Quote Queen

Elmore Leonard signs a copy of his new book, Road Dogs (Photo credit: Ann Arbor District Library)

Arthur Phillip – 1738 – Soldier

“There are few things more pleasing than the contemplation of order and useful arrangement.”

Henry J. Heinz – 1844 – Businessman

“To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success.”

Charles Wilson – 1882 – Public Servant

“Character . . . is a habit, the daily choice of right over wrong; it is a moral quality which grows to maturity in peace and is not suddenly developed on the outbreak of war.”

Eleanor Roosevelt – 1884 – First Lady – Wife of President Franklin Roosevelt

“We need not fear any isms if our democracy is achieving the ends for which it was established.”

Francois Mauriac – 1885 – Novelist

“To love someone is to see a miracle invisible to others.”

Roman Jakobson – 1896 – Scientist

“When I speak it is in order to be heard.”

Charles Revson – 1906 – Businessman

“If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.”

Art Blakey – 1919 – Musician

“Music washes away the dust of every day life.”

Elmore Leonard – 1925 – Novelist

“I try to leave out the parts readers skip.”

Daryl Hall – 1946 – Musician

“If you work hard and you’re good, you can build something for yourself.”

Jim Woodring – 1952 – Artist

“People aren’t interested in seeing themselves as they really are.”

Dawn French – 1957 – Comedian

“I keep my own personality in a cupboard under the stairs at home so that no one else can see it or nick it.”

Richard Paul Evans – 1962 – Author

“Don’t try to write what other people are writing – write what is true to you.”

Anne Enright – 1962 – Author

“I love the characters not knowing everything and the reader knowing more than them.  There’s more mischief in that and more room for seriousness, too.”

Joan Cusack – 1962 – Actress

“I think that everything’s hard now anyways, so you might as well do stuff that you love and believe in.”

Michelle Wie (Photo credit: Keith Allison)

Luke Perry – 1966 – Actor

“Growing up in the Midwest, people don’t drive Porsches and Ferraris.  They drive Fords and Chevys.  And so even if you have the opportunity to buy a more expensive car, it doesn’t occur to you because it’s not what you relate to.”

Michelle Wie – 1989 – Athlete

“I’m kind of in between a goody-goody and a rebel.  I’m not bad, but I’m not good either.  I’m a little crazy.”

Riverside Shakespeare Company Shakespeare Center Dedication with Helen Hayes, 1982. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hugh Miller – 1802 – Geologist

“Nature is a vast tablet, inscribed with signs, each of which has its own significance, and becomes poetry in the mind when read.”

Lyn Yutang – 1895 – Writer and Editor

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”

Helen Hayes – 1900 – Actress

“The hardest years of life are those between ten and seventy.”

Clare Booth Luce – 1903 – Congresswoman and Ambassador

“Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.”

James Clavell – 1924 – Author

“The search for the truth is the most important work in the whole world, and the most dangerous.”

Nora Roberts – 1950 – Author

“You don’t find time to write.  You make time.  It’s my job.”

Wendy Wasserstein – 1950 – Playwright

“Don’t live down to expectations.  Go out there and do something remarkable.”

Tanya Tucker – 1958 – Singer

“When I was younger, I thought about retiring.”

Nora Roberts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Brett Favre – 1969 – Professional Football Quarterback

“Life deals you a lot of lessons, some people learn from it, some people don’t.”

English: Photograph of Marina Tsetaeva (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Clayton – 1709 – Clergyman

“Just as a puppy can be more of a challenge than a gift, so too can the holidays.”

Lewis Cass – 1782 – Soldier

“People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.”

Helene Deutsch – 1884 – Psychologist

“After all, the ultimate goal of all research is not objectivity, but truth.”

Marina Tsvetaeva – 1892 – Poet

“My desk, most loyal friend thank you.  You’ve been with me on every road I’ve taken.  My scar and my protection.”

Bruce Catton – 1899 – Historian

“Sooner or later you must move down an unknown road that leads beyond the range of the imagination, and the only certainty is that the trip has to be made.”

