February 25

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004

An amicable divorce is like a ventilated condom; it just doesn't work. ~ Rita Rudner

selected by IP 172.161.111.38

2005

Little darling,
I feel that ice is slowly melting.
Little darling,
It seems like years since it's been clear.
Here comes the sun...
Here comes the sun,
And I say
It's alright.
~ George Harrison ~
(born 25 February 1943, according to death certificate)

selected by Kalki

2006

That so many writers have been prepared to accept a kind of martyrdom is the best tribute that flesh can pay to the living spirit of man as expressed in his literature. One cannot doubt that the martyrdom will continue to be gladly embraced. To some of us, the wresting of beauty out of language is the only thing in the world that matters. ~ Anthony Burgess (born 25 February 1917)

selected by Kalki

2007

I look at the world and I notice it’s turning.
While my guitar gently weeps.
With every mistake we must surely be learning,
Still my guitar gently weeps.
~ George Harrison ~

proposed by Kalki

2008

Every intelligent child is an amateur anthropologist. The first thing such a child notices is that adults don't make sense. ~ John Leonard (born 25 February 1939)

proposed by InvisibleSun

2009

Do what you want to do
And go where you're going to
Think for yourself
'Cause I won't be there with you.
~ George Harrison ~

proposed by Kalki

2010

When the state murders, it assumes an authority I refuse to concede: the authority of perfect knowledge in final things. ~ John Leonard

proposed by InvisibleSun

2011

If there is victory in overcoming the enemy, there is a greater victory when a man overcomes himself. ~ José de San Martín

proposed by Kalki

2012

The scientist, like the magician, possesses secrets. A secret — expertise — is somehow perceived as antidemocratic, and therefore ought to be unnatural. We have come a long way from Prometheus to Faust to Frankenstein. And even Frankenstein's monster is now a joke. ~ John Leonard

proposed by bystander

2013

My best friend is he who rights my wrongs or reproaches my mistakes.

~ José de San Martín ~

proposed by Kalki

2014

The culture as a whole is losing its individual notes, its diversity. And this is… it's not only sad. It's devastating. It's devastating because routine language means routine thought. And it means unquestioning thought.

~ John Leonard ~

proposed by Kalki

2015

From the Hindu perspective, each soul is divine. All religions are branches of one big tree. It doesn't matter what you call Him just as long as you call. Just as cinematic images appear to be real but are only combinations of light and shade, so is the universal variety a delusion. The planetary spheres, with their countless forms of life, are naught but figures in a cosmic motion picture. One's values are profoundly changed when he is finally convinced that creation is only a vast motion picture and that not in, but beyond, lies his own ultimate reality.

~ George Harrison ~

proposed by Kalki

2016

I look at you all — see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps.

~ George Harrison ~

proposed by Kalki

2017

You can be standing right in front of the truth and not necessarily see it, and people only get it when they’re ready to get it.

~ George Harrison ~

proposed by Kalki

2018

I had no ambition when I was a kid other than to play guitar and get in a rock 'n' roll band. I don't really like to be the guy in the white suit at the front. Like in the Beatles, I was the one who kept quiet at the back and let the other egos be at the front.

~ George Harrison ~

proposed by Kalki

2019

More noise occurs from a single man shouting than a hundred thousand who are quiet.

~ José de San Martín ~

proposed by Zarbon

2020

To be capable of embarrassment is the beginning of moral consciousness. Honor grows from qualms.

~ John Leonard ~

proposed by InvisibleSun

2021

Military people have a heavy investment in rules against torture, not only because we want to protect our own POWs from reciprocal brutalities… but also because war is so terrible that it desperately requires any limits anyone can agree on, any gesture toward dignity, any mitigation suggesting civilized scruple. There isn’t even persuasive evidence that torture makes its victims tell their secrets, instead of saying whatever we want to hear.

~ John Leonard ~

proposed by InvisibleSun

2022

I want to address today the people of Russia. I am addressing you not as a president, I am addressing you as a citizen of Ukraine. More than 2,000 km of the common border is dividing us. Along this border your troops are stationed, almost 200,000 soldiers, thousands of military vehicles. Your leaders approved them to make a step forward, to the territory of another country. And this step can be the beginning of a big war on European continent.
We know for sure that we don't need the war. Not a Cold War, not a hot war. Not a hybrid one. But if we'll be attacked by the troops, if they try to take our country away from us, our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. Not attack, but defend ourselves. And when you will be attacking us, you will see our faces, not our backs, but our faces.
The war is a big disaster, and this disaster has a high price. With every meaning of this word. People lose money, reputation, quality of life, they lose freedom. But the main thing is that people lose their loved ones, they lose themselves.
They told you that Ukraine is posing a threat to Russia. It was not the case in the past, not in the present, it's not going to be in the future. You are demanding security guarantees from NATO, but we also demand security guarantees. Security for Ukraine from you, from Russia and other guarantees of the Budapest memorandum.
But our main goal is peace in Ukraine and the safety of our people, Ukrainians. For that we are ready to have talks with anybody, including you, in any format, on any platform. The war will deprive guarantees from everybody — nobody will have guarantees of security anymore. Who will suffer the most from it? The people. Who doesn't want it the most? The people! Who can stop it? The people.

