Yesterday
Tomorrow
Subscribe to the Famous Daily to get the Born Today Email
"Acquired concussion won't open the doors of country houses. The better classes are born concussed."
Oliver St. John Gogarty
(08/17/1878 09/22/1957)
Irish writer
, to a social climber notorious for falling off his horse
"Liberate the minds of men and ultimately you will liberate the bodies of men."
Marcus Garvey
(08/17/1887 06/10/1940)
Jamaican organizer
"Let's forget the six feet and talk about the seven inches."
Mae West
(08/17/1892 11/22/1980)
US actor
"To be fair is not enough any more. We must be ferociously fair."
John Hay Whitney
(08/17/1905 02/08/1982)
US gazillionaire
"It sometimes happens, even in the best of families, that a baby is born. This is not necessarily cause for alarm. The important thing is to keep your wits about you and borrow some money."
Elinor Smith
(08/17/1911 03/19/2010)
US pilot
"It took the whole of Creation to produce my foot, my each feather: Now I hold Creation in my foot."
Ted Hughes
(08/17/1930 10/28/1998)
US writer
(was married to Sylvia Plath)
"Ignorant people in preppy clothes are more dangerous to America than oil embargoes."
V. S. Naipaul
(08/17/1932 )
Trinidadian writer
"There is a certain combination of anarchy and discipline in the way I work."
Robert de Niro
(08/17/1943 )
US actor
"You tolerate me, you really tolerate me."
Sean Penn
(08/17/1960 )
US actor
(was married to Madonna), parodying Sally Field while accepting "Independent Spirit" Award
"Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings."
Ed Gardner
(06/29/1905 08/17/1963)
US actor
"A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous."
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(03/27/1886 08/17/1969)
German architect
"When I die, there will be people who send flowers to Ethel Mertz."
Vivian Vance
(07/26/1902 08/17/1979)
US actor
, on her "I Love Lucy" character
"A song without music is a lot like H2 without the O."
Ira Gershwin
(12/06/1896 08/17/1983)
US lyricist
(brother of George)
"What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork."
Pearl Bailey
(03/29/1918 08/17/1990)
US singer, actor
Yesterday
Tomorrow