Yusef Lateef – 1920 – Musician

“When the soul looks out of its body, it should see only beauty in its path.  These are the sights we must hold in mind, in order to move to a higher place.”

Donald Sinden – 1923 – Actor

“An actor who knows his business ought to be able to make the London telephone directory sound enthralling.”

Ted Solotaroff – 1928 – Writer

“Aggression, the writer’s main source of energy.”

John Pilger – 1939 – Journalist

“Official truths are often powerful illusions.”

John Lennon – 1940 – Musician

“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”

Brian Lamb – 1941 – Businessman

“My basic approach to interviewing is to ask the basic questions that might even sound naïve, or not intellectual.  Sometimes when you ask the simple questions like ‘Who are you?’ or ‘What do you do?’ you learn the most.”

Trent Lott – 1941 – Politician

“Freedom is never easily won, but once established, freedom lasts, spreads and chokes out tyranny.”

John Entwistle – 1944 – Musician

“What I feel I am doing now is giving to the people what they paid for but never actually heard before.”

Jackson Browne – 1948 – Musician

“You can take as much as you can from the generation that has preceded you, but then it’s up to you to make something new.”

Sharon Osbourne – 1952 – Entertainer

English: John Lennon Deutsch: John Lennon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Your gut is always right.”

John O’Hurley – 1954 – Actor

“I never like to think of anything from an ending point.”

Scott Bakula – 1954 – Actor

“The biggest challenge for everybody to realize out there is that we’re in a very complicated business world and that we’re all under one umbrella and it’s very challenging for everybody to figure out where the priorities lie and where the loyalties lie.”

Al Jourgensen – 1958 – Musician

“Everything shapes you to be the person you are today.  Sometimes hard lessons pay off dividends.”

Brian Moynihan – 1959 – Businessman

“This is a marathon in life.  You can’t be sprinting all the time or else you wear yourself out.  You have to make sure you’re taking care of yourself, keeping yourself grounded and not letting every little thing get you worked up.”

Mike Singletary – 1959 – Athlete

“Do you know what my favorite part of the game is?  The opportunity to play.”

Bobby Flay – 1964 – Chef

“Go vegetable heavy.  Reverse the psychology of your plate by making meat the side dish and vegetables the main course.”

Sean Lennon – 1975 – Musician

“I like music because it’s the only invisible art form.”

Scotty McCreery – 1993 – Musician

“What makes me unique is that I’m normal.”

English: Photograph of American poet/critic Edmund Clarence Stedman, published in Life and Letters of Edmund Clarence Stedman edited by Laura Stedman and George M. Gould, MD. New York: Moffat, Yard, and Company, 1910. Volume II, after page 422. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jonathan Mayhew – 1720 – Clergyman

“There are others who aim at popularity under the disguise of patriotism.”

Edmund Clarence Stedman – 1833 – Poet

“Yes, there’s a luck in most things; and in none more than being born at the right time.”

John Hay – 1838 – Writer

“Friends are the sunshine of life.”

Edgar Saltus – 1855 – Writer

“A really plain woman is one who, however beautiful, neglects to charm.”

Eddie Rickenbacker – 1890 – Aviator

“The four cornerstone of character on which the structure of this nation was built are:  Initiative, Imagination, Individuality, and Independence.”

Rouben Mamoulian – 1897 – Director

“You must trust your instinct, intuition, and judgment.”

Mark Oliphant – 1901 – Scientist

“Going after the unknown is always fascinating, I think.  It becomes part of your life, this desire to know.”

John W. Gardner – 1912 – Educator

“True happiness involves the full use of one’s power and talents.”

Bill Vaughan – 1915 – Journalist

“A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works.”

Walter Lord – 1917 – Author

“You have to study the people and the ones that measure up are not always the ones you expect.”

Frank Herbert – 1920 – Writer

“Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens.  The sleeper must awaken.”

Jim Elliot – 1927 – Clergyman

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

M Russell Ballard – 1928 – Clergyman

“It may not always be easy, convenient, or politically correct to stand for truth and right, but it is the right thing to do.  Always.”

