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A. E. Housman |
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I'll tell that story on the golden floor |
(1859-1936) |
The famous scholar said this as he was listening to a joke as he lay on his deathbed. |
English scholar and poet. |
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Abraham Lincoln |
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(Laughter) |
(1809-1858) |
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre while he was watching the play, Our American Cousin. One of the actresses called for a shawl to protect her from the draught. An actor ad-libbed the reply, “You are mistaken, Miss Mary, the draught has already been stopped by the President”. Lincoln laughed with the rest of the audience. |
President of the U.S.during the American civil war. |
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Agrippina |
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Smite my womb |
15-59 A.D |
Agrippina was a Roman noblewoman and was the daughter of Agrippina (the Elder). She was first married to Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, by whom she had a son, the future Emperor Nero. She married again and her third husband was Emperor Claudius who was her own uncle. She persuaded Claudius to adopt Nero as his successor and then went on to poison all Nero’s rivals and enemies, and finally the emperor himself. She was eventually put to death by Nero, who could not tolerate her ascendancy. She said these words to the assassins sent by her son. |
Mother of the Emperor Nero |
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Alexander Graham Bell |
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But I have to. So little done. So much to do. |
1847-1922 |
Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish inventor. He worked, for most of his life in the United States. Famous for inventing the telephone, he was a professor of vocal physiology at Boston University. He fell in love with a deaf student of his called Mabel Hubbard and married her. They were married for 45 years when Bell was stricken by illness. He said these words when he was asked to slow down his dictation. |
Inventor of the telephone |
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Alexander Pope |
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There is nothing meritorious but virtue and friendship, and indeed friendship itself is only a part of virtue. |
(1688-1744) |
“I do not think it essential, but it will be very right, and I thank you for putting me in mind of it.”
Alexander Pope was an English poet who was most famous for his mock epic The Rape of the Lock. The neo-classical poet wrote much in the vein of his age. |
English poet |
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Alexander the Great |
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The strongest. |
356 - 323 B.C. |
Alexander the Great was the son of King Philip of Macedonia. His ambition was to conquer the whole world. By the age of 30 he had conquered part of Asia and even occupied a part of India. He died at a young age, master of more than half the world. As he was dying he was asked who as to succeed him. “The strongest”, came the characteristic reply. |
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Alfred the Great |
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I desire to leave to the men that come after me a remembrance of me in good works. |
849 - 910 A.D. |
The only English King to be known as the Great, he well deserved his title. When he became King of Wessex in 871 A.D. , most of England north if the Thames had been overrun by the Norsemen. He had a series of brilliant victories and by 896 he laid the foundations of a united England, resisting attempts of invasion from the south. A wise and practical ruler, he built the first English fleet and arranged for the codification of the laws of England.
The founded schools and started the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a History of England beginning from the invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar in 55 B.C. |
King Of Wessex, England |
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AL-GhazzLI |
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The first sign of love to God is not to be afraid of death, and to be always waiting for it. For death unites the friend to his friend – the seeker to the object with he seeks. |
(B. 1058) |
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The Revival of Religious Sciences |
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AL-GhazzLI |
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The meaning of death is not the annihilation of the spirit, but its separation from the body, and that the resurrection and day of assembly do not mean a return to a new existence after annihilation, but the bestowal of a new form or frame to the spirit. |
(B. 1058) |
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The Revival of Religious Sciences |
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Amelia Earhart |
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KHAQQ calling Itasca. We must be on you, but cannot see you. Gas is running low. |
1897-1937 |
