June 30

Quotes of the day from previous years:

2004
Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral laws are written on the tablets of eternity. ~ James Anthony Froude
  • selected by Kalki, originally crediting it to Lord Acton who quoted Froude in an address "The Study Of History" (11 June 1895); an early published version of this did not include quote marks around Froude's statement which led to this long being widely attributed to Acton. The phrase has also sometimes been misquoted as: Opinions alter, manners change, creeds rise and fall, but the moral laws are written on the table of eternity.


2005
It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing — a somewhat unfamilar conception for the average mind. Furthermore, the equation E = mc², in which energy is put equal to mass, multiplied by the square of the velocity of light, showed that very small amounts of mass may be converted into a very large amount of energy and vice versa. ~ Albert Einstein


2006
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly. ~ Albert Einstein
  • proposed by Kalki


2007
Love means to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills —
A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.

~ Czesław Miłosz ~ (born 30 June 1911)
  • proposed by InvisibleSun


2008
Life is a jest, and all things show it,
I thought so once, and now I know it.

~ John Gay ~ (born 30 June 1685)
  • proposed by Kalki


2009
I think that I am here, on this earth,
To present a report on it, but to whom I don't know.
As if I were sent so that whatever takes place
Has meaning because it changes into memory.
~ Czesław Miłosz
  • proposed by InvisibleSun


2010

Suggestions

When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity. ~ Albert Einstein
In honor of "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/)" Annalen der Physik. June 30, 1905, first work to show relativity
  • 3 MosheZadka 00:54, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 Zhaladshar 22:47, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 3 AllanHainey 12:57, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 121a0012 02:14, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:45, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 0 Kalki 28 June 2005 22:57 (UTC) The joke is fine, but I have never been able to establish this as an actual statement of Einstein's and have long been inclined to doubt that it is, despite it often being cited as one. If we are to commemorate the centennial of Einstein's publication, I would much prefer to use a far less dubious quotation of him, or perhaps the famous equation summing up the relations indicated by the theory: E = mc². The joke has been "quoted" by Steve Mirsky in the humorous "antigravity" section of Scientific American (September 2002). Vol. 287, Iss. 3; pg. 102 but this should hardly be taken as an authentication of the statement as actually Einstein's, as Mirsky cites the original source as being a fictional magazine: "Amazingly, the pretty girl/hot stove quote is actually the abstract from a short paper written by Einstein that appeared in the now defunct Journal of Exothermic Science and Technology (JEST, Vol. 1, No. 9; 1938)."
There is a thunderstorm rumbling where I am at, so to avoid a possible disconnect, I have just made a choice to use a more reliably genuine quote that includes "E = mc²", as it is the most famous statement of Einstein's theories. I am open to other options, but there are only about 5 hours remaining before the automated updates occur to the main page. After several sessions of extensive searching I cannot find any information that leads me to accept the above statement as a genuine quotation of Einstein, though it has often come to be cited as one. If anyone can provide reliable evidence that it is, it would be very welcome. ~ Kalki 29 June 2005 18:43 (UTC)


----

Einstein explained his theory to me every day, and on my arrival I was fully convinced that he understood it. ~ Chaim Weizmann, about a 1921 trans-Atlantic voyage
  • 3 121a0012 02:41, Jun 25, 2005 (UTC)
  • 1 Kalki 00:17, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:45, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 16:32, 29 June 2009 (UTC)


----

E = mc²
  • 2 Kalki 01:09, 27 June 2007 (UTC) 3 Kalki 28 June 2005 22:57 (UTC) the famous equation summing up the relations indicated by relativity theory This has now been used as part of a quote of the day, and I am no longer as inclined to use it alone.
  • 1 Zarbon 04:45, 24 April 2008 (UTC)


----

Leaves glowing in the sun, zealous hum of bumblebees,
From afar, from somewhere beyond the river, echoes of lingering voices
And the unhurried sounds of a hammer gave joy not only to me.
Before the five senses were opened, and earlier than any beginning
They waited, ready, for all those who would call themselves mortals,
So that they might praise, as I do, life, that is, happiness.
~ Czesław Miłosz
  • 4 InvisibleSun 08:31, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
  • ? Kalki 23:34, 29 June 2007 (UTC) Unable to rank this as yet; they are good lines, but I am afraid they might be an entire poem, and thus I am reluctant to use them for QOTD. I do not yet have any published volumes to confirm this, but indications on the web are strong that it is. If it were reduced to "Before the five senses were opened..." I would probably give it a 3.
  • 1 Zarbon 04:45, 24 April 2008 (UTC)


----

And space, what it is like? Is it mechanical,
Newtonian? A frozen prison?
Or the lofty space of Einstein, the relation
Between movement and movement? No reason to pretend
I know. I don't know, and if I did,
Still my imagination is a thousand years old.
~ Czesław Miłosz
  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:31, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:34, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
  • 2 Zarbon 04:45, 24 April 2008 (UTC)


----

If I am all mankind, are they themselves without me?
~ Czesław Miłosz
  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:31, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:34, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:45, 24 April 2008 (UTC)


----

I still think too much about the mothers
And ask what is man born of woman.
He curls himself up and protects his head
While he is kicked by heavy boots; on fire and running,
He burns with bright flame; a bulldozer sweeps him into a clay pit.
Her child. Embracing a teddy bear. Conceived in ecstasy.
~ Czesław Miłosz
  • 3 InvisibleSun 08:31, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
  • 3 Kalki 23:34, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
  • 1 Zarbon 04:45, 24 April 2008 (UTC)


----

The Russian colossus...has been underestimated by us...whenever a dozen divisions are destroyed the Russians replace them with another dozen. ~ Franz Halder (born June 30)
  • 3 and this isn't an exaggeration. Forces were replenished by more forces, lives by lives, and most importantly, soldiers by soldiers. Zarbon 06:46, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
    • SOURCE: The World at War - Page 129 by Mark Arnold-Forster - World War, 1939-1945 - 1981
  • 2 Kalki 18:20, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 16:32, 29 June 2009 (UTC)


----

This is not a promise, this is a duty which I have to carry out. ~ Serzh Sargsyan
  • 3 Zarbon 04:20, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
    • [Source: 2008 Presidential Elections in Armenia]
  • 1 Kalki 18:20, 27 June 2008 (UTC) No context is provided in this statement, as it exists.
  • 1 InvisibleSun 16:32, 29 June 2009 (UTC)


----

These pages of our history, which we are writing together, shall bear witness only to victories. ~ Serzh Sargsyan
  • 3 Zarbon 04:20, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
    • [Source: The Government of the Republic of Armenia official website - Speech at the February 26 rally]
  • 2 Kalki 18:20, 27 June 2008 (UTC)
  • 2 InvisibleSun 16:32, 29 June 2009 (UTC)


 
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