Iconic Birthday Quotes From The Famous And Infamous Born On This Day In History

"I desire no fatigues, but only inclination, which even sickness itself cannot hinder" (said to his son Alexi)

"I am a man and consequently I must die. To whom shall I leave after me to finish what by the grace of God I have begun"

"I will have you to know that I will deprive you of the succession, as one may cut off a useless member" (said to his son Alexi)

"I hate liberality - nine times out of ten it is cowardice, and the tenth time lack of principle"

"They are attacking me most vehemently in the Morning Chronicle, but I am satisfied a selection was never made with more scrupulous caution, or with more pure intentions; and I have no reason whatever to be dissatisfied with the selection itself"

"Her majesty's example had a most salutary and powerful influence during a period of more than half a century on all the relations of domestic life; and her character will be for ever preeminent when compared with that of any of her predecessors"

"It is the triumph of virtue over vice, of loyalty over rebellion, and peculiarly gratifying it is to every lover of the country, to see the honourable testimony it affords to the purity, benevolence, and firmness of your Lordship's mind"

"You will be glad to hear that the commission is in full activity. The solicitor general tells me, that the selection of the stipendiary commissioners is much approved by the profession"

"I have perused the draft of your intended letter with all the feeling which it was so well calculated to excite. Your public career will live on, but it is not yet at its close"

"In youth, the absence of pleasure is pain, in old age, the absence of pain is pleasure"

"It was impossible not to discover those seeds of animosity, which have been matured by circumstances into insurrection and rebellion" (about Ireland)

"Make them look with irritation at power"

"It is with deep regret that the determination to assemble Parliament has been so long delayed"

"Where shall I take so many craftsmen from?"

"What can I do with a dead banker?"

"Indeed, your Highness, I too have no idea what for"

"Fortune favours the prepared"

"They're moving pictures, let's make 'em move"

"There's action only if there is danger"

"You can't fix a bad script after you start shooting. The problems on the page only get bigger as they move to the big screen"

"Cary Grant was so far the best that there isn't anybody to be compared to him"

"John Wayne represents more force, more power, than anybody else on the screen"

"If I am going to be a poet at all, I am going to be poet and not negro poet"

"We shall not always plant while others reap"

"My poetry has become the way of my giving out what music is within me"

"I marvel at this curious thing: To make a poet black and bid him sing"

"The loss of love is a terrible thing; They lie who say that death is worse"

"Whatever lives is granted breath, but by the grace and sufferance of death"

"We didn't make pictures for children. We didn't make pictures for adults. We made them for ourselves"

"He's a little stinker. That's why people love him. He does what most people would like to do but don't have the guts to do" (about Bugs Bunny)

"Today was tomorrow yesterday so don't inhale"

"Visiting these brave kids makes you count your blessings, and your own troubles seem very small by comparison" [about visiting Shriners Children's Hospital]

"He was a marvelous audience. You know, the joke was always pulled on Jack, and he was the brunt of all the jokes"

"I had many opportunities to do the wrong things, and I might have done them if it were not for DeMolay"

"It's just my normal speaking voice with a spray at the end" (about his voice over for Sylvester the cat)

"When I was a kid, I used to look at animals and wonder, how would that kitten sound if it could talk? I'd tighten up my throat and make a very small voice, not realizing I was rehearsing"

"The finest comedian ever to stand behind a microphone [about Jack Benny]"

"I guess if all the bugs in this place beat their wings it should stay cool"

"Ehhh. What's up doc?"

"That's all folks"

"If a guy's got it, let him give it. I'm selling music, not prejudice"

"If you want to do something, you do it anyway, and handle the obstacles as they come"

"Creativity grows out of two things: Curiosity and imagination"

"It takes the black keys and the white keys both, to make perfect harmony"

"You have to know what the hell and who the hell you are in this business. Music may change, but I don’t think that ever will"

"There's no one else like her, and I presume there never will be" (about Peggy Lee)

"One of the most important qualities in doing research, I found, was to ask the right questions at the right time"

"I soon learned that it did not require a great brain to do original research"

"I used to wear a black patch over my eye when I was young, It was very dashing"

"You get all kinds of letters from very sick people who want help - some schizophrenics"

"People are so desperate. They grasp at any straw, even a little item in a newspaper about me"

"This is the dream of every scientist to win one" (about winning the Nobel prize in medicine)

"I felt lost between the sexes"

"Nature made a mistake that I have had corrected"

"I enjoy being a girl"

"Remember the shy, miserable person who left America? Well, that person is no more and, as you can see, I'm in marvelous spirits"

"At first I was very self-conscious and very awkward. But once the notoriety hit, it did not take me long to adjust" (about life after his sex change operation)

"I decided if they wanted to see me, they would have to pay for it"

"I learned that if you want to make it bad enough, no matter how bad it is, you can make it"

"We must stop the trend of closing schools and building prisons"

