Gifted satirist Dorothy Rothschild Parker (1893–1967), best remembered for her razor wit and iconic one-liners, once mused, “I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true.”

A master of humor with a sharp edge, she observed, “There's a helluva distance between wisecracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.”

Born in New Jersey to a wealthy family, Parker's clever prose graced the pages of The New Yorker and Hollywood scripts. She famously said, “I'd like to have money. And I'd like to be a good writer. These two can come together, and I hope they will, but if that's too adorable, I'd rather have money.”

With sharp commentary on American society, she gave voice to a changing era, where journalism was dominated by men and women were just gaining the right to vote. She captured life with a fearless, satirical spark.

“Four be the things I am wiser to know,” she wrote: “Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.” Upon her passing, she left her estate to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a testament to her lasting passion for justice and equality.