American Quotations by William J. Federer 2024

William Shakespeare (baptized April 26, 1564-April 23, 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor manager, whose works have had an enduring worldwide impact. He was born and educated at Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, the son of a prosperous glover. He married Ann Hathaway in 1582, and together they had three children. Moving to London c.1589, he established himself as an actor and playwright. In 1594 he began working with Lord Chamberlain's Men, and in 1598 became a shareholding director in the Globe Theatre. During the plague of 1592-94, which cause a temporary closure of the theatre, he wrote the sonnets, Venus...

Galileo Galilei (February 15, 1564-January 8, 1642) was an Italian mathematical physicist and astronomer who conceived of the idea for the isochronous pendulum, the sector-compass and developed the concept of mathematical laws governing the universe. He made the first practical use of the telescope, through which he observed sunspots; the phases of Venus; and discovered the four bright satellites of Jupiter. The first mathematician at the University of Pisa, Galileo discovered the Law of Falling Bodies and provided an alternative to Aristotelian dynamics. His work gave credence to Nicolaus Copernicus' heliocentric theory, where the sun is the center of the solar...

Sir Francis Bacon (January 22, 1561-April 9, 1626) the Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, was an English philosopher, essayist, courtier, jurist and statesman. He was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under King James I. As Lord Chancellor of England (1618-21), he was significantly responsible for the formulation and acceptance of the scientific method, which stressed gathering data from experimentation and induction rather than through the practice of philosophical deduction promulgated by Aristotle. Sir Francis Bacon was responsible for helping to found the Royal Society of London. He wrote: <There are two books laid before us to study, to prevent our...

Sir Walter Raleigh (c.1552-October 29, 1618) was an English navigator, writer, courtier and colonizer. He explored the eastern seaboard of America and named it "Virginia" after the "Virgin Queen" Elizabeth I. Sir Walter Raleigh received the first colonial grant to colonize America in 1584, resulting in the ill-fated Lost Colony. The charter he was granted authorized him to enact statutes for the government of the proposed colony, provided that: <They be not against the true Christian Faith.> 1552WR001 Sir Walter Raleigh's valor in the attacks on Cadiz (1596) and the Azores (1597) gained him renown. He was later imprisoned by King...

Miguel de Cervantes (September 29, 1547-April 23, 1616) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and considered the first modern novelist. His works, most notably Don Quixote, helped standardize the Spanish language in the same way that William Shakespeare did the English language. Miguel de Cervantes fought in the Battle of Lepanto and was wounded, losing the use of his left hand. The Battle was commemorated in the poem "Lepanto" by G.K. Chesterton, 1911. Four years after the battle, Cervantes was captured by Muslim Barbary pirates and he spent five years in captivity as a slave in Algiers, before being ransomed by the...