, is a bastion of democracy. And if you ever begin to doubt your responsibilities. If you ever begin to doubt how meaningful it is, look no further than what's happening in Ukraine. Look at what's happening there. Journalists are risking and even losing their lives to show the world what's really happening. You realize how amazing it is. Like in America, you have the right to seek the truth and speak the truth, even if it makes people in power uncomfortable. Even if it makes your viewers or readers uncomfortable. Do you understand how amazing that is? I stood here tonight and I made fun of the President of the United States, and I'm going to be fine. — I'm going to be fine, right? Like, do you really understand what a blessing it is? Maybe it's happened for so long that you — it might slip your mind, it's a blessing.
* ~ Trevor Noah ~
   * proposed by Kalki

## 2023

    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

* Audiences want to support artists. Which is pretty much how it's always been except during the last 100 years where it's turned into this really vicious, cutthroat, nasty business with all these blood-thirsty, parasitic middle-men. But historically, artists were relatively poor and supported directly by their audiences.
* ~ Nina Paley ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 11:07, 28 February 2013 (UTC) with a slight lean toward 4.
* A man who wishes to act entirely up to his professions of virtue soon meets with what destroys him among so much that is evil.
* ~ Niccolò Machiavelli ~
* 3. – Illegitimate Barrister, 13:36, 22 September 2015 (UTC)
* 2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 21:07, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
* Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants. Because, there being in the one disdain and in the other suspicion, it is not possible for them to work well together.
* ~ Niccolò Machiavelli ~
* 4. – Illegitimate Barrister, 13:36, 22 September 2015 (UTC)
* 2 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 21:07, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
* I am not a copyright reformer. I am a copyright abolitionist.
* ~ Nina Paley ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:15, 4 May 2017 (UTC)
* When you shut down neurons to prevent them from transmitting signals, we call that "brain damage." Copyright is brain damage. It's brain damage in the great mind, and it's brain damage in the individual mind.
* ~ Nina Paley ~
* 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:26, 4 May 2017 (UTC)
* Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
* ~ Steven Weinberg ~
* 3 --ΞΔΞ (talk) 19:11, 6 June 2019 (UTC)
* Hail hero, hail hero, child of your fate Come into the kitchen don't stand by the gate And show us your wisdom before it's too late.
* ~ Gordon Lightfoot ~
* 4 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:04, 3 May 2023 (UTC); in regard of his recent death.