Thought of the Day

Thought of the Day is where you’ll find my little snippets of daily knowledge, historical happenings and newsworthy notes; plus of course the inevitable ‘too good not to add them’ quotes.

I’ve linked them to literary quotes and the books or authors they came from. There’s no rhyme nor reason to them, if it catches my eye then it’s likely to be here, and if you know of an upcoming important happening, or historical even that we should feature on our literary calendar, let us know at;

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“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”

September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984

Truman Streckfus Persons more commonly known as Truman Capote was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognised literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the true crime novel In Cold Blood, which he labeled a “nonfiction novel”. At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced of Capote novels, stories, and plays.

In Cold Blood US
In Cold Blood UK

“Those who’ll play with cats must expect to be scratched. ” 

29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616)

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra  often simply called Cervantes, was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His major work, Don Quixote, considered to be the first modern European novel,is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written. His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called la lengua de Cervantes (“the language of Cervantes”). He was dubbed El Príncipe de los Ingenios

Don Quixote US
Don Quixote UK 

“Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.”

August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891

Herman Melville  was an American novelist, writer of short stories, and poet from the American Renaissance period. Most of his writings were published between 1846 and 1857. Best known for his sea adventure Typee (1846) and his whaling novel Moby-Dick (1851), he was almost forgotten during the last thirty years of his life but has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years.

Moby Dick US
Moby Dick UK

“Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life… But why would I want to do a thing like that? ” 

Born 27 September 1958

Irvine Welsh is a prolific and controversial Scottish author, who was born in Leith, Scotland on this day in 1958 (Although it is widely reported that he was born in 1951). Most famous for Trainspotting, several of his novels have been turned into movies and he’s considered one of the greatest British authors of our time. Now living in Chicago, Welsh continues to write and maintains a cult audience.

Trainspotting US
Trainspotting UK 

““Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.” “

September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965

T. S. Eliot was an essayist, playwright, literary and social critic, and “one of the twentieth century’s major poets”. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri,  but immigrated to England in 1914, settling, working and marrying there. He was eventually naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39, renouncing his American citizenship..

The Letters of T. S. Eliot (Vol 1) US
The Letters of T. S. Eliot (Vol 1) UK

“Remain true to yourself, child. If you know your own heart, you will always have one friend who does not lie.” 

June 3, 1930 – September 25, 1999

Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley  was an American author of fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy novels, and is best known for the Arthurian fiction novel The Mists of Avalon, and the Darkover series. Many critics have noted a feminist perspective in her writing

Mists of Avalon US
Mists of Avalon UK 

“You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”

September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald  was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century and is considered a member of the “Lost Generation” of the 1920s.

The Great Gatsby US
The Great Gatsby UK

“I want
To do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.”

July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973

Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet-diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He derived his pen name from the Czech poet Jan Neruda and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair US
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair UK 

“There are no warlike people – just warlike leaders.”

September 21, 1928

 Ralph Bunche, along with Eleanor Roosevelt, was considered instrumental in the creation and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on the 21st September 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict and achieving the 1949 Armistice Agreements.

An American Odyssey US
An American Odyssey UK

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

September 21, 1947

Stephen Edwin King  is an American author of contemporary horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. His books have sold more than 350 million copies, many of which have been adapted into feature films, miniseries, television shows, and comic books. King has published 54 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman and six non-fiction books. He has written nearly 200 short stories, most of which have been collected in book collections. Many of his stories are set in his home state of Maine..

The Shining US
The Shining UK 

“The pleasure we feel, reading a poem, is our assurance of its integrity.”

September 20, 1928

 Donald Hall is an American poet, writer, editor and literary critic. A graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard and Oxford, Hall is the author of over 50 books across several genres from children’s literature, biography, memoir, essays, and including 22 volumes of verse.

Life Work US
Life Work UK

“My yesterdays walk with me. They keep step, they are gray faces that peer over my shoulder.”

19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993

Sir William Gerald Golding CBE  was an English novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his novel Lord of the Flies, he won a Nobel Prize in Literature, and was also awarded the Booker Prize for literature in 1980 for his novel Rites of Passage, the first book in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth.

