December 25

"I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies but not the madness of people."

Sir Isaac Newton
(12/25/1642 – 03/20/1727)
English scientist ("Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica")

"The door that nobody else will go in at, seems always to swing open widely for me."

Clara Barton
(12/25/1821 – 04/12/1912)
US humanitarian, Red Cross founder ("The Story of My Childhood")

"All the American women had purple noses and gray lips and their faces were chalk white from terrible powder. I recognized that the United States could be my life's work."

Helena Rubinstein
(12/25/1872 – 04/01/1965)
Polish-US cosmetician

"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit."

Conrad Hilton
(12/25/1887 – 01/03/1979)
US hotelier
(great-grandfather of Paris Hilton; was married to Zsa Zsa Gabor)

"The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind."

Humphrey Bogart
(12/25/1899 – 01/14/1957)
US actor ("Casablanca")
(was married to Lauren Bacall)

"Twelve? Who needs twelve? Couldn't we make do with six?"

Lew Grade
(12/25/1906 – 12/13/1998)
Ukrainian producer ("The Prisoner") , on filming apostles

"My audience was my life. What I did and how I did it, was all for my audience."

Cab Calloway
(12/25/1907 – 11/18/1994)
US bandleader, singer, drummer, entertainer ("St. James Infirmary Blues")

"When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, 'Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?'"

Quentin Crisp
(12/25/1908 – 11/21/1999)
"One of the Stately Old Homos of England" ("The Naked Civil Servant")

"It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper."

Rod Serling
(12/25/1924 – 06/28/1975)
US writer ("Requiem for a Heavyweight")

"No person is important enough to make me angry."

Carlos Castaneda
(12/25/1925 – 04/27/1998)
US anthropologist, writer ("The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge")

"I couldn't act, but I could swing through the trees."

Irish McCalla
(12/25/1928 – 02/01/2002)
US actor ("She Demons") , on her role in "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle"

"[My daughter loves playing] cowpersons and Indians."

Anne Roiphe
(12/25/1935 – )
US feminist, writer

"Ideas are to literature what light is to painting."

Paul Bourget
(09/02/1852 – 12/25/1935)
French writer ("A Cruel Enigma")

"Writing good editorials is chiefly telling people what they think, not what you think."

Arthur Brisbane
(12/12/1864 – 12/25/1936)
US editor, writer

"I suppose the old natural stuff would be ok, the old mushroom, but I wouldn't advise anyone to do it."

Noel Redding
(12/25/1945 – 05/11/2003)
US bassist (Jimi Hendrix Experience)

"Truth is stranger than fishin'."

Jimmy Buffett
(12/25/1946 – )
US singer, songwriter, parrothead head ("Margaritaville")

"The son of a bitch is a ballet dancer."

W. C. Fields
(01/29/1880 – 12/25/1946)
US comic actor ("The Bank Dick") , on Charlie Chaplin

"You don't forget the movies, but you forget the details of them."

Sissy Spacek
(12/25/1949 – )
US actor ("Coal Miner's Daughter")

"As people do better, they start voting like Republicans—unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing."

Karl Rove
(12/25/1950 – )
US political manipulator and general all-around slimeball

"Dying is easy, it's living that scares me to death."

Annie Lennox
(12/25/1954 – )
Scottish singer (Eurythmics) ("Love is a Stranger")

"Bush doesn’t know the names of countries, he doesn’t know the names of foreign leaders, he can’t even find the Earth on a globe."

Doug Ferrari
(12/25/1956 – )
US comic ("Dating After Divorce")

"In modelling, there is no point in trying to prove you have a brain, so why even bother? I'd sooner save the energy for something more meaningful."

Helena Christensen
(12/25/1968 – )
Danish model

"Because it's 2015."

Justin Trudeau
(12/25/1971 – )
Canadian PM (23) , on why his cabinet was 50% female
(son of Margaret and Pierre Trudeau)

"All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman, and a pretty girl."

Charlie Chaplin
(04/16/1889 – 12/25/1977)
English-US comic, actor, director ("The Great Dictator")
(was married to Paulette Goddard)

"In the 20s, you were a face. And that was enough. In the 30s, you also had to be a voice. And your voice had to match your face, if you can imagine that."

Joan Blondell
(08/30/1906 – 12/25/1979)
US actor ("The Blue Veil")
(was married to Dick Powell, Michael Todd)

"Shirley—I love her, but her oars aren't touching the water these days."

Dean Martin
(06/07/1917 – 12/25/1995)
Italian-US singer, actor ("Everybody Loves Somebody")

"Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown; you know what I'm saying? You hear all the rappers, 90 percent of their music is me."

James Brown
(05/03/1933 – 12/25/2006)
US Godfather of Soul ("Papa's Got a Brand New Bag")

"I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma."

Eartha Kitt
(01/17/1927 – 12/25/2008)
US singer, actor ("C'est Si Bon")

"I've achieved what every artist wants, which is that some of their work will outlive them."

George Michael
(06/25/1963 – 12/25/2016)
English singer (Wham!) ("Careless Whisper")