Thomas Paine.
1737–1809. | Biography and Characterization |
| From “The Rights of Man” |
Blaise Pascal.
1623–1662. | Biography and Characterization |
| Vocations |
| Selfishness |
| Skepticism |
| Thoughts on Style |
Walter Pater.
1839–1894. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Genius of Plato |
Petrarch.
1304–1374. | Biography and Characterization |
| Concerning Good and Bad Fortune |
Plato.
429–347 B.C. | Biography and Characterization |
| Crito;—“Of What We Ought to Do” |
| Socrates Drinks the Hemlock |
| The Immortality of the Soul |
| Platonic Analects |
Pliny the Younger.
61/2–c. 113 A.D. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Destruction of Pompeii |
| A Roman Fountain |
Plutarch.
c. 45–120 A.D. | Biography and Characterization |
| Concerning the Delay of the Deity |
| Apothegms |
Edgar Allan Poe.
1809–1849. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Pleasures of Rhyme |
| Imagination |
| The Fate of the Very Greatest |
| The Art of Conversing Well |
| The Genius of Shelley |
Alexander Pope.
1688–1744. | Biography and Characterization |
| How to Make an Epic Poem |
| Cruelty and Carnivorous Habits |
| On Shakespeare |
| Thoughts on Various Subjects |
William Hickling Prescott.
1796–1859. | Biography and Characterization |
| Don Quixote and His Times |
| Isabella and Elizabeth |
Richard Anthony Proctor.
1837–1888. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Dust We Breathe |
| Photographic Ghosts |
| Miracles with Figures |
Quintilian.
c. 35–c. 95 A.D. | Biography and Characterization |
| Advantages of Reading History and Speeches |
Madame de Rémusat.
1780–1821. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Character of Napoleon Bonaparte |
Ernest Renan.
1823–1892. | Biography and Characterization |
| State of the World at the Time of Christ |
Sir Joshua Reynolds.
1723–1792. | Biography and Characterization |
| Easy Poetry |
| Genius and Rules |
| Michael Angelo, “The Homer of Painting” |
David Ricardo.
1772–1823. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Influence of Demand and Supply on Prices |
Samuel Richardson.
1689–1761. | Biography and Characterization |
| A Rambler Essay on Woman |
Madame Roland.
1754–1793. | Biography and Characterization |
| Liberty—Its Meaning and Its Cost |
| Pensées |
Jean Jacques Rousseau.
1712–1778. | Biography and Characterization |
| That Men Are Born Free |
| The Social Contract |
| Nature and Education |
| Christ and Socrates |
John Ruskin.
1819–1900. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Sky |
| Principles of Art |
| Work |
| Sibylline Leaves |
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve.
1804–1869. | Biography and Characterization |
| A Typical Man of the World |
George Saintsbury.
1845–1933. | Biography and Characterization |
| On Parton’s “Voltaire” |
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling.
1775–1854. | Biography and Characterization |
| Nature and Art |
Friedrich von Schiller.
1759–1805. | Biography and Characterization |
| Man and the Universe |
| The Impulse to Play as the Cause of Progress |
August Wilhelm von Schlegel.
1767–1845. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Greek Theatre |
Arthur Schopenhauer.
1788–1860. | Biography and Characterization |
| Books and Authorship |
| The Vanity of Existence |
| Parables |
Olive Schreiner.
1855–1920. | Biography and Characterization |
| In a Ruined Chapel |
| The Gardens of Pleasure |
| In a Far-Off World |
| The Artist’s Secret |
Sir Walter Scott.
1771–1832. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Character and Habits of Swift |
| Lord Byron |
John Selden.
1584–1654. | Biography and Characterization |
| Table-Talk |
Seneca.
c. 4 B.C.–65 A.D. | Biography and Characterization |
| On Anger |
Madame de Sévigné.