Toru Takemitsu – 1930 – Composer

“Music is a form of prayer.”

Frank Herbert (Photo credit: hackbarth)

Rona Barrett – 1936 – Journalist

“The healthy and strong individual is the one who asks for help when he needs it.  Whether he’s got an abscess on his knee or in his soul.”

David Carradine – 1936 – Actor

“If you cannot be a poet, be the poem.”

Harvey Pekar – 1939 – Writer

“I think you can find all the elements that you can find in great literature in mundane experiences.”

Paul Hogan – 1939 – Actor

“The secret to my success is that I bit off more than I could chew and chewed as fast as I could.”

Jesse Jackson – 1941 – Activist

“If you fall behind, run faster.  Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds.”

Chevy Chase – 1943 – Comedian (Cornelius Crane Chase)

“I was always the guy getting kicked out of my classes at school for having an attitude problem.”

R. L. Stine – 1943 – Writer (Robert Lawrence Stine)

“I used to get a haircut every Saturday so I would never miss any of the comic books.  I had practically no hair when I was a kid!”

John T. Walton – 1946 – Businessman

“I figured if you’re going to do something, you should do it the best you can.”

Sigourney Weaver – 1949 – Actress

“It’s rare when you have everything going perfectly all at the same time.”

Terry Gou – 1950 – Businessman

“Quality is easy to talk but hard to make.”

Stephanie Zimbalist – 1956 – Actress

“If I’ve learned one thing in life, it’s you can never go back.”

Matt Damon – 1970 – Actor

“It’s just better to be yourself than to try to be some version of what you think the other person wants.”

Molly Quinn – 1993 – Actress

“One thing about me is that I don’t like being told I can’t do something.”

Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein. The picture was taken at Ehrenfest’s home in Leiden, the occasion was most likely the 50th anniversary of Hendrik Lorentz’ doctorate (December 11, 1925). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Marston – 1576 – Poet

“Wink and shut their apprehensions up.”

William Samuel Johnson – 1727 – Politician

“To keep your secret is wisdom; to expect others to keep it is folly.”

Henry Rutgers – 1745 – Soldier

“Don’t let your studies interfere with your education.”

William Billings – 1746 – Composer

“In the first place, you must pay great attention to the key note.”

James Whitcomb Riley – 1849 – Poet

“The ripest peach is highest on the tree.”

Niels Bohr – 1885 – Physicist

“An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.”

Henry A. Wallace – 1888 – Vice President of the United States

“It is no coincidence that the growth of modern tyrants has in every case been heralded by the growth of prejudice.”

Meyer Levin – 1905 – Novelist

“Nothing ever ends.”

Vaughn Monroe – 1911 – Musician

“It now costs more to amuse a child than it once did to educate his father.”

Elizabeth Janeway – 1913 – Author

“As long as mixed grills and combination salads are popular, anthologies will undoubtedly continue in favor.”

Charles Templeton – 1915 – Cartoonist

“Christianity does not remove you from the world and its problems; it makes you fit to live in it, triumphantly and usefully.”

June Allyson – 1917 – Actress

“So, to prepare for the role, I had to take music lessons, talk to wives who had husbands overseas, and carefully study the reactions and mannerisms of a friend who was expecting.”

Diana Lynn – 1926 – Actress

“I will love you with all my heart, To have forever – never to part.  This is a promise engrained in me, Take my hand and let it be.”

R. D. Laing – 1927 – Psychologist

“We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing.”

Cotton Fitzsimmons – 1931 – Coach

“Whether you’re winning or losing, it is important to always be yourself.  You can’t change because of the circumstances around you.”

Desmond Tutu – 1931 – South African Leader

“Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little its of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

Ulrike Meinhof – 1934 – Journalist

, Vice President of the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Objection is when I say:  this doesn’t suit me.  Resistance is when I make sure that what doesn’t suit me never happens again.”

Amiri Baraka – 1934 – Poet

“A rich man told me recently that a liberal is a man who tells other people what to do with their money.”

