Yesterday     Tomorrow

"A glorious Church is like a magnificent feast; there is all the variety that may be, but every one chooses out a dish or two that he likes, and lets the rest alone."

John Selden
(12/16/1584 – 11/30/1654)
English jurist

"Big fleas have little fleas
upon their backs to bite 'em;
and little fleas have lesser fleas,
and so ad infinitum."

Jonathan Swift
(11/30/1667 – 10/19/1745)
English writer , on the invention of the microscope

"His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere."

Mark Twain
(11/30/1835 – 04/21/1910)
US writer

"As a rule, I am very careful to be shallow and conventional where depth and originality are wasted."

Lucy Maud Montgomery
(11/30/1874 – 04/24/1942)
Canadian writer (Anne of the Green Gables)

"Life is fraught with opportunities to keep your mouth shut."

Winston Churchill
(11/30/1874 – 01/24/1965)
British Prime Minister (41) (son of Jennie Jerome Churchill; see other British Prime Ministers)

"Biography lends to death a new terror."

Oscar Wilde
(10/16/1854 – 11/30/1900)
Irish writer and wit

"He just sat there watching me, and then he walked right up and kissed me."

Virginia Mayo
(11/30/1920 – 01/17/2005)
US actor , on how she met her husband, Michael O'Shea

"Tremendous amounts of talent are being lost to our society just because that talent wears a skirt."

Shirley Chisholm
(11/30/1924 – 01/01/2005)
US Rep (NY)

"Even if Scrabble had been invented then, I wouldn't have wanted to play Scrabble, because the highest triple word score in the world would not have expressed how much I liked the game Natalie and I played every afternoon."

Allan Sherman
(11/30/1924 – 11/20/1973)
US comic

"I am sure I will feel at home in the Bahamas. I've been involved in gambling in the Bahamas. I've been involved in gambling in Nevada and I've been involved in banking."

Chic Hecht
(11/30/1928 – 05/15/2006)
US Ambassador (Bahamas) , on his qualifications for the job

"Avoid all needle drugs. The only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon."

Abbie Hoffman
(11/30/1936 – 04/12/1989)
US writer, 60s revolutionary , hadn't met George W. Bush

"Sex is boring unless you're doing it."

Sir Ridley Scott
(11/30/1937 – )
English director , on why his films don't have sex scenes

"Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes."

Etty Hillesum
(01/15/1914 – 11/30/1943)
Dutch lawyer, writer (died at Auschwitz)

"If you want to have clean ideas, change them as often as your shirt."

Francis Picabia
(01/22/1879 – 11/30/1953)
French artist

"I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted."

Lawrence Summers
(11/30/1954 – )
US economist, Harvard president , on exporting toxic waste to Third World countries

"The biggest misconception people have about me is that I'm stupid."

Billy Idol
(11/30/1955 – )
English singer (Generation X)

"There's an old saying in Hollywood: It's not the length of your film, it's how you use it."

Ben Stiller
(11/30/1965 – )
US actor

"Happiness is the sublime moment when you get out of your corsets at night."

Joyce Grenfell
(02/10/1910 – 11/30/1979)
English comic, actor

"I feel like I'm one of the Simpsons."

Elisha Cuthbert
(11/30/1982 – )
Canadian actor , on wearing the same clothing for an entire season for "24"

"I remember calling up Variety and accusing the Beatles of stealing my look. The woman there said, 'Look, sir, let me tell you something. Their hair is like the Three Stooges, not yours!'"

Tiny Tim
(04/12/1932 – 11/30/1996)
US singer

"Racism is a refuge for the ignorant. It seeks to divide and to destroy. It is the enemy of freedom, and deserves to be met head-on and stamped out."

Pierre Berton
(07/12/1920 – 11/30/2004)
Canadian writer

Yesterday     Tomorrow