"To look back on a year of reading is to be handed a clear mirror of your priorities and passions, of the questions that live in you and the reckonings that keep you up at night. While the literature of the present comprises only a tiny fraction of my own reading, here are a handful of books published this year that moved me with their tendrils of timelessness, with their questions and their consolations — selections neither exhaustive nor universal, as subjective as a shade of blue". Read more at the Marginalian

"A human being is a living constellation of contradictions, mostly opaque to itself. “Inward secret creatures,” Iris Murdoch called us in reckoning with the blind spots of our self-knowledge"... More at The Marginalian ➜

Baltasar Gracián, S. J. (1601 - 1658), in full, Baltasar Gracián Morales, was a Spanish Jesuit, prose writer and philosopher. He is known as  one of the leading exponents of conceptism, a literary movement of the Spanish Golden Age of literature characterized by a rapid rhythm, directness, simple vocabulary, witty metaphors, and wordplay. In this style, multiple meanings are conveyed in a very concise manner, and conceptual intricacies are emphasized over elaborate vocabulary. His writings were lauded by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and the appeal of his timeless advice focusing on honesty and kindness endures to this date.

André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869 - 1951)  French author known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works. He authored more than fifty books and he was the winner of the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide was brought up in isolated conditions in Normandy and became a prolific writer at an early age. He published his first novel, "The Notebooks of André Walter" (French: Les Cahiers d'André Walter) at the age of twenty-one.

Aristotle (Aristotélēs, pronounced (aristotélɛːs) (384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. One of the greatest intellectual figures of Western history. He was the author of a philosophical and scientific system that became the framework and vehicle for both Christian Scholasticism and medieval Islamic philosophy. Aristotle’s intellectual range was vast, covering most of the sciences and many of the arts. Aristotelian concepts remain embedded in Western thinking. More

Jorge Luis Borges'  (August 24, 1899–June 14, 1986) in “Borges and I” — his classic parable of selfhood, exploring the divide between private person and public persona that each of us must live with and live into. It appears in Labyrinths (public library) — a collection of Borges’s stories, essays, parables, and other writings, originally published in 1962  More at The Marginalian ➜ 

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865)

Edward R. Murrow (1908 – 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe. Murrow was co-producer of "Hear It Now", an authoritative hour-long, radio weekly news digest. He moved on to television with, "See It Now" series, which helped lead to the censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Murrow is considered one of journalism's greatest figures. 
Quote source: Edward Murrow's last public speech in October 1964, receiving a "Family of Man" Humanity award

 "Friendship is the sunshine of life — the quiet radiance that makes our lives not only livable but worth living. (This is why we must use the utmost care in how we wield the word friend".... Read more at the Marginalian

Ernesto Roque Sabato, (1911 - 2011) Argentine novelist, essayist, painter and physicist. He earned a doctorate in physics and started teaching theoretical physics. He received many prestigious prizes for his writings. In 1940, he began to contribute newspaper articles stating his opposition to the Juan Perón government. As a result he was removed from his teaching posts. He was appointed In 1983 to investigate the fate of those who disappeared during Argentina's military rule. His commission's comprehensive account was later used to prosecute nine members of the military establishment. 

Socrates (C 470–399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts, written as dialogues, of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon.  Contradictory accounts of Socrates make a reconstruction of his philosophy nearly impossible, a situation known as the Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. He spent his last day in prison, refusing offers to help him escape.

JOHN O'DONOHUE (1956 - 2008) was an Irish poet, philosopher and scholar, a native Gaelic speaker. He wrote numerous international best-selling books including: Anam Cara, Beauty, Eternal Echoes, and Benedictus: A Book of Blessings- Published in the US as To Bless the Space Between Us. John O'Donohue Official Website.

Quote source: Excerpt from John O’Donohue's book "Anam Cara" (p17)