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Essays, Letters & Speeches — page 16
1,906 public-domain essays, letters & speeches books, summarised. Page 16 of 40.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 358, August 1845
Various
A nineteenth-century journal offers a sweeping portrait of European culture, mixing grave moral philosophy, political journalism, dramatic fiction, and sharp literary satire.
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 10 (of 20)
Charles Sumner
Deliberated in the furnace of the American Civil War, these legislative addresses and essays confront foreign interference, state destruction, and the imperative of human equality. They map a republic fighting to redefine its constitutional soul.
Doctor and Patient
S. Weir (Silas Weir) Mitchell
A wise nineteenth-century physician reclaims medicine as an art of character, prescription, and human understanding, offering guidance for both the sickbed and the outdoors.
Side Lights
James Runciman
A sharp, humane intelligence turns its light on Victorian society, offering unsparing observations on literature, poverty, domestic life, and the quiet dignity of human resilience.
The Jubilee of the Constitution: Delivered at New York, April 30, 1839, Before the New York Historical Society
John Quincy Adams
A nation’s enduring liberty requires more than victories on the battlefield; it demands an unwavering commitment to fundamental human rights, moral integrity, and a unified government instituted directly by the people.
The Pageant of Summer
Richard Jefferies
A quiet ditch filled with green rushes holds the secrets of the season. To stand beneath an ancient apple tree and watch the sunlight turn cold earth into living leaf is to touch the eternal.
The Rhythm of Life, and Other Essays
Alice Meynell
Periods of intense feeling inevitably give way to quiet restraint, following a natural cadence that governs both human emotion and art.
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 05 (of 20)
Charles Sumner
In the mid-1850s, a nation's moral fracture finds its voice in the halls of Congress, where legal argument and fierce rhetoric collide in a desperate attempt to halt the expansion of human bondage.
Old Junk
H. M. (Henry Major) Tomlinson
A quiet observer moves through a world shifting from the peaceful routines of early twentieth-century life to the sudden, horrifying ruin of the First World War.
Index of the Project Gutenberg Works of Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Mapping out every branch of a thinker’s life work, this volume organizes a vast philosophical architecture spanning biology, ethics, sociology, and language. It serves as a structural blueprint for Herbert Spencer’s sweeping evolutionary philosophy.
Over the Fireside with Silent Friends
Richard King
Comfort lies not in noisy public chatter or empty flattery, but in those quiet, solitary hours spent reading, working, and reflecting beside a warm domestic hearth.
Science and Morals and Other Essays
Windle, Bertram Coghill Alan, Sir
A sharp defense of religious faith against scientific overreach, showing where natural law ends and moral truth begins.
State of the Union Addresses
George Washington
A nascent republic struggles to transform revolutionary ideals into permanent administrative structures while maintaining balance on a precarious global stage.
As We Were Saying
Charles Dudley Warner
These essays offer a witty, observant tour of late-nineteenth-century American manners, capturing the frantic pace of a society struggling to reconcile its democratic ideals with an increasingly decorative, performative, and complex social life.
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 11 (of 20)
Charles Sumner
This collection of speeches and reports preserves the uncompromising legislative struggle of a prominent American senator to dismantle slavery during the final, decisive years of the Civil War.
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 16 (of 20)
Charles Sumner
This volume captures the intense political collisions of the Reconstruction era, as a resolute senator battles to secure the legal framework of equality after the American Civil War. It is a rigorous, deeply moral defense of national unity and human rights.
Daniel Webster for Young Americans: Comprising the greatest speeches of the defender of the Constitution
Daniel Webster
These speeches define the American experiment through the lens of history, framing the Constitution as a sacred, enduring anchor for a young and growing nation. They remain essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the foundational rhetoric of the United States.
Essays on Various Subjects, Principally Designed for Young Ladies
Hannah More
True refinement is not found in the noisy pursuit of pleasure, but in the quiet cultivation of the heart and mind. A woman’s greatest strength lies in embracing her unique virtues rather than mimicking the lives of others.
Studies of Travel: Greece
Edward A. (Edward Augustus) Freeman
The traveler who looks upon Greece not as a static museum but as a living landscape, where the ancient past and the modern present exist in a continuous, complex conversation, will find a kindred spirit here.
The Epic: An Essay
Lascelles Abercrombie
The epic poem is the most rigorous test of the human spirit, a form that demands not merely narrative skill but a total, lifelong dedication to the profound mysteries of existence.
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 20 (of 20)
Charles Sumner
This final volume of a statesmanship collection captures a veteran political leader at the precipice of a personal and partisan transformation. It documents a man wrestling with the moral erosion of his own party and the fraying spirit of national reconciliation.
The Wit of a Duck and Other Papers
John Burroughs
A naturalist finds deep connection to the wild through patient observation, turning the simple habits of birds and small animals into a meditation on the shared rhythms of life.
By-ways in Book-land: Short Essays on Literary Subjects
W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport) Adams
A gentle, erudite excursion through the quieter corners of English literary history, offering charming observations on everything from the habits of book-collectors to the quirks of letter-writing.
Caper-Sauce: A Volume of Chit-Chat about Men, Women, and Things
Fanny Fern
This collection of sharp, observational essays captures the rhythms of 19th-century American life through the eyes of a writer who refuses to look away from the absurd, the difficult, or the mundane. It is a portrait of a mind in constant, witty motion.
