"It is inevitable that some defeat will enter even the most victorious life. The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated... it is finished when it surrenders." ~ Ben Stein
A man with spirit and talent, Benjamin Jeremy Stein (1944-) was born on this day in Washington, D.C. The star of Comedy Central's Emmy Award-winning game show Win Ben Stein's Money, he was the valedictorian of his 1970 Yale Law School class.
Stein once observed, "The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."
A White House speech writer for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, the versatile Stein is a novelist who has written syndicated financial and political news articles. The deadpan intellectual is also a film, television, and commercial actor. His memorable roles included that as a teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986).
"No one will do it for you," said Stein.
An advocate for George W. Bush, the popular... and outspoken... television host said, "Nothing happens by itself... it all will come your way, once you understand that you have to make it come your way, by your own exertions."
"I'm me," he said, "a monotone person wrapped around a shrieking one trying to get out."
Never surrender.