July 31

July 31 Quotes of the day from previous years:


 * 2003
 * History would be an excellent thing if only it were true. ~ Leo Tolstoy
 * selected by Nanobug


 * 2004
 * Blue Moon, now I'm no longer alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own. ~ Lorenz Hart (a Blue moon occurred on 31 July 2004)
 * selected by Kalki


 * 2005
 * I think I'd most like to spend a day with Harry. I'd take him out for a meal and apologise for everything I've put him through. ~ J. K. Rowling, (born 31 July 1965)
 * proposed by MosheZadka


 * 2006
 * I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible. ~ Milton Friedman (born 31 July 1912)
 * proposed by AllanHainey


 * 2007
 * In order for the wheel to turn, for life to be lived, impurities are needed, and the impurities of impurities in the soil, too, as is known, if it is to be fertile. Dissension, diversity, the grain of salt and mustard are needed: Fascism does not want them, forbids them, and that’s why you’re not a Fascist; it wants everybody to be the same, and you are not. But immaculate virtue does not exist either, or if it exists it is detestable. ~ Primo Levi
 * proposed by InvisibleSun


 * 2008
 * The future of humanity is uncertain, even in the most prosperous countries, and the quality of life deteriorates; and yet I believe that what is being discovered about the infinitely large and infinitely small is sufficient to absolve this end of the century and millennium. What a very few are acquiring in knowledge of the physical world will perhaps cause this period not to be judged as a pure return of barbarism. ~ Primo Levi
 * proposed by InvisibleSun


 * 2009
 * I beg the reader not to go in search of messages. It is a term that I detest because it distresses me greatly, for it forces on me clothes that are not mine, which in fact belong to a human type that I distrust; the prophet, the soothsayer, the seer. I am none of these; I'm a normal man with a good memory who fell into a maelstrom and got out of it more by luck than by virtue, and who from that time on has preserved a certain curiosity about maelstroms large and small, metaphorical and actual. ~ Primo Levi
 * proposed by InvisibleSun


 * 2010
 * Only a crisis — actual or perceived — produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable. ~ Milton Friedman
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2011
 * The Potter books in general are a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry, and I think it's one of the reasons that some people don't like the books, but I think that it's a very healthy message to pass on to younger people that you should question authority and you should not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth. ~ J. K. Rowling
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2012


 * proposed by InvisibleSun, extended for context by Kalki


 * 2013
 * proposed by Kalki
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2014


 * proposed by DanielTom


 * 2015


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2016


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2017


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2018


 * proposed by Matchups


 * 2019


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2020


 * proposed by InvisibleSun


 * 2021


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2022


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2023


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2024 : Rank or add further suggestions…

Quotes by people born this day, already used as QOTD:


 * Political freedom means the absence of coercion of a man by his fellow men. The fundamental threat to freedom is power to coerce, be it in the hands of a monarch, a dictator, an oligarchy, or a momentary majority. ~ Milton Friedman
 * used 17 November 2006, proposed by Kalki


 * used 28 March 2022, proposed by

Suggestions
In history and in life one sometimes seems to glimpse a ferocious law which states: "to he that has, will be given; from he that has not, will be taken away." ~ Primo Levi
 * 3 InvisibleSun 08:37, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
 * 3 Kalki 19:23, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
 * 1 Zarbon 14:52, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
 * 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well. ~ J. K. Rowling
 * 2 Kalki 22:00, 30 July 2007 (UTC) Very significant line of the Harry Potter series, but no strong desire to use it this year.
 * 1 Zarbon 14:52, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 Agree with Kalki--would someone like to research the HP timeline and identify the (future) year when this line takes place, and maybe we should plan to use it then. Matchups 15:39, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree with Matchups and Kalki; this line occurs in the Potter universe on the 1st September, 2017 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_the_Harry_Potter_series)
 * 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2013 (UTC)
 * 2 (major spoiler, so I wouldn't use it) DanielTom (talk) 03:15, 16 January 2014 (UTC)

With some notable exceptions, businessmen favor free enterprise in general but are opposed to it when it comes to themselves. ~ Milton Friedman
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 02:32, 29 July 2010 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
 * 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

Governments never learn. Only people learn. ~ Milton Friedman
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 02:32, 29 July 2010 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
 * 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

In this day and age, we need to revise the old saying to read, "Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned." ~ Milton Friedman
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 02:32, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing and it requires a self-denying ordinance of the most extreme kind. It requires a willingness to put up with temporary evils on the basis of the subtle and sophisticated understanding that if you step in to do something about them you not only may make them worse, you will spread your tentacles and get bad results elsewhere. ~ Milton Friedman
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 02:32, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

I think the government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem and very often makes the problem worse. ~ Milton Friedman
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 02:32, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

I’m in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal. ~ Milton Friedman
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 02:32, 29 July 2010 (UTC) with a lean toward 4.
 * 1 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both. ~ Milton Friedman
 * 3 Kalki (talk &middot; contributions) 02:32, 29 July 2010 (UTC) with a very strong lean toward 4.
 * 2 //Gbern3 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2013 (UTC)
 * 3.5 (arguably his best quote) DanielTom (talk) 03:19, 16 January 2014 (UTC)