Life & People: 03/1990

Louise Bogan (1897-1970)

Louise Bogan (1897-1970)

Louise Bogan (August 11, 1897 – February 4, 1970) was an American poet. She was appointed the fourth Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress in 1945.

As poetry editor of The New Yorker magazine for nearly 40 years, Bogan played a major role in shaping mainstream poetic sensibilities of the mid-20th Century.

The Poetry Foundation notes that Bogan has been called by some critics the most accomplished woman poet of the twentieth century. It further notes that, "Some critics have placed her in a category of brilliant minor poets described as the "reactionary generation." This group eschewed the prevailing Modernist forms that would come to dominate the literary landscape of the era in favor of more traditional techniques.

Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor Brett C. Millier named Bogan "one of the finest lyric poets America has produced," and added that "the fact that she was a woman and that she defended formal, lyric poetry in an age of expansive experimentation made evaluation of her work, until quite recently, somewhat condescending."

Quotes·Quotations by Louise Bogan

Happiness

¶ I cannot believe that the inscrutable universe turns on an axis of suffering; surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Bogan

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)

Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)

Joseph Joubert (7 May 1754 in Montignac, Périgord – 4 May 1824 in Paris) was a French moralist and essayist, remembered today largely for his Pensées (Thoughts), which was published posthumously.

From the age of fourteen Joubert attended a religious college in Toulouse, where he later taught until 1776. In 1778 he went to Paris where he met D'Alembert and Diderot, amongst others, and later became a friend of a young writer and diplomat, Chateaubriand.

He alternated between living in Paris with his friends and life in the privacy of the countryside in Villeneuve-sur-Yonne. He was appointed inspector-general of universities under Napoleon.

Joubert published nothing during his lifetime, but he wrote a copious amount of letters and filled sheets of paper and small notebooks with thoughts about the nature of human existence, literature, and other topics, in a poignant, often aphoristic style. After his death his widow entrusted Chateaubriand with these notes, and in 1838, he published a selection entitled, Recueil des pensées de M. Joubert (Collected Thoughts of Mr. Joubert). More complete editions were to follow, as were collections of Joubert's correspondence.
Somewhat of the Epicurean school of philosophy, Joubert even valued his own frequent suffering of ill health, as he believed sickness gave subtlety to the soul.

Joubert's works have been translated into numerous languages. An English translation version was made by Paul Auster.

Quotes·Quotations by Joseph Joubert

Children

¶ Children have more need of models than of critics.

Teaching

¶ To teach is to learn twice.

Virtues

¶ If you are poor, distinguish yourself by your virtues;if rich,by your goods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert

Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon

@ All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet — it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you.

José Joaquín de Olmedo (1780-1847)

José Joaquín de Olmedo (1780-1847)

José Joaquín de Olmedo y Maruri (Guayaquil, March 20, 1780 - February 19, 1847) Patriot and poet, son of the Spanish Captain Don Miguel de Olmedo y Troyano and the Guayaquilean Ana Francisca de Maruri y Salavarría.

On October 9th, 1820, Olmedo and others declared the city of Guayaquil independent from Spain. He was President of the Free Province of Guayaquil until it was united to Gran Colombia by Simón Bolívar against Olmedo's will. He was also twice mayor of Guayaquil.

He was Vice President of Ecuador from 1830 to 1831.

He was President of Ecuador from June 6, 1845, to December 8, 1845, surviving an attempted coup on June 18th of that year.

He was also a noted poet who emphasized patriotic themes. His best known work is La victoria de Junin, which pictures the Latin American fighters for independence from Spain as the legitimate heirs of the Incas.

Olmedo devoted his life to Guayaquil, he created the Guayaquilean flag and shield, and in 1821 he composed the Song to the October Ninth, which would become the Guayaquil Anthem.

The José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil is named after him.

