February 01

"Corporations cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicated, for they have no souls."

Sir Edward Coke
(02/01/1552 – 09/03/1634)
English jurist

"Traveling is almost like talking with men of other centuries."

Rene Descartes
(03/31/1596 – 02/01/1650)
French philosopher

"'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,
and robes the mountain in its azure hue."

Thomas Campbell
(02/01/1763 – 01/04/1854)
Irish theologian

"The happiest lot for a man, as far as birth is concerned, is that it should be such as to give him but little occasion to think much about it."

Richard Whately
(02/01/1787 – 10/08/1863)
English archbishop

"Life is obstinate and clings closest where it is most hated."

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
(08/30/1797 – 02/01/1851)
English writer (was married to Percy Bysshe Shelley)

"Depth must be hidden. Where? On the surface."

Hugo von Hofmannsthal
(02/01/1874 – 07/15/1929)
Austrian writer

"When in doubt, make a western."

John Ford
(02/01/1895 – 08/31/1973)
US filmmaker

"A good general rule is to state that the bouquet is better than the taste, and vice versa."

Stephen Potter
(02/01/1900 – 12/02/1969)
English writer , on wine-tasting

"I worked like a son of a bitch to learn a few tricks and I fight like a steer to avoid getting stuck with parts I can't play."

Clark Gable
(02/01/1901 – 11/16/1960)
US actor

"No woman can be handsome by the force of features alone, any more than she can be witty by only the help of speech."

Langston Hughes
(02/01/1902 – 05/22/1967)
US writer

"God, whom you doubtless remember as that quaint old subordinate of General Douglas MacArthur..."

S. J. Perelman
(02/01/1904 – 10/17/1979)
US screenwriter

"A special effect is as big a star as any in the world."

George Pal
(02/01/1908 – 05/02/1980)
Hungarian animator , after seeing "Star Wars"

"I don't like to write, but I love to have written."

Michael Kanin
(02/01/1910 – 03/12/1993)
US writer (brother of Garson Kanin)

"Parents learn a lot from their children about coping with life."

Dame Muriel Spark
(02/01/1918 – 04/13/2006)
Scottish writer

"You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long."

Boris Yeltsin
(02/01/1931 – 04/23/2007)
Russian politician

"Old men need applause too."

Don Everly
(02/01/1937 – )
US singer

"I thought it was in terribly bad taste for him to die when he did."

Terry Jones
(02/01/1942 – )
English comic, actor (Monty Python's Flying Circus) , on Graham Chapman's dying on the eve of the Pythons' 20th anniversary

"You only live a short time...and you are dead a long time."

Johan Huizinga
(12/07/1872 – 02/01/1945)
Dutch historian

"If my kids could wish each other into the cornfield, as it were, they'd LIVE there. I mean, they'd be in that cornfield all the time."

Bill Mumy
(02/01/1954 – )
US actor, musician (Lost in Space...)

"The thing I found incredible about Los Angeles was the flagrant inequality. You'd be on the Sunset Strip with people dangerously close to attacking you for money while all these Rolls-Royces were going by."

Exene Cervenka
(02/01/1956 – )
US (ex-"X") singer (was married to—and bandmates with—John Doe, was married to Viggo Mortenson)

"Another dirty shirttail actor from New York."

Hedda Hopper
(06/02/1890 – 02/01/1966)
US gossip columnist , on James Dean (Hopper painted by Red Skelton)

"No man can be a genius in slapshoes and a flat hat."

Buster Keaton
(10/04/1895 – 02/01/1966)
US comic actor

"That's part of the problem with my love life. I'm looking for someone similar to him and nobody could ever compare."

Lisa Marie Presley
(02/01/1968 – )
US pop royalty , daughter of Elvis, was married to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage

"I'm Jewish. I've always had a thing where it's okay to dance with the devil, just don't become the devil. Even at my peak, I never went too over the top."

Pauly Shore
(02/01/1968 – )
US comic

"Every tool carries with it the spirit by which it had been created."

Werner Karl Heisenberg
(12/05/1901 – 02/01/1976)
German physicist

"Are tectonic plates dishwasher-safe?"

Herb Caen
(04/03/1916 – 02/01/1997)
US columnist (SF Chronicle)

"I'm sorry, if you continue to complain, I will have to cancel your subscription."

Art Hoppe
(04/23/1925 – 02/01/2000)
US columnist (SF Chronicle)

"If you have to make mistakes, make them good and big; don't be middling if you can help it."

Hildegard Knef
(12/28/1925 – 02/01/2002)
German actor, singer

"I couldn't act, but I could swing through the trees."

Irish McCalla
(12/25/1929 – 02/01/2002)
US actor , on her role in Sheena, Queen of the Jungle