It’s the birthday of Norman Mailer, who wrote prophetically, “To blame the poor for subsisting on welfare has no justice unless we are also willing to judge every rich member of society by how productive he or she is. Taken individual by individual, it is likely that there’s more idleness and abuse of government favors among the economically privileged than among the ranks of the disadvantaged.”

Others who share this birthday include Trappist monk and author Thomas Merton, Zane Grey (Riders of the Purple Sage), and John O’Hara, author of one of my favorite quotes: “What is loneliness anyway but the final condition of us all? And where would love be without it?”