Quotes

He who does not hope to win has already lost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Joaquín_de_Olmedo

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)

Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an Irish American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience. His philosophy is often summarized by his phrase: "Follow your bliss."[1]

Quotes·Quotations by Joseph Campbell

Adventure

@ We have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us — the labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.
Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), Chapter 1.

Challenge

¶ Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.

Notes

[1]^ Campbell's biography and Joseph Campbell: "Follow Your Bliss" from the Joseph Campbell Foundation website.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)

Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski; 3 December 1857 Berdichev, Ukraine – 3 August 1924) was an English novelist of Polish ethnicity.

Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties (and then always with a marked Polish accent). He wrote stories and novels, predominantly with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit by the demands of duty and honour. Conrad was a master prose stylist who brought a distinctly non-English tragic sensibility into English literature. While some of his works have a strain of romanticism, he is viewed as a precursor of modernist literature. His narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced many authors.

Films have been adapted from or inspired by Conrad's Victory, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, An Outcast of the Islands, The Rover, The Shadow Line, The Duel, Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, and Almayer's Folly.

Writing in the heyday of the British Empire, Conrad drew upon his experiences in the French and later the British Merchant Navy to create short stories and novels that reflect aspects of a worldwide empire while also plumbing the depths of the human soul.

Quotes·Quotation

Evil

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.

Life

We live as we dream - alone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.

After military service as commander of the Motor Torpedo Boats PT-109 and PT-59 during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat. Thereafter, he served in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960. Kennedy defeated then Vice President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. He was the youngest elected to the office, at the age of 43, the second-youngest President (after Theodore Roosevelt), and the first president to have been born in the 20th century. Kennedy is the only Catholic president, and is the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize. Events during his presidency included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the African American Civil Rights Movement, and early stages of the Vietnam War.

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the crime, but was shot and killed two days later by Jack Ruby before a trial could take place. The FBI, the Warren Commission, and the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin, with the HSCA allowing for the possibility of conspiracy based on disputed acoustic evidence. Today, Kennedy continues to rank highly in public opinion ratings of former U.S. presidents.

Quotes·Quotation by John F. Kennedy

Advice

¶ Liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without liberty is always in vain.

¶ Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

Nationality·Patriotism

¶ Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

Thought

¶ A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.

Truth

¶ The enemy of the truth is very often not the lie-deliberate, contrived, and dishonest-but the myth-persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy

John Ciardi (1916-1986)

John Ciardi (1916-1986)

John Anthony Ciardi (CHAR-dee) (June 24, 1916 - March 30, 1986) was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet, he also translated Dante's Divine Comedy, wrote several volumes of children's poetry, pursued etymology, contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor, and directed the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont. In 1959, Ciardi published a book on how to read, write, and teach poetry, How Does a Poem Mean?, which has proven to be among the most-used books of its kind. At the peak of his popularity in the early 1960s, Ciardi also had a network television program on CBS, Accent. Ciardi's impact on poetry is perhaps best measured through the younger poets whom he influenced as a teacher and as editor of The Saturday Review.

Quotes·Quotation

Intelligence

¶ Intelligence recognizes what has happened. Genius recognizes what will happen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ciardi

John Adams (1735-1826)

John Adams (1735-1826)

John Adams (October 30, 1735 (O.S. October 19, 1735) – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States (1797–1801). Hailing from New England, Adams, a prominent lawyer and public figure in Boston, was highly educated and represented Enlightenment values promoting republicanism. A Federalist, he was highly influential and one of the key Founding Fathers of the United States.

Adams came to prominence in the early stages of the American Revolution. As a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, he played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence and assisted Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence. As a diplomat in Europe, he was a major negotiator of the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and chiefly responsible for obtaining important loans from Amsterdam bankers. A political theorist and historian, Adams largely wrote the Massachusetts state constitution in 1780 which soon after ended slavery in Massachusetts, but was in Europe when the federal Constitution was drafted on similar principles later in the decade. One of his greatest roles was as a judge of character: in 1775, he nominated George Washington to be commander-in-chief, and 25 years later nominated John Marshall to be Chief Justice of the United States.

