Washington Irving

It is the mother who is capable of pure love. The love of a mother is never exhausted, it never changes, it never tires. A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inverterate enemies; husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands but a mother's love endures through all; in good repute, in the face of the world's condemnation a mother still loves on.

Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American author of the early 19th century. Best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" (both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon), he was also a prolific essayist, biographer and historian. Irving was also the U.S. minister to Spain 1842–1845.

Charles Babbage

Charles Babbage (26th December 1791 - 18 October 1871) was a eccentric British genius who was known for developing the blueprint for the modern computer. For more information on him, you can check it up in Wikipedia by clicking HERE. One of his quotes I found interesting and here it goes:

Propose to an Englishman any principle, or any instrument, however admirable, and you will observe that the whole effort of the English mind is directed to find a difficulty, a defect, or an impossibility in it. If you speak to him of a machine for peeling potato, he will pronounce it impossible: if you peel a potato with it before his eyes, he will declare it useless, because it will not slice a pineapple.

The above quote was taken from the book 'The Code Book' which was authored by 'Simon Singh'.