Born this week
Sunday April 19th, 2026
Josh Billings
April 21, 1818 – October 14, 1885
I think when the full horror of being fifty hits you, you should stay home and have a good cry.
Josh Billings was the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw. Although his reputation has not endured so well with ...
Vladimir Lenin
April 22, 1870 – January 21, 1924
The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, alias Lenin was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He served as head of ...
John Muir
April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914
Take a course in good water and air and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone no harm will befall you.
John Muir was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, ...
Immanuel Kant
April 22, 1724 – February 12, 1804
But although all our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that it arises from experience.
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who is widely considered to be a central figure of modern philosophy. He argued that fundamental ...
Robert Collier
April 19, 1885 – 1950
People blame their environment. There is only one person to blame - and only one - themselves.
Robert Collier was an American author of self-help, and New Thought metaphysical books in the 20th century. He was the nephew of Peter ...
Vladimir Nabokov
April 22, 1899 – July 2, 1977
A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a Russian-American novelist. Nabokov's first nine novels were in Russian. He then rose to international ...
Anthony Trollope
April 24, 1815 – December 6, 1882
A fellow oughtn't to let his family property go to pieces.
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved ...
James Anthony Froude
April 23, 1818 – October 20, 1894
We enter the world alone, we leave the world alone.
James Anthony Froude was an English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fraser's Magazine. From his upbringing amidst the ...
Harvey S. Firestone
April 20, 1898 – June 1973
I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business.
Harvey Samuel Firestone, Jr. was an American businessman, and chairman of the board of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. The son of ...
John Cameron
April 21, 1922 – March 16, 2005
I am now almost certain that we need more radiation for better health.
John Cameron, born in northern Wisconsin in 1922, was raised on a farm and experienced firsthand the Depression years. In 1937 his parents ...
Rollo May
April 21, 1909 – October 22, 1994
Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.
Rollo Reece May was an American existential psychologist and author of the influential book Love and Will. He is often associated with ...
Philip James Bailey
April 22, 1816 – November 6, 1902
The sole equality on earth is death.
Philip James Bailey was an English Spasmodic poet, best known as the author of Festus.
Charlotte Bronte
April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855
I feel monotony and death to be almost the same.
Charlotte BrontÄ was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three BrontÄ sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels ...
Henry Fielding
April 22, 1707 – October 8, 1754
It is not death, but dying, which is terrible.
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel ...
Lester B. Pearson
April 23, 1897 – December 27, 1972
The choice, however, is as clear now for nations as it was once for the individual: peace or extinction.
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, soldier, and ...
Oliver Cromwell
April 25, 1599 – September 3, 1658
Keep your faith in God, but keep your powder dry.
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. ...
David Brainerd
April 20, 1718 – October 9, 1747
I have a secret thought from some things I have observed, that God may perhaps design you for some singular service in the world.
David Brainerd was an American missionary to the Native Americans who had a particularly fruitful ministry among the Delaware Indians of ...
Ellen Glasgow
April 22, 1873 – November 21, 1945
It is lovely, when I forget all birthdays, including my own, to find that somebody remembers me.
Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (April 22, 1873 - November 21, 1945) was an American novelist who portrayed the changing world of the ...
Madame de Stael
April 22, 1766 – July 14, 1817
Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.
Anne Louise Germaine de StaÄl-Holstein, commonly known as Madame de StaÄl, was a French woman of letters of Swiss origin whose lifetime ...
A. C. Benson
April 24, 1862 – June 17, 1925
When you get to my age life seems little more than one long march to and from the lavatory.
Arthur Christopher Benson (24 April 1862 - 17 June 1925) was an English essayist, poet, and author and the 28th Master of Magdalene ...
Edward R. Murrow
April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965
We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.
Edward R. Murrow KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World ...
Adolf Hitler
April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945
Strength lies not in defence but in attack.
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the Nazi Party. He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and ...
Robert Wilson Lynd
April 20, 1879 – October 6, 1949
There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.
Robert Wilson Lynd was an Irish writer, an urbane literary essayist and strong Irish nationalist.
Pietro Aretino
April 20, 1492 – October 21, 1556
I keep my friends as misers do their treasure, because, of all the things granted us by wisdom, none is greater or better than friendship.
Pietro Aretino was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satirist, and blackmailer, who wielded immense influence on contemporary art and ...
James Martineau
April 21, 1805 – January 11, 1900
Religion is no more possible without prayer than poetry without language, or music without atmosphere.
Dr. James Martineau was an English religious philosopher influential in the history of Unitarianism. For 45 years he was Professor of ...
Max Planck
April 23, 1858 – October 4, 1947
It is not the possession of truth, but the success which attends the seeking after it, that enriches the seeker and brings happiness to him.
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, FRS was a German theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, which won him the Nobel Prize in ...
Roy Orbison
April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988
Only the lonely know the way I feel tonight.
Roy Kelton Orbison, also known by the nickname the Big O, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his trademark sunglasses, ...
Robert Penn Warren
April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989
How do poems grow? They grow out of your life.
Robert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter ...
Ella Fitzgerald
April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996
The only thing better than singing is more singing.
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz vocalist with a vocal range spanning three octaves. Often referred to as the "First Lady of ...