Adams' revolutionary credentials secured him two terms as George Washington's vice president and his own election in 1796 as the second president. During his one term, he encountered ferocious attacks by the Jeffersonian Republicans, as well as the dominant faction in his own Federalist Party led by his bitter enemy Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the army and navy especially in the face of an undeclared naval war (called the "Quasi War") with France, 1798–1800. The major accomplishment of his presidency was his peaceful resolution of the conflict in the face of Hamilton's opposition.

In 1800 Adams was defeated for re-election by Thomas Jefferson and retired to Massachusetts. He later resumed his friendship with Jefferson. He and his wife, Abigail Adams, founded an accomplished family line of politicians, diplomats, and historians now referred to as the Adams political family. Adams was the father of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. His achievements have received greater recognition in modern times, though his contributions were not initially as celebrated as those of other Founders.

Quotes·Quotation

Education

@ Education makes a greater difference between man and man, than nature has made between man and brute. The virtues and powers to which men may be trained, by early education and constant discipline, are truly sublime and astonishing. Newton and Locke are examples of the deep sagacity which may be acquired by long habits of thinking and study. [John Adams, in a letter to Abigail Adams (29 October 1775), published Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife, Vol. 1 (1841), ed. Charles Francis Adams, p. 72.]

Politics·Government

¶ The happiness of society is the end of government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams

John Kotter (1947- )

John Kotter (1947- )

John Paul Kotter (born 1947) is a professor at the Harvard Business School and author, who is regarded as an authority on leadership and change.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Kotter

John Locke (1632-1704)

John Locke (1632-1704)

John Locke FRS ( /ˈlɒk/; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704), widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and political philosophy. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the American Declaration of Independence.

Locke's theory of mind is often cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self, figuring prominently in the work of later philosophers such as Hume, Rousseau and Kant. Locke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated that the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa. Contrary to pre-existing Cartesian philosophy, he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception.

Quotes·Quotations by John Locke

Affectation

@ Affectation is an awkward and forced Imitation of what should be genuine and easy, wanting the Beauty that accompanies what is natural.
John Locke, On Education, Section 66, Affectation, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 11.

Opinion

@ New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common. [Opinion]

***

¶

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Locke

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] – 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is also the subject of "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature": James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.

Quotes·Quotations by Samuel Johnson

Attitudes

¶ Clear your mind of can't.

Food·Dieting

¶ He who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson

Johnny Castle (Dirty Dancing)

Johnny Castle (Dirty Dancing)

Quotes·Quotation by Johnny Castle

Patrick Swayze as Johnny Castle from Dirty Dancing

¶ Nobody puts Baby in a corner.

John Danforth (1936- )

John Danforth

John Danforth (born 5 September 1936) is a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former Republican United States Senator from Missouri. He is an ordained Episcopal priest.

@ In the Middle East, Iraq, Sudan, the former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland, and many other places in the world, religion has been so divisive that people have killed one another, believing they were doing the work of God. [Faith and Politics (2006) Page 2]

@ Plenty of kind, decent, caring people have no religious beliefs, and they act out of the goodness of their hearts. Conversely, plenty of people who profess to be religious, even those who worship regularly, show no particular interest in the world beyond themselves. [Faith and Politics (2006) Page 186]

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Danforth

John Ruskin (1819-1900)

John Ruskin (1819-1900)

Quotes·Quotations by John Ruskin

***

¶

John Webster

John Webster

Quotes·Quotations by John Webster

Animal

@ We think caged birds sing, when indeed they cry.

***

¶

John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (1834-1913)

John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury (1834-1913)

The Right Honourable John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury MP FRS DCL LLD (30 April 1834 – 28 May 1913), known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was a banker, Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath.

