October 23

"Masefield's sonnets? Ah yes. Very nice. Pure Shakespeare.
Masefield's 'Reynard the Fox'? Very nice, too. Pure Chaucer.
Masefield's 'Everlasting Mercy'? H'm. Yes. Pure Masefield."

Robert Bridges
(10/23/1844 – 04/21/1930)
English writer ("Eros and Psyche")

"It is the unbroken testimony of all history that alcoholic liquors have been used by the strongest, wisest, handsomest, and in every way best races of all times."

George Saintsbury
(10/23/1845 – 01/28/1933)
English historian ("A Primer of French Literature")

"Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football."

John Heisman
(10/23/1869 – 10/03/1936)
US football coach

"Rivers are the lifeblood of our planet and they need to flow. They don't need to be dammed every 15 feet."

Katie Lee
(10/23/1919 – 11/01/2017)
US singer, environmentalist

"A conservative is a liberal who got mugged the night before."

Frank Rizzo
(10/23/1920 – 07/16/1991)
US mayor (Philadelphia)

"Humor is the ability to see three sides to one coin."

Ned Rorem
(10/23/1923 – )
US composer

"Ronald Reagan couldn't be here tonight; he's posing for the cover of 'Guns and Ammo.'"

Johnny Carson
(10/23/1925 – 01/23/2005)
US Tonight Show host

"I said to this priest: 'Am I expected to believe that if I went out and had an affair that God was really going to be upset? Okay, thou shalt not kill... steal... but thou shalt not commit adultery? If no one is any the wiser, what the hell difference does it make?' He was lovely. He told me the Commandments were laid down for a lot of guys living in the desert."

Diana Dors
(10/23/1931 – 05/04/1984)
English actor ("Lady Godiva Rides Again")
(was married to Richard Dawson; relationship with Bob Monkhouse)

"I never exaggerate; I just remember big."

Chi Chi Rodriguez
(10/23/1935 – )
Puerto Rican golfer

"I'm interested in stories about people as we knew them in the near-recent future."

Philip Kaufman
(10/23/1936 – )
US film director

"Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string."

Pelé
(10/23/1940 – )
Brazilian footballer

"If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito."

Anita Roddick
(10/23/1942 – 09/10/2007)
English businesswoman (The Body Shop)

"It's not easy to cut through a human head with a hacksaw."

Michael Crichton
(10/23/1942 – 11/04/2008)
US writer

"After I die, I'll be forgotten."

Al Jolson
(06/09/1886 – 10/23/1950)
US actor ("The Jazz Singer")

"Making a martial arts film in English to me is the same as John Wayne speaking Chinese in a western."

Ang Lee
(10/23/1954 – )
Chinese director

"I never took acting classes, but I knew I could do it based on the skill with which I lied to my parents on a regular basis."

Ryan Reynolds
(10/23/1976 – )
US actor
(was engaged to Alanis Morissette June 2004, was married to Scarlett Johansson; now married to Blake Lively)

"I was in Dallas with my backup band and a beautician, and a white woman done fainted! She looked at me and said 'Lawdy', and down she went. I asked 'How come she fainted? I don't look that bad, do I?' and they said 'Esquerita, it's the first time they've seen anything like you.'" *

Esquerita
(11/20/1935 – 10/23/1986)
US singer

"I wanted to be that cranky old guy that stands on his porch and yells at the neighborhood kids."

Robert Lansing
(06/05/1928 – 10/23/1994)
US actor ("12 O'Clock High")

"The idea of travelling all over the world singing the same songs sounds like hell. How people like Tina Turner still do it with enthusiasm is beyond me."

Pete Burns
(08/05/1959 – 10/23/2016)
US musician

"The only way to know how much is enough is to do too much and then back up."

Jerry Jeff Walker
(03/16/1942 – 10/23/2020)
US singer songwriter
("Mr. Bojangles")