February 25

"The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels, etc. like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as the exhibition of his thoughts; in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea to the world."

Robert Fulton
(11/14/1765 – 02/25/1815)
US inventor ("North River Steamboat")

"I've been 40 years discovering that the queen of all colors was black."

Pierre-Auguste Renoir
(02/25/1841 – 12/03/1919)
French artist ("Young Girls at the Piano")
(father of Jean Renoir— image courtesy of the wonderful Bridgeman Art Library)

"The world is seldom what it seems;
to man, who dimly sees,
realities appear as dreams,
and dreams realities."

Thomas Moore
(05/28/1779 – 02/25/1852)
Irish writer ("The Last Rose of Summer")

"I'll take Vesuvius!"

Enrico Caruso
(02/25/1873 – 08/02/1921)
Italian singer , after the 1906 San Francisco quake (he never returned to SF)
(affair with Alma Schindler)

"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year."

John Foster Dulles
(02/25/1888 – 05/24/1959)
US Secretary of State

"One has to look out for engineers—they begin with sewing machines and end up with the atomic bomb."

Marcel Pagnol
(02/25/1895 – 04/18/1974)
French playwright ("Marius")

"Thousands upon thousands of persons have studied disease. Almost no one has studied health."

Adelle Davis
(02/25/1904 – 05/31/1974)
US nutritionist ("Let's Cook It Right")

Fellow Congressperson: "I've always thought of women as kissable, cuddly, and smelling good."
Millicent Fenwick: "That's what I feel about men. I only hope you haven't been disappointed as often as I have."
(02/25/1910 – 09/16/1992)
US fashion editor, representative (NJ), diplomat

"Cesar Romero would attend the opening of a napkin."

Jim Backus
(02/25/1913 – 07/03/1989)
US actor

"Please let me know to what extent you have used, or intend using, the pruning knife."

Sir John Tenniel
(02/28/1820 – 02/25/1914)
English illustrator ("Alice's Adventures in Wonderland") , urging Lewis Carroll to shorten Through the Looking-Glass
(died near his birthday)

"He said it was artificial respiration, but now I find I am to have his child."

Anthony Burgess
(02/25/1917 – 11/22/1993)
English writer ("A Clockwork Orange")

"What most of us are after, when we have a picture taken, is a good natural-looking picture that doesn't resemble us."

Peg Bracken
(02/25/1918 – 10/20/2007)
US writer ("The I Hate to Cook Book")

"If I can't play for big money, I play for a little money. And if I can't play for a little money, I stay in bed that day."

Bobby Riggs
(02/25/1918 – 10/25/1995)
US tennis freak

"A gossip is someone who talks to you about others, a bore is someone who talks to you about himself, and a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself." *

Lisa Kirk
(02/25/1925 – 11/11/1990)
US actor

"One doesn't have a sense of humor. It has you."

Larry Gelbart
(02/25/1928 – 09/11/2009)
US writer ("M*A*S*H")

"I'd rather be a musician than a rock star."

George Harrison
(02/25/1943 – 11/29/2001)
English musician, singer, songwriter (Beatles) ("All Things Must Pass")
(was married to Pattie Boyd)

"In some ways, what I need is a wife."

Anne Beatts
(02/25/1947 – 04/07/2021)
US writer (SNL)
(relationship with Michael O'Donoghue)

"If you're a horse, and someone gets on you, and falls off, and then gets right back on you, I think you should buck him off right away."

Jack Handey
(02/25/1949 – )
US comic, writer (SNL)

"You can't be a politician with a guitar."

John Doe
(02/25/1953 – )
US musician (X), actor
(was married to and bandmates with Exene Cervenka)

"We were called The Toilets originally—we were flushed with success."

Mike Peters
(02/25/1959 – )
English musician , on his band "The Alarm"

"Moonlight becomes you,
It goes with your hair."

Johnny Burke
(10/03/1908 – 02/25/1964)
US songwriter ("Swinging on a Star")

"I'm a lousy writer; a helluva lot of people have got lousy taste."

Grace Metalious
(09/08/1924 – 02/25/1964)
US writer ("Peyton Place")

"For me, it works to my advantage when people think I'm stupid. If somebody who disdains you or wants to control you underestimates you, you can play their game right back."

Veronica Webb
(02/25/1965 – )
US supermodel

"I don't do T&A very well because I haven't got much of either."

Téa Leoni
(02/25/1966 – )
US actor
(was married to David Duchovny)

"Silence is so accurate."

Mark Rothko
(09/25/1903 – 02/25/1970)
Russian artist

"I was told I had to gain a lot of weight because Hobbits are very portly. Peter [Jackson] is forever suggesting I have more food. 'A little more food for Mr. Astin.'"

Sean Astin
(02/25/1971 – )
US actor
(son of Patty Duke, adoptive son of John Astin)

"I had a nickname in junior high, and I'm loathe to say this: 'potato lady.'"

Rashida Jones
(02/25/1976 – )
US actor
(daughter of Peggy Lipton and Quincy Jones)

"In the game of life it's a good idea to have a few early losses, which relieves you of the pressure of trying to maintain an undefeated season."

Bill Vaughan
(10/08/1915 – 02/25/1977)
US writer

"That Europe is nothin' on earth but a great auction."

Tennessee Williams
(03/26/1911 – 02/25/1983)
US writer ("The Glass Menagerie")

"As science pushes forward, ignorance and superstition gallop around the flanks and bite science in the rear with big dark teeth."

Philip Jose Farmer
(01/26/1918 – 02/25/2009)
US writer ("Riverworld")

"When you start out as a filmmaker, you do parodies, because you can't really compete on a studio level."

Bill Paxton
(05/17/1955 – 02/25/2017)
US actor ("Twister")