August 12

August 12 Quotes of the day from previous years:


 * 2003
 * A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular. ~ Adlai Stevenson


 * 2004
 * There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity that never dreads contact and communion with others, however humble. ~ Washington Irving


 * 2005
 * Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes. ~ George Soros (born 12 August 1930)
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2006
 * The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one. The barrier between them cannot be said to have broken down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist. ~ Erwin Schrödinger
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2007
 * Faith plays an important role in an open society. Exactly because our understanding is imperfect, we cannot base our decisions on knowledge alone. We need to rely on beliefs, religious or otherwise, to help us make decisions. But we must remain open to the possibility that we may be wrong so that we can correct our mistakes. Otherwise, we are bound to be wrong. ~ George Soros
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2008
 * It has always seemed strange to me that in our endless discussions about education so little stress is laid on the pleasure of becoming an educated person, the enormous interest it adds to life. To be able to be caught up into the world of thought — that is to be educated. ~ Edith Hamilton
 * proposed by Zarbon


 * 2009
 * There are few efforts more conducive to humility than that of the translator trying to communicate an incommunicable beauty. Yet, unless we do try, something unique and never surpassed will cease to exist except in the libraries of a few inquisitive book lovers. ~ Edith Hamilton
 * proposed by Zarbon


 * 2010
 * No external power, no terrorist organization, can defeat us. But we can defeat ourselves by getting caught in a quagmire. ~ George Soros
 * proposed by Zarbon


 * 2011
 * How can we escape from the trap that the terrorists have set us? Only by recognizing that the war on terrorism cannot be won by waging war. We must, of course, protect our security; but we must also correct the grievances on which terrorism feeds. Crime requires police work, not military action. ~ George Soros
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2012


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2013


 * proposed by Zarbon


 * 2014


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2015


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2016


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2017


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2018


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2019


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2020


 * proposed by Kalki, in regard to her designation as Joe Biden's pick for VP.


 * 2021


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2022


 * proposed by Kalki; recent remarks on current events.


 * 2023


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2024 : Rank or add further suggestions…

Suggestions
$$ H(t) \left| \psi (t) \right\rangle = i \hbar {\partial\over\partial t} \left| \psi (t) \right\rangle$$ ~ Erwin Schrödinger, born that day.
 * 3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 06:08, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
 * 1 121a0012 02:51, July 21, 2005 (UTC) (much too obscure)
 * 1 likewise too obscure
 * Unsigned vote! Also: too obscure? Schrödinger's equation is how the world works :) ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 16:06, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Sorry unsigned was mine, it might well be how the world works but, like all equations, without a definition of notation & terms it is essentially a meaningless arrangement of letters & symbols AllanHainey 07:27, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
 * 4 - Amar 15:43, 1 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 0 Kalki 17:33, 10 August 2005 (UTC) Great equation, but totally indecipherable for most people.
 * 0 Zarbon 15:28, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

People can have the Model T in any color - so long as it's black. - Henry Ford. Model T built this day.
 * 3 AllanHainey 12:00, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
 * 2 Kalki 17:34, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 2 InvisibleSun 23:34, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
 * 1 Zarbon 15:28, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts. ~ Erwin Schrödinger
 * 3 ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 04:53, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Comment: hopefully this is less scary. Yay cats :) ~ MosheZadka (Talk) 04:53, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 3 AllanHainey 07:50, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 1 acceptable, but still a bit obscure for most. Psi-functions and the context of the "dead cat" are not very plain.
 * 1 InvisibleSun 23:34, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
 * 1 Zarbon 15:28, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Markets reduce everything, including human beings and nature, to commodities. ~ George Soros (date of birth)
 * 0 — withdrawing this from nomination, as a misattribution now sourced to Marshall Fishwick ~ ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 09:43, 12 August 2017 (UTC) 3 Kalki 17:33, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
 * 3 InvisibleSun 23:34, 11 August 2007 (UTC)
 * 1 Zarbon 15:28, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 19:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

If you ask a stupid question,you will get a stupid answer. ~ Anon
 * ~ User:Acs4b - User
 * 0 Kalki 13:18, 11 August 2007 (UTC) No clear relation to the date, and not a standard rendering of the English proverb "Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer."
 * 0 Zarbon 15:28, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Mind and spirit together make up that which separates us from the rest of the animal world, that which enables a man to know the truth and that which enables him to die for the truth. ~ Edith Hamilton
 * 3 Zarbon 14:52, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 InvisibleSun 19:29, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 Kalki 21:03, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 19:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

None but a poet can write a tragedy. For tragedy is nothing less than pain transmuted into exaltation by the alchemy of poetry. ~ Edith Hamilton
 * 2 Zarbon 14:52, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 InvisibleSun 19:29, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 Kalki 21:03, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 19:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC) I'm sure it's not the case, but this sounds ("nothing less than pain transmuted into exultation by the alchemy of poetry") like a poor writer trying to make a sentence "intense" by dedicated use of a thesaurus.

