Jacob Grimm (January 4, 1785 – September 20, 1863) was a German philologist, jurist, and with his brother, author/compiler of fairy tales. His study of historical languages and texts led him to develop Grimm’s Law tracking how sounds shift across time as languages develop and gave insight into Proto-German from the Proto-Indo-European language which is the oldest known ancestor of English.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (January 3, 106 BCE – December 7, 43 BCE) was a Roman statesman, philosopher, orator, and lawyer. He served as consul in 63 BCE. He is considered to be one of Rome’s greatest orators and prose writers. He so influenced prose writing, that all Latin and even European writing up until the 19^th century are said to be either an imitation of his style or a reaction against it.

Barry Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and businessman. He was a five term Senator from Arizona and ran for President of the United States on the Republican ticket in 1964 narrowly beating New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller for the honor. Lyndon B. Johnson took 486 electoral votes to Goldwater’s 52, winning the election in a landslide.

Betsy Ross (January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836) was a colonial American seamstress who made flags for the Pennsylvania navy during the American Revolution and is credited with designing, or at least influencing the design, of the US flag used during the Revolutionary War. She continued to make flags for the US for fifty years after the war.

If all else fails, hack the system.

We wouldn’t savor the success without the bitterness of all that went before.

Some of the most spectacular failures are noted by history. And we rejoice in them. The Leaning Tower of Pisa wouldn’t be notable if were just the Tower of Pisa.

You have your own gifts and talents. They are not the same as others. Live your life, not theirs.

No one is perfect. No one.

If you want something, you have to seek it out. Repeatedly.