Many writers are gifted in the area of writing. These writers have written to contribute to the development of society. This article selects some of the famous writers whose quotes in different fields are more numerous.
1. William Shakespeare
No author is quoted more often than William Shakespeare. He is the most famous name in all of English literature. What makes him so great?
Early Life
Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, a prosperous town in England. His local grammar school had a demanding curriculum. At age 18, he married Anne Hathaway. At some point, Shakespeare left Stratford for London to work in the theatre.
Playwright in London
Shakespeare made his reputation with 38 glorious plays. He wrote about two plays a year while living in London. He never published the plays, but he saw them performed at the Globe and other London theatres.
Shakespeare’s plays were well-liked by audiences. But we know little about his life in London. Later, he retired in Stratford as a prominent citizen. He died in 1616. Two actors saw that his plays were printed. A collection called the First Folio came out seven years after his death.
A Writer for All Time
Shakespeare was a fabulous storyteller. His plays entertained audiences. Shakespeare was also a profound thinker. He created a variety of true-to-life characters in his plays. These characters seem real because Shakespeare presented their viewpoints so well.
The richness of his language is amazing. He even invented many words and phrases that are now common, including leapfrog, lonely, and watchdog.
Shakespeare’s plays reflect many aspects of human life. He wrote delightful comedies, such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It. He wrote plays about England’s kings that entertainingly teach history.
The great tragedies explore flaws in human nature. These plays include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. In his spare time, he wrote poetry. His 154 sonnets are among the most famous love poems of all time.
2. Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was the one who set the newly created United States on solid financial progress, after the American Revolution (1775-1783).
He also pushed for a strong national government for the United States, when others favoured giving strong powers to the states. Hamilton expressed his views in the amorous political writings known as The Federalist Papers.
Early Years
When he was 12, he went to work as a clerk in a counting house. His mother had died. His father had lost all his money. He learned about money and finance while keeping accounts in the counting house.
In 1773, Hamilton entered King’s College (now Columbia University) in New York City.
The American Revolution
Hamilton joined the Continental Army when the American Revolution began in 1775. He impressed others with his bravery and leadership. In 1777, George Washington, the head of the army, named Hamilton as his personal secretary.
Lawyer and Statesman
He believed that the country’s plan of government was too weak. The essays defended the new U.S. Constitution. They explained why the new nation needed a strong national government.
Secretary of the Treasury
Washington, who became the country’s first president, appointed Hamilton secretary of the treasury in 1789. The country was in debt after years of war. Hamilton made the dollar the official U.S. currency (money).
He proposed that the national government pay the war debts of the states. Congress approved this proposal. It also approved his plans for a national bank and for aiding American manufacturing.
Last Years
Hamilton returned to his law practice in New York City in 1795. He worked to defeat the election of Aaron Burr as U.S. president and later as governor of New York. In 1804, Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel (fight). Burr shot Hamilton in the duel on July 11, 1804. Hamilton died the next day.
3. Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson is remembered as one of America’s greatest political thinkers. He wrote the Declaration of Independence, and later was elected the nation’s third president.
As president, Jefferson nearly doubled the size of the United States with the purchase of the vast Louisiana Territory. Jefferson’s talents stretched far beyond politics. He was an inventor, architect, scientist, musician, and more!
Early Life
Thomas Jefferson’s father was a Virginia farmer. Thomas was born in 1743. Jefferson began his education at age five. By age nine, he studied away from home. He learned Greek and Latin and studied science.
Like many Virginia gentlemen, the tall boy with reddish hair learned to dance and ride horseback. Young Jefferson also began a lifelong love of playing the violin.
For two years, Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary. He began law studies in 1762. Five years later, Jefferson opened a law practice . In 1770, Jefferson began to build a mansion home he designed, called Monticello.
4. Anne Frank
Anne Frank’s life was short and tragic. Yet her brave spirit has survived in her diary. She wrote this diary while hiding from the Nazis during World War II (1939-1945).
Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on June 12, 1929. Her family was Jewish. In 1933, the Nazi Party came to power in Germany. The Nazis blamed Jews for the nation’s problems and began a campaign against Jews.
The Frank family moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands to escape the Nazis. But in 1940, Germany invaded the Netherlands, and Jewish people there began to suffer under anti-Jewish policies.
Hidden Away
Anne’s father prepared a hiding place for his family. He sealed off several rooms at the back of his office building, and he covered the entrance with a movable bookcase.
In July 1942, Anne, her mother and father, her sister Margot, and four Jewish friends stepped behind the bookcase into the hidden rooms.
The Frank family and their friends stayed shut away in secret for over two years. Brave friends risked their lives to bring them food. But constant fear and loss of freedom were hard to bear.
For comfort, Anne started to write a diary. She was very good at expressing her thoughts and feelings in words.
