May 29

"You had better have one King than five hundred."

King Charles II
(05/29/1630 – 02/06/1685)
English royalty

"If this be treason, make the most of it!"

Patrick Henry
(05/29/1736 – 06/06/1799)
US patriot

"The most important of my discoveries have been suggested to me by my failures."

Sir Humphry Davy
(12/17/1778 – 05/29/1829)
English chemist (discovered laughing gas, bless him) ("Consolations in Travel or The Last Days of a Philosopher")

"Quite ignorant for his rank, and quite bigoted in his ignorance."

General Winfield Scott
(06/13/1786 – 05/29/1866)
US civil war general , on Zachary Taylor

"Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese."

G. K. Chesterton
(05/29/1874 – 06/14/1936)
English writer ("The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare")

"I maintain that today many an inventor, many a diplomat, many a financier is a sounder philosopher than all those who practice the dull craft of experimental psychology."

Oswald Spengler
(05/29/1880 – 05/08/1936)
German philosopher ("The Decline of the West")

"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'"

Beatrice Lillie
(05/29/1894 – 01/20/1989)
Canadian actor ("On Approval")

"I must say the Senator's victory in Wisconsin was a triumph for democracy. It proves that a millionaire has just as good a chance as anyone else."

Bob Hope
(05/29/1903 – 07/27/2003)
English-born comic ("Road to Singapore") , on JFK's electoral victory

"The Victorians had not been anxious to go away for the weekend. The Edwardians, on the contrary, were nomadic."

T. H. White
(05/29/1906 – 01/17/1964)
English writer ("The Once and Future King")

"He is like a man who sits on a stove and then complains that his backside is burning."

W. S. Gilbert
(11/18/1836 – 05/29/1911)
English lyricist ("The Mikado") , on Sir Arthur Sullivan

"I hated the bangs in the war: I always felt a silent war would be more tolerable."

Pamela Hansford Johnson
(05/29/1912 – 06/18/1981)
US writer ("The Honours Board")
(was engaged to Dylan Thomas, married to Gordon Stewart and then C. P. Snow

"You know nothing for sure...except the fact that you know nothing for sure."

John F. Kennedy
(05/29/1917 – 11/22/1963)
US President (35) ("Profiles in Courage")
(son of Rose and Joseph P., brother of Teddy and Robert; was married to Jackie)

"Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him."

John Barrymore
(02/15/1882 – 05/29/1942)
US actor ("Grand Hotel") , last words?
(brother of Ethel and Lionel, father of John Drew, grandfather of Drew; same dates as Harvey Korman)

"I never liked the men I loved, and never loved the men I liked."

Fanny Brice
(10/29/1891 – 05/29/1951)
US actor ("The Baby Snooks Show")
(was married to Billy Rose)

"For me, writing something in the spirit of Halloween is like Mother Teresa writing on charity and sacrifice. It's just second nature to me."

Danny Elfman
(05/29/1953 – )
US musician, composer (Oingo Boingo) ("The Nightmare Before Christmas")
(married to Bridget Fonda; uncle-in-law of Jenna Elfman)

"I am really looking forward as I get older and older, to being less and less nice."

Annette Bening
(05/29/1958 – )
US actor ("American Beauty")
(married to Warren Beatty)

"Love is never wrong."

Melissa Etheridge
(05/29/1961 – )
US singer, songwriter ("Yes I Am")

"They should be shot."

Noel Gallagher
(05/29/1967 – )
English musician (Oasis) ("Definitely Maybe") , on the Backstreet Boys

"There are no generalizations in American politics that vested selfishness cannot cut through."

John Gunther
(08/30/1901 – 05/29/1970)
US writer ("Death Be Not Proud")

"This thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down."

Mary Pickford
(04/08/1892 – 05/29/1979)
US actor ("Coquette")
(was married to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.)

"I like the rapid punch of solid-state for the bottom, and the rodent-gnawing distortion of the tubes on top." *

John Cipollina
(08/24/1943 – 05/29/1989)
US guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service et al) ("Happy Trails") , on his guitar rig

"I married Vincent Price very late in both our lives. It was chiefly because, even if Vincent can be a bit moody and frightening at times, loneliness is even more frightful. Without a husband, even an actress doesn't get invited out much."

Coral Browne
(07/23/1913 – 05/29/1991)
Australian actor ("Dreamchild")
(was married to Vincent Price)

"One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little."

Margaret Chase Smith
(12/14/1897 – 05/29/1995)
US Rep and Senator (ME)

"I think any man in business would be foolish to fool around with his secretary. If it's somebody else's secretary, fine."

Barry Goldwater
(01/02/1909 – 05/29/1998)
US Senator (AZ)

"Funny is when you're serious."

Harvey Korman
(02/15/1927 – 05/29/2008)
US comic, actor ("The Carol Burnett Show")
(same dates as John Barrymore)

"Snowflakes, leaves, humans, plants, raindrops, stars, molecules, microscopic entities all come in communities. The singular cannot in reality exist."

Paula Gunn Allen
(10/24/1939 – 05/29/2008)
US native writer ("The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions")

"People keep asking me, 'What evil lurks in you to play such bad characters? There is no evil in me, I just wear tight underwear."

Dennis Hopper
(05/17/1936 – 05/29/2010)
US actor ("Blue Velvet")
(was married to Michelle Phillips for eight days)