Blathery

Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Born this week

Henry Ward Beecher

June 24, 1813March 8, 1887

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.

Henry Ward Beecher was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of ...

George Orwell

June 25, 1903January 21, 1950

Not to expose your true feelings to an adult seems to be instinctive from the age of seven or eight onwards.

Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 21 January 1950), better known by his psuedonymGeorge Orwell, was an English author. His work is marked by ...

Helen Keller

June 27, 1880June 1968

Alone we can do so little together we can do so much.

Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a bachelor of arts ...

Pearl S. Buck

June 26, 1892March 6, 1973

Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that is where I renew my springs that never dry up.

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck, also known by her Chinese name Sai Zhenzhu, was an American writer and novelist. As the daughter of missionaries, ...

Reinhold Niebuhr

June 21, 1892June 1971

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone therefore we are saved by love.

Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian, ethicist, public intellectual, commentator on politics and public affairs, and ...

Norman Cousins

June 24, 1915November 30, 1990

He who keeps his cool best wins.

Norman Cousins was an American political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate.

Jean Anouilh

June 23, 1910October 3, 1987

Life is very nice, but it lacks form. It's the aim of art to give it some.

Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to ...

David Ogilvy

June 23, 1911July 21, 1999

The secret of long life is double careers. One to about age sixty, then another for the next thirty years.

David Mackenzie Ogilvy, CBE, was an advertising executive who was widely hailed as "The Father of Advertising". In 1962, Time called him ...

Emma Goldman

June 27, 1869May 14, 1940

Politics is the reflex of the business and industrial world.

Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of ...

John Ciardi

June 24, 1916March 30, 1986

Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea.

John Anthony Ciardi was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet, he also translated Dante's Divine ...

Gaston Bachelard

June 27, 1884October 16, 1962

A special kind of beauty exists which is born in language, of language, and for language.

Gaston Bachelard was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter he ...

Matthew Simpson

June 21, 1811June 18, 1884

I do not purpose to discuss faith in its dogmatic sense today.

Matthew Simpson, was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1852 and based mostly in Chicago. During the ...

Mary McCarthy

June 21, 1912October 25, 1989

In science, all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality.

Mary Therese McCarthy was an American author, critic and political activist.

Irvin S. Cobb

June 23, 1876March 11, 1944

Middle age: when you begin to exchange your emotions for symptoms.

Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb (June 23, 1876 - March 11, 1944) was an American author, humorist, and columnist who lived in New York and authored ...

George A. Smith

June 26, 1817September 1875

Let those who, still in their youth, have preserved their faith and fullness of hope, keep looking up.

George Albert Smith was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as a member of ...

Gilbert Highet

June 22, 1906January 20, 1978

A teacher must believe in the value and interest of his subject as a doctor believes in health.

Gilbert Arthur Highet was a Scottish-American classicist, academic, writer, intellectual, critic and literary historian. Born in Scotland, ...

Anna Akhmatova

June 23, 1889March 5, 1966

Courage: Great Russian word, fit for the songs of our children's children, pure on their tongues, and free.

Anna Andreyevna Gorenko, better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova, was a Russian modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in ...

Jack Dempsey

June 24, 1895May 31, 1983

Tell him he can have my title, but I want it back in the morning.

William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey, also known as "Kid Blackie" and "The Manassa Mauler", was an American professional boxer, who became a ...

Bernard Berenson

June 26, 1865October 6, 1959

When everything else physical and mental seems to diminish, the appreciation of beauty is on the increase.

Bernard Berenson was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. He was a major figure in pioneering art attribution and ...

Joseph Hall

June 26, 1793December 31, 1859

Death borders upon our birth, and our cradle stands in the grave.

Joseph Hall a United States Representative from Maine. Hall was born on June 26, 1793 in Methuen, Massachusetts. He attended the common ...

Virginia Satir

June 26, 1916September 10, 1988

Life is not what it's supposed to be. It's what it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.

Virginia Satir was an American author and social worker, known especially for her approach to family therapy and her work with family ...