Clive James – 1939 – Writer

“It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.”

Joy Behar – 1942 – Comedian

“I don’t need a diet pill.  I need something that gives you an electric shock when you reach for food.”

Paul Weyrich – 1942 – Critic

“It is commonly agreed that children spend more hours per year watching television than in the classroom, and far less in actual conversation with their parents.”

Oliver North – 1943 – Soldier

“Today, only 2 percent of the people know the name of someone serving in uniform.  That means 2 percent of your listeners can actually conjure up the image of someone wearing the uniform of the military of the United States.”

Diane Ackerman – 1948 – Poet

“Nothing is more memorable than a smell.  One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains.”

Alice Walton – 1949 – Businesswoman

“One of the great responsibilities that I have is to manage my assets wisely, so that they create value.”

John Mellencamp – 1951 – Musician

“I want to sell to people my own age, because that’s the way I write songs.”

Vladimir Putin – 1952 – Russian Statesman

“Nobody should pin their hopes on a miracle.”

Joseph J. Lhota – 1954 – Businessman

“My best quality is that I talk to everyone.  My worst quality is that I talk to everyone.”

Steven Erikson – 1959 – Novelist

“A story invites both writer and reader into a kind of superficial ease:  we want to slide along, pleasingly entertained, lost in the fictional dream.”

Simon Cowell – 1959 – Entertainer

“The object of this competition is not to be mean to the losers but to find a winner.  The process makes you mean because you get frustrated.”

Sherman Alexie – 1966 – Writer

“When you read a piece of writing that you admire, send a note of thanks to the author.”

Thom Yorke – 1968 – Musician

“I think the most important thing about music is the sense of escape.”

Toni Braxton – 1968 – Musician

“To do what you love can sometimes be stressful.”

Nicole Ari Parker – 1970 – Actress

“God loves you and everything about you, so why beat up on your precious self?”

Rachel McAdams – 1976 – Actress

“I’ve discovered as I’ve grown up that life is far more complicated than you think it is when you’re a kid.  It isn’t just a straightforward fairytale.”

Maria Jeritza (1887 – 1982), Czech opera singer, soprano (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

George Westinghouse – 1846 – Inventor

“If someday they say of me that in my work I have contributed something to the welfare and happiness of my fellow man, I shall be satisfied.”

Maria Jeritza – 1887 – Musician

“It is hard to describe the thrill of creative joy which the artist feels when the conviction seizes her that at last she has caught the very soul of the character she wished to portray, in the music and action which reveal it.”

Le Corbusier – 1887 – Architect

“The home should be the treasure chest of living.”

Caroline Gordon – 1895 – Writer

“A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way.”

Helen Wills Moody – 1905 – Tennis Player

“I love the feel of hitting the ball hard, the pleasure of a rally.  It is these things that make tennis the delightful game that it is.”

Carole Lombard – 1908 – Actress

“I live be a man’s code, designed to fit a man’s world, yet at the same time I never forget that a woman’s first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick.”

Thor Heyerdahl – 1914 – Explorer

“Progress is a man’s ability to complicate simplicity.”

Fannie Lou Hamer – 1917 – Activist

“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”

Shana Alexander – 1925 – Journalist

“Letters are expectations packaged in an envelope.”

George Carman – 1929 – Lawyer

“He behaved like an ostrich and put his head in the sane, thereby exposing his thinking parts.”

Richie Benaud – 1930 – Athlete

“My mantra is:  put your brain into gear and if you can add to what’s on the screen do it, otherwise shut up.”

Helen Wills Moody is a eight-time champion (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Riccardo Giacconi – 1931 – Scientist

“The universe is popping all over the place.”

Fritz Scholder – 1937 – Artist

“I give thanks every day that I’ve been able to take my craziness and make it work for me.”

Britt Ekland – 1942 – Actress

“Fame overcomes everything.”

Tony Dungy – 1955 – Coach

“The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better.”

