January 12

"And perhaps, posterity will thank me for having shown it that the ancients did not know everything."

Pierre de Fermat
(circa 10/31/1607 – 01/12/1665)
French mathematician ("Methodus ad disquirendam maximam et minimam")

"It is a general popular error to suppose the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious for its welfare."

Edmund Burke
(01/12/1729 – 07/09/1797)
Irish statesman ("A Vindication of Natural Society")

"A critic is a reader who ruminates. Thus, he should have more than one stomach."

Friedrich von Schlegel
(03/10/1772 – 01/12/1829)
German writer, critic ("Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (On the Language and Wisdom of India)")

"A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth."

John Singer Sargent
(01/12/1856 – 04/14/1925)
Italian-born US artist ("Portrait of Madame X")

"All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark."

Swami Vivekananda
(01/12/1863 – 07/04/1902)
Indian spiritual leader ("My Master")

"You can't wait for inspiration—you have to go after it with a club."

Jack London
(01/12/1876 – 11/22/1916)
US writer ("The Call of the Wild")

"I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in fourteen days I lost two weeks."

Joe E. Lewis
01/12/1902 – 06/04/1971)
US actor ("The Holy Terror")

"Estelle Winwood is not Tallulah's best friend! I am! And I've got the scars to prove it!"

Patsy Kelly
(01/12/1910 – 09/24/1981)
US actor ("Kelly the Second")

"The Oscar is not a curse. The real curse is that once you have an Oscar they think you can do anything."

Luise Rainer
(01/12/1910 – 12/30/2014)
German actor ("The Good Earth")
(was married to Clifford Odets)

"At what point did Rhythm and Blues start becoming rock'n'roll? When the white kids started to dance to it."

Ruth Brown
(01/12/1928 – 11/17/2006)
US singer ("Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean")

"Kill the body and the head will die."

Joe Frazier
(01/12/1944 – 11/07/2011)
US boxer

"I don't think that [children are] any more resilient than anyone else. They're just people with little bodies."

Kirstie Alley
(01/12/1951 – )
US actor ("Cheers")

"Writing a book just might be the hardest thing I've ever done, besides trying to get laid in college."

Howard Stern
(01/12/1954 – )
US radio personality
(also see Robin Quivers)

"Doors get angry with the wind."

Ramon Gomez de la Serna
(07/03/1888 – 01/12/1963)
Spanish writer ("El Circo")

"Never be afraid to sit awhile and think."

Lorraine Hansberry
(05/19/1930 – 01/12/1965)
US writer ("A Raisin in the Sun")

"I like Paris. My problem is I don't like Parisians."

Olivier Martinez
(01/12/1966 – )
French actor ("Unfaithful")
(was married to Halle Berry; relationship with Kylie Minogue)

"Anger is a gift."

Zack de la Rocha
(01/12/1970 – )
US singer (Rage Against the Machine)
(also see Tom Morello)

"I have always admired the Esquimaux (Eskimos). One fine day a delicious meal is cooked for dear old mother, and then she goes walking away over the ice, and doesn't come back."

Agatha Christie
(09/15/1890 – 01/12/1976)
English writer ("And Then There Were None")

"The Nixon Political Principle: If two wrongs don't make a right, try three."

Dr. Laurence J. Peter
(09/16/1919 – 01/12/1990)
Canadian pop psychologist, writer ("The Peter Principle")

"I think we have to act like stars because it is expected of us. So we drive our big cars and live in our smart houses."

Maurice Gibb
(12/22/1949 – 01/12/2003)
English singer (Bee Gees)
(was married to Lulu)