I missed the following authors who recently had birthdays:

April 7:
Hugh Blair, Scottish professor of rhetoric (1718-1800): “Worry not about the possible troubles of the future; for if they come, you are but anticipating and adding to their weight; and if they do not come, your worry is useless; and in either case it is weak and in vain, and a distrust of God’s providence.”
Mary De La Riviere Manley (1663-1724), British writer who was a political ally of Swift: “No time like the present.”
John Sheffield, 3rd Earl of Mulgrave, Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English courtier, soldier, statesman, essayist and poet (1648 – 1721): “Learn to write well, or not to write at all.”
William Wordsworth, English romantic poet (1770-1850): “To begin, begin.”
(That’s about as succint as Wordsworth ever got.)

April 8:
Phineas Fletcher, English poet (1584-1650): “Ah, Foole! faint heart faire lady n’ere could win.”
William Wycherley, Restoration dramatist (1641-1715) “Women serve but to keep a man from better company.”
I could turn Wycherley’s quotation around and add that his attitude wouldn’t win many ladies either.