He was a banker and worked with his family’s company, but was also made significant contributions in archaeology, ethnography, and several branches of biology. He helped establish archaeology as a scientific discipline, and was also influential in nineteenth-century debates concerning evolutionary theory.[1]:514

Quotes·Quotations by Sir J. Lubbock

Rest

¶ Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the blue sky, is by no means waste of time. [The Use of Life (1894), ch. IV: Recreation]

the Best

¶ When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace. [The Pleasures of Life, vol. 1 (1887), ch. II: The Happiness of Duty]

...

@ We often hear of bad weather, but in reality no weather is bad. It is all delightful, though in different ways. Some weather may be bad for farmers or crops, but for man all kinds are good. Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating. [The Use of Life (1894), ch. IV: Recreation]

@ Earth and Sky, Woods and Fields, Lakes and Rivers, the Mountain and the Sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books. [The Use of Life (1894), ch. IV: Recreation]

@ What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

@ A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.

References

[1]^ a b c d e f Mithen, Steven (2006). After the ice: a global human history, 20,000–5,000 BC. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01570-3.

Books

The following is a list of publications by Sir John Lubbock, arranged in chronological order by the dates of the first editions of each work.

Lubbock J. (1865) Pre-Historic Times, As Illustrated by Ancient Remains, and the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages, Williams & Norgate, London
Lubbock J. (1870) The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man, Longmans, Green & Co., London
Lubbock J. (1871) Monograph on the Collembola and Thysanura, Ray Society, London
Lubbock J. (1872) On the Origin and the Metamorphoses of Insects, Macmillan & Co., London
Lubbock J. (1874) Scientific Lectures, Macmillan & Co., London
Lubbock J. (1879) Addresses, Political and Educational, Macmillan & Co., London
Lubbock J. (1881) Fifty Years of Science, Being the Address Delivered at York to the British Association, August 1881, Macmillan & Co., London
Lubbock J. (1882) Chapters in Popular Natural History, National Society, London
Lubbock J. (1883) On Representation, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Berne
Lubbock J. (1882) Flowers, Fruits and Leaves, Macmillan & Co., London
Lubbock J. (1883) On the Senses, Instincts and Intelligence of Animals, With Special Reference to Insects, Keegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co. Ltd., London: 512 pp.
Lubbock J. (1887–89) The pleasures of life, (2 volumes) Macmillan & Co., London
Lubbock J. (1890) Flowers and Insects, Macmillan & Co., London
Lubbock J. (1891) Ants, Bees and Wasps: A Record of Observations on the Habits of the Social Hymenoptera, Keegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co. Ltd., London: 442 pp.
Lubbock J. (1894) The Use of Life, Macmillan & Co., London
Lubbock J. (1898) On Buds and Stipules, Keegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co. Ltd., London: 239 pp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lubbock,_1st_Baron_Avebury
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Lubbock

John Templeton

Sir John Templeton (1912-2008)

Sir John Marks Templeton (November 29, 1912 – July 8, 2008)[1] was an American-born British stock investor, businessman and philanthropist.

Quotes·Quotations by Sir John Templeton

Investment

¶ The four most dangerous words in investing are: 'this time it's different.'

References

[1]^ a b McFadden, Robert D. (2000-07-09). "Sir John M. Templeton, Philanthropist, Dies at 95". The New York Times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Templeton

John Barrymore (1882-1942)

John Barrymore (1882-1942)

John Sidney Blyth (February 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942),[1] better known as John Barrymore, was an American actor of stage and screen.[2][3] He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III. His success continued with motion pictures in various genres in both the silent and sound eras. Barrymore's personal life has been the subject of much writing before and since his death in 1942. Today John Barrymore is known mostly for his portrayal of Hamlet and for his roles in movies like Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1920), Grand Hotel (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Twentieth Century (1934), and Don Juan (1926), the first ever feature length movie to use a Vitaphone sound-on-film soundtrack.

The most prominent member of a multi-generation theatrical dynasty, he was the brother of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore, and was the paternal grandfather of Drew Barrymore.

