Born this week
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 ...
Harvey S. Firestone,
April 20, 1898 – June 1, 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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.
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
John James Audubon,
April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851
To have been torn from the study would have been as death my time was entirely occupied with art.
John James Audubon, born Jean-Jacques Audubon, was an American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive ...
Marcus Aurelius,
April 26, 0121 – March 17, 0180
Anger cannot be dishonest.
Marcus Aurelius was Roman Emperor from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus' death in 169. He was the ...
David Hume,
April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776
Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, diplomat and essayist known especially for his philosophical empiricism and ...
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 ...
Thomas Reid,
April 26, 1710 – October 7, 1796
The rules of navigation never navigated a ship. The rules of architecture never built a house.
Thomas Reid FRSE was a religiously trained Scottish philosopher, a contemporary of David Hume as well as "Hume's earliest and fiercest ...
Douglas Sirk,
April 26, 1897 – January 14, 1987
In the 19th century, you had bourgeois art without politics - an almost frozen idea of what beauty is.
Douglas Sirk (born Hans Detlef Sierck; April 26, 1897 - January 14, 1987) was a Danish-German film director best known for his work in ...
Ludwig Wittgenstein,
April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951
The human body is the best picture of the human soul.
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the ...
William Shakespeare,
April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616
A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the ...