Oscar Wilde - (October 16, 1854 - November 30, 1900) Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet.
(Picture by W. and D. Downey - From Wikimedia Commons)

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) American writer, humorist, publisher, and lecturer.

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) The 16th president of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865

Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist. He is considered to be one of the greatest French writers. 

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 -1900) German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and a Latin and Greek scholar.

"Given that it serves as the brain’s built-in therapy mechanism regulating our negative moods, given that it acts as the brain’s janitor sweeping away toxins responsible for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, sleep may be the closest thing we have a superpower" ................. Read more

https://www.brainpickings.org

Eugène Ionesco (1909 - 1994) Romanian-born French dramatist. Wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost dramatists of the 20th century. 

Maria Popova shares the most important things her all-consuming daily endeavor taught her about writing and living. Read More

Mary Ann Evans (1819 - 1880) Also known by her pen name George Eliot, was one of the leading English writers of the Victorian era .

Will Durant,  Durant explains,  "The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars"

(Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 665).

Albert Camus ~ (November 7, 1913 – January 4, 1960) French philosopher, author, and journalist.

Photo credit: Manfred Richter

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC) Chinese philosopher and politician. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, sincerity and justice.