October 30

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."

John Adams
(10/30/1735 – 07/04/1826)
US President (2), VP (1) (was married to Abigail Smith Adams, father of John Quincy Adams, grandfather of Charles Francis Adams; see all US Presidents, VPs)

"And under that, Tom, write 'unfurnished.'"

Richard Brinsley Sheridan
(10/30/1751 – 07/07/1816)
English satirist, parliamentarian , to his son, who because of his independence of party, suggested writing "to Let" on his forehead

"To be conscious is an illness—a real thorough-going illness."

Fyodor Dostoievski
(10/30/1821 – 02/09/1881)
Russian writer

"The men are much alarmed by certain speculations about women; and well they may be, for when the horse and ass begin to think and argue, adieu to riding and driving."

Adelaide Anne Procter
(10/30/1825 – 02/02/1864)
English writer

"God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through."

Paul Valéry
(10/30/1871 – 07/20/1945)
French surrealist

"There aren't any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet."

Admiral William Frederick Halsey
(10/30/1882 – 08/16/1959)
US military

"The difference between a gun and a tree is a difference of tempo. The tree explodes every spring."

Ezra Pound
(10/30/1885 – 11/01/1972)
US poet (died near his birthday)

"My pessimism goes to the point of suspecting the sincerity of the pessimists."

Jean Rostand
(10/30/1894 – 09/03/1977)
French Lampoonist, moralist, historian of the life sciences, biologist, popularizer scientific, pacifist, humanistic, anticlerical...

"The very best impromptu speeches are the ones written well in advance."

Ruth Gordon
(10/30/1896 – 08/28/1985)
US actor

"The news is the one thing that the networks can point to with pride. Everything else they do is crap—and they know it."

Fred Friendly
(10/30/1915 – 03/03/1998)
US TV producer

"You have heard me quote from Plato
a thousand times no doubt;
Well, I have discovered that he did not know
what he was talking about."

Ella Wheeler Wilcox
(11/05/1850 – 10/30/1919)
US writer (died near her birthday)

"If I am a great man, then all great men are frauds."

Andrew Bonar Law
(09/16/1858 – 10/30/1923)
British Prime Minister (37) (see other British PMs)

"There is a young and impressionable mind out there that is hungry for information. It has latched on to an electronic tube as its main source of nourishment."

Joan Ganz Cooney
(10/30/1929 – )
US TV producer

"The longer I live, the less I trust ideas, the more I trust emotions."

Louis Malle
(10/30/1932 – 11/24/1995)
French film director

"A team effort is a lot of people doing what I say."

Michael Winner
(10/30/1935 – )
English writer, director

"Billy, in one of his nice new sashes
fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes;
now, although the room grows chilly,
I haven't the heart to poke poor Billy."

Harry Graham
(?/1874 – 10/30/1936)
English? writer

"No matter how big or soft or warm your bed is, you still have to get out of it."

Grace Slick
(10/30/1939 – )
US singer (Jefferson Airplane, Starship)

"Bill [Mitchell] said he really liked it. But when he asked the other four their opinions, we all took one look at ourselves in our raggedy long winter coats and cracked up. We knew we weren't likely to tempt anyone or anything, but what the hell, it was as good a name as any."

Otis Williams
(10/30/1939 – )
US singer (Temptations) , on the name of the group

"I started my career in kindergarten playing a tube of toothpaste in a hygiene play."

Henry Winkler
(10/30/1945 – )
US actor

"It was a book to kill time for those who like it better dead."

Dame Rose Macaulay
(08/01/1881 – 10/30/1958)
English writer

"I think the secret to the guy was that he was very simple, not stupid, but not a genius, and he ended up being something like an elaborately clothed emperor in a kingdom full of people with no clothes."

Ken Stringfellow
(10/30/1968 – )
US singer, guitarist (Posies, Big Star) , on Elvis

"Sometimes when I look at my children I say to myself, 'Lillian, you should have stayed a virgin.'"

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

"The drug user drowns in the same pool mystics swim in."

Joseph Campbell
(03/26/1904 – 10/30/1987)
US writer

"Asthma doesn't seem to bother me any more unless I'm around cigars or dogs. The thing that would bother me most would be a dog smoking a cigar."

Steve Allen
(12/26/1921 – 10/30/2000)
US comic, actor, composer, writer (other "Tonight Show" hosts: Paar, Carson, and Leno)

"Why stop now when I'm just getting the hang of it?"

Robert Goulet
(11/26/1933 – 10/30/2007)
Canadian singer , on retiring