Birthdays – Page 2 – On The Road Book Club

Happy Birthday Dylan Thomas

“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.” Dylan Thomas

Happy Birthday Sylvia Plath

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” Sylvia Plath

Happy Birthday, Sherlock Holmes

“My mind,” he said, “rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is whyContinue reading “Happy Birthday, Sherlock Holmes”

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King Jr.

“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.” Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

Albert Camus – Celebrating the 100th Birthday

Happy Birthday, Albert Camus. Your life was a testament to courage. Your devotion to the cause of human rights continues to inspire us all. Thank you. “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” Albert Camus

Happy Birthday, T.S. Eliot

“The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man” T.S. Eliot This morning, The Poetry Foundation sent me an e-mail with their featured poem of the day. It was “La Figlia che Piange,” which I translated using my limited Italian ability to mean “TheContinue reading “Happy Birthday, T.S. Eliot”

Happy Birthday William Butler Yeats

The Lake Isle of Innisfree By William Butler Yeats I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peaceContinue reading “Happy Birthday William Butler Yeats”

Happy Birthday William Shakespeare!

Today is William Shakespeare’s birthday. The Bard of Avon, whose words expressed the joys and tragedies of humanity, our gratitude… “As an unperfect actor upon the stage Who with much fear is put besides his part Or some fierce thing, replete with too much rage Whose strengths abundance weakens his own heart So I, forContinue reading “Happy Birthday William Shakespeare!”

Happy Birthday Edna St. Vincent Millay

“I am glad that I paid so little attention to good advice; had I abided by it I might have been saved from some of my most valuable mistakes.” Edna St. Vincent Millay Today, in 1892, Edna St. Vincent Millay rushed into this world. Born in Rockland, Maine, her parents were Cora Lounella, a nurse,Continue reading “Happy Birthday Edna St. Vincent Millay”

A Toast to the Professor

Every year on January 3rd, Tolkien fans from around the world are invited to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this beloved author at 21:00 (9 pm) local time. The toast is “The Professor.” “Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge ofContinue reading “A Toast to the Professor”