It all evens out in the end

The great Irish critic, playwright, philosopher and reformer George Bernard Shaw died on this day in 1950. He was 94. He once wrote:

"The world is populated in the main by people who should not exist."

That one just killed the audience

TV giant Ed Sullivan died on this day in 1974. Once, when singer Connie Francis had just performed and Ed was chatting with her, he asked:

"Tell me, Connie, is your mother still dead?"

October 7, 1849 -- Edgar Allan Poe died, after a violent bout of drinking left him delirious. Poe once wrote:

"My love, she sleeps! Oh, may her sleep
As it is lasting, so be deep!
Soft may the worms about her creep!"

"Quoth the Raven nevermore." -- Poe's epitaph.

It would have been elegant for Poe's last word to have been "Nevermore," in answer to the question he was asked on his deathbed ("Would you like to see your friends?"), but his dying utterance was probably the much more somber, "Lord help my poor soul."

Exit laughing

October 5, 2004 -- Comedian Rodney Dangerfield didn't get any respect -- he died.

His epitaph:

"There Goes the Neighborhood."

He had relations with animals

October 4, 1226 -- Saint Francis of Assisi died.

"Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent." -- George Orwell.

Today's Deathless Verse:

Isn't it a pity, how often he or she we deemed to be a saint,
Ain't?

If not, forget it

Ernest Renan, French philosopher and writer (Life of Jesus), died on this day in 1892. He wrote:

"O Lord, if there is a Lord, save my soul, if I have a soul."

Don't go near the water

Author E. B. White (Charlotte's Web) died on this day in 1985. His famous essay, "Once More to the Lake," ends like this:

"When the others went swimming my son said he was going in too. He pulled his dripping trunks from the line where they had hung all through the shower, and wrung them out. Languidly, and with no thought of going in, I watched him, his hard little body, skinny and bare, saw him wince slightly as he pulled up around his vitals the small, soggy, icy garment. As he buckled the swollen belt suddenly my groin felt the chill of death."

All comics die at times

August 19, 1977: Groucho Marx died. His last words, according to legend:

"Die, my dear? Why, that's the last thing I'll do."

But he may be mistaken

Two immortals died on this day: Babe Ruth in 1948, Elvis Presley in 1977.


"To desire immortality is to desire the perpetuation of a great mistake." -- Arthur Schopenhauer.

I'm afraid this quote just won't do

German playwright and poet Bertold Brecht died on this day in 1956. He wrote:

“Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.”

http://www.amazon.com/Farewells-Last-Words-Thoughts-Things/dp/1468083252