Born this week
Sunday November 30th, 2025
Mark Twain
November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He wrote The Adventures of Tom ...
Winston Churchill
November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965
Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, DL, FRS, RA was a British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ...
Samuel Butler
December 4, 1835 – June 18, 1902
Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.
Samuel Butler was an iconoclastic Victorian-era English author who published a variety of works. Two of his most famous pieces are the ...
Thomas Carlyle
December 4, 1795 – February 5, 1881
Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by action alone.
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher. Considered one of the most important social ...
Walt Disney
December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966
I never called my work an 'art'. It's part of show business, the business of building entertainment.
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American business magnate, cartoonist, and filmmaker. As a prominent figure within the American animation ...
Jonathan Swift
November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745
Interest is the spur of the people, but glory that of great souls. Invention is the talent of youth, and judgment of age.
Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, ...
Joseph Conrad
December 3, 1857 – August 3, 1924
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
Joseph Conrad was a Polish author who wrote in English after settling in England. He was granted British nationality in 1886, but always ...
Rainer Maria Rilke
December 4, 1875 – December 29, 1926
I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke — better known as Rainer Maria Rilke — was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist, "widely ...
Herbert Read
December 4, 1893 – June 12, 1968
The characteristic political attitude of today is not one of positive belief, but of despair.
Sir Herbert Edward Read, DSO, MC was an English anarchist, poet and literary critic, best known for numerous books on art, which included ...
Black Elk
December 1863 – August 19, 1950
Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.
HeÈŸáka Sápa (Black Elk) (December 1863-August 19, 1950) was a famous WiÄháÅ¡a WakÈŸáÅ‹ (Medicine Man or Holy Man) of the ...
Gianni Versace
December 2, 1946 – July 15, 1997
I try to contrast life today is full of contrast... We have to change.
Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Versace, an international fashion house, which produces accessories, ...
Christina Rossetti
December 5, 1830 – December 29, 1894
Obedience is the fruit of faith.
Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. She is perhaps best ...
Evelyn Underhill
December 6, 1875 – June 15, 1941
After all it is those who have a deep and real inner life who are best able to deal with the irritating details of outer life.
Evelyn Underhill was an English Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist known for her numerous works on religion and spiritual practice, in ...
Abbie Hoffman
November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989
You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party. Hoffman was ...
Maria Callas
December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977
I don't need the money, dear. I work for art.
Maria Callas, Commendatore OMRI, was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th ...
Minoru Yamasaki
December 1912 – February 7, 1986
Japanese architecture is very much copied in this country and in Europe.
Minoru Yamasaki was an American architect, best known for designing the World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale ...
Anna Freud
December 3, 1895 – October 9, 1982
We live trapped, between the churned-up and examined past and a future that waits for our work.
Anna Freud was the 6th and last child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father and contributed to the field ...
Max Muller
December 6, 1823 – October 28, 1900
While the river of life glides along smoothly, it remains the same river only the landscape on either bank seems to change.
Friedrich Max Müller, generally known as Max Müller, was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for ...
Lucy Maud Montgomery
November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942
In this world you've just got to hope for the best and prepare for the worst and take whatever God sends.
Lucy Maud Montgomery OBE, called "Maud" by family and friends and publicly known as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author best known for ...
Philip Sidney
November 30, 1554 – October 17, 1586
It is great happiness to be praised of them who are most praiseworthy.
Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier, and soldier, who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan ...
Mary Martin
December 1913 – November 3, 1990
The communication is in the work and words are no substitute for this.
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress, singer and Broadway star. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading ...
William Barclay
December 5, 1907 – January 24, 1978
There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why.
William Barclay was a Scottish author, radio and television presenter, Church of Scotland minister and Professor of Divinity and Biblical ...
Werner Heisenberg
December 5, 1901 – February 1976
Natural science, does not simply describe and explain nature it is part of the interplay between nature and ourselves.
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist and one of the key pioneers of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 ...
Martin Van Buren
December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862
The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity.
Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States. Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth ...
Alfred Eisenstaedt
December 6, 1898 – August 23, 1995
I don't like to work with assistants. I'm already one too many the camera alone would be enough.
Alfred Eisenstaedt was a German-born American photographer and photojournalist. One of the most prolific photographers of the twentieth ...