March 4, 2014

Good Morning!

Today is the birthday of Khaled Hosseini (1965 - ) who said:

“But better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.”

and

“It always hurts more to have and lose than to not have in the first place.”

It is also the birthday of Daniel Woodrell (1953 - ) who said:

“The heart's in it then, spinning dreams, and torment is on the way. The heart makes dreams seem like ideas.”

Happy Birthday to Geoff Nicholson (1953 - ) who said:

“But perhaps the real reason we keep writing is the hope naïve perhaps that we’ll make a better job of it next time. Unless you’re a genius or a fool you realize that everything you write however “successful ” is always a sort of failure. And so you try again.”

Today is the birthday of James Ellroy (1948 - ) who said:

“I learn things late-and only the hard way.”

Finally, it is the birthday of Alan Sillitoe (1928 – 2010) who said:

“Well, it's a good life and a good world, all said and done, if you don't weaken.”

March 3, 2014

Good Morning!

Today is the birthday of Alexander Graham Bell (1847 – 1922) who said:

“When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”

and

“Leave the beaten track behind occasionally and dive into the woods. Every time you do, you will be certain to find something you have never seen before.”

It is also the birthday of Ira Glass (1959 - ) who said:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Happy Birthday to James Merrill (1926 – 1995) who said:

“The day is breaking someone else's heart.”

March 2, 2014

Good Morning!

Today is the birthday of Sholem Aleichem (1859 – 1916) who said:

“Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.”

and

“No matter how bad things get, you've got to go on living, even if it kills you.”

and

“When the heart is full it runs out of the eyes.”

It is also the birthday of Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) (1904 – 1991) who said:

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

and

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

and

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”

and

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”

Happy Birthday to David Goodis (1917 – 1967) who said:

“The trouble with people is they don't understand people.”

Today is the birthday of Tom Wolfe (1931 - ) who said:

“Everybody is going to be what they are, and whatever they are, there's not going to be anything to apologize about.”

and

“The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and the reason a reader reads one is to remember it. ”

It is also the birthday of  John Irving (1942 - ) who said:

“If you care about something you have to protect it – If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.”

and

“It is hard work and great art to make life not so serious.”

and

“My life is a reading list.”

Super cool birthday to Lou Reed (1942 – 2013) who said:

“There's a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out.”

Happy Birthday to Peter Straub (1943 - ) who said:

“Sometimes it is right to fear the dark.”

March 1, 2014

Good Morning! 

Today is the birthday of Lytton Strachey (1880 – 1932) who said:

“A writer’s promise is like a tiger’s smile.”

and

“It is probably always disastrous not to be a poet.”

It is also the birthday of Ralph Ellison (1914 – 1994) who said:

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free”

and

“The world is a possibility if only you'll discover it.”

and

“We look too much to museums. The sun coming up in the morning is enough.”

and

“Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?”

Happy Birthday to Robert Lowell (1917 – 1977) who said:

If youth is a defect, it is one that we outgrow too soon.”

Birthday greetings to Richard Wilbur (1921 - ) who said:

“Writing poetry is talking to oneself; yet it is a mode of talking to oneself in which the self disappears; and the product's something that, though it may not be for everybody, is about everybody.”

and

“All that we do is touched with ocean, and yet we remain on the shore of what we know.”

Birthday wishes to Harry Belafonte (1927 - ) who said:

“You can cage the singer but not the song.”

Finally, it is the birthday of Nik Kershaw (1958 - ) who sang:

“Wouldn't it be good to be on your side
The grass is always greener over there

And wouldn't it be good if we could live without a care”