Deep in my cortex, the year is divided into reading seasons. The period from mid-October to Christmas, for instance, is ‘ghost story’ time, while Jane Austen and P. G. Wodehouse pretty much own April and May. – Michael Dirda
The U.S. tax code was written by A students. Every April 15, we have to pay somebody who got an A in accounting to keep ourselves from being sent to jail. – P. J. O’Rourke
It was an honour for me to have been able to work with Mr. Mandela in the process that led to the adoption of the interim constitution and our first democratic elections in April 1994. – F. W. de Klerk
According to Colombia’s respected Escuela Nacional Sindical, as of April 2015, 105 union activists had been executed in the four years since Clinton’s free-trade treaty went into effect. That’s just trade unionists. – Greg Grandin
The government that came into power after the April 1994 elections was going to need a budget. It was drafted by our finance minister, Derek Keys, and he convinced them of the necessity to stay within the free-market principles that had been in force in South Africa for decades. – F. W. de Klerk
My name is Natasha Trethewey, and I was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1966, exactly 100 years to the day that Mississippi celebrated the first Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, 1866. – Natasha Trethewey
On April 14, 1986, when the Reagan administration launched an airstrike on Libya in clear violation of international law, Kissinger did the rounds on news shows to justify the bombing. The day after the bombing, Kissinger appeared on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ to voice his ‘total support.’ Attacking Libya, he said, was ‘correct’ and ‘necessary.’ – Greg Grandin
The Budget Act of 1974 established a timetable for the annual budget process. Under Title III of the Act, Congress is to complete action on the concurrent resolution on the budget by April 15. – Marsha Blackburn
Ever since I arrived in Washington in April 2009, I have been fighting for more transparency and accountability in government. – Mike Quigley
From April 1775 to July 1776, the undeclared war between England and its American colonies smoldered, flared up, appeared to sputter out… It was hardly, ever, a mass rebellion. – Gore Vidal
High school is a haunted house in April, when seniors act up because the end is near. Even those who hate school sometimes cling to the devil they know. And for the kids who love it, the goodbyes are hard to think about. – Nancy Gibbs
Our only president who has died as U.S. commander in chief in war is Franklin Delano Roosevelt – who died of a cerebral hemorrhage or massive stroke on April 12, 1945, only three weeks before the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces he had laid down as implacable Allied policy two years before. – Nigel Hamilton
IN April 1882 my father died; and I was at once whirled out of my land of dreams into a very different sphere. – Edward Carpenter
Having been kept pretty strict in prep schools, I guess I couldn’t cope with all the freedom at Yale. I had a wild, wonderful time, got abysmal grades and was bounced out in my freshman year. I then came back the following fall as a repeating freshman, lasted until April and got bounced out again – for the same reason. – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
I would also point out that many governments that chose not to support this war – certainly, the French president, Jacques Chirac, as I recall in April of last year, referred to Iraq’s possession of WMD. – David Kay
The Goldstone Committee was formed in April of 2009, after I was not prime minister. So it was a new political situation. – Ehud Olmert
Every year we discuss Jackie Robinson Day, which is April 15. We talk about it throughout baseball, promote it throughout baseball. – Curtis Granderson
The journey and excursions in Mexico which have originated the narrative and remarks contained in this volume were made in the months of March, April, May, and June of 1856, for the most part on horseback. – Edward Burnett Tylor
On April 1, 1998, I launched Webmaster-Resources.com, and I remember that date specifically because it was the date that the price of a two-year domain name registration dropped from $100 to $70, and considering I was funding this out of my allowance, that $30 made all the difference. – Matt Mickiewicz
On April 3, 2014, Jane Goodall turned 80. The iconic blond ponytail has gone gray, but the sparkle of intelligence, sly humor, and fierce dedication still shines from her hazel eyes. – David Quammen
In April, God speaks to us in the seas whose rhythmic murmuring fills our ears from a long way off. It was in April that the Titanic went down into the deep to lie like a slasher’s victim, bleeding the ‘debris field’ – its passengers’ personal possessions, the everyday things of everyman and everywoman – across the ocean’s floor. – Eugene Kennedy
It took less time to build ‘Instagram’ than it did for me to get my work visa. The app was an instant hit, and Facebook agreed to acquire the startup for about $1 billion in April 2012. – Mike Krieger
I thought of the idea of Summly in March or April 2011. I was 15 years old and I was revising for some kind of history exam. The problem was I was trying to find information that was useful to me. When you type into Google an esoteric term, you get quite a lot of stuff that’s not relevant. – Nick D’Aloisio
April is tax month. If you are having trouble filing your taxes, then you should hire an accountant. They’ll give you the same advice that they’ve given hundreds of corporations – taxes are for douche bags. – Ed Helms
On April 8, 1982, I was alone in the electron microscope room when I discovered the Icosahedral Phase that opened the field of quasi-periodic crystals. – Dan Shechtman
But then in April of 1985 the dollar began a sharp decline. The dollar’s trade weighted value fell 23 percent in just 12 months and by a total of 37 percent by the beginning of 1988. – Martin Feldstein
For many in baseball September is a month of stark contrast with April, when everyone had dared to hope. If baseball is a lot like life, as pundits declare, it is because life is more about losing than winning. – John Thorn
I can only speak for myself, but when I was growing up in Memphis – and having the Martin Luther King holiday and the moment of pause on April 4th – he was just a statue to me. I wanted to make him a little bit more real to me as a human being. – Katori Hall