Winston Churchill, one of the greatest orators in modern history, often spoke about success in life and politics. He was frequently misquoted on the subject, too. But we do know that he said, “Success always demands a greater effort,” as he wrote it in December 1940 to Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies, while discussing troop deployments around the world and his plan to “gather a very large army representing the whole empire.” Ultimately, few people were more inspiring or influential in World War II than Churchill, in what was one of the most important and necessary successes in human history: victory against Nazi Germany and the Axis forces. 

David Sedaris wrote every day for 15 years before his first collection of stories and essays was published in 1994. Since then, he’s authored and collaborated on over a dozen books, every one of them full of hilarious insight. His distinct, observant satire dives deep into the ridiculous nuances of everyday life, often revealing surprising truths and heartbreaking vulnerability. No one tells a story quite like Sedaris, who insists that he would still be scribbling away even if he had never seen his words in print. 

On the evening of December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. She paid her fare and sat in the first row of back seats reserved for Black citizens on the segregated bus. When a white man boarded and found himself with no seat in the “white” section, the bus driver ordered Parks and three other Black passengers in her row to stand. Three of the passengers obeyed. Parks did not. Her defiance led to her arrest, and set in motion the Montgomery bus boycott — turning Parks into a symbol of the civil rights movement. She later wrote that it wasn’t physical tiredness that made her refuse to give up her seat, writing, “No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”