Life & People

Betty Friedan (1921-2006)

Betty Friedan (1921-2006)

Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921 - February 4, 2006) was an American writer, activist, and feminist.

A leading figure in the Women's Movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the "second wave" of American feminism in the twentieth century. In 1966, Friedan founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women, which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men".

In 1970, after stepping down as NOW's first president, Friedan organized the nation-wide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. The national strike was successful beyond expectations in broadening the feminist movement; the march led by Friedan in New York City alone attracted over 50,000 women and men. In 1971, Friedan joined other leading feminists to establish the National Women's Political Caucus. Friedan was also a strong supporter of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution that passed the United States House of Representatives (by a vote of 354-24) and Senate (84-8) following intense pressure by women's groups led by NOW in the early 1970s. Following Congressional passage of the amendment Friedan advocated for ratification of the amendment in the states and supported other women's rights reforms. Friedan founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws but was later critical of the abortion-centered, politicized tactics of many liberal and radical feminists.

Regarded as an influential author and intellectual in the United States, Friedan remained active in politics and advocacy for the rest of her life, authoring six books. As early as the 1960s Friedan was critical of polarized and extreme factions of feminism that attacked groups such as men and homemakers. One of her later books, The Second Stage, critiqued what Friedan saw as the extremist excesses of some feminists who could be broadly classified as gender feminists.

Quotes·Quotation

Women

When she finally stopped conforming to the conventional picture of femininity she finally began to enjoy being a woman.

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

Bette Davis (1908-1989)

Bette Davis (1908-1989)

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas.

After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930, but her early films for Universal Studios were unsuccessful. She joined Warner Bros. in 1932 and established her career with several critically acclaimed performances. In 1937, she attempted to free herself from her contract and although she lost a well-publicized legal case, it marked the beginning of the most successful period of her career. Until the late 1940s, she was one of American cinema's most celebrated leading ladies, known for her forceful and intense style. Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and confrontations with studio executives, film directors and costars were often reported. Her forthright manner, clipped vocal style and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona which has often been imitated and satirized.

Davis was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and was the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Her career went through several periods of eclipse, and she admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships. Married four times, she was once widowed and thrice divorced, and raised her children as a single parent. Her final years were marred by a long period of ill health, but she continued acting until shortly before her death from breast cancer, with more than 100 films, television and theater roles to her credit. In 1999, Davis was placed second, after Katharine Hepburn, on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of all time.

Quotes·Quotation by Bette Davis

Bette Davis as Charlotte Vale from Now, Voyager (1942)

¶ Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.

Bette Davis as Rosa Moline from Beyond the Forest (1949)

¶ What a dump!

Bette Davis as Margo Channing from All About Eve (1950)

¶ Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.

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

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things in any profound sense. He was born in Monmouthshire, into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Britain.

Russell led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 20th century. He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege and his protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein, and is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians. He co-authored, with A. N. Whitehead, Principia Mathematica, an attempt to ground mathematics on logic. His philosophical essay "On Denoting" has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy." His work has had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics, computer science, and philosophy, especially philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.

Russell was a prominent anti-war activist; he championed free trade and anti-imperialism. Russell went to prison for his pacifism during World War I. Later, he campaigned against Adolf Hitler, then criticised Stalinist totalitarianism, attacked the United States of America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament. One of his last acts was to issue a statement which condemned Israeli aggression in the Middle East.

A prolific commentator on religion, Russell—along with others such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Friedrich Nietzsche—advanced a "new school of thought" that Greg Epstein calls "antagonistic atheism", which was "the view that religion was a thing of the past and ought to be brought hastily toward a point of declining influence". In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

Quotes·Quotations by Bertrand Russell

Happiness

¶ Anything you're good at contributes to happiness.

Patriots

¶ Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

Study

¶ Passive acceptance of the teacher's wisdom is easy to most boys and girls. It involves no effort of independent thought, and seems rational because the teacher knows more than his pupils; it is moreover the way to win the favour of the teacher unless he is a very exceptional man. Yet the habit of passive acceptance is a disastrous one in later life. It causes man to seek and to accept a leader, and to accept as a leader whoever is established in that position.

Universe

¶ In the part of this universe that we know there is great injustice, and often the good suffer, and often the wicked prosper, and one hardly knows which of those is the more annoying.

War

¶ War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

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

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

Bertolt Brecht (German: [ˈbɛɐ̯tɔlt ˈbʁɛçt]; born Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (help·info); 10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956) was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.

An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble—the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife, long-time collaborator and actress Helene Weigel.

Quotes

He who laughs last has not yet heard the bad news.

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

Bernard Bailey (1916-1996)

Bernard Bailey (1916-1996)

Bernard Baily (April 5, 1916 – January 19, 1996)[3][4] was an American comic book artist best known as co-creator of the DC Comics characters the Spectre and Hourman, and a comics publisher, writer, and editor.

Quotes·Quotations by Bernard Bailey

Universe

¶ When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.

References

[1]^ "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JKRQ-Q2W : accessed 20 Feb 2013), Bernard Baily, 19 January 1996; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
[2]^ a b c d Bails, Jerry; Hames Ware. "Bernard Baily". Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999. Archived from the original on July 23, 2010.
[3]^ a b Bernard Baily at the Social Security Death Index. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012.
[4]^ a b Bernard Baily at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Archived from the original on November 23, 2009.
[5]^ a b c d e Bernard Baily at the Grand Comics Database

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

Bernard Werber (1861- )

Bernard Werber

Bernard Werber (born 18 September 1961 in Toulouse) is a French science fiction writer active since the 1990s. He is today the second most read contemporary French writer worldwide after Marc Levy.

