Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE), a masterful Roman poet, wrote verses about romance, love, eroticism, and all manner of topics related to women—including fashion trends—in...
According to folklore set in 10th-century Iceland, a man named Thrain Sigfusson was invited to attend the wedding feast of his prominent nephew, Gunnar...
Njal’s Saga (written anonymously in the 13th century)
"It's not breaking a settlement...if a man deals lawfully with another—with law our land shall rise, but...
This illustration, vaguely labeled “Charlemagne” or “Charlemagne: Emperor of West and King of France,” was created by the French artist Jean Marie Mixelle (c....
Dante Alighieri (c. 1265-1321)
"Just as a swimmer, who with his last breath
flounders ashore from perilous seas, might turn
to memorize the wide water of his...
Mark Twain (c. 1835-1910)
"No sound and legitimate business can be established on a basis of speculation."
From chapter 19 of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut...
This rather abstract painting, by the Finnish artist Magnus Enckell (c. 1870-1925), was inspired by the ancient Greco-Roman myth of Endymion. His tale is...
Dividing wealth among treasure-hunters is often a tense task, prone to arguments and suspicion, but relationships in such situations can become especially strained when...
Sigurd the Volsung (Scandinavian-Germanic mythical hero)
"When men come to battle, a fearless heart serves a man better than a sharp sword."
From The Saga...
This tapestry, titled Caesar Defeats The Troops Of Pompey, was designed by Justus van Egmont (1601–1674) and woven by the workshop of Gerard Peemans...
Lucan (c. 39-65)
"Virtue and absolute power do not mix."
From Lucan’s Civil War (Book 8, approximately between lines 600-610), translated by Matthew Fox (Penguin...
Sir Winston Churchill (c. 1874-1965)
"How else are we going to marshal adequate and if possible overwhelming forces against brazen, unprovoked aggression, except by a...
William Shakespeare (c. 1564 – 1616)
"Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the...
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
"All man wants is an absolutely free choice, however dear that freedom may cost him and wherever it may lead him to......
The Malleus Maleficarum (Published by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger around 1487)
"The question arises whether people who hold that witches do not exist are...
Anna Komnene (c. 1083-1153)
"Time, which flies irresistibly and perpetually, sweeps up and carries away with it everything that has seen the light of day...
Lao Tzu (Daoist Founding theologian, c. 6th and 5th century BCE)
"Highest good is like water. Because water excels in benefiting the myriad creatures without...
John Skylitzes (Byzantine Historian, 1040-1101)
"Reading provokes recollection; recollection nourishes and expands memory, just as, quite the contrary, negligence and laziness provoke forgetfulness which darkens...
