Saturday

Nov. 16, 1996

Sonnet 151: Some Glory in Their Birth, Some in Their Skill

by William Shakespeare

SATURDAY 11/16

Today's Reading:"Some Glory in Their Birth, Some in Their Skill" by William Shakespeare.

The Monterey County Hot Air Affair is being held this weekend in Marina, California with 40 balloonists in competition.

A reenactment of the Revolutionary War siege of Fort Mifflin takes place today in Philadelphia.

The SOUND OF MUSIC premiered today in 1959 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater in New York City.

It's the birthday today of journalist Elizabeth Drew, born Cincinnati in 1935.

Novelist Betty Pesetsky (CONFESSIONS OF A BAD GIRL; DIGS AND MIDNIGHT SWEETS) was born in Milwaukee in 1932.

It's the birthday of Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe (THINGS FALL APART) born in Ogidi, Nigeria, 1930.

The first volume of Marcel Proust's novel, REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST, was published in Paris on this day in 1913.

The German composer Paul Hindemith (MATHIS DER MALER) was born on this day near Frankfurt in 1895.

It's the birthday of playwright and journalist George S. Kaufman (OF THEE I SING; YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU; THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER) born in Pittsburgh, 1889.

Arthur Krock, political writer for THE NEW YORK TIMES from 1932 to 1966, was born on this day in Glasgow, Kentucky, 1886.

It's the birthday of writer Louis Honore Frechette, known for patriotic poems in French, born in Quebec, 1839.

It was on this day that Britain blockaded Long Island Sound in 1813, during the War of 1812, closing all major American routes to the sea.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

«

»

  • “Writers end up writing stories—or rather, stories' shadows—and they're grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough” —Joy Williams
  • “I want to live other lives. I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” —Anne Tyler
  • “Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig” —Stephen Greenblatt
  • “All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • “Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.” —John Edgar Wideman
  • “In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
  • “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” —E.L. Doctorow
  • “Let's face it, writing is hell.” —William Styron
  • “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” —Thomas Mann
  • “Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.” —Paul Rudnick
  • “Writing is a failure. Writing is not only useless, it's spoiled paper.” —Padget Powell
  • “Writing is very hard work and knowing what you're doing the whole time.” —Shelby Foote
  • “I think all writing is a disease. You can't stop it.” —William Carlos Williams
  • “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck.” —Iris Murdoch
  • “The less conscious one is of being ‘a writer,’ the better the writing.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is…that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.” —Pico Iyer
  • “Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
  • “Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” —Anthony Powell
  • “I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” —Michael Cunningham
Current Faves - Learn more about poets featured frequently on the show