Quotes·Quotations by John Barrymore

Love

¶ Love is the delightful interval between meeting a beautiful girl and discovering that she looks like a haddock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barrymore

John Murray (1741–1815, minister)

John Murray (1741–1815, minister)

John Murray (1741–1815) is the founder of the Universalist denomination in the United States, a pioneer minister and an inspirational figure.

Quotes·Quotations by John Murray

Advice

¶ Go out into the highways and byways of America, your new country. Give the people, blanketed with a decaying Calvinism, something of your new vision. You may possess only a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. Give them not hell but hope and courage. Do not push them deeper into their theological despair, but preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Murray_(minister)

John Donne (1572-1631)

John Donne (1572-1631)

John Donne (pron.: /ˈdʌn/ dun) (between 24 January and 19 June 1572[1] – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially compared to that of his contemporaries. Donne's style is characterised by abrupt openings and various paradoxes, ironies and dislocations. These features, along with his frequent dramatic or everyday speech rhythms, his tense syntax and his tough eloquence, were both a reaction against the smoothness of conventional Elizabethan poetry and an adaptation into English of European baroque and mannerist techniques. His early career was marked by poetry that bore immense knowledge of British society and he met that knowledge with sharp criticism. Another important theme in Donne’s poetry is the idea of true religion, something that he spent much time considering and theorising about. He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love poems. He is particularly famous for his mastery of metaphysical conceits.[3]

Despite his great education and poetic talents, Donne lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanising, literature, pastimes, and travel. In 1601, Donne secretly married Anne More, with whom he had twelve children.[4] In 1615, he became an Anglican priest, although he did not want to take Anglican orders. He did so because King James I persistently ordered it. In 1621, he was appointed the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. He also served as a member of parliament in 1601 and in 1614.

Quotes·Quotations by John Donne

Autumn

¶ No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one autumnal face.

Notes

[1]^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Colclough, ‘Donne, John (1572–1631)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, October 2007 oxforddnb.com. Retrieved 18 May 2010
[2]^ Donne, John. Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
[3]^ Bookrags.com
[4]^ Luminarium.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donne

John Homer Mills

John Homer Mills

Quotes·Quotations by John Homer Mills

Attitude

¶ Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens. Circumstances and situations do color life but you have been given the mind to choose what the color shall be.

John Lennon (1940-1980)

John Lennon (1940-1980)

John Ono Lennon, MBE, born John Winston Lennon (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as a founder member of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Together with Paul McCartney, he formed one of the most celebrated songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.

Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved as a teenager in the skiffle craze; his first band, The Quarrymen, evolved into The Beatles in 1960. As the group disintegrated towards the end of the decade, Lennon embarked on a solo career that produced the critically acclaimed albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine". After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he changed his name to John Ono Lennon. Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to raising his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release.

Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. Controversial through his political and peace activism, he moved to New York City in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by Richard Nixon's administration to deport him, while some of his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement.

As of 2012 Lennon's solo album sales in the United States exceed 14 million units, and as writer, co-writer or performer, he is responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002 a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth, and in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all-time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Quotes·Quotations by John Lennon

¶ I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834-1902)

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834-1902)

John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO, DL (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), known as Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Bt from 1837 to 1869 and usually referred to simply as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He was the only son of Sir Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton, 7th Baronet and a grandson of the Neapolitan admiral Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet. He is famous for his remark, often misquoted: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Quotes·Quotations by Lord Acton

Freedom

@ Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
[in The History of Freedom in Antiquity (1877)]

Writing·Reading

¶ Learn as much by writing as by reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Acton

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006)

John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006)

John Kenneth "Ken" Galbraith (properly /ɡælˈbreɪθ/ gal-brayth, but commonly /ˈɡælbreɪθ/ gal-brayth; October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), OC, was a Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian, an institutionalist, and a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through the 2000s and he filled the role of public intellectual from the 1950s to the 1970s on matters of economics.

