May 12

May 12 Quotes of the day from previous years:


 * 2004
 * It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people. ~ Good Omens (by Gaiman & Pratchett)
 * selected by Kalki


 * 2005
 * Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better. ~ Florence Nightingale (born 12 May 1820)
 * selected by Kalki


 * 2006
 * Duty, Honor, Country — those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. ~ Douglas MacArthur, "Duty, Honor, Country" valedictory address to West Point on 12 May 1962.
 * proposed by UDScott


 * 2007
 * Unto the furthest flood-brim look with me; Then reach on with thy thought till it be drown'd. Miles and miles distant though the last line be, And though thy soul sail leagues and leagues beyond,— Still, leagues beyond those leagues, there is more sea. ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti ~ (born 12 May 1828)
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2008
 * I never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself. ~ Florence Nightingale
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2009
 * I think one's feelings waste themselves in words, they ought all to be distilled into actions and into actions which bring results. ~ Florence Nightingale
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2010
 * Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who can call today his own; He who, secure within, can say, Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today. Be fair, or foul, or rain, or shine, The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine. Not heaven itself upon the past has power; But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour. ~ John Dryden, based on "Ode XXIX" of Horace ~
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2011
 * People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned. ~ Florence Nightingale
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2012


 * proposed by bystander (L Neil Smith born 12 May 1946)
 * proposed by bystander (L Neil Smith born 12 May 1946)


 * 2013


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2014


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2015


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2016


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2017


 * proposed by bystander


 * 2018


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2019


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2020


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2021


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2022


 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2023
 * proposed by Kalki


 * 2024 : Rank or add further suggestions…

Suggestions
And Love, our light at night and shade at noon, Lulls us to rest with songs, and turns away All shafts of shelterless tumultuous day. ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti ~ (date of birth)
 * 3 Aphaia 21:31, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
 * 3 Kalki 23:31, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
 * 1 Zarbon 05:11, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 InvisibleSun 18:09, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

None would live past years again, Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain; And from the dregs of life think to receive What the first sprightly running could not give. ~ John Dryden ~ died on May 12 {May 1 O.S.}, 1700)
 * 3 Aphaia 21:31, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
 * 3 Kalki 23:31, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
 * 1 Zarbon 05:11, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
 * 3 InvisibleSun 18:09, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

To God alone may women complain without insulting Him! ~ Florence Nightingale
 * 2 because to complain to anyone else would in turn backfire and be viewed as an insult. Zarbon 23:48, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 Kalki 01:05, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 2 InvisibleSun 18:09, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

''From the fix'd place of Heaven she saw Time like a pulse shake fierce Through all the worlds. Her gaze still strove Within the gulf to pierce Its path; and now she spoke as when The stars sang in their spheres.'' ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti ~
 * 3 Kalki 09:59, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
 * 3 InvisibleSun 23:28, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Still we say as we go, — "Strange to think by the way Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day." ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti ~
 * 3 Kalki 09:59, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
 * 3 InvisibleSun 23:28, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Let every man honor and love the land of his birth and the race from which he springs and keep their memory green. It is a pious and honorable duty. But let us have done with British-Americans and Irish-Americans and German-Americans, and so on, and all be Americans...If a man is going to be an American at all let him be so without any qualifying adjectives; and if he is going to be something else, let him drop the word American from his personal description. ~ Henry Cabot Lodge (born 1850-05-12)
 * 3 bystander (talk) 00:14, 7 May 2012 (UTC)
 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 22:44, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

Those who sell their liberty for security are understandable, if pitiable, creatures. Those who sell the liberty of others for wealth, power, or even a moment's respite deserve only the end of a rope. ~ L. Neil Smith
 * 3 bystander (talk) 00:14, 7 May 2012 (UTC)
 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 22:44, 10 May 2012 (UTC)


 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 18:54, 21 February 2013 (UTC)


 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 21:14, 10 May 2014 (UTC)


 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 21:14, 10 May 2014 (UTC)


 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 21:14, 10 May 2014 (UTC)


 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 21:14, 10 May 2014 (UTC)


 * 3 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 21:14, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever till the end of time... But He loves you. ~ George Carlin
 * 3,5 DanielTom (talk) 22:16, 12 June 2014 (UTC)


 * 3 DanielTom (talk) 13:24, 5 October 2017 (UTC) (George Chapman DOD)
 * 3 Ficaia (talk) 11:32, 3 May 2024 (UTC)


 * I have seen flowers come in stony places And kind things done by men with ugly faces, And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races, So I trust, too. ~ John Masefield
 * 4 Ficaia (talk) 08:24, 3 May 2024 (UTC)