But, if the knowledge of the occult powers of nature opens the spiritual sight of man, enlarges his intellectual faculties, and leads him unerringly to a profounder veneration for the Creator, on the other hand ignorance, dogmatic narrow-mindedness, and a childish fear of looking to the bottom of things, invariably leads to fetish-worship and superstition. ~ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
 * 2 Zarbon 14:52, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 InvisibleSun 19:29, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 Kalki 21:03, 11 August 2008 (UTC) But might prefer to trim it or extend it slightly
 * ~ Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 19:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC) I don't much like the way this stand-alone quote begins with "but," it distracts my attention from the quote wondering what came before (I know the quote does stand well on its own, but perhaps trim as Kalki says?).

Man is not dead when he is cold, stiff, pulseless, breathless, and even showing signs of decomposition; he is not dead when buried, nor afterward, until a certain point is reached. That point is, when the vital organs have become so decomposed, that if reanimated, they could not perform their customary functions; when the mainspring and cogs of the machine, so to speak, are so eaten away by rust, that they would snap upon the turning of the key. Until that point is reached, the astral body may be caused, without miracle, to reenter its former tabernacle, either by an effort of its own will, or under the resistless impulse of the will of one who knows the potencies of nature and how to direct them. The spark is not extinguished, but only latent -- latent as the fire in the flint, or the heat in the cold iron. ~ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
 * 3 Zarbon 14:52, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 InvisibleSun 19:29, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 Kalki 21:03, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 19:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC) Bit long/wordy, but an interesting formulation/concept.

Science tells us that heat may be shown to develop electricity, electricity produce heat; and magnetism to evolve electricity, and vice versa. Motion, they tell us, results from motion itself, and so on, ad infinitum. This is the A B C of occultism and of the earliest alchemists. The indestructibility of matter and force being discovered and proved, the great problem of eternity is solved. ~ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
 * 3 Zarbon 14:52, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 InvisibleSun 19:29, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 Kalki 21:03, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 2/3 Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 19:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC) I'm probably not allowed to do that, but I keep wavering back and forth and can't decide.

Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman. ~ George Soros
 * 3 Zarbon 14:52, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 InvisibleSun 19:29, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 Kalki 21:03, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 19:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

My peculiarity is that I don't have a particular style of investing or, more exactly, I try to change my style to fit the conditions. ~ George Soros
 * 2 Zarbon 14:52, 26 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 InvisibleSun 19:29, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 Kalki 21:03, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 1 Peace and Passion ("I'm listening....") 19:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC) There is nothing particularly quotable here, I wouldn't even consider this a "peculiarity."

Most of the time we are punished if we go against the trend. Only at an inflection point are we rewarded. ~ George Soros
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 01:41, 8 August 2011 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
 * 3 Zarbon (talk) 16:28, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

Markets are constantly in a state of uncertainty and flux and money is made by discounting the obvious and betting on the unexpected. ~ George Soros
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 01:41, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
 * 2 Zarbon (talk) 16:28, 18 June 2019 (UTC)

The main difference between me and other people who have amassed this kind of money is that I am primarily interested in ideas, and I don't have much personal use for money. But I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't made money: My ideas would not have gotten much play. ~ George Soros
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 01:41, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
 * 3 Zarbon (talk) 16:28, 18 June 2019 (UTC)


 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 22:37, 10 August 2014 (UTC) with a strong lean toward 4.
 * 2Zarbon (talk) 16:28, 18 June 2019 (UTC)


 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 22:37, 10 August 2014 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
 * 2Zarbon (talk) 16:28, 18 June 2019 (UTC)


 * 3 --ΞΔΞ (talk) 13:08, 27 January 2019 (UTC)
 * 3Zarbon (talk) 16:28, 18 June 2019 (UTC)