October 19

"I have heard of a man who had a mind to sell his house, and therefore carried a piece of brick in his pocket, which he shewed as a pattern to encourage purchasers."

Jonathan Swift
(11/30/1667 – 10/19/1745)
English writer

"The same people who can deny others everything are famous for refusing themselves nothing."

Leigh Hunt
(10/19/1784 – 08/28/1859)
English writer

"It takes a clever man to turn cynic and a wise man to be clever enough not to."

Fannie Hurst
(10/19/1885 – 02/23/1968)
US writer

"A man of courage never needs weapons, but he may need bail."

Lewis Mumford
(10/19/1895 – 01/26/1990)
US writer
("The City in History")

"Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes."

John LeCarré
(10/19/1931 – 12/12/2020)
English writer
("The Spy Who Came In from the Cold")

"If folks can learn to be racist, then they can learn to be anti-racist. If being sexist ain't genetic, then, dad gum, people can learn about gender equality."

Johnnetta Betsch Cole
(10/19/1936 – )
US educator

"All science is either physics or stamp collecting."

Ernest Rutherford
(08/30/1871 – 10/19/1937)
New Zealand physicist

"I lead a pretty boring life. I once met an editor from the National Enquirer who said to me, almost apologetically, 'I'm sorry, but we're really not interested in you.' I'm afraid that's true."

John Lithgow
(10/19/1945 – )
US actor

"Set the foot down with distrust on the crust of the world—it is thin."

Edna St. Vincent Millay
(02/22/1892 – 10/19/1950)
US writer

"No."

Amy Carter
(10/19/1967 – )
US first daughter (granddaughter of Lillian Carter, daughter of Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter) , when asked if she had any message for the children of America

"In real love you want the other person's good. In romantic love, you want the other person."

Margaret Caroline Anderson
(11/24/1886 – 10/19/1973)
US writer

"I have the face of a vulture and the voice of a crow. If you threw a rock at me, you could kill two birds with one stone."

Martha Raye
(08/27/1916 – 10/19/1994)
US actor

"The day I met [Ornette Coleman], it was about 90 degrees and he had on an overcoat. I was scared of him."

Don Cherry
(11/18/1936 – 10/19/1995)
US trumpeter

"A bag of tattooed bones in a sequined slingshot."

Mr. Blackwell
(08/29/1922 – 10/19/2008)
US critic , on Cher