"Football really prepares you for nothing. The only thing I got out of football was the ability to work hard, and that's it"

"When you step onto that field, you cannot concede a thing"

"There comes a time when you have to stand up and be counted"

"I want to be remembered as a winner in life"

"Death by drink driving is the only socially acceptable form of homicide"

"I didn't start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving" (about mothers against drink driving)

"Over time, my efforts helped incite others to action"

"You kick a few pebbles, you turn a few stones, and eventually you have an avalanche"

"The road through grief is a rocky one. Traveling along it requires courage, patience, wisdom, and hope"

"They're just as affected by drunk driving as anyone else. Drunk driving certainly doesn't enhance their business" (about the liquor industry)

"Its easier to get a divorce than pass the driving test"

"Something can and should be done to stem the tide of family breakdown"

"If your relationship is not stable enough to cope with children you should not have them"

"In the courts people talk about their rights - you have no right where children are concerned … what you have are responsibilities"

"I kind of have an interest in all history. And I suspect it comes from being Irish"

"I'm not a big method actor. I'm much more superficial"

"I usually read a script from an audience perspective first, and then look more closely at the character only"

"Even in drama, I like to try to find the humour because I think it's very human"

"I loved the energy, but became aware that there wasn't a lot of work apart from daytime soaps. Even Broadway was dead" (about New York in the 1980's)

"I believed they had to negotiate, and the Provisionals came to that position in the mid-90s" (about the I.R.A.)

"Writer's block! It doesn't exist. You just long for ideas to go away so you have an idea of peace"

"Life has a funny way of becoming ordinary as soon as it can"

"A novelist could probably run a military campaign with some success. They could certainly run a country"

"Ending a novel is almost like putting a child to sleep - it can't be done abruptly"

"If you have to read to cheer yourself up, read biographies of writers who went insane"

"As a gay man living in Ireland, I and people like me found it easy to feel less than citizens"

"In college I castrated 21 rats, and I got pretty good at it"

"Blonde is dumb comedy, red hair is smart, sexy comedy"

"An actress, around 40, on television, that's where you get the most torture"

"It's important to me to have privacy and for my life not to be a marketing device for a movie or a TV show"

"Life's a lot easier when you're dumb"

"I just want to start writing, whether or not any of it is useable or marketable"

"The failures and successes are necessary for learning"

"Sometimes all it takes is just a smile to change somebody's weather"

"Silence is refreshment for the soul"

"To heal from the inside out is the key"

"Without love in your life, you have nothing"

"I literally went from the outhouse to the White House"

"Sometimes I guess you need to lose everything before you realize what's really important"

"Happiness is something we reach for while we try to learn from our disappointments"

"A life without rain is like the sun without shade"

"Moving on doesn't mean forgetting"

"Great tragedy gives us opportunities for great kindness"

"When you lose your sails, row"

"When you sit back and you just do what you love, things happen"

"Things happen for a reason, and in their own time"

"If you follow your path and focus on love, things will work out"

"The one who tried too hard, the outsider, the oddball. Yeah, that was me"

"It's something I do everywhere I go. In the shower, walking down the street. I don't need any impetus to do it. I just sing"

"As I get older, I realize all I've done is sing and act and hone those skills"

"When you don’t feel good, and you still get hits, that’s when you know you are a bad man"

"I don't believe in curses, I think you make your own destination"

"Why do people want to know what I think? I like to play the game. I don't like to give opinions"

"We're just going to go and practice and keep it going"

"I won’t be here next year, so I just want to enjoy myself"

"Whatever happened in Boston, that’s the past. I’m just thinking blue right now"

"Others tell like it is, while I tell it how I would like it to be"

"I don't sell dope, I sell hope"

"You have to dream big, wish hard and chase after your goals, because no one is going to do it for you"

"Your ability is an irony that is undeniable"

"There's a difference between singing and sanging"

"She encourages me to dream with my eyes open"

"Passion is a gender-neutralizing force"

"If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room"

"You can do it your way, on your terms"

"You can't have everything you want, but you can have the things that really matter to you"

"We are all capable of so much more than we think"

"Success is never getting to the bottom of your to-do list"

"Let today be the day you give up who you've been for who you can become"

"No extraordinary result ever came from mediocre effort"

"Give more than you get. Everyday. Everywhere. With everyone. Always"

"Need nothing. Enjoy everything. Love all"

"Who you become today will determine what you are capable of creating tomorrow"

"Although actions may speak louder than words, it is our intentions that reveal our soul"

"I came out of the womb born to sing and dance"

"I'm an addict for underwear"

"If it's supposed to be a really passionate snog, you slip the tongue in"

"The prima ballerinas who taught me were far more scary than Gordon Ramsay ... So after them Gordon was a piece of cake"

"Going home and spending time with your family and your real friends keeps you grounded"

"I got a mortgage at 17! I didn't even know you could get a mortgage at 17"