Amy Jo Johnson – 1970 – Actress

“My mom taught me to go after my dreams.  I have this faith in myself that I must have gotten from her.”

Ioan Gruffudd – 1973 – Actor

“You’re always going to be more judgmental about your own performance than anyone else.”

Liu Yang – 1978 – Astronaut

“As a female pilot, the sacred rose garden in my heart is the motherland’s blue sky.”

Roshon Fegan – 1991 – Actor

“Everyone knows the more you chase something the faster it runs and the more you ignore something the faster it comes.”

English: Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Denis Diderot – 1713 – Editor

“You have to make it happen.”

Chester Arthur 1830 – 21st President of the United States

“The extravagant expenditures of public money is an evil not to be measured by the value of that money to the people who are taxed for it.”

John Erskine – 1879 – Educator and Author

“In simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, gets up, and goes.”

Raymond Kroc – 1902 – Businessman and Founder of McDonalds

“The two most important requirements for major success are:  First, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.”

Bil Keane – 1922 – Cartoonist

“A hug is like a boomerang – you get it back right away.”

Glynis Johns – 1923 – Actress

“You see, money isn’t everything – I know it sounds corny but I really mean it – success means a lot more.”

Bob Thaves – 1924 – Cartoonist

“It’s not that Good doesn’t triumph over Evil, it’s that the point spread is too small.”

Bill Dana – 1924 – Comedian

“I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult.  It’s not.  Mine had me trained in two days.”

Bill Dixon – 1925 – Musician

“While everyone has a right to his or her opinion, the people who are informed have more of a right.”

Barry Switzer – 1937 – Coach

“Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.”

Michael Morpurgo – 1943 – Author

“Admitting failure is quite cleaning, but never – pleasurable.”

Brian Johnson – 1947 – Musician

English: Bil Keane at work in his studio in 1990 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“People are famous for being famous and for nothing else.  And good luck to them, because it lasts about a year and then they’re nothing again.”

Bill James – 1949 – Writer

“Famous crime stories almost always lead to the passing of new laws.”

Karen Allen – 1951 – Actress

“I’ve always done things the hard way.  I was born like a piece of tangled yarn.  The job is trying to untangle it, and I’ll probably go on doing it for the rest of my life.”

Alan Cohen – 1954 – Businessman

“You are in integrity when the life you are living on the outside matches who you are on the inside.”

Neil deGrasse Tyson – 1958 – Scientist

“Somehow it’s O.K. for people to chuckle about not being good at math.  Yet if I ever said, ‘I never learned to read,’ they’d say I was an illiterate dolt.”

Bernie Mac – 1958 – Actor

“Whatever success I’ve had, I always like to top it.”

Maya Lin – 1959 – Architect

“For the most part things never get built the way they were drawn.”

David Kirk – 1961 – Athlete

“You can’t just carry everyone else’s hopes and fears around in your backpack and expect to stand up straight.”

Mario Lemieux – 1965 – Athlete

“All I can say to the young players is, enjoy every moment of it.  Just enjoy every moment of it.  Your career goes by very quickly.”

Kate Winslet – 1975 – Actress

“I do think it’s important for young women to know that magazine covers are retouched.  People don’t really look like that.”

Jesse Eisenberg – 1983 – Actor

“I feel equal parts lucky and scared anytime I get a job.”

Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife on their wedding day, Dec. 30, 1852 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Francesco Crispi – 1819 – Italian Politician

“The monarchy unites us; the republic divides us.”

Rutherford B. Hayes – 1822 – 19th President of the United States

“He serves his party best who serves his country best.”

Walter Rauschenbusch – 1861 – Writer

“Every generation tries to put its doctrine on a high shelf where the children can not reach it.”

Frederic Remington – 1861 – Artist

“I knew the wild riders and the vacant land were about to vanish forever . . . and the more I considered the subject, the bigger the forever loomed.  Without knowing how to do it, I began to record some facts around me, and the more I looked around the more the panorama unfolded.”

Damon Runyon – 1880 – Journalist

“You can become a winner only if you are willing to walk over the edge.”

