Born this week
Sunday September 13th, 2026
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
September 15, 1613 – March 17, 1680
It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.
François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs. His is a clear-eyed, worldly ...
Samuel Johnson
September 18, 1709 – December 13, 1784
Man alone is born crying, lives complaining, and dies disappointed.
Samuel Johnson, often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, ...
Laurence J. Peter
September 16, 1919 – January 12, 1990
Slump, and the world slumps with you. Push, and you push alone.
Dr. Laurence Johnston Peter (September 16, 1919 - January 12, 1990) was an educator and "hierarchiologist", best known to the general ...
Sydney J. Harris
September 14, 1917 – December 8, 1986
Middle Age is that perplexing time of life when we hear two voices calling us, one saying, 'Why not?' and the other, 'Why bother?'
Sydney J. Harris was an American journalist for the Chicago Daily News and later the Chicago Sun-Times. He wrote 11 books and his weekday ...
Robert Benchley
September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945
A real hangover is nothing to try out family remedies on. The only cure for a real hangover is death.
Robert Charles Benchley was an American humorist best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor. From his beginnings at ...
J. B. Priestley
September 13, 1894 – August 14, 1984
The greatest writers of this age... are aware of the mystery of our existence.
John Boynton Priestley, OM, known as J. B. Priestley, was an English novelist, playwright and broadcaster. His Yorkshire background is ...
Francis Parker Yockey
September 18, 1917 – June 16, 1960
The 19th century was the age of Individualism the 20th and 21st are the ages of Socialism.
Francis Parker Yockey was an American attorney, political philosopher and polemicist best known for his neo-Spenglerian book Imperium: The ...
Emil Zatopek
September 19, 1922 – November 22, 2000
The athlete of today is not an athlete alone. He's the center of a team - doctors, scientists, coaches, agents and so on.
Emil Zátopek was a Czechoslovak long-distance runner best known for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He ...
Roald Dahl
September 13, 1916 – November 23, 1990
A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, Dahl ...
Agatha Christie
September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976
An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, DBE was an English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She also wrote six romances ...
William Howard Taft
September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930
Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man.
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States. He is the only ...
Greta Garbo
September 18, 1905 – April 15, 1990
I never said, 'I want to be alone.' I only said, 'I want to be left alone.' There is all the difference.
Greta Garbo, was a Swedish film actress and an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Garbo was ...
Samuel Wilson
September 13, 1766 – July 31, 1854
The infrastructure for linking environmental health and public health is not working as well as it should.
Samuel Wilson was a meat-packer from Troy, New York whose name is purportedly the source of the personification of the United States known ...
Karen Horney
September 16, 1885 – December 4, 1952
Fortunately analysis is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts. Life itself still remains a very effective therapist.
Karen Horney was a German psychoanalyst who practiced in the United States during her later career. Her theories questioned some ...
Orson Pratt
September 19, 1811 – October 3, 1881
God is the King. In him exists all legal authority.
Orson Pratt, Sr. was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. He was born in ...
Clara Schumann
September 13, 1819 – May 20, 1896
My imagination can picture no fairer happiness than to continue living for art.
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era. She exerted her ...
Allan Bloom
September 14, 1930 – October 7, 1992
Education is the movement from darkness to light.
Allan David Bloom was an American philosopher, classicist, and academician. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon and ...
Margaret Sanger
September 14, 1879 – September 6, 1966
Diplomats make it their business to conceal the facts.
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American birth control activist, sex educator, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term birth control, opened ...
Charlie Byrd
September 16, 1925 – December 2, 1999
A person should design the way he makes a living around how he wishes to make a life.
Charlie Lee Byrd was an American guitarist. His earliest and strongest musical influence was Django Reinhardt, the gypsy guitarist. Byrd ...
Ellsworth Huntington
September 16, 1876 – October 17, 1947
We are learning, too, that the love of beauty is one of Nature's greatest healers.
Ellsworth Huntington was a professor of geography at Yale University during the early 20th century, known for his studies on climatic ...
Agnes de Mille
September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993
A good education is usually harmful to a dancer. A good calf is better than a good head.
Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 - October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. Agnes de Mille was born in New York ...
Mike Royko
September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997
It's been my policy to view the Internet not as an 'information highway,' but as an electronic asylum filled with babbling loonies.
Michael "Mike" Royko was a Chicago newspaper columnist, winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Over his 30-year career, he wrote ...