In 1938, playwright Philip Barry grew concerned for his friend Katharine Hepburn. The actress had long been self-critical, and shortly after starring in “Holiday” — a film adapted from one of Barry’s plays — she was put on a list of performers considered to be “box office poison.” To help audiences start rooting for Hepburn, Barry wrote the leading part in his new romantic comedy, “The Philadelphia Story,” specifically for her. The Broadway production was a huge hit, resulting in a classic 1940 film where Hepburn reprised her role, opposite Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. Hepburn’s Tracy Lord, an independent divorcée, utters this line on the eve of her second wedding, foreshadowing her decision to find an alternate groom. Barry suggests that people can always surprise you, an idea Hepburn epitomized with her career. She remains the only actor, female or male, ever to win four Oscars.

Few artists exerted more influence in early 20th-century India than writer and painter Rabindranath Tagore. A persuasive advocate for Indian independence, he did not live to see the 1947 milestone achieved. Yet following the example set by his father, Maharishi Debendranath, Tagore devoted his years to benefiting future generations. On the site of his father’s meditation center in Santiniketan, India, Tagore created an experimental school with five students and five teachers. That school blossomed into Vishva-Bharati University, now a century-old public institution with an enrollment in the thousands. As his quote implies, no legacy is more worthwhile than bettering the world for others.