August 15

"The French complain of everything, and always."

Napoleon Bonaparte
(08/15/1769 – 05/05/1821)
Corsican emperor

"The public is a bad guesser."

Thomas de Quincey
(08/15/1785 – 12/08/1859)
English writer ("Confessions of an English Opium Eater")

"The air currents of the world never ventilated his mind."

Walter H. Page
(08/15/1855 – 12/21/1918)
US journalist , on Woodrow Wilson

"For an actress to be a success she must have the face of Venus, the brains of Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros."

Ethel Barrymore
(08/15/1879 – 06/18/1959)
US actor (sister of John and Lionel, aunt of John Drew, great-aunt of Drew), forgot to add "and the family of a Barrymore"

"A woman can look both moral and exciting . . . if she also looks as if it was quite a struggle."

Edna Ferber
(08/15/1885 – 04/16/1968)
US writer

"Many men would take the death-sentence without a whimper to escape the life-sentence which fate carries in her other hand."

T. E. Lawrence
(08/15/1888 – 05/19/1935)
Welsh writer

"Sure I'm for helping the elderly. I'm going to be old myself someday."

Lillian Carter
(08/15/1898 – 10/30/1983)
US first family (mother of Jimmy Carter, grandmother of Amy) , at age 85

"Life itself is the proper binge."

Julia Child
(08/15/1912 – 08/13/2004)
US chef (died near her birthday)

"I've been in show business my whole life. Why start something new now?"

Rose Marie
(08/15/1923 – )
US comic, actor , on retirement plans

"I don't believe that a lot of the things I hear on the air today are going to be played for as long a time as Coleman Hawkins records or Brahms concertos."

Oscar Peterson
(08/15/1925 – 12/23/2007)
Canadian pianist, composer

Long-winded speaker at a charity luncheon, after finally finishing: "I am sorry, Mr. Toastmaster, that I went beyond the limit, but I left my watch at home."
Will Rogers: "Don't you even have a pocket calendar?"
(11/04/1879 – 08/15/1935)
US humorist

"Rock and roll is the hamburger that ate the world."

Peter York
(08/15/1942 – )
English writer?

"If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?"

Linda Ellerbee
(08/15/1944 – )
US TV reporter

"Sunshine can burn you, food can poison you, words can condemn you, pictures can insult you; music cannot punish—only bless."

Artur Schnabel
(04/17/1882 – 08/15/1951)
Austrian pianist, composer

"Everything we see hides another thing; we always want to see what is hidden by what we see."

René Magritte
(11/21/1898 – 08/15/1967)
Belgian painter

"Start young. Throw your arms around ladies' knees. As you get older it will get more interesting."

Edward Shepherd Mead
(04/26/1914 – 08/15/1994)
US writer , on succeeding with women

"If you buy my lamp, you won't need drugs."

Edward Craven Walker
(07/04/1918 – 08/15/2000)
US nudist, inventor , on his invention, the Lava Lamp