Lord of the Flies US
Lord of the Flies UK 

“There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.”

September 18, 1915

Today marks the 100th anniversary of that delightful duo Jeeves and Wooster. P.G. Wodehouse’s wonderful fop Bertie Wooster and his long suffering valet Jeeves made their first appearance on this day in 1915 in the short story “Extricating Young Gussie,” published in The Saturday Evening Post.

Jeeves and Wooster US
Jeeves and Wooster UK

““All I know is this: nobody’s very big in the first place, and it looks to me like everybody spends their whole life tearing everybody else down.” ”

September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001

Kenneth Elton “Ken” Kesey  was an American author and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest US
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest UK 

“Everything has to evolve or else it perishes.”

September 16, 1926 – November 29, 2001

John Knowles was an American novelist best known for A Separate Peace (1959). He died in 2001 at the age of 75.

A Separate Peace US
A Separate Peace UK

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

October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938

Thomas Clayton Wolfe  was a major American novelist of the early twentieth century. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing.

Look Homeward Angel US
Look Homeward Angel UK 

“One day might be different from another, but there ain’t much difference when they’re put together.”

September 14, 1911 – April 11, 1999

William H. Armstrong  was an American children’s author and educator, best known for his 1969 novel Sounder, which won the Newbery Medal.

Sounder US
Sounder UK

“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.”

13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990

Born on this day Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. His wonderful stories have held millions of children and adults alike enthralled for hours.

James and the Giant Peach US
James and the Giant Peach UK 

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

March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977

Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the Mayflower.

Collected Poems US
Collected Poems UK

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.”

11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930

David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. Probably his most famous work is Lady Chatterley’s Lover and the above quote is taken from that novel.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover US
Lady Chatterley’s Lover UK 

“Taught from infancy that beauty is woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.”

27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797

Mary Wollstonecraft  was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of  women’s rights. She wrote novels, treatises and a children’s book but is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Women, in which she argues that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education.

A Vindication of The Rights of Woman US
A Vindication of The Rights of Woman UK

“If you forgive people enough you belong to them, and they to you, whether either person likes it or not squatter’s rights of the heart.”

9 September 1900 – 20 December 1954

James Hilton was an English novelist best remembered for several best-sellers, including  Lost Horizon and Goodbye Mr Chips.

Goodbye Mr Chips US
Goodbye Mr Chips UK 

“To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before…”

8th September 1966

Star Trek (The Original Series) debuted on this day in 1966 on NBC.

Star Trek US
Star Trek UK

“I like the English. They have the most rigid code of immorality in the world.”

7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000

Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury CBE was an English author and academic.

The History Man US
The History Man UK 

“When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion.”

6 September 1928

Robert Maynard Pirsig  is an American writer and philosopher, and the author of the philosophical novels Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, An Inquiry Into Values and Lila An Inquiry Into Morals.

Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance US
Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance UK

“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.”

 September 5, 1957

Jack Kerouac’s On The Road was published on this day in 1957.

On The Road US
On The Road UK 

“Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first.”

22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006

Steve Irwin lost his life to a stingray 9 years ago today; a conservationist and TV personality, his life’s work is continued today by his wife Terri, and daughter Bindi.

The Crocodile Hunter US
The Crocodile Hunter UK

“In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.”

 September 3, 1939

Neville Chamberlain announces Britain has declared war on Germany; his quote is as true today as it was back then. Our book choice is taken from Campbell McAuley’s Top Five War Picks, Len Deighton’s Bomber.

Bomber US
Bomber UK 

“It began in the King’s baker’s house on Pudding Lane . . .”

At 2 am on the 2nd of September 1666 a fire broke out in the King’s Bakery on Pudding Lane, London. The fire raged for 4 days and razed a substantial percentage of London to the ground.
Samuel Pepys, famous diarist kept a record of what he saw and the quote today is from those diaries.

 Samuel Pepys Diaries US
 Samuel Pepys Diaries UK

“And so he learned to read. From then on his progress was rapid.”

 September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950

Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of Tarzan and the John Carter, Mars explorer series

Tarzan US
Tarzan UK 

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