Born this week
Tuesday February 3rd, 2026
Gertrude Stein
February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946
It is very easy to love alone.
Gertrude Stein was an American writer of novels, poetry and plays. Born in West Allegheny, Pennsylvania and raised in Oakland, California, ...
Charles Dickens
February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870
The age of chivalry is past. Bores have succeeded to dragons.
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters ...
Simone Weil
February 3, 1909 – August 24, 1943
Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.
Simone Weil was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and political activist. Weil's life was marked by an exceptional compassion for ...
Ayn Rand
February 2, 1905 – March 6, 1982
Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The ...
Havelock Ellis
February 2, 1859 – July 8, 1939
All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.
Henry Havelock Ellis, known as Havelock Ellis, was a British physician, writer, and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He was ...
Jessica Savitch
February 1947 – October 23, 1983
By far my most perilous assignment was covering a tank car explosion.
Jessica Beth Savitch was an American television broadcaster and news reporter, host of PBS's Frontline and New York weekend anchor of NBC ...
Francois Rabelais
February 4, 1494 – April 9, 1553
Science without conscience is the death of the soul.
François Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has historically been ...
James Joyce
February 2, 1882 – January 13, 1941
Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist ...
Bob Marley
February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981
Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny.
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley OM was a Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter, musician, and guitarist who achieved international fame and acclaim. ...
William S. Burroughs
February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997
Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact.
William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, painter, and spoken word performer. A primary figure of ...
Alfred Adler
February 7, 1870 – May 28, 1937
Our modern states are preparing for war without even knowing the future enemy.
Alfred W. Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the ...
Dwight L. Moody
February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899
Death may be the King of terrors... but Jesus is the King of kings!
Dwight Lyman Moody, also known as D.L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and ...
Langston Hughes
February 1902 – May 22, 1967
Beauty for some provides escape, who gain a happiness in eyeing the gorgeous buttocks of the ape or Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying.
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest ...
Walter Bagehot
February 3, 1826 – March 24, 1877
No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry for the death of a political economist.
Walter Bagehot was a British journalist, businessman, and essayist, who wrote extensively about government, economics, and literature.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945
God's truth judges created things out of love, and Satan's truth judges them out of envy and hatred.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident, and key founding member of the Confessing Church. His ...
Charles Lindbergh
February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974
Is he alone who has courage on his right hand and faith on his left hand?
Charles Augustus Lindbergh, nicknamed Slim, Lucky Lindy, and The Lone Eagle, was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and ...
Babe Ruth
February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948
Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world.
George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr. was an American baseball outfielder and pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1914 to ...
Sinclair Lewis
February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951
Whatever poet, orator or sage may say of it, old age is still old age.
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United ...
Richard Whately
February 1787 – October 8, 1863
A man is called selfish not for pursuing his own good, but for neglecting his neighbor's.
Richard Whately was an English rhetorician, logician, economist, and theologian who also served as the Church of Ireland Archbishop of ...
Thomas More
February 7, 1478 – July 6, 1535
'Tis the last rose of summer Left blooming alone All her lovely companions Are faded and gone.
Sir Thomas More, known to Roman Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted ...
James A. Michener
February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997
It takes courage to know when you ought to be afraid.
James Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 books, the majority of which were fictional, lengthy family sagas covering the ...
Frederick William Robertson
February 3, 1816 – August 15, 1853
Instruction ends in the schoolroom, but education ends only with life. A child is given to the universe to be educated.
Frederick William Robertson (3 February 1816 - 15 August 1853), known as Robertson of Brighton, was an English divine. Born in London, the ...
George Murray
February 6, 1772 – July 28, 1846
Humour is a fine line to walk in poetry, as in fiction. I just think it's harder to write. It's harder to keep the respect of the reader too.
Sir George Murray, GCB, GCH, FRS (6 February 1772 - 28 July 1846) was a Scottish soldier and politician. Murray was born in Perth, the ...
Francois Truffaut
February 6, 1932 – October 21, 1984
Film lovers are sick people.
François Roland Truffaut was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic, as well as one of the founders of the ...
Dennis Brown
February 1957 – July 1999
No man is an island. No man stands alone.
Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, ...
Les Dawson
February 2, 1931 – June 10, 1993
I used to sell furniture for a living. The trouble was, it was my own.
Leslie "Les" Dawson (2 February 1931 - 10 June 1993) was a popular English comedian remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona ...
James Dickey
February 2, 1923 – January 19, 1997
The New York Quarterly is an amazing, intelligent, crazy, creative, strange, and indispensable magazine.
James Lafayette Dickey was an American poet and novelist. He was appointed the eighteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library ...
Sidney Lanier
February 3, 1842 – September 7, 1881
Music is love in search of a word.
Sidney Clopton Lanier was an American musician, poet and author. He served in the Confederate army, worked on a blockade running ship for ...
Georg Brandes
February 4, 1842 – February 19, 1927
Being gifted needs courage.
Georg Morris Cohen Brandes was a Danish critic and scholar who had great influence on Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s ...
James Otis
February 5, 1725 – May 23, 1783
Now, one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house.
James Otis, Jr. was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts, a member of the Massachusetts provincial assembly, and an early advocate of the ...
Adlai Stevenson
February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965
The New Dealers have all left Washington to make way for the car dealers.
Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was an American politician and diplomat, noted for his intellectual demeanor, eloquent public speaking, and ...
An Wang
February 7, 1920 – March 24, 1990
You have to have your heart in the business and the business in your heart.
Dr. An Wang was a Chinese American computer engineer and inventor, and co-founder of computer company Wang Laboratories, which was known ...
Edward Coke
February 1552 – September 3, 1634
The home to everyone is to him his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence, as for his repose.
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and, later, opposition politician, who is considered to be the greatest jurist of the ...
S. J. Perelman
February 1904 – October 17, 1979
Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century.
Sidney Joseph Perelman, known as S. J. Perelman, was an American humorist, author, and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous ...
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
February 2, 1754 – May 17, 1838
Without freedom of the press, there can be no representative government.
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, prince de Bénévent, then prince de Talleyrand was a French bishop, politician and diplomat. Due ...
George Halas
February 2, 1895 – October 31, 1983
Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.
George Stanley Halas, Sr., nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American ...
Ugo Betti
February 4, 1892 – June 9, 1953
There is no forgiveness in nature.
Ugo Betti was an Italian judge, better known as an author, who is considered by many the greatest Italian playwright next to Pirandello. ...
Jacques Prevert
February 4, 1900 – April 11, 1977
An orange on the table, your dress on the rug, and you in my bed, sweet present of the present, cool of night, warmth of my life.
Jacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in ...
Clyde Tombaugh
February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997
Unfortunately, a lot of the concepts in the Bible are based on ancient mythology that doesn't fit the findings of science.
Clyde William Tombaugh was an American astronomer. Although he is best known for discovering the dwarf-planet Pluto in 1930, the first ...
Arthur Keith
February 5, 1866 – January 7, 1955
Man is by nature competitive, combative, ambitious, jealous, envious, and vengeful.
Sir Arthur Keith FRS was a Scottish anatomist and anthropologist, who became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and ...
Adam Weishaupt
February 6, 1748 – November 18, 1830
When man lives under government, he is fallen, his worth is gone, and his nature tarnished.
Johann Adam Weishaupt (6 February 1748 in Ingolstadt - 18 November 1830 in Gotha) was a German philosopher and founder of the Order of ...
Laura Ingalls Wilder
February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957
Every job is good if you do your best and work hard. A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have nothing to do but smell.
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American writer, most notably the author of the Little House series of children's novels based on her ...