Buster Keaton – 1895 – Actor (Joseph Frank Keaton)

“I don’t act, anyway.  The stuff is all injected as we go along.  My pictures are made without script or written directions of any kind.”

John Vincent Atanasoff – 1903 – Physicist

“To get ahead in the world you have to make a lot of noise, and maybe I didn’t make enough.”

Brendan Gill – 1914 – Critic

“Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.”

George Sidney – 1916 – Director

“Once I make a picture, I never look at it again.”

Marv Harshman – 1917 – Coach

“Quick guys get tired; big guys don’t shrink.”

Kenichi Fukui – 1919 – Scientist

“We pray that every field of science may contribute in bringing happiness – not disaster – to human beings.”

Charlton Heston – 1923 – Actor

“The trouble with movies as a business is that it’s an art, and the trouble with movies as an art is that it’s a business.”

Alvin Toffler – 1928 – Author

“Change is not merely necessary to life – it is life.”

Leroy Van Dyke – 1929 – Musician

“Success – it’s what you do with what you’ve got.”

Buster Keaton (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Richard Rorty – 1931 – Philosopher

“There is nothing deep down inside us except what we have put there ourselves.”

Christopher Alexander – 1936 – Architect

“Drawings help people to work out intricate relationships between parts.”

Jackie Collins – 1937 – Author

“I write about real people in disguise.  If anything, my characters are toned down – the truth is much more bizarre.”

Roy Blount, Jr. – 1941 – Writer

“A good heavy book holds you down.  It’s an anchor that keeps you from getting up and having another gin and tonic.”

Anne Rice – 1941 – Author (Howard Allen O’Brien)

“To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.”

Bernice Johnson Reagon – 1942 – Musician

“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.”

Susan Sarandon – 1946 – Actress

“The only thing that gives me the courage to do things – because I’m a shy person – is the idea of living with myself afterward.”

Barbara Johnson – 1947 – Critic

“Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping the gears.”

Roy Evans – 1948 – Athlete

“Liverpool without European football is like a banquet without wine.”

Alan Rosenberg – 1950 – Actor

“Fair play doesn’t pertain in bargaining.  What matters there is leverage.”

Russell Simmons – 1957 – Businessman

“Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.”

Chris Lowe – 1959 – Musician

“Stupidity combined with arrogance and a huge ego will get you a long way.”

Liev Schreiber – 1967 – Actor

“As soon as you know what you’re doing, you’re doing it wrong.”

Joseph P. Kennedy III – 1980 – Politician

“I believe this country was built on a simple promise:  that each of us deserves a fair shot.”

Thomas Wolfe, 1937 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

George Bancroft – 1800 – Historian

“In nine times out of ten, the slanderous tongue belongs to a disappointed person.”

Elenora Duse – 1858 – Actress

“If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.”

Pierre Bonnard – 1867 – Artist

“Color does not add a pleasant quality to design – it reinforces it.”

Louis Aragon – 1897 – Poet

“We know that the nature of genius is to provide idiots with ideas twenty years later.”

Thomas Wolfe – 1900 – Novelist

“You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.”

James Herriot – 1916 – Physician and Writer

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.”

Gore Vidal – 1925 – Author

“A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.”

Erik Bruhn – 1928 – Dancer

“Dance every performance as if it were your last.”

Chubby Checker – 1941 – Singer (Ernest Evans)

“I want people to look at a checkerboard and think of me!”

Roy Horn – 1944 – Entertainer

“Imitation is the sincerest form of pain.”

John Perry Barlow – 1947 – Writer

“But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having.”

Laurie Simmons – 1949 – Artist

“We don’t have real hours and we don’t have a boss, so artists create rules for themselves that they then break.  It’s transgressive in such a personal way.”

Dave Winfield – 1951 – Athlete

“I chose baseball because to me baseball is the best game of all.”

Stevie Ray Vaughn – 1954 – Musician

“What I am trying to get across to you; is please take care of yourselves and those that you love; because that is what we are here for, that’s all we got, that is all we can take with us.  Are you with me?”