1626–1696. | Biography and Characterization |
| A Bit of Parisian Gossip |
| An Artistic Funeral |
| To Madame de Grignan |
Lord Shaftesbury.
1671–1713. | Biography and Characterization |
| Degeneracy and the Passions |
Percy Bysshe Shelley.
1792–1822. | Biography and Characterization |
| Benevolence |
| On Good and Bad Actions |
| Ancient Literature and Modern Progress |
Sir Philip Sidney.
1554–1586. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Uses of Poetry |
| The Universe No Chance Medley |
Lydia Huntley Sigourney.
1791–1865. | Biography and Characterization |
| The End of All Perfection |
Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de Sismondi.
1773–1842. | Biography and Characterization |
| Romantic Love and Petrarch’s Poetry |
Samuel Smiles.
1812–1904. | Biography and Characterization |
| Men Who Cannot Be Bought |
Adam Smith.
1723–1790. | Biography and Characterization |
| Judging Others by Ourselves |
| The Division of Labor |
Horace Smith.
1779–1849. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Dignity of a True Joke |
| Ugly Women |
Sydney Smith.
1771–1845. | Biography and Characterization |
| Wit and Humor |
| Edgeworth on Bulls |
| Table-Talk |
Snorri Sturluson.
1179?–1241. | Biography and Characterization |
| Gefjon’s Ploughing |
| Gylfi’s Journey to Asgard |
| Of the Supreme Deity |
| Of the Primordial State of the Universe |
| Of the Way That Leads to Heaven |
| Of the Ash Yggdrasill, Mimir’s Well, and the Norns or Destinies |
| Of the Norns and the Urdar-fount |
| Of Loki and His Progeny |
| Of the Joys of Valhalla |
Mary Somerville.
1780–1872. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Laws of Music |
Robert Southey.
1774–1843. | Biography and Characterization |
| Fame |
| The Doctor’s Wise Sayings |
Émile Souvestre.
1806–1854. | Biography and Characterization |
| Misanthropy and Repentance |
Herbert Spencer.
1820–1903. | Biography and Characterization |
| Evolution of the Professions |
| Meddlesome and Coddling Paternalism |
| Education—What Knowledge Is of Most Worth? |
Baruch Spinoza.
1632–1677. | Biography and Characterization |
| That in a Free State Every Man May Think What He Likes and Say What He Thinks |
Madame de Staël.
1766–1817. | Biography and Characterization |
| Of the General Spirit of Modern Literature |
| Of Spanish and Italian Literature |
Sir Richard Steele.
1672–1729. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Character of Isaac Bickerstaff |
| Bickerstaff and Maria |
| Sir Roger and the Widow |
| The Coverley Family Portraits |
| On Certain Symptoms of Greatness |
| How to Be Happy Though Married |
| Pætus and Arria |
| The Ring of Gyges |
| The Art of Pleasing |
| Benignity |
| The Dream of Fame |
| Of Patriotism and Public Spirit |
| Of Men Who Are Not Their Own Masters |
Sir James Stephen.
1789–1859. | Biography and Characterization |
| Christianity and Progress |
Laurence Sterne.
1713–1768. | Biography and Characterization |
| A Chapter on Sleep |
| A Peasant’s Philosophy |
Robert Louis Stevenson.
1850–1894. | Biography and Characterization |
| El Dorado |
| Old Mortality |
Balfour Stewart.
1828–1887. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Conservation of Energy |
Jonathan Swift.
1667–1745. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Art of Political Lying |
| A Meditation upon a Broomstick |
| Thoughts on Various Subjects |
| Against Abolishing Christianity in England |
| Against Bad English |
Algernon Charles Swinburne.
1837–1909. | Biography and Characterization |
| Chaucer and the Italian Poets |
| A Poet’s Haughty Patience |
John Addington Symonds.
1840–1893. | Biography and Characterization |
| Morning Rambles in Venice |
Tacitus.
56–c. 120 A.D. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Germania |
Hippolyte Adolphe Taine.
