April 21: Notable Births, with Quotes
Explore memorable and revealing quotes from public figures, past and present, who were born on April 21.
Robert Smith, singer and songwriter (April 21, 1959–present)
“The reason I was doing something on my own was for exactly the same reason I was doing collaborations; I’ve always wanted to do an hour’s worth of noise, and I didn’t want it… The Cure, you wait 10 years and then we bring out an album that’s just noise. So it was just like, ‘No.’ That was me doing the rest of the band. That ‘no’ was a band no.” —Robert Smith
Helman, Peter. “Robert Smith Explains Why He’s Made An Album Without The Cure: ‘I’ve Always Wanted To Do An Hour’s Worth Of Noise.’” Stereogum, June 2, 2021, https://www.stereogum.com/2149872/robert-smith-explains-why-hes-made-an-album-without-the-cure-ive-always-wanted-to-do-an-hours-worth-of-noise/news/
“I’ve always been horribly overconfident in anything I’ve done, almost to the point of arrogance. I’ve always been naturally quiet, but even when I was starting and I was quite shy, I was always very arrogant with regards to what I was doing. But quietly arrogant, not an Ian McCulloch sort of arrogant or a Morrissey arrogant.” —Robert Smith
Helman, Peter. “Robert Smith Explains Why He’s Made An Album Without The Cure: ‘I’ve Always Wanted To Do An Hour’s Worth Of Noise.’” Stereogum, June 2, 2021, https://www.stereogum.com/2149872/robert-smith-explains-why-hes-made-an-album-without-the-cure-ive-always-wanted-to-do-an-hours-worth-of-noise/news/
Iggy Pop, singer and songwriter (April 21, 1947–present)
“I know all the most foolish things I ever did, ones that really upset a lot of people and caused me all this grief at the time—those are all my favorite things.” —Iggy Pop
Interview. “Life Lessons from Iggy Pop.” Interview, May 27, 2021, https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/life-lessons-from-iggy-pop.
“Freedom was very, very important to me when I was young. When I did ‘I Got a Right,’ I had come to the conclusion that the freedoms that we were taught about in civics class didn’t actually exist, and so I was going to have to declare my own. That song was my little declaration of independence. But now I’m at a point where I can just put the top down on my convertible and feel the breeze in my face and feel pretty free.” —Iggy Pop
Interview. “Life Lessons from Iggy Pop.” Interview, May 27, 2021, https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/life-lessons-from-iggy-pop.
Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom (April 21, 1926–present)
“Although it’s a time of great happiness and good cheer for many, Christmas can be hard for those who have lost loved ones.” —Elizabeth II
Oliver, David and Puente, Maria. “Queen Elizabeth II gives tribute to Prince Philip in first Christmas speech without him.” USA Today, December 25, 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/12/25/queen-elizabeth-ii-christmas-speech-honors-late-husband-prince-philip/9014632002/.
“Adults, when weighed down with worries, sometimes fail to see the joy in simple things, where children do not.” —Elizabeth II
Oliver, David and Puente, Maria. “Queen Elizabeth II gives tribute to Prince Philip in first Christmas speech without him.” USA Today, December 25, 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/12/25/queen-elizabeth-ii-christmas-speech-honors-late-husband-prince-philip/9014632002/.
John Muir, author and naturalist (April 21, 1838–December 24, 1914)
“Azure skies and crystal waters find loving recognition, and few there be who would welcome the axe among mountain pines, or would care to apply any correction to the tones and costumes of mountain waterfalls. Nevertheless, the barbarous notion is almost universally entertained by civilized man, that there is in all the manufactures of Nature something essentially coarse which can and must be eradicated by human culture.” —John Muir
Muir, John. “Chapter 1: Wild Wool.” Sierra Club, https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/steep_trails/chapter_1.aspx.
“Nature is a good mother, and sees well to the clothing of her many bairns — birds with smoothly imbricated feathers, beetles with shining jackets, and bears with shaggy furs. In the tropical south, where the sun warms like a fire, they are allowed to go thinly clad; but in the snowy northland she takes care to clothe warmly.” —John Muir
Muir, John. “Chapter 1: Wild Wool.” Sierra Club, https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/steep_trails/chapter_1.aspx.
Charlotte Bronte, novelist and poet (April 21, 1816–March 31, 1855)
“Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags.” —Charlotte Bronte
Bronte, Charlotte. “The Project Gutenberg eBook of Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë.” Project Gutenberg, December 1, 2020, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1260/1260-h/1260-h.htm.
“I would always rather be happy than dignified.” —Charlotte Bronte
Bronte, Charlotte. “The Project Gutenberg eBook of Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë.” Project Gutenberg, December 1, 2020, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1260/1260-h/1260-h.htm.
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