September 12

"What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it."

Charles Dudley Warner
(09/12/1829 – 10/20/1900)
US writer

"[The War Office kept three sets of figures:] one to mislead the public, another to mislead the Cabinet, and the third to mislead itself."

Herbert Henry Asquith
(09/12/1852 – 02/15/1928)
English Prime Minister (35)
(was married to Margot Tennant Asquith, father of Elizabeth Asquith Bibesco and Cyril Asquith, great-grandfather of Helena Bonham Carter)

"We must respect the other person's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

H. L. Mencken
(09/12/1880 – 01/29/1956)
US writer ("The American Language; An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States")

"Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative."

Maurice Chevalier
(09/12/1888 – 01/01/1972)
French singer, actor

"An economist is a man who states the obvious in terms of the incomprehensible."

Alfred A. Knopf
(09/12/1892 – 08/11/1984)
US publisher

"One chance is all you need."

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

"Yes, I know 'Q' is beloved. But, for God's sake, don't make him some kind of sentimental grandfather. That's what I am in real life."

Desmond Llewelyn
(09/12/1914 – 12/19/1999)
Welsh actor

"There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness."

Han Suyin
(09/12/1917 – 11/02/2012)
Chinese physician, writer

"When smashing monuments, save the pedestals—they always come in handy."

Stanislaw Lem
(09/12/1921 – 03/27/2006)
Polish writer ("Solaris")
(Note: a different person from Stanislaw Lec)

"With the blood from my body I could start my own still."

George Jones
(09/12/1931 – 04/26/2013)
US singer, songwriter ("He Stopped Loving Her Today")
(was married to Tammy Wynette)

"There's people making babies to my music. That's nice."

Barry White
(09/12/1944 – 07/04/2003)
US singer ("I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby")

"A lot of 18-year-olds are like old men. They think they've seen everything."

Ben Folds
(09/12/1966 – )
US singer, songwriter

"I don't think women are better than men, but I do think that men are worse than women."

Louis C. K.
(09/12/1967 – )
US comic

"If youth is a defect, it is one we outgrow too soon."

Robert Lowell
(03/01/1917 – 09/12/1977)
US writer ("Life Studies")
(was married to Jean Stafford, Elizabeth Hardwick, Caroline Blackwood)

"Rock Hudson let his gay agent marry him off to his secretary because he didn't want people to get the right idea."

Anthony Perkins
(04/04/1932 – 09/12/1992)
US actor ("Psycho")

"I meditate and do yoga. I sit cross-legged and try not to levitate too much."

Jeremy Brett
(11/03/1933 – 09/12/1995)
English actor

"You know what a big fun day for me is now? It's when June gets up and we're both feeling good and we want to go shopping. We'll go to Wal-Mart and I'll get one of those electric carts and just race through the aisles. Imagine that being the highlight of your day."

Johnny Cash
(02/26/1932 – 09/12/2003)
US singer, songwriter, guitarist ("Ring of Fire")
(was married to June Carter Cash; father of Rosanne Cash)

"Everything I’ve ever let go of has claw marks on it."

David Foster Wallace
(02/21/1962 – 09/12/2008)
US writer ("Infinite Jest")