Galbraith was a prolific author who produced four dozen books and over a thousand articles on various subjects. Among his most famous works was a popular trilogy on economics, American Capitalism (1952), The Affluent Society (1958), and The New Industrial State (1967). He taught at Harvard University for many years. Galbraith was active in Democratic Party politics, serving in the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; he served as United States Ambassador to India under Kennedy. Due to his prodigious literary output he was arguably the best known economist in the world during his lifetime[1] and was one of a select few people to be awarded the Medal of Freedom, in 1946, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2000, for services to economics.

Quotes·Quotations by John Kenneth Galbraith

Humor

¶ Where humor is concerned there are no standards - no one can say what is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith

John Wilson (1785-1854, Scottish writer)

John Wilson (1785-1854, Scottish writer)

John Wilson of Ellerey FRSE (18 May 1785 – 3 April 1854) was a Scottish advocate, literary critic and author, the writer most frequently identified with the pseudonym Christopher North of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.

He was professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University (1820-51).

Quotes·Quotations by John Wilson

U.K.

¶ His Majesty's dominions, on which the sun never sets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilson_(Scottish_writer)

John "Bluto" Blutarsky (National Lampoon's Animal House)

John "Bluto" Blutarsky from National Lampoon's Animal House

Quotes·Quotation by John Belushi

John Belushi as John Bluto Blutarsky from National Lampoon's Animal House

¶ Toga! Toga!

John Belushi (1949-1982)

John Belushi (1949-1982)

John Adam Belushi ( /bəˈluːʃi/; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live and starring alongside Dan Aykroyd in the comedy film The Blues Brothers. He was the older brother of James "Jim" Belushi.

Quotes·Quotation by John Belushi

John Belushi as John Bluto Blutarsky from National Lampoon's Animal House

¶ Toga! Toga!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Belushi

John Keating (Dead Poets Society)

John Keating (Dead Poets Society)

Quotes·Quotation by John Keating

Robin Williams as John Keating from Dead Poets Society

¶ Carpe. Carpe Diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.b

John C. Maxwell (1947- )

John C. Maxwell (1947- )

John Calvin Maxwell (born 1947) is an evangelical Christian author, speaker, and pastor who has written more than 60 books, primarily focusing on leadership. Titles include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow. His books have sold more than nineteen million copies, with some on the New York Times Best Seller List, and translations in over fifty languages.

Quotes·Quotation

Success·Failure

¶ Approximately 95 percent of us have never written out our goals in life, but of the 5 percent who have, 95 percent have achieved their goals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Maxwell

John Ray (1627-1705)

John Ray (1627-1705)

John Ray (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was an English naturalist, sometimes referred to as the father of English natural history. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after "having ascertained that such had been the practice of his family before him".

He published important works on botany, zoology, and natural theology. His classification of plants in his Historia Plantarum, was an important step towards modern taxonomy. Ray rejected the system of dichotomous division by which species were classified according to a pre-conceived, either/or type system, and instead classified plants according to similarities and differences that emerged from observation. Thus he advanced scientific empiricism against the deductive rationalism of the scholastics. He was the first to give a biological definition of the term species.

Quotes·Quotation by John Ray

Money

¶ Money begets money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ray

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German pronunciation: [ˈjoːhan ˈvɔlfɡaŋ fɔn ˈɡøːtə], 28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long poem of modern European literature. His other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.

Goethe was one of the key figures of German literature and the movement of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; this movement coincides with Enlightenment, Sentimentalism (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours, his influential ideas on plant and animal morphology and homology were extended and developed by 19th century naturalists including Charles Darwin. He also served at length as the Privy Councilor of the duchy of Saxe-Weimar.

In politics Goethe was conservative. At the time of the French Revolution, he thought the enthusiasm of the students and professors to be a perversion of their energy and remained skeptical of the ability of the masses to govern. Likewise, he "did not oppose the War of Liberation waged by the German states against Napoleon, but remained aloof from the patriotic efforts to unite the various parts of Germany into one nation; he advocated instead the maintenance of small principalities ruled by benevolent despots."

