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Essays, Letters & Speeches — page 8
370 public-domain essays, letters & speeches books, summarised. Page 8 of 8.
State of the Union Addresses
Theodore Roosevelt
These annual reports capture a transformative decade in American governance, chronicling the transition from a nineteenth-century republic to an emerging global power through the eyes of its most energetic executive.
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 10 (of 12)
Edmund Burke
The British Empire stands at a precipice, where the corrupt wealth of distant provinces threatens to dissolve the moral foundation and political liberty of the metropole.
Homer and Classical Philology
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
A young scholar argues that classical philology must move beyond its internal squabbles to become a philosophical bridge between the modern world and the lost, idealized beauty of ancient Greece.
The Golden Gems of Life
Emory Adams Allen
The design of this work is to rouse to honorable effort those who are wasting their time and energies through indifference to life's prizes. It offers a structured guide for cultivating a life of purpose, duty, and inward strength.
What I believe
Bertrand Russell
A call for a life governed by reason, kindness, and scientific inquiry, this manifesto rejects supernatural dogma in favor of human-centered progress. It remains a foundational text for secular humanism, articulating a rational path toward a more compassionate society.
Recreations of Christopher North, Volume 2
John Wilson
The voice of a solitary, contemplative wanderer echoes through the glens and highlands of Scotland, inviting readers to witness the beauty of a landscape and the enduring spirit of its people.
The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 3: May 1906
Various
This periodical serves as a vibrant time capsule of 1906, gathering reflections, short stories, historical anecdotes, and practical wisdom into a single, eclectic volume. It offers a window into the intellectual and social preoccupations of the Edwardian era.
America First: Patriotic Readings
Unknown
This anthology serves as a pedagogical toolkit for fostering national identity, blending historical dramatizations with stirring oratory and verse to instill a sense of shared civic duty in the American classroom. It acts as a bridge between the founding ideals of the Republic and the patriotic responsibilities of…
A Chesterton Calendar: Compiled from the writings of 'G.K.C.' both in verse and in prose. With a section apart for the moveable feasts
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
A collection of aphorisms and observations, this volume serves as a daily companion for the curious mind, offering sharp, paradoxical insights into faith, tradition, and the enduring oddity of being human.
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 11 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Miscellany
Robert Green Ingersoll
A fierce champion of individual conscience, the author dissects the intersection of law, theology, and human rights with the biting clarity of a courtroom orator. His words serve as a blistering indictment of dogma.
France in eighteen hundred and two
Henry Redhead Yorke
This collection of contemporary letters offers a sharp, firsthand look at France during the fragile interlude of 1802. It serves as a bridge between the chaos of the Revolution and the rising authority of the Consulate.
Musicians of to-day
Romain Rolland
This collection of critical essays serves as a passionate, clear-eyed survey of the European musical landscape at the dawn of the twentieth century. It bridges the gap between the monumental figures of the nineteenth century and the burgeoning avant-garde.
The American Quarterly Review, No. 17, March 1831
Various
This collection of essays and reviews captures the intellectual anxieties and ambitious spirit of the early American republic, serving as a time capsule for the concerns of 1831.
Human Intercourse
Philip Gilbert Hamerton
The art of living among others is a craft requiring as much study as any trade, yet we often leave our most significant relationships to chance. This inquiry examines the delicate balance between the necessity of human society and the preservation of individual integrity.
Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs (1886)
Martinengo-Cesaresco, Evelyn Lilian Hazeldine Carrington, contessa
The song of the peasant, whether in the quiet of an Italian mountain or the heat of an Armenian hearth, offers an intimate, unvarnished window into the human condition. It reveals a shared history written not in ledgers, but in verse.
Per Amica Silentia Lunae
W. B. (William Butler) Yeats
The moon’s cool, quiet light serves as the perfect backdrop for a profound exploration into the nature of the self, the masks we wear, and the hidden architecture of the human soul.
The Borzoi 1920
Inc. Alfred A. Knopf
This archival volume serves as a curated snapshot of a burgeoning literary house in 1920, blending personal essays, critical tributes, and a comprehensive catalog of the era’s intellectual life.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 08
Voltaire
A lively wit dismantles old dogmas with sharp historical proofs and relentless irony.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 22: Juvenilia and Other Papers
Robert Louis Stevenson
A young writer tests his voice across history, light, landscapes, and war games, leaving a paper trail of brilliant early craft.
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 04
Voltaire
An encyclopedic survey of human folly dismantles religious dogmas, historical myths, and philosophical absurdities to expose the cruelty of absolute certainty. It champions practical reason and simple virtue over theological dictates and brutal state persecutions.
The Majesty of Calmness
William George Jordan
True peace is not the absence of trouble, but the absolute, quiet readiness to face it. Serenity is a muscle built through self-reliance, steady growth, and the deliberate rejection of modern rushing.
The Intellectual Life
Philip Gilbert Hamerton
Cultivating the mind is a deliberate art of self-preservation, requiring physical discipline, emotional honesty, and a calculated defense of one's time against the trivialities of the world.
Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other Papers
W. A. (William Alexander) Clouston
Across diverse cultures and distant eras, human ingenuity shapes the same fundamental observations about foolishness, vanity, and moral truth into unforgettable stories.
Notes and Queries, Vol. V, Number 122, February 28, 1852: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc
Various
A lively Victorian tapestry of shared erudition, where nineteenth-century scholars and curious readers trade historical discoveries, resolve obscure literary puzzles, and preserve disappearing folklore through open, collaborative correspondence.
Notes on democracy
H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
The masses embrace fraud and flee from reason, turning the sacred promise of self-governance into an endless, hilarious circus.
Philosophical Letters
Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
A bold seventeenth-century natural philosopher dismantles the mechanicist views of her famous male contemporaries to defend a radical vision of a living, thinking universe where matter moves and senses itself.
Letters to an Unknown
Prosper Mérimée
A private, decades-long paper trail captures the guarded soul of a French man of letters as he drops his emotional armor for a mysterious woman.
Tour in England, Ireland, and France, in the years 1826, 1827, 1828 and 1829.: with remarks on the manners and customs of the inhabitants, and anecdotes of distiguished public characters. In a series of letters by a German Prince
Pückler-Muskau, Hermann, Fürst von
A high-born aristocrat crisscrosses Western Europe on a grand journey of self-discovery, casting a remarkably candid, witty, and razor-sharp gaze upon the glittering salons, miserable backstreets, and wild landscapes of a changing nineteenth-century world.
Some Turns of Thought in Modern Philosophy: Five Essays
George Santayana
Modern intellectual turns—from historical British empiricism to quantum physics, psychoanalysis, and French theology—receive a steady, clarifying appraisal that exposes the human assumptions hiding inside abstract philosophy.
Philosophical Letters of Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
A human mind seeks absolute truth through pure reason, only to discover that the physical body continuously shapes, sustains, and limits every flight of thought.
The Works of Frederick Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
A grand clash between human freedom and absolute necessity echoes through history, drama, and philosophy, revealing how the human spirit achieves its ultimate dignity when pushed to the edge of ruin.
Philosophical Studies
G. E. (George Edward) Moore
Common sense and rigorous analysis can dismantle the grandest metaphysical abstractions when we take ordinary experience seriously.
The Uses of Diversity: A book of essays
G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
Laughter separates humanity from a serious animal kingdom, yet modern life risks forfeiting that joy to solemn absurdities.
Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation
Mahatma Gandhi
When a nation discovers that its consent sustains its own subjugation, the only path to self-respect is the immediate withdrawal of all cooperation.