Amelia Earhart was the first of women aviators in the world. She broke several women's speed records in her Lockheed Vega aircraft in 1930.On May 20, 1932, exactly 5 years after the Lindbergh flight, Amelia's modified Lockheed Vega began the first Trans-Atlantic flight attempted by a woman. Since she did not drink coffee or tea, she kept awake by using smelling salts on long trips. A thermos of soup and a can of tomato juice were all she needed to sustain her. She broke several records on this flight. She became the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo and only person to fly it twice. It was the longest non-stop distance flown by a woman and a record for crossing in the shortest time. Amelia's her next venture was a trans-Pacific flight from Hawaii to California and then on to Washington D.C. Ten pilots had already lost their lives attempting this crossing. Amelia's flight was the first in which a civilian plane carried a two-way radiotelephone. She departed from Wheeler Field on January 11, 1935 and landed in Oakland, California to a cheering crowd of thousands. Flying had become her life. In 1937 she decided to attempt another feat of aviation. On May 20, 1937 she set off to fly around the world, taking with her the experienced navigator Fred Noon. They took off from California and by July second had flown across Africa, India and Indonesia. She then was to cross the Pacific. The first leg of the trip was from New Guinea to Howland Island. They were to reach Howland some 17 hours after they took off at 10 a.m. They never reached there. A few radio messages asking for a radio fix were heard but the static was so bad it was just about impossible to get a bearing. A massive search effort consisting of local boats, and naval ships was launched but no trace of either the plane of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan was found. It is presumed that they crashed into the ocean due to the failure of navigational instruments. |
Aviator |
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Anne Boleyn |
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Oh God, have pity on my soul, Oh God have pity on my soul… |
1507-36 |
Anne Boleyn was the second Queen of King Henry VIII and was the mother of the famous Queen Elizabeth I. She fell out with the king and was executed. She addressed the crowd that had gathered to watch the beheading. She said, “Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. Oh Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.” She was then blindfolded and led to the block where she prayed and repeatedly said, “To Jesus Christ I commend my soul. Lord Jesus receive my soul” as she placed her head on the block she began to cry and uttered her last words.
Her last words are often taken to be “The executioner is, I believe, very expert.... and my neck is very slender.” She did say this though these were not her last words. She said this to Mr. Kingston the Constable of the Tower. |
second Queen of Henry VIII of England |
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Anton Pavlovich Chekov |
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I am dying ... I haven't drunk champagne since a long time. |
1860-1904 |
Anton Chekhov was the most popular of Russian playwrights. His great plays, like Uncle Vanya, The Seagull and The Three Sisters are still performed.
Why his tales were (and still are) so well loved by his countrymen is best said in the words of Vladimir Nabokov: “What really attracted the Russian reader was that in a Chekhov's heroes he recognized the Russian idealist. . . a man who combined the deepest human decency of which man is capable with an almost ridiculous inability to put his ideals and principles into action; a man devoted to moral beauty, the welfare of his people, the welfare of the universe, but unable in his private life to do anything useful; frittering away his provincial existence in a haze of utopian dreams; knowing exactly what is good, what is worth while living for, but at the same time sinking lower and lower in the mud of a humdrum existence, unhappy in love, hopelessly inefficient in everything-a good man who cannot make good. This is the character that passes-in the guise of a doctor, a student, a village teacher, many other professional people--all through a href="#/9143-Anton Chekhov" target="_parent">Chekhov's stories." |
Russian playwright |
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Archimedes of Syracuse |
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Wait till I've finished my problem. |
298-212 BC |
Archimedes was a native of Syracuse in Sicily. He is said to have traveled to Egypt to study with the mathematicians there and is considered by most historians of mathematics to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. He was fascinated by geometry and perfected methods of integration which allowed him to find areas, volumes and surface areas of many bodies. Even in his age he was taken to be a great mathematician. He was a friend and relative of King Hieron of Syracuse and it was his inventions (various war engines, catapults and stone throwers) that helped Syracuse ward off the siege placed on it by the Romans under Marcellus during the second Punic war. Syracuse eventually fell because of internal treachery. Archimedes was captured and killed by a Roman soldier. Although he achieved fame by his mechanical inventions, believed that pure mathematics was the only worthy pursuit. |
Mathematician |
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Augustus Saint-Gaudens |
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It’s very beautiful, but I want to go farther away. |
(1848-1907) |
The Irish-American sculptor said this as he was watching a sunset. |
sculptor. |
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