Clarence Day

Clarence Day was born in New York City to a wealthy family in 1874. He attended an elite school and Yale University, before joining the US Navy. However, this magical life ended when he developed crippling arthritis while on active duty. He was forced to leave the Navy and remained ill for the rest of his life. Day worked both as an essayist and cartoonist for newspapers. He was especially active in supporting women’s rights through his journalism. In the year of his death, 1935, he published a comic memoir of his family, mainly about his domineering father. It was a huge success but Day was dead before it happened. Day is famous for his quotation about the value of books. He wrote: "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall, nations perish, civilisations grow old and die out; and, after an era of darkness, new races build others. In the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again, and yet live on, still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead."