Sun Tzu
The Art of War
A compact strategy classic about planning, timing, leadership, conflict, and winning without waste.
13 sections
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17 classics available
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Marcus Aurelius
Meditations
A Stoic notebook about self-control, duty, mortality, humility, and staying steady in a difficult world.
12 sections
View sectionsLaozi
Tao Te Ching
A poetic classic about the Tao, simplicity, humility, softness, leadership, and living in harmony with reality.
81 sections
View sectionsConfucius
Analects
A collection of teachings about learning, virtue, ritual, family, leadership, and becoming a better person through practice.
20 sections
View sectionsEpictetus
Enchiridion
A short Stoic manual about control, desire, judgment, freedom, and practicing philosophy in daily life.
52 sections
View sectionsRalph Waldo Emerson
Self-Reliance
An influential essay about trusting original thought, resisting conformity, and building a life from honest conviction.
8 sections
View sectionsHenry David Thoreau
Civil Disobedience
A short political essay about conscience, unjust laws, noncooperation, and the moral limits of government authority.
8 sections
View sectionsJohn Stuart Mill
On Liberty
A classic essay about individual freedom, free discussion, social pressure, individuality, and the harm principle.
5 sections
View sectionsNiccolo Machiavelli
The Prince
A political strategy classic about power, leadership, reputation, force, fortune, and the hard realities of rule.
26 sections
View sectionsThomas Paine
Common Sense
A revolutionary pamphlet about independence, monarchy, self-government, and why political authority needs public consent.
5 sections
View sectionsPlato
Apology
Plato’s account of Socrates defending his life, his questioning, and the examined life before an Athenian jury.
5 sections
View sectionsPlato
Crito
A short Socratic dialogue about justice, conscience, law, and why Socrates refuses to escape prison.
5 sections
View sectionsAristotle
Poetics
Aristotle's short classic on storytelling, tragedy, plot, character, language, and why poetry moves an audience.
26 sections
View sectionsJohn Stuart Mill
Utilitarianism
Mill's classic defense of judging actions by happiness, suffering, higher pleasures, conscience, and justice.
5 sections
View sectionsBuddhist tradition
The Dhammapada
A Buddhist verse classic about the mind, discipline, desire, anger, wisdom, and the path away from suffering.
26 sections
View sectionsFrederick Douglass
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Douglass’s autobiography about slavery, literacy, resistance, escape, and the moral case against American slavery.
14 sections
View sectionsMary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
A foundational feminist argument for women’s education, reason, independence, virtue, and equal moral dignity.
15 sections
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