Hopes for the Future
Anne was 13 when she started to write. Her diary reveals that, just like other teenagers, she looked forward to adult life. She hoped to have a career as a writer, and she longed to find love. She had high ideals and wished “to be useful or give pleasure to people around me.”
Throughout her time in hiding, Anne maintained her faith in human nature. She wrote, “Despite everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
Betrayed
In 1944, the Frank family’s hiding place was betrayed to the Gestapo (German secret police).
She died at the camp in 1945 at the age of 15. Otto, Anne’s father, was the only member of the Frank family to survive the war. He published her diary in 1947. Since then, it has been published in more than 50 languages. Millions of people have visited the family’s hiding place in Amsterdam.
5. Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery. Douglass was a powerful speaker and skilled writer. He devoted his life to ending slavery.
Born a Slave
Frederick was born in 1817 on a plantation in Maryland. His original name was Frederick Augustus Bailey. When Frederick was eight years old, he was sent to Baltimore to work for a new master.
The wife of the new master began teaching Frederick to read from the Bible. But she stopped when her husband complained. He did not want a slave to learn to read and write.
Reading in Secret
Frederick taught himself to read by secretly studying books that belonged to his master’s son. At the age of 13, he bought his first book. It was a collection of famous speeches.
He read the speeches over and over. That’s how he learned the art of public speaking. One speech taught him that some people thought slavery was wrong. They wanted to abolish it.
Working in Shipyards
Frederick was a defiant teenager. He was often beaten or whipped by his white supervisors. But Frederick remained independent, so his master sent him away to work in the Baltimore shipyards. Frederick taught himself to write by tracing the outlines of letters on the sides of the ships.
Runaway Slave
Frederick met Anna Murray in Baltimore. She was a free black person. Frederick wanted to be free, too. He got papers that falsely said he was a free man.
Frederick then boarded a train for New York. Slavery was illegal in New York and in other Northern states. Frederick pretended he was a sailor returning home.
He arrived safely in New York City. Anna soon joined Frederic, and they were married. The couple moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Frederick hoped to work in the shipyards. To avoid capture, he changed his name.
Rise to Fame
Frederick Douglass joined the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. The members asked him to speak at one of their meetings.
The society hired him to travel around the north and speak at antislavery meetings. He soon became the nation’s leading black opponent of slavery. Douglass spoke so well that some people doubted he had been a slave.
To prove them wrong, Douglass wrote his autobiography. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was published in 1845. It described his childhood as a slave. His autobiography became a famous antislavery book.
Fleeing America
Douglass’s fame caused him problems. He feared his owner would force him to return to slavery. Douglass and his family fled to England.
They lived there for two years. In 1847, English friends purchased Douglass from his owner. That allowed him to return safely to America.
The family moved to Rochester, New York, where Douglass published an antislavery newspaper.
Civil War
After the Civil War began in 1861, Douglass urged President Abraham Lincoln to let black men join the Union Army. Then, he helped organise two regiments of black soldiers. Two of his sons enlisted in the army.
Through hard work, he overcame ignorance, poverty, and prejudice. He fought tirelessly against slavery and became the nation’s leading spokesman for black Americans.
6. Thomas Paine
Born in England in 1737, he was a poor man with rich ideas about freedom. He believed the American colonies could become a new nation free from Great Britain. “The birthday of a new world is at hand,” Paine wrote in his most famous publication, Common Sense.
Paine Comes to America
As a young man, Thomas Paine met American statesman Benjamin Franklin in London. Encouraged by Franklin, Paine sailed for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1774.
Once there, he picked up his pen in the cause of liberty. In one article, he spoke out strongly against the practice of slavery, which was still common in America. Paine believed that people should be free to pursue their own lives.
Paine Promotes American Independence
In January 1776, Paine published a 50-page pamphlet called Common Sense. The pamphlet sold over 500,000 copies!. Paine boldly called the colonies: “THE FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES OF AMERICA.”
In July 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, in which the colonies officially broke away from Britain. The people of America then began eight long years of war.
During this war, the American Revolution (1775-1783), Paine wrote a series of pamphlets called The American Crisis. During the harsh winter of 1776-1777, he reassured Americans, “These are the times that try men’s souls … but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
Later Life
Thomas Paine returned to Great Britain in 1787. Five years later, his book Rights of Man got him in trouble for again criticising monarchies (rule by kings and queens. There, he was thrown into prison for nearly a year because he did not support the beheading of King Louis XVI.
Part I of Paine’s book The Age of Reason was published in 1794, during his time in prison. By 1807, when Part III of this book appeared, Paine had moved back to America. But by then, he had lost many of his supporters. He died in New York in 1809. Read the similar post on this page.
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