Blathery

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

Born this week

William Hazlitt

April 10, 1778September 18, 1830

Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust hatred alone is immortal.

William Hazlitt was an English writer, remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, as the greatest art critic of his age, ...

Charles Baudelaire

April 9, 1821August 31, 1867

A frenzied passion for art is a canker that devours everything else.

Charles Pierre Baudelaire was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar ...

Bette Davis

April 5, 1908October 6, 1989

Old age is no place for sissies.

Ruth Elizabeth Davis, known as Bette Davis, was an American actress of film, television and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actors ...

William Wordsworth

April 7, 1770April 23, 1850

But an old age serene and bright, and lovely as a Lapland night, shall lead thee to thy grave.

William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English ...

Emile M. Cioran

April 8, 1911June 20, 1995

Life inspires more dread than death - it is life which is the great unknown.

Emil M. Cioran was a Romanian philosopher and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. Cioran was born in ...

Nicolas Chamfort

April 6, 1741April 13, 1794

Man arrives as a novice at each age of his life.

Sébastien-Roch Nicolas, also known as Chamfort, was a French writer, best known for his witty epigrams and aphorisms. He was secretary to ...

William Ellery Channing

April 7, 1780October 2, 1842

Nothing which has entered into our experience is ever lost.

William Ellery Channing was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and along with Andrews ...

Booker T. Washington

April 5, 1856November 14, 1915

Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States. Between 1890 ...

Thomas Hobbes

April 5, 1588December 4, 1679

I put for the general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death.

Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on ...

Leo Rosten

April 11, 1908February 19, 1997

Extremists think 'communication' means agreeing with them.

Leo Calvin Rosten was born in Łódź, Russian Empire and died in New York City. He was a teacher and academic, but is best known as a ...

Billie Holiday

April 7, 1915July 17, 1959

I never hurt nobody but myself and that's nobody's business but my own.

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer, songwriter, and actress. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, ...

Paul Robeson

April 9, 1898January 23, 1976

As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this.

Paul Leroy Robeson was an American singer and actor who became involved with the Civil Rights Movement. At Rutgers College, he was an ...

Dean Acheson

April 11, 1893October 12, 1971

Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.

Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry ...

Charles Evans Hughes

April 11, 1862August 27, 1948

When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.

Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New ...

Gerald Brenan

April 7, 1894January 19, 1987

In a happy marriage it is the wife who provides the climate, the husband the landscape.

Edward FitzGerald "Gerald" Brenan, CBE was a British writer and Hispanist who spent much of his life in Spain. He is best known for The ...

Walter Winchell

April 7, 1897February 20, 1972

Gossip is the art of saying nothing in a way that leaves practically nothing unsaid.

Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator.

Mary Pickford

April 8, 1892May 29, 1979

You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.

Mary Pickford was a Canadian-American motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 ...

George Canning

April 11, 1770August 8, 1827

A steady patriot of the world alone, The friend of every country but his own.

George Canning PC, FRS (11 April 1770 - 8 August 1827) was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly ...

Jimmy Cannon

April 10, 1909December 5, 1973

A rabid sports fan is one that boos a TV set.

Jimmy Cannon (April 10, 1909 - December 5, 1973) was a sports journalist inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame for his ...

Edward Everett

April 11, 1794January 15, 1865

Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.

Edward Everett was an American politician, pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, a Whig, served as U.S. ...

Norman McLaren

April 11, 1914January 27, 1987

Animation is not the art of drawings that move but the art of movements that are drawn.

Norman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada. He ...