March 31

"Of all things, good sense is the most fairly distributed: everyone thinks he is so well supplied with it that even those who are the hardest to satisfy in every other respect never desire more of it than they already have."

Rene Descartes
(03/31/1596 – 02/11/1650)
French philosopher ("Meditations on First Philosophy")

"Wicked is not much worse than indiscreet."

John Donne
(01/22/1572 – 03/31/1631)
English writer ("Devotions upon Emergent Occasions")

"There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself."

Johann Sebastian Bach
(03/31/1685 – 07/28/1750)
German composer ("Brandenburg Concertos")

"There was no one near to confuse me, so I was forced to become original."

Franz Joseph Haydn
(03/31/1732 – 05/31/1809)
Austrian composer ("Symphony No. 94 in G major (Surprise Symphony)")

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts—for support rather than for illumination."

Andrew Lang
(03/31/1844 – 07/20/1912)
Scottish writer ("Myth, Ritual, and Religion")

"The possession of muscular strength and the courage to use it in contests with other men for physical supremacy does not necessarily imply a lack of appreciation for the finer and better things of life."

Jack Johnson
(03/31/1878 – 06/10/1946)
US boxer

"You can't pick cherries with your back to the tree."

J. Pierpont Morgan
(04/17/1837 – 03/31/1913)
US gazillionaire

"Look twice before you leap."

Charlotte Brontë
(04/21/1816 – 03/31/1855)
English writer ("Jane Eyre")
(sister of Anne and Emily Brontë)

"By the time your life is finished, you will have learned just enough to begin it well." *

Eleanor Marx
(01/16/1855 – 03/31/1898)
English-born socialist, writer, philanthropist
(daughter of Karl Marx)

"They say a reasonable amount o' fleas is good for a dog—keeps him from broodin' over bein' a dog mebbe."

Edward Noyes Westcott
(09/27/1846 – 03/31/1898)
US writer ("David Harum")

"Deserve your dream."

Octavio Paz
(03/31/1914 – 04/19/1998)
Mexican writer ("The Labyrinth of Solitude (El laberinto de la soledad)")

"A careful driver is one who honks his horn when he goes through a red light."

Henry Morgan
(03/31/1915 – 05/19/1994)
US humorist

"If I don't have wisdom, I can teach you only ignorance."

Leo Buscaglia
(03/31/1924 – 06/12/1998)
US writer, "Hug Doctor" ("The Way of the Bull")

"Men love war because it allows them to look serious. Because it is the one thing that stops women from laughing at them."

John Fowles
(03/31/1926 – 11/05/2005)
English writer ("The Magus")

"A gentleman need not know Latin, but he should at least have forgotten it."

Brander Matthews
(02/21/1852 – 03/31/1929)
US writer ("Vignettes of Manhattan")

"I've found that prayers work best when you have big players."

Knute Rockne
(03/04/1888 – 03/31/1931)
Norway-born US football player and coach

"Well, television is what it is. Let's face it. I had done 25 motion pictures prior to The Partridge Family and nobody knew my name."

Shirley Jones
(03/31/1934 – )
US actor, candy shop owner ("Elmer Gantry")
(stepmother of David Cassidy)

"When I grew up, being gay, being a sissy or anything like that was verboten. I disliked myself intensely and feared this part of myself intensely and had to hide it and became 'Perfect Richard, All-American Boy' as a place to hide."

Richard Chamberlain
(03/31/1934 – )
US actor ("Dr. Kildare")

"A lie was something that hadn't happened but might just as well have."

Judith Rossner
(03/31/1935 – 08/09/2005)
US writer ("Looking for Mr. Goodbar")

"A new idea is rarely born like
Venus attended by graces
More commonly it's modeled of baling wire and acne.
More commonly it wheezes and tips over."

Marge Piercy
(03/31/1936 – )
US writer ("Woman on the Edge of Time")

"Bear costumes are funny... Bears as well."

Christopher Walken
(03/31/1943 – )
US actor ("The Deer Hunter")

"A leopard never changes his stripes."

Al Gore
(03/31/1948 – )
US Vice President (45) and winner of the 2000 US Presidential election ("An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It")
(married to Tipper)

"I'm sick and tired of people saying that we put out 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we've put out 12 albums that sound exactly the same."

Angus Young
(03/31/1955 – )
Australian guitarist (AC/DC) ("Back in Black")

"The only bond worth anything between human beings is their humanness."

Jesse Owens
(09/12/1913 – 03/31/1980)
US runner

"The pleasure of one's effect on other people still exists in age—what's called making a hit. But the hit is much rarer and made of different stuff."

Enid Bagnold
(10/27/1889 – 03/31/1981)
English writer ("National Velvet")

"A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford."

Christina Stead
(07/17/1902 – 03/31/1983)
Australian writer ("The Man Who Loved Children")

"The establishment is made up of little men, very frightened."

Bella Abzug
(07/24/1920 – 03/31/1998)
US representative (NY) ("Gender gap: Bella Abzug's Guide to Political Power for American Women")

"It was revealed in a government survey published today that the Prime Minister is doing the work of two men, Laurel and Hardy."

Ronnie Corbett
(12/04/1937 – 03/31/2016)
Scottish comic actor ("The Two Ronnies")