March 17

"At the beginning of the empire, the tax rates were low and the revenues were high. At the end of the empire, the tax rates were high and the revenues were low."

Ibn Khaldun
(05/27/1332 – 03/17/1406)
Tunisian historian

"If it were not for the company of fools, a witty man would often be greatly at a loss."

Duc Francois de la Rochefoucald
(09/15/1613 – 03/17/1680)
French writer

"People who know how to employ themselves always find leisure moments, while those who do nothing are forever in a hurry."

Jeanne-Marie Roland
(03/17/1754 – 11/08/1793)
French Revolutionary

"I have lived to thank God that all my prayers have not been answered."

Jean Ingelow
(03/17/1829 – 07/20/1897)
US writer

"Books are the blessed chloroform of the mind."

Robert Chambers
(07/10/1802 – 03/17/1871)
Scottish writer

"I am just going outside, and may be some time."

Lawrence Oates
(03/17/1880 – 03/17/1912)
English explorer (died on birthday) , last words, leaving tent, Antarctic expedition 1912

"Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears."

Bobby Tyre Jones
(03/17/1902 – 12/18/1971)
US golfer

"When you're wrong, you're wrong. But when you're right, you're wrong anyhow."

Bayard Rustin
(03/17/1910 – 08/24/1987)
US civil rights leader

"I am just going outside, and may be some time."

Lawrence Oates
(03/17/1880 – 03/17/1912)
English explorer (died on birthday) , last words, leaving tent, Antarctic expedition 1912

"Chin up, Lipstick on."

Mary McConnell Morris
(03/17/1913 – 04/19/2001)
My US friend Molly's grandmother , giving advice to her granddaughter

"Critics don't buy records. They get 'em free."

Nat "King" Cole
(03/17/1919 – 02/15/1965)
US singer

"A decorator tainted with insanity."

Kenyon Cox
(10/27/1856 – 03/17/1919)
US artist , on Paul Cezanne

"Am I supposed to believe that a man prancing about at the Royal Ballet in a pair of tights is part of my heritage?"

Terry Dicks
(03/17/1937 – )
English politician

"My feet are dogs."

Rudolf Nureyev
(03/17/1938 – 01/06/1993)
Russian dancer, choreographer

"He's so fat his bathtub has stretch marks."

Pat Williams
(03/17/1941 – )
President, Orlando Magic , on Charles Barkley

"I certainly hear the Trombones Unlimited version of 'Daydream' in a lot of elevators."

John Sebastian
(03/17/1944 – )
US singer, songwriter , on success

"Well, for a nine year old kid to be able to earn $110 in one day compared to $10 for a paper round, the economics were even obvious to a ten year old."

Kurt Russell
(03/17/1951 – )
US actor (partner of Goldie Hawn) , on being a child star (image from masterpiecepumpkins.com)

"Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted."

Fred Allen
(05/31/1894 – 03/17/1956)
US comic

"The human narrative, as we write it in novels and poems and stories, is a tale of never getting over the shock of life."

Michael Kelly
(03/17/1957 – 04/03/2003)
US journalist

"Careers, like rockets, don't always take off on time. The trick is to always keep the engine running."

Gary Sinise
(03/17/1964 – )
US actor

"It was just one of those quirky, sort of naughty, sort of wild, sort of, you know, drunken things that people will do from time to time."

Rob Lowe
(03/17/1964 – )
US actor , on why he filmed himself having sex with an underage girl

"The scientists split the atom; now the atom is splitting us."

Quentin Reynolds
(04/11/1902 – 03/17/1965)
US writer

"It's gonna be loud and beautiful and poetic and dumb. Just the way I like it."

Billy Corgan
(03/17/1967 – )
US singer (Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan) , on his solo album (also see D'Arcy Wretzky, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain, Melissa auf der Maur, and Courtney Love)

"He's not so huggable, but I love him."

Melissa Auf der Maur
(03/17/1972 – )
Canadian bassist (Smashing Pumpkins, Hole) (also see D'Arcy Wretzky, James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain, and Courtney Love), on Billy Corgan

"It seems that boredom is one of the greatest discoveries of our time. If so, there's no question but that he must be considered a pioneer."

Luchino Visconti
(11/02/1906 – 03/17/1976)
Italian director , on Michelangelo Antonioni

"Only the poet can look beyond the detail and see the whole picture."

Helen Hayes
(10/10/1900 – 03/17/1993)
US actor

"You need the willingness to fail all the time. You have to generate many ideas and then you have to work very hard only to discover that they don’t work. And you keep doing that over and over until you find one that does work."

John W. Backus
(12/03/1924 – 03/17/2007)
US computing pioneer

"I guess that my life has been a series of flukes in the record business. The first thing I ever did was the biggest record that I'll ever have."

Alex Chilton
(12/28/1950 – 03/17/2010)
US singer (Box Tops, Big Star)