Fred Couples – 1959 – Professional Golfer

“Golf is supposed to be fun, but I don’t think anything is fun is you’re not doing it reasonably well.”

Dave Winfield in New York Yankees Spring Training, 1983. Philatio (talk) 03:33, 5 May 2008 (UTC) 03:33, 5 May 2008 . . Phil5329 . . 224×356 (12 KB) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jack Wagner – 1959 – Actor

“Reality is the leading cause of stress for those in touch with it.”

Clive Owen – 1964 – Actor

“I just like to keep challenging myself, keep it varied.  It’s a craft, and I’m constantly trying to learn and get better at it.”

Sara Zarr – 1970 – Writer

“I’m not really a plot writer – I’m more interested in the characters and sort of small events that propel the story forward.”

Cordell Hull – Nobel Peace Prize, U.S. Secretary of State, Father of the U.N. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Elizabeth Montagu – 1718- Writer

“I endeavor to be wise when I cannot be merry, easy when I cannot be glad, content with what cannot be mended and patient when there be no redress.”

William Ramsay – 1852 – Scientist

“The noblest exercise of the mind within doors, and most befitting a person of quality, is study.”

Mohatma K. Gandhi – 1869 – Indian Leader

“The earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”

Cordell Hull – 1871 – Public Servant

“Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river.”

Wallace Stevens – 1879 – Poet

“The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself.”

Groucho Marx – 1895 – Comedian (Julius Henry Marx)

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

Bud Abbott – 1897 – Actor (William Alexander Abbott)

“Well, I always have a chauffer, because I have never driven a car in my life.  I still can’t drive.”

Graham Greene – 1904 – Playwright

“There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.”

Willy Ley – 1906 – Writer

“Ideas, like large rivers, never have just one source.”

Jack Finney – 1911 – Author

“When you’ve heard one bagpipe tune, you’ve heard them both.”

Earl Wilson – 1934 – Athlete

“Gossip is when you hear something you like about someone you don’t.”

Johnnie Cochran – 1937 – Lawyer

“I’m a big believer in the fact that life is about preparation, preparation, preparation.”

Rex Reed – 1938 – Critic

“In Hollywood, if you don’t have happiness, you send out for it.”

Steve Sabol – 1942 – Director

“The autumn wind is a pirate.  Blustering in from sea with a rollicking song he sweeps along swaggering boisterously.  His face is weather beaten, he wears a hooded sash with a silver hat about his head . . .  The autumn wind is a Raider, pillaging just for fun.”

Don McLean – 1945 – Musician

English: Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx, cropped from group photo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I think longevity is more important than trying to make people realize you’re around every second.”

Ward Churchill – 1947 – Educator

“Truth is the best defense.”

Avery Brooks – 1948 – Actor

“Knowledge is going to make you stronger.  Knowledge is going to let you control your life.  Knowledge is going to give you the wisdom to teach their children.  Knowledge is the thing that makes you smile in the face of disaster.”

Donna Karan – 1948 – Designer

“Accent the positive and delete the negative.”

Chris LeDoux – 1948 – Musician

“Sometimes a hard day’s work is easier than a lot of things you can meet in life.”

Persis Khambatta – 1950 – Actress

“Maybe I’m being philosophical and spiritual, but I believe that if you put negative energy out there that that is what will come back.”

Mike Rutherford – 1950 – Musician

“Seventy percent of what I write, I throw out.  I can write very easily, but writing original things is the hard bit.”

Sting – 1951 – Musician (Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner)

“I don’t need to manufacture trauma in my life to be creative.  I have a big enough reservoir of sadness or emotional trauma to last me.”

Joe Sacco – 1960 – Journalist

“I’d much rather hang out in a café.  That’s where things are really happening.”

Tom Moody – 1965 – Coach

“It’s a disappointment to lose key players.  On the other hand it creates an opportunity to play other players.”

Kelly Ripa – 1970 – Entertainer

“I think children are like pancakes.  You sort of ruin the first one, and you get better at it the second time around.”