Quotes·Quotations by Bernard Werber

***

¶

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

Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976)

Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976), 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC ( /məntˈɡʌmərɪ əv ˈæləmeɪn/; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty" and the "Spartan General" was a British Army officer. He saw action in the First World War, when he was seriously wounded, and during the Second World War he commanded the 8th Army from August 1942 in the Western Desert until the final Allied victory in Tunisia. This command included the Battle of El Alamein, a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign. He subsequently commanded the Eighth Army in Sicily and Italy before being given responsibility for planning the D-Day invasion in Normandy. He was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord from the initial landings until after the Battle of Normandy. He then continued in command of the 21st Army Group for the rest of the campaign in North West Europe. As such he was the principal field commander for the failed airborne attempt to bridge the Rhine at Arnhem and the Allied Rhine crossing. On 4 May 1945 he took the German surrender at Luneburg Heath in northern Germany. After the War he became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in Germany and then Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

Quotes·Quotations by Bernard Montgomery

Optimism

¶ The first and foremost responsibility of a leader is optimism. If your people do not feel uplifted after their meeting with you, then you are not a leader yet.

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

Milton Berle (1908-2002)

Milton Berle (1908-2002)

Milton Berle (born Milton Berlinger; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American comedian and actor. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during TV's golden age.

Quotes·Quotations by Milton Berle

Age

@ I'm 83, and I feel like a 20-year-old, but unfortunately there's never one around. [Interview for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World]

Life

¶ I'd rather be a could - be if I cannot be an are; because a could - be is a maybe who is reaching for a star, I'd rather be a has - been than a might - have - been, by far; for a might have - been has never been, but a has was once an are.

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

Henri Bergson (1859-1941)

Henri Bergson (1859-1941)

Henri-Louis Bergson (French: [bɛʁksɔn] 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.

He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented".[2] In 1930, France awarded him its highest honour, the Grand-Croix de la Legion d'honneur.

Quotes·Quotations by Henri Bergson

Universe

¶ [L]'universe […] est une machine à faire des dieux.
Translation: The universe is a machine for making gods.
[The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1932). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2002, p. 317.]

References

[1]^ Hancock, Curtis L. (May 1995). "The Influence of Plotinus on Berson's Critique of Empirical Science". In R. Baine Harris. Neoplatonism and Contemporary Thought. Congress of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies held in May 1995 at Vanderbilt University 10. International Society for Neoplatonic Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 139ff Extra |pages= or |at= (help). ISBN 0-7914-5275 Check |isbn= value (help). "That the philosophy of Henri Bergson is significantly influenced by the doctrines of Plotinus is indicated by the many years Bergson devoted to teaching Plotinus and the many parallels in their respective philosophies. This influence has been discussed at some length by Bergson's contemporaries, such as Emile Bréhier and Rose-Marie Rossé-Bastide. [...]" |accessdate= requires |url= (help)
[2]^ "The Nobel prize in Literature". Retrieved 2010-11-15.

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

Ben Bernanke (1953- )

Ben Bernanke (1953- )

Ben Shalom Bernanke (English pronunciation: /bərˈnæŋki/ bər-NANG-kee; born December 13, 1953) is an American economist, and the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. During his tenure as Chairman, Bernanke has overseen the response of the Federal Reserve to late-2000s financial crisis.

Bernanke was a tenured professor at Princeton University and was chair of the Department of Economics there from 1996 to September 2002, when he went on public service leave. From 2002 until 2005, he served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Here he outlined the Bernanke Doctrine and first spoke of the Great Moderation, where he postulated that we are in a new era, where modern macroeconomic policy has decreased the volatility of the business cycle. He then served as Chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers before President Bush appointed him to be Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve on February 1, 2006. Bernanke was confirmed for a second term as Chairman on January 28, 2010, after being nominated by President Barack Obama.

Quotes·Quotation by Ben Bernanke

Finance, Finance·Money

¶ The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press, that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at no cost. [Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002]

¶ Under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and, hence, positive inflation. [Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002]

¶ The U.S. government is not going to print money and distribute it willy-nilly ... although there are policies that approximate this behavior. [Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002]

¶ A central bank should always be able to generate inflation, even when the short-term nominal interest rate is zero ...[this] more direct method, which I personally prefer, would be for the Fed to announce ceilings for yields on all longer-maturity Treasury debt. [Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002]

¶ This devaluation and the rapid increase in money supply ... ended the U.S. deflation remarkably quickly. [Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002]

¶ The Fed has the authority to buy foreign government debt, as well as domestic government debt. Potentially, this class of assets offers huge scope for Fed operations, as the quantity of foreign assets eligible for purchase by the Fed is several times the stock of U.S. government debt. [Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002]

¶ A money-financed tax cut is essentially equivalent to Milton Friedman's famous "helicopter drop" of money. [Remarks by Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002]

¶ To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above. [Ben Bernanke, Speech given on Apr. 7, 2010 to the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce, "Economic Challenges: Past, Present and Future"]

¶ And so yeah, I'm sleeping a little better, but again, I think it's really important not to be complacent. We have a long way to go, a lot of work to do, and we're going to keep doing that. [in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer on "World News," 03/27/2012]

¶ We're not paying any attention to election calendars or political debates. We're looking at the economy. We want to make the right decision. We want to do it without political pressure, and that's what we're going to do. [in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer on "World News," 03/27/2012]

Nerd

¶ I am very proud of my nerd-dom. In fact, the world needs more nerds. Nerds, you know, create more jobs and advance science and I hope make good economic policy but that remains to be seen. [in an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer on "World News," 03/27/2012]

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

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