Goethe's influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a major source of inspiration in music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Early in his career, however, he wondered whether painting might be his true vocation;[citation needed] late in his life, he expressed the expectation that he would ultimately be remembered above all for his work on color.

Quotes·Quotation by Goethe

Advice

¶ One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak a few reasonable words.

Arts

¶ The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them.

¶ The true, prescriptive artist strives after artistic truth; the lawless artist, following blind instinct, after an appearance of naturalness. The one leads to the highest peaks of art, the other to its lowest depths.

Courtesy

¶ There is a courtesy of the heart; it is allied to love. From it springs the purest courtesy in the outward behavior.

Hero

¶ One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a human.

Love

¶ That is the true season of love, when we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved so before us, and that no one will love in the same way after us.

Universe

¶ We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe.

Work

¶ Work banishes those three great evils, boredom, vice and poverty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethe

Joey Starrett (Shane)

Joey Starrett from Shane (1953)

Quotes·Quotations by Joey Starrett

Brandon De Wilde as Joey Starrett from Shane (1942)

¶ Shane. Shane. Come back!

Joe Mantell (1915-2010)

Joe Mantell (1915-2010)

Joe Mantell (né Mantel; December 21, 1915 – September 29, 2010) was an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as "Angie" in the 1955 film Marty, which earned the Best Picture Award.

Mantell appeared in Storm Center(1956) , Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse April 1959 in the Untouchables that set the stage for the hourly series, and Chinatown (1974). In the latter he played Lawrence Walsh, partner of private eye Jake Gittes. He delivered the film's famous last line, "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." The character of Walsh reappeared in The Two Jakes. He had a small role in Hitchcock's The Birds. Mantell appeared frequently in series television, including two episodes of The Twilight Zone: "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" (in a starring role) and "Steel". Mantell also played a two-timed husband in the "Guilty Witness" episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Mantell was born in Brooklyn, New York to Polish immigrant parents. His name was originally spelled "Mantel" and accented on the first syllable, but at the beginning of his acting career Mantell added the extra "L" and changed the pronunciation to "Man-TELL". On September 29, 2010, Mantell died in Tarzana, California, aged 94.

Quotes·Quotations by Joe Mantell

Joe Mantell as Lawrence Walsh from Chinatown (1974)

¶ Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Mantell

Joe E. Brown (1891-1973)

Joe E. Brown (1891-1973)

Joseph Evans Brown (July 28, 1891 – July 6, 1973) was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his amiable screen persona, comic timing, and enormous smile. In 1902 at the age of nine, he joined a troupe of circus tumblers known as the Five Marvelous Ashtons who toured the country on both the circus and vaudeville circuits. Later he became a professional baseball player. After three seasons he returned to the circus, then went into Vaudeville and finally starred on Broadway. He gradually added comedy into his act and transformed himself into a comedian. He moved to Broadway in the 1920s first appearing in the musical comedy Jim Jam Jems.

Quotes·Quotations by Joe E. Brown

Joe E. Brown as Osgood Fielding III from Some Like It Hot (1959)

¶ [Looks at him then turns back, unperturbed] Well, nobody's perfect!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_E._Brown

Joan L. Curcio

Joan L. Curcio

Quotes·Quotation

Education

¶ We teach what we learn, and the cycle goes on.

Joan Crawford (Mommie Dearest, 1981)

Joan Crawford from Mommie Dearest (1981)

Quotes·Quotations by Joan Crawford

Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford from Mommie Dearest (1981)

¶ No wire hangers! What's wire hangers doing in this closet when I told you no wire hangers, ever?! I work and I slave until I'm half dead, and all I hear people say is she's getting old. And what do I get? A daughter who cares as much about the beautiful dresses I give her as she cares about me! What's wire hangers doing in this closet?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faye_Dunaway

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