January |
"I am writing biography, not history, and the truth is that the most brilliant exploits often tell us nothing of the virtues or vices of the men who have performed them, while on the other hand a chance remark or a joke may reveal far more of a man's character than the mere feat of winning battles in which thousands fall, or of marshalling great armies or laying siege to cities."
- Plutarch (AD c.46-c.120)
Greek philosopher and biographer
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February |
"It comes as a great shock around the age of 5, 6 or 7 to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance, along with everybody else, has not pledged allegiance to you. It comes as a great shock to see Gary Cooper killing off the Indians and, although you are rooting for Gary Copper, that the Indians are you."
- James Baldwin
(1924-1987)
American novelist and essayist |
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March |
"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter ... a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue."
- Henri Matisse
(1869 -1954)
French painter
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April |
"What literature can and should do is change the people who teach the people who don't read the books."
- A.S. Byatt
(1936-)
English novelist
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May |
"A good lyric should be rhymed conversation."
- Ira Gershwin
(1896-1983)
American songwriter
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June |
"We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true."
- Robert Wilensky
(1951-)
American academic |
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July |
"I do wish people would not deceive themselves by talk of a just war. There is no such thing as a just war. What we are doing is casting Satan out by Satan."
- Charles Hamilton Sorley
(1895-1915)
English poet |
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August |
"Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim."
- George Santayana
(1863-1952)
Spanish philosopher and critic |
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September |
"I wasn't kissing her, I was just whispering in her mouth."
- Chico Marx
(1891-1961)
American film comedian
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October |
"The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today—in the next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped—always somebody else's horizon!"
- Kenneth Grahame
(1849-1932)
Scottish-born writer
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November |
"Many of them [maderistas], so as to curry favour with the tyrants, for a fistful of coins, or through bribery or corruption, are shedding the blood of their brothers."
- Emiliano Zapata
(1879-1919)
Mexican revolutionary |
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December |
"If you want to achieve something in business, in writing, in painting, you must follow the rules without knowing them."
- Arthur Schopenhauer
(1788-1860)
German philosopher |
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