1828–1893. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Saxons as the Source of English Literature |
| The Character and Work of Thackeray |
Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd.
1795–1854. | Biography and Characterization |
| British Novels and Romances |
William Makepeace Thackeray.
1811–1863. | Biography and Characterization |
| On a Joke I Once Heard from the Late Thomas Hood |
| Life in Old-Time London |
| Addison |
| Steele |
| Goldsmith |
Theophrastus.
c. 371–287 B.C. | Biography and Characterization |
| The “Characters” of Theophrastus |
Thomas à Kempis.
1380–1471. | Biography and Characterization |
| Of Wisdom and Providence in Our Actions |
| Of the Profit of Adversity |
| Of Avoiding Rash Judgment |
| Of Works Done in Charity |
| Of Bearing with the Defects of Others |
| Of a Retired Life |
Henry David Thoreau.
1817–1862. | Biography and Characterization |
| Higher Laws |
Thomas Tickell.
1686–1740. | Biography and Characterization |
| Pleasures of Spring |
George Ticknor.
1791–1871. | Biography and Characterization |
| Spanish Heroic Ballads of the Cid |
Alexis de Tocqueville.
1805–1859. | Biography and Characterization |
| History of the Federal Constitution |
| The Tyranny of the Majority |
| Literary Characteristics of Democratic Ages |
Leo Tolstoy.
1828–1910. | Biography and Characterization |
| Religion, Science, and Morality |
| The Art of the Future |
Henry Theodore Tuckerman.
1813–1871. | Biography and Characterization |
| A Defense of Enthusiasm |
Ivan Turgenev.
1818–1883. | Biography and Characterization |
| Prose Poems |
Mark Twain.
1835–1910. | Biography and Characterization |
| On the One Hundred and Thirty-six Varieties of New England Weather |
| Lincoln and the Civil War |
John Tyndall.
1820–1893. | Biography and Characterization |
| Science and Spirits |
| The Sun as the Source of Earthly Forces |
Voltaire.
1694–1778. | Biography and Characterization |
| On Lord Bacon |
| On the Regard That Ought to Be Shown to Men of Letters |
Richard Wagner.
1813–1883. | Biography and Characterization |
| Nature, Man, and Art |
| Life, Science, and Art |
Alfred Russel Wallace.
1823–1913. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Likeness of Monkeys to Men |
Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford.
1717–1797. | Biography and Characterization |
| William Hogarth |
| On the American War |
Izaak Walton.
1593–1683. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Angler’s Philosophy of Life |
Joseph Warton.
1722–1800. | Biography and Characterization |
| Ancient and Modern Art |
| Hacho of Lapland |
Edwin Percy Whipple.
1819–1886. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Literature of Mirth |
| The Power of Words |
John Greenleaf Whittier.
1807–1892. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Yankee Zincali |
Christoph Martin Wieland.
1733–1813. | Biography and Characterization |
| On the Relation of the Agreeable and the Beautiful to the Useful |
John Wilson (Christopher North).
1785–1854. | Biography and Characterization |
| The Wickedness of Early Rising |
| Sacred Poetry |
William Wirt.
1772–1834. | Biography and Characterization |
| A Preacher of the Old School |
William Wordsworth.
1770–1850. | Biography and Characterization |
| What Is a Poet? |
| Epitaphs |
Xenophon.
c. 430–c. 350 B.C. | Biography and Characterization |
| Socrates’ Dispute with Aristippus Concerning the Good and Beautiful |
| In What Manner Socrates Dissuaded Men From Self-Conceit and Ostentation |
| Several Apothegms of Socrates |
Zeng Jize.
1839–1890. | Biography and Characterization |
| Characteristics of the French and English |
| Western Arts and Civilization Derived from China |
| The Earl of Beaconsfield |
Johann Georg Zimmermann.
1728–1795. | Biography and Characterization |
The Influence of Solitude
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