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Zadie Smith - Contemporary British novelist, essayist, and short-story writer.

Attributed to Marcus Aurelius (121 AD - 180 AD) Roman Emperor 

Dr. Irene C. Kassorla (1925 - 2023) American actrss known for General Hospital TV Series,  Bicentennial Minutes and Horizon. She earned her doctoral degree from the University of London's Institute of Psychiatry and went on to become a world-renowned psychologist and best-selling self-help author.

Leo Tolstoy, (Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy) (1828 - 1910} Renowned Russian writer and philosopher born into an aristocratic Russian family. He is best known for his epic novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, which are considered among the greatest works of realist fiction. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists of all time and a major figure in Russian literature. Tolstoy's writing also explored themes of morality, spirituality, and social reform. His works continue to be read and studied worldwide, influencing writers and thinkers across generations. His ideas about non-violence, social justice, and the importance of individual conscience have had a lasting impact on social and political movements.

Like silver lamps in a distant shrine,
The stars are sparkling bright
The bells of the city of God ring out,
For the Son of Mary is born to-night.
The gloom is past and the morn at last
Is coming with orient light.

Never fell melodies half so sweet
As those which are filling the skies,
And never a palace shone half so fair
As the manger bed where our Saviour lies;
No night in the year is half so dear
    As this which has ended our sighs.

Now a new Power has come on the earth,
    A match for the armies of Hell:
A Child is born who shall conquer the foe,
    And all the spirits of wickedness quell:
For Mary’s Son is the Mighty One
    Whom the prophets of God fortell.

The stars of heaven still shine as at first
    They gleamed on this wonderful night;
The bells of the city of God peal out
    And the angels’ song still rings in the height;
And love still turns where the Godhead burns
    Hid in flesh from fleshly sight.

Faith sees no longer the stable floor,
    The pavement of sapphire is there
The clear light of heaven streams out to the world
    And the angels of God are crowding the air,
And heaven and earth, through the spotless birth
    Are at peace on this night so fair.

William Chatterton Dix (1837 - 1898) was an English writer of hymns and carols. He was born in Bristol,  He study for a mercantile career, and became manager of a maritime insurance company in Glasgow where he spent most of his life. Few modern writers have shown so signal a gift as his for the difficult art of hymn-writing. His original hymns are found in most modern hymn-books. Some of his carols, such as The Manger Throne have been very popular. His hymns and carols also include "As with Gladness Men of Old". What Child is this?, To Thee, O Lord, Our Hearts We Raise and Alleluia! Sing to Jesus.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) American writer, poet, singer, and civil rights activist.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC) -  Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. and served as consul in 63 BC. His influence on the Latin language was immense. It is generally believed that he wrote wrote more than three-quarters of the Latin literature that is known to have existed in his lifetime. 

George Washington (1732 - 1799) He is known as the Father of the Nation for his role in bringing about American independence. He was the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797 and had served as commander of the Continental Army,  leading the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War against the British Empire. The quote appears in a letter he wrote to Major General Robert Howe on August 17, 1779. The context of the quote is about the importance of integrity and the challenge of maintaining it when faced with financial incentives that might compromise it. View letter

Avram Noam Chomsky, born in 1928 is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s. More Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media. More