Born this week
Wednesday April 2nd, 2025
Vincent Van Gogh
March 30, 1853 – July 29, 1890
If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Post-Impressionist painter of Dutch origin whose work—notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty, and ...
Bette Davis
April 5, 1908 – October 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 ...
Washington Irving
April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859
A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his ...
Leo Buscaglia
March 31, 1924 – June 12, 1998
Change is the end result of all true learning.
Felice Leonardo "Leo" Buscaglia PhD, also known as "Dr. Love," was an American author and motivational speaker, and a professor in the ...
John Burroughs
April 3, 1837 – March 29, 1921
If we take science as our sole guide, if we accept and hold fast that alone which is verifiable, the old theology must go.
John Burroughs was an American naturalist and nature essayist, active in the U.S. conservation movement. The first of his essay collections ...
Otto von Bismarck
April 1815 – July 30, 1898
An appeal to fear never finds an echo in German hearts.
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, known as Otto von Bismarck, was a conservative Prussian statesman who dominated ...
George Herbert
April 3, 1593 – March 1633
Living well is the best revenge.
George Herbert was a Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest. Herbert's poetry is associated with the writings of the ...
Rene Descartes
March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650
The two operations of our understanding, intuition and deduction, on which alone we have said we must rely in the acquisition of knowledge.
René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who spent most of his life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the ...
Booker T. Washington
April 5, 1856 – November 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, 1588 – December 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 ...
Alan Perlis
April 1922 – February 7, 1990
You can measure a programmer's perspective by noting his attitude on the continuing vitality of FORTRAN.
Alan Jay Perlis (April 1, 1922 - February 7, 1990) was an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in programming ...
Abraham Maslow
April 1908 – June 8, 1970
What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.
Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological ...
Emile Zola
April 2, 1840 – September 29, 1902
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.
Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola was a French writer, the most well-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism and an ...
Octavio Paz
March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998
Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone.
Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican poet-diplomat and writer. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the ...
Agnes Repplier
April 1855 – November 15, 1950
It is as impossible to withhold education from the receptive mind, as it is impossible to force it upon the unreasoning.
Agnes Repplier (April 1, 1855 - November 15, 1950) was an American essayist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her essays are esteemed for ...
George Allen, Sr.
March 31, 1885 – July 21, 1972
Work hard, stay positive, and get up early. It's the best part of the day.
George Edward Allen, Sr. was a Virginia state senator from 1916 to 1920 and a trial attorney who, with his three sons, founded the law firm ...
Nicholas M. Butler
April 2, 1862 – December 7, 1947
America is the best half-educated country in the world.
Nicholas Murray Butler was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the ...
Giacomo Casanova
April 2, 1725 – June 4, 1798
It is only necessary to have courage, for strength without self-confidence is useless.
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie, is ...
Marvin Gaye
April 2, 1939 – April 1984
Most fear stems from sin to limit one's sins, one must assuredly limit one's fear, thereby bringing more peace to one's spirit.
Marvin Gaye, born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Gaye helped to shape the sound of Motown Records ...
James Freeman Clarke
April 4, 1810 – June 8, 1888
Conscience is the root of all true courage if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.
James Freeman Clarke (April 4, 1810 - June 8, 1888), an American theologian and author. Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, James Freeman ...
Marguerite Duras
April 4, 1914 – March 3, 1996
It's afterwards you realize that the feeling of happiness you had with a man didn't necessarily prove that you loved him.
Marguerite Donnadieu, known as Marguerite Duras (pronounced: [maÊ.É¡É™.Êit dy.Êas]) (4 April 1914 - 3 March 1996) was a ...
Maimonides
March 30, 1135 – December 12, 1204
No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means.
Mosheh ben Maimon, or MÅ«sÄ ibn MaymÅ«n, acronymed RaMBaM, and Latinized Moses Maimonides, was a preeminent medieval Spanish, ...
Cesar Chavez
March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993
If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart.
Cesar Chavez was an American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm ...
Hans Christian Andersen
April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875
Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best ...
Edward Everett Hale
April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909
Wise anger is like fire from a flint: there is great ado to get it out and when it does come, it is out again immediately.
Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 - June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian and Unitarian clergyman. He was a child prodigy who ...
Marc Davis
March 30, 1913 – January 12, 2000
Later, my father died up in Marysville. So, my mother and I got in the car and came down to Hollywood.
Marc Fraser Davis was a prominent American artist and animator for Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men for his ...
Johann Sebastian Bach
March 31, 1685 – July 28, 1750
The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in ...
Nikolai Gogol
April 1809 – March 4, 1852
Always think of what is useful and not what is beautiful. Beauty will come of its own accord.
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian Russian-language dramatist, novelist and short story writer. Considered by his contemporaries ...
George Jessel
April 3, 1898 – May 23, 1981
Marriage is a mistake every man should make.
George Albert Jessel, sometimes called "Georgie" Jessel, was an American illustrated song "model," actor, singer, songwriter, and Academy ...
Dora Russell
April 3, 1894 – May 31, 1986
Marriage, laws, the police, armies and navies are the mark of human incompetence.
Dora Black, Lady Russell (3 April 1894 - 31 May 1986) was a British author, a feminist and socialist campaigner, and the second wife of the ...
Herb Caen
April 3, 1916 – February 1997
Cockroaches and socialites are the only things that can stay up all night and eat anything.
Herbert Eugene "Herb" Caen was a San Francisco journalist whose daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political ...
Remy de Gourmont
April 4, 1858 – September 27, 1915
Man has made use of his intelligence, he invented stupidity.
Remy de Gourmont was a French Symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence ...
A. Bartlett Giamatti
April 4, 1938 – September 1989
A liberal education is at the heart of a civil society, and at the heart of a liberal education is the act of teaching.
Angelo Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti was the president of Yale University and later the seventh Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Giamatti ...