January 23

"A chip on the shoulder is too heavy a piece of baggage to carry through life."

John Hancock
(01/23/1737 – 10/08/1793)
US founding father

"Men first feel necessity, then look for utility, next attend to comfort, still later amuse themselves with pleasure, thence grow dissolute in luxury, and finally go mad and waste their substance."

Giambattista Vico
(06/23/1668 – 01/23/1744)
Italian philosopher ("La Scienza Nuova (The New Science)")

"Nothing is so hideous as an obsolete fashion."

Stendhal
(01/23/1783 – 03/23/1842)
French writer ("The Red and the Black")

"I won't change a thing in his portrait. Is it my fault if Moore looks like a squashed egg yolk and if his face is all lopsided? Anyway, the same applies to everybody's face... There's no symmetry in nature. One eye is never exactly the same as the other, there's always a difference. We all have a more or less crooked nose and an irregular mouth."

Edouard Manet
(01/23/1832 – 04/30/1883)
French artist ("A Bar at the Folies-Bergère") , on his portrait of George Augustus Moore
(Monet is here)

"The mountain sheep are sweeter,
but the valley sheep are fatter;
we therefore deem it meeter
to carry off the latter."

Thomas Love Peacock
(10/18/1785 – 01/23/1866)
English writer ("Nightmare Abbey")

"Young blood must have its course, lad, and every dog its day."

Charles Kingsley
(06/12/1819 – 01/23/1875)
English clergy ("The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby")

"Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God's Paradise."

Phillips Brooks
(12/13/1835 – 01/23/1893)
US clergyman ("O Little Town of Bethlehem")

"Swift justice demands more than just swiftness."

Potter Stewart
(01/23/1915 – 12/07/1985)
US Supreme Court justice

"There is currently a formula for success in the entertainment medium, that is: beat it to death if it succeeds."

Ernie Kovacs
(01/23/1919 – 01/13/1962)
US TV pioneer ("Mack the Knife")

"[Burt Lancaster] couldn't pick up an ashtray before discussing his motivation for an hour or so."

Jeanne Moreau
(01/23/1928 – 07/31/2017)
French actor ("Jules and Jim")
(was married to William Friedkin)

"Get my Swan costume ready."

Anna Pavlova
(02/12/1881 – 01/23/1931)
Russian dancer ("The Dragonfly") , last words

"That nonchalant attempt of Eve's
to fashion garments from leaves
was not, as you have heard, inspired
by shame at being unattired." *

Mrs. Harry St. Clair Zogbaum
(05/16/1888 – 01/23/1941)
US writer

"Excuse me, my leg has gone to sleep. Do you mind if I join it?"

Alexander Woollcott
(01/19/1887 – 01/23/1943)
US writer ("Shouts and Murmurs")
(died near his birthday)

"I run; I am a coward at heart. I swear, when I smell violence or aggression the coward comes out in me. I have no desire to fight anybody except myself."

Rutger Hauer
(01/23/1944 – 07/19/2019)
Dutch actor ("Blade Runner")

"Draw your pleasure, paint your pleasure, and express your pleasure strongly."

Pierre Bonnard
(10/03/1867 – 01/23/1947)
French artist ("Two Dogs in a Deserted Street")

"We ask for nothing that is not right, and herein lies the great power of our demand."

Paul Robeson
(04/09/1898 – 01/23/1976)
US actor, singer, activist ("The Emperor Jones")

"This is a thousand times more frightening than 'The Exorcist.' I intend to cover it with mayonnaise."

Salvador Dali
(05/11/1904 – 01/23/1989)
Spanish surrealist ("Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening") , on being presented with an inflatable statue of Bugs Bunny

"Between religion's 'this is' and poetry's 'but suppose this is,' there must always be some kind of tension, until the possible and the actual meet at infinity."

Northrop Frye
(07/14/1912 – 01/23/1991)
Canadian writer ("Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays")

"Rich means you have to stay there to maintain it."

Nell Carter
(09/13/1948 – 01/23/2003)
US actor ("Gimme a Break!")

"I was impressed with the potential positive relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, so I chose an elderly character."

Bob Keeshan
(06/27/1927 – 01/23/2004)
US entertainer ("Captain Kangaroo")

"Today I have a strong desire to photograph women clothed from head to foot with hardly an inch of flesh. It will be a challenge to work under such restraints."

Helmut Newton
(10/31/1920 – 01/23/2004
German-Australian photographer ("Sumo")

"For three days after death, hair and fingernails continue to grow, but phone calls taper off."

Johnny Carson
(10/23/1925 – 01/23/2005)
US Tonight Show host

"I can't die. It would ruin my image."

Jack LaLanne
(09/26/1914 – 01/23/2011)
US exercise maven

"Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So if I'm going to learn, I must do it by listening."

Larry King
(11/19/1933 – 01/23/2021)
US radio and TV host