December 29

"I feel incompetent to perform duties...which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me."

Andrew Johnson
(12/29/1808 – 07/31/1875)
US President (17), VP (16) (see all US Presidents, VPs)

"No man ever became great or good except through many and great mistakes."

William E. Gladstone
(12/29/1809 – 05/19/1898)
British PM (30) (see other British PMs) William Ewart Gladstone

"Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity."

Edwin Hubbel Chapin
(12/29/1814 – 12/26/1880)
US clergyman

"To retire is to begin to die."

Pablo Casals
(12/29/1876 – 10/22/1973)
Spanish cellist

"I am not an Economist. I am an honest man!"

Paul McCracken
(12/29/1915 – )
US economist (and liar)

"The only bad thing about Spokane is that there's nothing to do after 10 in the morning."

Jim Murray
(12/29/1919 – 08/16/1998)
US columnist

"Sometimes you have to get to know someone really well to realize you're really strangers."

Mary Tyler Moore
(12/29/1936 – )
US actor

"I've been very fortunate—you only can do what you're offered, you know?"

Jon Voight
(12/29/1938 – )
US actor (father of Angelina Jolie)

"I love to play; a stage is a safe place for me to be. It's not that way for most folks, but I'd be lost without it."

"Maybe the most that you can expect from a relationship that goes bad is to come out of it with a few good songs."

"Acting is pretending that you're not pretending when you're actually pretending."

Ted Danson
(12/29/1947 – )
US actor (married to Mary Steenburgen)

"I don't have a bank account, because I don't know my mother's maiden name."

Paula Poundstone
(12/29/1959 – )
US comic

"Half of this award should go to my wigs."

Jennifer Ehle
(12/29/1969 – )
US actor, on receiving a BAFTA award for "Pride and Prejudice"

"My only obligation is to keep myself and other people guessing."

Jude Law
(12/29/1972 – )
English actor