February 16: Notable Births and Deaths, with Quotes
Let’s explore notable birth and death anniversaries for February 16.
John McEnroe, tennis player (February 16, 1959–present)
“When I first stopped playing the circuit at almost 34, you have that stage where you’re like, ‘I don’t want to play tennis, but I need to do something else.’ And it’s tough when you’re going down the hill.” —John McEnroe
Ravindran, Manori. “How ‘Never Have I Ever’ Made Tennis Star John McEnroe Hollywood’s Next Great Narrator.” Variety, May 14, 2020, https://variety.com/2020/tv/global/never-have-i-ever-john-mcenroe-mindy-kaling-1234605735/.
“When I said, ‘You cannot be serious’ to the Wimbledon official, I said it literally once in my 15-year career. You can’t imagine how many times people have come up to me. It is inescapable.” —John McEnroe
Ravindran, Manori. “How ‘Never Have I Ever’ Made Tennis Star John McEnroe Hollywood’s Next Great Narrator.” Variety, May 14, 2020, https://variety.com/2020/tv/global/never-have-i-ever-john-mcenroe-mindy-kaling-1234605735/.
“I’d be interested in doing a travel show where I went to all the places I’ve been but never really saw because I was always at the tennis court, the hotel or the airport. I’d like to see these cities from a different perspective, whether it’s political, musical, social, or even tennis-related.” —John McEnroe
Ravindran, Manori. “How ‘Never Have I Ever’ Made Tennis Star John McEnroe Hollywood’s Next Great Narrator.” Variety, May 14, 2020, https://variety.com/2020/tv/global/never-have-i-ever-john-mcenroe-mindy-kaling-1234605735/.
LeVar Burton, actor and television host (February 16, 1957–present)
“I got the best education imaginable from the Catholics and I am forever grateful to them for that. But when it was time, I put that aside. I took the education and went out into the world, and that’s when I really found my tribe: in theater school. Being there put me on the path to ‘Roots,’ and doing ‘Roots’ has put me on the path to everything else that’s come subsequently. —LeVar Burton
Kimble, Julian. “LeVar Burton Explains Why He Should Host ‘Jeopardy.’” GQ, July 26, 2021, https://www.gq.com/story/levar-burton-jeopardy-interview.
“I think reading is as strong as ever in culture, and when I say ‘culture’ in this sense, I mean globally. Reading and comprehension are still essential skills for us to master as human beings. What we have really lacked recently is the ability to discern truth from fiction; fact from fantasy. We’ve sort of abandoned what we used to call, in my family, home training. We’ve abandoned basic good sense. Just thrown it out the window. That’s a mystifying situation to me.” —LeVar Burton
Kimble, Julian. “LeVar Burton Explains Why He Should Host ‘Jeopardy.’” GQ, July 26, 2021, https://www.gq.com/story/levar-burton-jeopardy-interview.
“You aren’t just the interlocutor as the host of ‘Jeopardy!,’ you’re judge and jury. You have to respond in the moment. You are the arbiter of right and wrong, so you can’t afford to drop your focus for a nanosecond.” —LeVar Burton
Kimble, Julian. “LeVar Burton Explains Why He Should Host ‘Jeopardy.’” GQ, July 26, 2021, https://www.gq.com/story/levar-burton-jeopardy-interview.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary-General of the United Nations (November 14, 1922–February 16, 2016)
“The United Nations is a gathering of sovereign States and what it can do depends on the common ground that they create between them. The adversarial decades of the cold war made the original promise of the Organization impossible to fulfil. The January 1992 Summit therefore represented an unprecedented recommitment, at the highest political level, to the Purposes and Principles of the Charter.” —Boutros Boutros-Ghali
United Nations. “An Agenda for Peace.” UN.org, January 31, 1992, https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/A_47_277.pdf.
“Just as it is vital that each of the organs of the United Nations employ its capabilities in the balanced and harmonious fashion envisioned in the Charter, peace in the largest sense cannot be accomplished by the United Nations system or by Governments alone. Non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, parliamentarians, business and professional communities, the media and the public at large must all be involved.” —Boutros Boutros-Ghali
United Nations. “An Agenda for Peace.” UN.org, January 31, 1992, https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/A_47_277.pdf.
“I am committed to broad dialogue between the Member States and the Secretary-General. And I am committed to fostering a full and open interplay between all institutions and elements of the Organization so that the Charter’s objectives may not only be better served, but that this Organization may emerge as greater than the sum of its parts. The United Nations was created with a great and courageous vision.” —Boutros Boutros-Ghali
United Nations. “An Agenda for Peace.” UN.org, January 31, 1992, https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/A_47_277.pdf.
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