February 09

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary."

Thomas Paine
(02/09/1737 – 06/08/1809)
English-US author, founding father, patriot ("Common Sense")

"But I contend that the strongest of all governments is that which is most free."

William Henry Harrison
(02/09/1773 – 04/04/1841)
US President (9) for a month
(grandfather of Benjamin Harrison)

"My only great qualification for being put at the head of the Navy is that I am very much at sea."

Lord Edward Carson
(02/09/1854 – 10/22/1935)
Irish statesman

"Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls."

Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins
(02/09/1863 – 07/08/1933)
English writer ("The Prisoner of Zenda")

"Does it really matter what these affectionate people do—so long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses!"

Mrs. Patrick Campbell
(02/09/1865 – 04/09/1940)
English actor ("Riptide")

"'Whom are you?' he asked, for he had attended business college."

George Ade
(02/09/1866 – 05/16/1944)
US humorist ("The College Widow")

"All books are either dreams or swords, you can cut, or you can drug, with words."

Amy Lowell
(02/09/1874 – 05/12/1925)
US writer ("What's O'Clock")
(granddaughter of Abbott Lawrence Lowell)

"The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."

Fyodor Dostoevsky
(11/11/1821 – 02/09/1881)
Russian writer ("The Idiot")

"If a person desires to be a humorist it is necessary that the people around him shall be at least as wise as he is, otherwise his humor will not be comprehended."

James Stephens
(02/09/1880 – 12/26/1950)
Irish writer ("The Crock of Gold")

"People are taking it for granted that [the African-American] ought not to work with his head. And it is so easy for these people among whom we are living to believe this; it flatters and satisfies their self-complacency."

Paul Laurence Dunbar
(06/27/1872 – 02/09/1906)
US writer ("In Dahomey")

"Look at me and tell me if I don't have Brazil in every curve of my body."

Carmen Miranda
(02/09/1909 – 08/05/1955)
Portuguese-Brazilian singer, dancer, actor ("Down Argentine Way")

"Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world being round, but to me it means that only one-third of the world is asleep at any given time and the other two-thirds is up to something."

Dean Rusk
(02/09/1909 – 12/20/1994)
US secretary of state

"Look, we play the Star Spangled Banner before every game. You want us to pay income taxes, too?"

Bill Veeck
(02/09/1914 – 01/02/1986)
US baseball player, team owner

"He dares to be a fool, and that is the first step in the direction of wisdom."

James Gibbons Huneker
(01/31/1857 – 02/09/1921)
US critic ("Painted Veils")

"I have never seen a situation so dismal that a policeman couldn't make it worse."

Brendan Behan
(02/09/1923 – 03/20/1964)
Irish writer ("Borstal Boy")

"Great things are only possible with outrageous requests."

Thea Alexander
(02/09/1936 – )
US writer ("2150 AD")

"I can't believe I'm 60 years old and I'm still writing songs and putting out records. Write from your heart, from your passions. If you think it's a difficult road, you're right, but don't give up."

Carole King
(02/09/1942 – )
US songwriter , quoted in 2002 ("Tapestry")

"The quietly pacifist peaceful always die to make room for men who shout."

Alice Walker
(02/09/1944 – )
US writer ("Meridian")

"I can match bottoms with anyone in Hollywood."

Mia Farrow
(02/09/1945 – )
US actor ("Rosemary's Baby")
(daughter of Maureen O'Sullivan and John Farrow; was married to Frank Sinatra, André Previn; LTR with Woody Allen)

"I hate reality—I want to be wholly artificial." *

Lolo Ferrari
(02/09/1963 – 03/05/2000)
French porn star

"I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better."

Sophie Tucker
(01/13/1886 – 02/09/1966)
Russian singer ("Some of These Days")

"There are no illegitimate children—only illegitimate parents." *

Leon Rene Yankwich
(09/25/1888 – 02/09/1975)
US judge (CA) , decision in Zipkin v. Mozon, June 1928

"Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature."

Dennis Gabor
(06/05/1900 – 02/09/1979)
Hungarian scientist (invented the hologram)

"The road can be hard on a kid if he's not careful."

Bill Haley
(07/06/1925 – 02/09/1981)
US singer, guitarist ("R.O.C.K.")

"Tradition is what you resort to when you don't have the time or the money to do it right."

Kurt Herbert Adler
(04/02/1905 – 02/09/1988)
Austrian opera director

"In the long course of history, having people who understand your thought is much greater security than another submarine."

J. William Fulbright
(04/09/1905 – 02/09/1995)
US Senator (Arkansas) ("The Price of Empire")

"I'm no angel, but I'm no Bo-Beep either."

Princess Margaret
(08/21/1930 – 02/09/2002)
English royalty

"It's one thing to just play a tune, or play a program of music, but it's another thing to practically create a new language of music, which is what [Miles Davis'] Kind of Blue did."

Chick Corea
(06/12/1941 – 02/09/2021)
US pianist, composer ("500 Miles High")