September 09

"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him."

Cardinal Richelieu
(09/09/1585 – 12/04/1642)
French minister, clergy ("Political Testament")

"A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator the smaller the fraction."

Leo Tolstoy
(09/09/1828 – 11/20/1910)
Russian writer ("Anna Karenina")

"People would be surprised to know how much I learned about prayer from playing poker."

Mary Austin
(09/09/1868 – 08/13/1934)
US writer ("The Land of Little Rain")

"Theatre director: a person engaged by the management to conceal the fact that the players cannot act."

James Agate
(09/09/1877 – 06/06/1947)
English writer ("Ego" series)

"There's no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You can't do any business from there."

Colonel Harland Sanders
(09/09/1890 – 12/16/1980)
US chef, mascot ("Kentucky Fried Chicken")

"Marriage—a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters in prose."

Beverley Nichols
(09/09/1898 – 09/15/1983)
English writer ("Evensong")
(died near his birthday)

"If you forgive people enough you belong to them, and they to you, whether either person likes it or not—squatter's rights of the heart."

James Hilton
(09/09/1900 – 12/20/1954)
English writer ("Goodbye, Mr. Chips")

"Every luxury must be paid for, and everything is a luxury, starting with being in this world."

Cesare Pavese
(09/09/1908 – 08/27/1950)
Italian writer ("La Luna e i Falò (The Moon and the Bonfires)")

"Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more."

Edward H. Harriman
(02/20/1848 – 09/09/1909)
US railroad executive

"Few great men could pass Personnel."

Paul Goodman
(09/09/1911 – 08/02/1972)
US critic ("Growing Up Absurd")

"Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait... The truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don't count."

Robert Anthony
(09/09/1916 – 12/01/2006)
US professor ("Planning and Control Systems: A Framework for Analysis")

"This isn't exactly a stable business. It's like trying to stand up in a canoe with your pants down."

Cliff Robertson
(09/09/1923 – 09/10/2011)
US actor ("Charly")
(died near his birthday)

"Only the untalented can afford to be humble."

Sylvia Miles
(09/09/1924 – 06/12/2019)
US actor ("Midnight Cowboy")

"I don't care what people say behind my back. What I want is for them to be nice to my face."

Countess Raine Spencer
(09/09/1929 – 10/21/2016)
English socialite
(daughter of Barbara Cartland, stepmother of Princess Diana)

"Claudia's the sort of person who goes through life holding onto the sides."

Alice Thomas Ellis
(09/09/1932 – 03/08/2005)
Welsh writer ("The Sin Eater")

"If you want to be a singer, you've got to concentrate on it twenty-four hours a day. You can't be a well driller, too."

Otis Redding
(09/09/1941 – 12/10/1967)
US singer, songwriter ("Try A Little Tenderness")

"The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."

Joe Theismann
(09/09/1949 – )
US ex-NFL quarterback ; he later claimed that there actually was a "smart guy" named Norman Einstein at his school—at any rate the quote rather reinforces his case

"Her face was her chaperone."

Rupert Hughes
(01/31/1872 – 09/09/1956)
US writer ("All For A Girl")
(uncle of Howard Hughes)

"A duck walks into the pharmacy and says, 'gimme some chapstick—and put it on my bill.'"

The Amazing Johnathan
(09/09/1958 – )
US comic ("The Amazing Johnathan Documentary")

"I'm not one to go around blowing my own horn."

Hugh Grant
(09/09/1960 – )
English actor ("About a Boy")
(LTR with Elizabeth Hurley)

"Now I realize how ugly I am."

Adam Sandler
(09/09/1966 – )
US comic actor (SNL) , after laser eye surgery

"A wonderful discovery, psychoanalysis. Makes quite simple people feel they're complex."

S. N. Behrman
(06/09/1893 – 09/09/1973)
US writer ("No Time for Comedy")

"The people are like water and the army is like fish."

Mao Tse-Tung
(12/26/1893 – 09/09/1976)
Chinese political leader ("Changsha")

"No, no. Jimmy Stewart for governor. Ronald Reagan for his best friend."

Jack L. Warner
(08/02/1892 – 09/09/1978)
Canadian film executive and Warner Brother ("The Jazz Singer") , on Reagan being elected governor of California
(brother of Harry Warner; shown with Alfred Hitchcock)

"Reason itself is fallible, and this fallibility must find a place in our logic." *

Nicola Abbagnano
(07/15/1901 – 09/09/1990)
Italian existential philosopher ("Le sorgenti irrazionali del pensiero (The Irrational Sources of Thought?)")

"Franchot Tone is nuttier than a fruitcake, so don't let the genteel frosting fool you."

Burgess Meredith
(11/16/1907 – 09/09/1997)
US actor ("Of Mice and Men")
(was married to Paulette Goddard)

"To cure a batting slump, I took my bat to bed with me. I wanted to know my bat a little better."

Richie Ashburn
(03/19/1927 – 09/09/1997)
US baseball player

"No endeavor that is worthwhile is simple in prospect; if it is right, it will be simple in retrospect."

Edward Teller
(01/15/1908 – 09/09/2003)
US scientist

"All too many men still seem to believe, in a rather naïve and egocentric way, that what feels good to them is automatically what feels good to women."

Shere Hite
(11/02/1942 – 09/09/2020)
US researcher, writer ("The Hite Report on Female Sexuality")