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"As to the presidency, the two happiest days of my life were those of my entrance upon the office and my surrender of it."

Martin Van Buren
(12/05/1782 – 07/24/1862)
US President (8), VP (8)

"Whoever is most impertinent has the best chance."

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(01/27/1756 – 12/05/1791)
Austrian composer ("Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310")

"The downhill path is easy, but there's no turning back."

Christina Rossetti
(12/05/1830 – 12/29/1894)
English poet ("Goblin Market")
(sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti)

"The Army is the Indian's best friend."

George Armstrong Custer
(12/05/1839 – 06/25/1876)
US general

"While gripinge grefes ye hart would wounde,
And dolefulle domps ye mynde oppresse,
There musicke with her silver sound,
Is wont with spede to send redresse."

Alexandre Dumas Père
(07/24/1802 – 12/05/1870)
French writer ("The Count of Monte Cristo")
(father of Alexandre Dumas Fils)

"Even for the physicist the description in plain language will be a criterion of the degree of understanding that has been reached."

Werner Karl Heisenberg
(12/05/1901 – 02/01/1976)
German physicist ("The Physical Principles of the Quantum Theory")

"I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I've ever known."

Walt Disney
(12/05/1901 – 12/15/1966)
US filmmaker ("Steamboat Willie")

"All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches."

Strom Thurmond
(12/05/1902 – 06/26/2003)
US senator (SC), bigot, and hypocrite , in 1948

"A vacuum with nipples."

Otto Preminger
(12/05/1905 – 04/23/1986)
Austrian director ("Anatomy of a Murder") , on Marilyn Monroe

"The hardest thing in the world is to start an orchestra, and the next hardest, to stop it."

Hans Richter
(04/04/1843 – 12/05/1916)
Hungarian conductor

"I am following Nature without being able to grasp her. I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers."

Claude Monet
(11/14/1840 – 12/05/1926)
French painter ("Water Lilies")
(Manet is here)

"Elvis may have been the king of rock'n'roll, but I am the queen."

Little Richard
(12/05/1932 – 05/09/2020)
US singer, pianist, hall of famer ("Tutti Frutti")

"California: The west coast of Iowa."

Joan Didion
(12/05/1934 – )
US writer ("The Year of Magical Thinking")
(was married to John Gregory Dunne)

"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found."

Calvin Trillin
(12/05/1935 – )
US writer ("Tepper Isn’t Going Out")

"Sometimes when we are generous in small, barely detectable ways it can change someone else's life forever."

Margaret Cho
(12/05/1968 – )
US-Korean comic ("All-American Girl")

"Let's face it, sports writers, we're not hanging around with brain surgeons."

Jimmy Cannon
(04/10/1909 – 12/05/1973)
US sports writer

"I try to avoid the sweet-ass roles."

Nick Stahl
(12/05/1979 – )
US actor ("Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines")

"I'm just an actor, that's nothing special."

Frankie Muniz
(12/05/1985 – )
US actor ("Malcolm in the Middle")

"It's like a whole orchestra, the piano for me."

Dave Brubeck
(12/06/1920 – 12/05/2012)
US composer, musician ("Take Five")
(died near his birthday)

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

Nelson Mandela
(07/18/1918 – 12/05/2013)
African statesman

"History buffs probably noted the reunion at a Washington party a few weeks ago of three ex-presidents: Carter, Ford, and Nixon—See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and Evil."

Bob Dole
(07/22/1923 – 12/05/2021)
US senator (KS), presidential candidate
(Illustration by Zach Trenholm)

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