~ Volodymyr Zelenskyy ~

proposed by Kalki; recent remark’s on the Russian government’s invasion of Ukraine.

2023

I am grateful to our people, grateful to our multi-million army of volunteers and citizens who do care, who can collect and get everything necessary.
We have become one. Our journalists and media are a united front fighting against lies and panic.
We have become one family. There are no more strangers among us. Ukrainians today are all fellows. Ukrainians have sheltered Ukrainians, opened their homes and hearts to those who were forced to flee the war.
We withstand all threats, shelling, cluster bombs, cruise missiles, kamikaze drones, blackouts, and cold. We are stronger than that.
It was a year of resilience. A year of care. A year of bravery. A year of pain. A year of hope. A year of endurance. A year of unity.
The year of invincibility. The furious year of invincibility.
Its main result is that we endured. We were not defeated. And we will do everything to gain victory this year!

~ Volodymyr Zelenskyy ~

proposed by Kalki; recent remarks on current events.

2024

Give me love, give me peace on earth,
Give me light, give me life, keep me free from birth,
Give me hope, help me cope, with this heavy load,
Trying to, touch and reach you with, heart and soul.

~ George Harrison ~

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 books we love, love us back. In gratitude, we should promise not to cheat on them — not to pretend we're better than they are; not to use them as target practice, agit-prop, trampolines, photo ops or stalking horses; not to sell out scruple to that scratch-and-sniff info-tainment racket in which we posture in front of experience instead of engaging it. ~ John Leonard

3 InvisibleSun 15:58, 16 February 2008 (UTC)
3 Kalki 16:09, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
1 Zarbon 22:51, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
3 bystander (talk) 20:39, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

A well-fought defeat is worth more than a casual victory. ~ José de San Martín (born February 25)

4 because I love this one. For to lose in style is better than to win without enthralling magnificence. Zarbon 17:12, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
2 Kalki 00:17, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

In God's body shop, each of us was customized. But science came along to substitute statistical inference for free will. We are now a tribe of likelihoods. ~ John Leonard

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 22:55, 6 February 2010 (UTC)

Granted, religion is wishful thinking, but there is no other kind of thinking. ~ John Leonard

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 22:55, 6 February 2010 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

The words, the style always reflects a habit of mind. And the habit of mind comes in from a different angle. ~ John Leonard

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 22:55, 6 February 2010 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Everybody is forever saying that the essay is dead. This is always said in essays. ~ John Leonard

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 22:55, 6 February 2010 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

There are too many ironies in the fire! ~ John Leonard

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 22:55, 6 February 2010 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

Let us be free, the rest matters not. ~ José de San Martín

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 19:41, 22 February 2011 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.

I only want Lions in my regiment. ~ José de San Martín

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 19:41, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

You will be what you must be, or else you will be nothing. ~ José de San Martín

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 19:41, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

My promises to the people for whom I have waged war have been fulfilled — to accomplish their independence and leave the choice of their rulers to their own will. ~ José de San Martín

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 19:41, 22 February 2011 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

The conscience is the best and most impartial judge that a righteous man has. ~ José de San Martín

3 Kalki (talk · contributions) 19:41, 22 February 2011 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.

I don't know why nobody told you how to unfold your love
I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you.

~ George Harrison ~

3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:05, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

I don't mind anybody dropping out of anything, but it's the imposition on somebody else I don't like. The moment you start dropping out and then begging off somebody else to help you, then it's no good. It doesn't matter what you are as long as you work. It doesn't matter if you chop wood as long as you chop and keep chopping. Then you get what's coming to you. You don't have to drop out. In fact, if you drop out you put yourself further away from the goal of life than if you were to keep working.

~ George Harrison ~

3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:05, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

I really want to see you,
Really want to be with you,
Really want to see you lord,
But it takes so long, my lord.

~ George Harrison ~

3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:05, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Something in the way she moves
attracts me like no other lover.

~ George Harrison ~

3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 00:05, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

If Shakespeare required a word and had not met it in civilised discourse, he unhesitatingly made it up.

~ Anthony Burgess ~

3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 01:15, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

The scientific approach to life is not necessarily appropriate to states of visceral anguish.

~ Anthony Burgess ~

3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki·⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 01:15, 25 February 2015 (UTC)