Mother Earth, Vol. 1 No. 2, April 1906: Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature
Various
This early radical periodical challenges the foundational structures of family, law, and state, inviting a new generation to discard tradition and reclaim their own autonomy through the miracle of independent action.
The Preface to the Aeneis of Virgil (1718)
Joseph Trapp
This critical introduction serves as both a scholarly defense of Virgil’s Aeneid and a manifesto for a more disciplined, literal approach to poetic translation. It challenges the prevailing literary fashions of the early eighteenth century by prioritizing structural fidelity over the ornate, often loose,…
The World's Great Sermons, Volume 08: Talmage to Knox Little
Unknown
A collection of pulpit oratory, these sermons navigate the intersection of human frailty and divine grace, offering a portrait of religious thought at the turn of the twentieth century.
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 4, October, 1863: Devoted to Literature and National Policy
Various
A window into the American mind during the height of the Civil War, this collection captures the urgent intersection of literature, military reportage, and high-stakes national policy in 1863.
Concerning Animals and Other Matters
Edward Hamilton Aitken
The curiosity of a naturalist transforms the mundane details of colonial India into an observant, witty inquiry into the mechanics of life.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 26, July 1880
Various
This volume serves as a wide-windowed gallery of late nineteenth-century American thought, capturing the era’s restless curiosity about literature, science, and the changing landscape of national life.
Literary and General Lectures and Essays
Charles Kingsley
This collection of lectures and essays offers a passionate, erudite window into the Victorian mind, examining the intersection of literature, history, and the moral responsibilities of the artist.
The Lay of the Land
Dallas Lore Sharp
The observant eyes of a dedicated naturalist turn the quiet rhythms of a small farm into a vast, unfolding drama of survival and seasonal grace. Every field holds a secret, and every creature is a neighbor worth knowing.
A Woman of the World: Her Counsel to Other People's Sons and Daughters
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
True wisdom is not found in rigid mandates, but in the graceful navigation of life’s complex social currents.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 360, October 1845
Various
The nineteenth century finds its intellectual pulse in this collection, where high-minded political theory meets the sharp, cynical humor of an era defined by rapid industrial change and shifting global empires.
Paris and the Parisians in 1835 (Vol. 1)
Frances Milton Trollope
The streets of Paris in 1835 are a kaleidoscope of political tension and social charm, captured here by a keen, unsparing observer who navigates the city’s theaters, gardens, and shifting loyalties with discerning curiosity.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 72, October, 1863: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
This collection captures the intellectual pulse of the American Civil War era, blending urgent political inquiry with literary reflection and the quiet, persistent pursuit of truth during a national rupture.
Points of View
Agnes Repplier
The act of reading is not a duty to be performed with grim earnestness, but a living invitation to be merry, curious, and perhaps even delightfully foolish.
South-Sea Idyls
Charles Warren Stoddard
An island wanderer drifts through a life of tropical ease, finding beauty in the natural world while observing the fragile, fading existence of the people he encounters in Oceania.
The Seven Ages of Man
Ralph Bergengren
The human journey is a series of quiet, often absurd transformations, from the helpless infant to the sage who eventually finds the exit. This reflective guide maps the familiar terrain of a life, one stage at a time.
Speeches on Questions of Public Policy, Volume 1
John Bright
The path of a nation is not charted by the clamor of the elite, but by the steady, moral pressure of the people. These pages capture a voice that dared to challenge the conscience of an empire.
The Revival of Irish Literature: Addresses by Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, K.C.M.G, Dr. George Sigerson, and Dr. Douglas Hyde
Duffy, Charles Gavan, Sir
A collection of three impassioned addresses, this volume serves as a manifesto for the Irish Literary Revival, urging a displaced and demoralized people to reclaim their intellectual heritage as the foundation for true national independence.
The Superstition of Divorce
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
Divorce is not a personal escape, but a political act that threatens the fragile autonomy of the family against the encroaching power of the state.
Widger's Quotations from the Project Gutenberg Editions of the Works of Montaigne
Michel de Montaigne
To read these reflections is to spend time in the company of a mind that finds its greatest subject in the mirror. It is a wandering, honest examination of what it means to be human, written by a man who prefers the truth of his own experience to the certainty of accepted wisdom.
Joyce Kilmer
Joyce Kilmer
This collection of prose captures the spirit of a devoted writer, father, and soldier, documenting his transformation from a literary critic in New York to a sergeant in the American Expeditionary Forces. It offers an intimate window into a brief, vibrant life cut short by the First World War.
True Words for Brave Men: A Book for Soldiers' and Sailors' Libraries
Charles Kingsley
These sermons and lectures offer a bracing, heartfelt call to duty, urging soldiers and sailors to find strength in faith, courage in adversity, and a sense of shared humanity.**
What to Do? Thoughts Evoked by the Census of Moscow
Tolstoy, Leo, graf
Seeking to reconcile the vast chasm between his own idle, privileged existence and the crushing poverty of Moscow’s underclass, a writer undergoes a profound moral awakening. This account of his struggle to live a more authentic life remains a piercing meditation on the ethics of wealth and the true meaning of labor.
Among My Books. Second Series
James Russell Lowell
HOOK Literature serves as a bridge between our fleeting human experiences and the eternal truths of art. These essays explore that connection through the lives and enduring legacies of five foundational poets.
By-gone Tourist Days: Letters of Travel
Laura G. Case Collins
A curious traveler finds herself caught between the grand, ancient monuments of the Old World and the quiet, personal intensity of the letters she writes home to her friends.